Paul Finebaum on Kirby Smart's mindset regarding players transferring: 'That's how you win'

During a recent episode of McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, SEC guru Paul Finebaum stopped by to chat. The trio discussed many things, one of which was the NCAA transfer portal and its impact on SEC college football.

What are their talking points regarding Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart‘s recent comments? While some individuals might not have agreed with the Bulldogs’ back-to-back national championship-winning head coach’s comments, Finebaum was in full support of them and explained why.

“I think that’s how you win because you have a culture. And it just puts an end to these players thinking that they control the narrative. If you try it and it doesn’t work out then you’re dead, in terms of that coach of that program.

“Yeah, now how many schools can pull that off? Maybe about three or four possibly; you have a couple of coaches. I know you’re going to talk about Brian Kelly; he’s trying to get that message across in a small way. And I think that’s all you can do as opposed to saying, ‘Well, we’re at the mercy of the portal, we’re at the mercy of agents, we’re at the mercy of the player.’”

The statement that Finebaum was referring to stems from a recent interview with Bulldogs Malachi Starks and Miles Thornton. During the interview, Thornton revealed one of Smart’s favorite sayings to players considering the transfer portal.

“Kirby says all the time, if we lose you, that is okay. (Laughs). We will replace you. He keep it a hundred percent. Like, yo, you wanna go somewhere else. That’s fine. We will find another you. We’ll find two of them, just because,” Thornton said.

Starks added this to Thorton’s account during their recent interview on The Players’ Lounge podcast, discussing their head coaches’ stance on the transfer portal.

“But the thing is we don’t have a guy. We’ve got a team. Some teams have a guy. We have a team. There is no guy that stands out,” Starks said.

As Finebaum also highlighted, not many head coaches or college football programs can take the approach that Smart is taking. A program would likely have to have a lot of confidence and staying power to look at an elite recruit and refuse to submit or entertain their demands. It’s a good thing Georgia has plenty of both with Smart at the helm.

On3’s Wade Peery contributed to this story