How analysts view Smart’s success in second season at Georgia

With his team going 11-1 and reaching the SEC Championship, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has been asked repeatedly over the past couple of weeks if his program is ahead of schedule since he took over.

After all, it is quite remarkable for a longtime assistant to take a program to a conference championship in only his second year as a head coach.

That stated, this hasn’t been a question Smart is fond of.

“I think everybody wants to say that this is the schedule. There is no schedule,” Smart said. “The only thing there is, is what you have and what you do with what you have. So I'm going to leave it to you guys to decide what the schedule is or what the term is, because that's what you guys do.”

When Smart took the job, he had a lot of young talent on his roster that matured into senior leaders this season. But there is no denying the fact Smart has had a major influence over how this team has performed over the season.

Since Smart doesn’t believe in a schedule, the question was directed at those paid to offer opinions on this sort of subject. The SEC Network made a few of its television personalities available for interviews Friday.

Marcus Spears, who played football at LSU and enjoyed a long NFL career with the Dallas Cowboys, said he doesn’t necessarily think Smart has Georgia ahead of schedule since there were a lot of talented but young players on the roster before former head coach Mark Richt was fired.

At the same time, Spears said, Smart’s message has changed the culture of the program.

“It wasn’t about Mark Richt not being a great coach. The message was stale,” Spears said. “Players just weren’t enthused. There’s a difference in the way Georgia plays now than when Mark Richt was there. They’re just enthused about it. Their coach demands that as well. I think mentally is what he’s changed more than anything.”

Former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow believes Smart will have Georgia competitive for a long time. Tebow said he first met Smart — then the defensive backs coach at Valdosta State — in 1999, when he was recruiting his older brother.

Tebow sees the same energy and enthusiasm in Smart now as he did back then, and believes Georgia is on a fast track in the SEC.

“I think you have to say he’s ahead of schedule,” Tebow said. “I don’t think it’s necessarily shocking because he was groomed and he was ready. He’s got such a great personality.”

And then there’s Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn, who also thinks Smart has done a remarkable job at Georgia in such a short time. Then again, Malzahn is no stranger to this as he took over Auburn’s program in 2013 after it went 3-9 in Gene Chizik’s last year.

In his inaugural season, Malzahn led the Tigers to a 13-0 record and an SEC title before losing to Florida State in the BCS National Championship.

Still, Malzahn has been impressed with what Smart has done in such a short period of time.

“What’s impressive is he’s done it in his second year,” Malzahn said. “He’s a very good coach. He’s got a very good staff, a very talented team. You’re talking about one of the top teams in all of college football. The challenge for us is playing them again.”

This story was originally published December 1, 2017 at 5:41 PM with the headline "How analysts view Smart’s success in second season at Georgia."