Bill Shanks: Kirby Smart is the right fit for Georgia

All signs point to Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart as the choice to replace Mark Richt as Georgia's football head coach. Smart is a bit busy this week, so we might have to wait a few more days for the announcement.

Smart is the perfect fit for Georgia. He'll prove in time whether he is the perfect choice, but right now Smart looks like the perfect fit.

There is a difference. Ask any athletics director, and they'll tell you when they look for a head coach it is all about the fit. It has to make sense. Time will tell whether they made the right selection, but to start, it has to be the right fit.

Smart was born in Georgia. He played for the Bulldogs from 1995-98. He coached for one year on Richt's staff. He has been a defensive coordinator for the best program in the SEC and learned from the best coach in college football for the past nine years. He's a great recruiter, with a great reputation among Georgia's high school coaches.

And he's the perfect coach to bring this Georgia fan base together.

It's fractured right now. There are plenty of people upset that Richt was fired. They'll likely stay upset for a while. So his replacement is crucial to this healing process, and who better to do that than someone who played in a red and black uniform?

When Smart stands at his introductory news conference, we're going to see a former Bulldogs player take over this program. It'll be much like when Ray Goff did in 1989, but Smart is tremendously more qualified than Goff, who had just been a running backs coach under Vince Dooley. Goff wasn't prepared to be a head coach, but Smart has served his time as an apprentice to Nick Saban and is ready to be in charge.

Many people have said Smart's heart never left Athens, even though his paycheck was coming from Tuscaloosa. He has turned down jobs and even interviews, with people wondering what Smart was waiting for, what job he really wanted.

And it looks like Smart will get the one gig that he likely wanted all along. When fans see how excited Smart will be to get this job, that energy should be infectious.

The Georgia athletics department should parade Smart all around this state after he finishes recruiting in February. He shouldn't just go to the normal stops on the caravan. Smart should go to towns like Waycross, Jesup, Hazelhurst, Milledgeville, Thomaston and Toccoa. Sure, take him to the big cities, but let as many Georgia fans as possible learn all about the new coach.

Let people see that Smart is a nice person, too. Let them see that he wants to win championships. Let them hear the rah-rah speech a new head coach will deliver, but this one will be coming from someone they already know.

Georgia didn't need to turn to an unfamiliar face to replace a beloved coach like Richt. Think about it. The past two coaches -- Richt and before him Jim Donnan -- were not household names to Georgia fans when they arrived Athens. So, for example, to bring in a coach like Tom Herman would have been a mistake.

Herman, by the way, is the head coach at Houston. He has been the head coach for only one season but is the hot name, the flavor of the month, in this year's coaching searches. Herman might be the best coach available, but he's not the perfect fit for Georgia.

The Bulldogs need someone who will be given the benefit of the doubt, someone who will have a longer leash. Georgia fans will know Smart. They'll remember him from playing between the hedges, and they know he has been with Saban. So if things don't go great next season, the Georgia fans might be a bit more patient with Smart compared to someone like Herman.

We must be patient and wait a few more days for Smart to hit Athens, and that same patience will be required for the early part of his tenure as head coach. But Smart is the right choice. Smart can unite a fan base that has been divided, which will be the first battle he must win.

Listen to "The Bill Shanks Show" from 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WPLA Fox Sports 1670 AM in Macon and online at www.foxsports1670.com/. Follow Bill at twitter.com/BillShanks and email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com

This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 8:24 PM with the headline "Bill Shanks: Kirby Smart is the right fit for Georgia ."