Smart: 'With this job comes criticism. I’m accepting of that.'

Criticism comes with the territory.

Kirby Smart knew this was the case when he signed on to become Georgia’s head coach last December. Praised tremendously by the fan base throughout the offseason, Smart was well aware of the honeymoon phase he was living in.

But as he said during an appearance at a Macon Touchdown Club function in February, if Georgia is unable to record wins, he won’t be as beloved.

“You see that standing ovation?” Smart said at the event. “If I don’t win enough games next year, they won’t even invite me back.”

Smart and the Bulldogs are coming off of a 17-16 loss to Vanderbilt, in which Georgia dominated just about every offensive and defensive statistical category. After beating North Carolina by nine in the season opener, Georgia has endured trouble in wins over Nicholls State, Missouri and South Carolina. The Bulldogs also were blown out by Mississippi and dropped a heartbreaker to Tennessee before its latest crushing loss to the Commodores.

With his team 4-3 during the bye week, and with the annual rivalry against Florida looming in two Saturdays, Smart said he understands why he’s taken a lot of heat lately.

“With this job comes criticism. I’m accepting of that,” Smart said. “I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it with good friends. I’ve seen it with programs I’ve been in. That doesn’t scare me. What I’m worried about is our team and our players developing and getting better. That’s the most important thing.”

More often than not, there’s an adjustment period when a new head coach takes over a program. Georgia, however, didn’t seem like a rebuilding job. The Bulldogs won 10 games in four out of the past five seasons and returned a plethora of contributors from last year’s squad.

But thus far, results have not been as expected. The run game, seen previously as a strength, is only averaging an SEC 10th-ranked 4.5 yards per carry. While Georgia’s total defense ranks 24th nationally at 339.7 yards per game, its scoring defense is 64th at 26.4.

Special teams have been abysmal, with Georgia checking in at 127th in ESPN’s special teams efficiency rankings. Only East Carolina is considered worse.

Smart, however, said he has seen improvement at spots, even if it’s overshadowed by the negatives to come out of Georgia’s three losses and two poorly-played wins. If anything, Smart can hang his hat on the fact Georgia’s been in every game outside of the Mississippi loss.

While the season hasn’t gone as many expected, Smart understands he’ll have his share of doubters.

“Welcome to the world we live in as coaches,” Smart said. “You’ve got to figure out what you can do best and better to get these kids a chance to be successful. I think that comes through a lot of things – through confidence, through improvement, through recruiting. There’s a lot of areas that we’re going to improve on. But am I questioning myself? No, not at all. I think you have to look at what you’re doing and look if there’s a better way, but everybody’s doing that. You’re always searching for a better way. It’s a constant pursuit of that.”

This story was originally published October 20, 2016 at 12:13 PM with the headline "Smart: 'With this job comes criticism. I’m accepting of that.'."