David Pollack dishes on what makes Kirby Smart a great motivator, similarities to Nick Saban

When Kirby Smart‘s infamous NSFW locker room speech ahead of the 2022 National Championship first leaked, David Pollack was ready to run through a brick wall. In fact, profanity aside, the Georgia Bulldogs legend even considered making it his phone’s ringtone, but that would’ve proven quite costly.

Nevertheless, that particular pregame speech — which led to the first of Georgia’s back-to-back College Football Playoff National Championships in 2021 and 2022 — served to define Smart as one of college football’s greatest motivators. And it’s what made the nine-year Bulldogs head coach the first person to come to mind when Pollack recently ranked the coaches that most inspire confidence.

“Obviously, Kirby learned from Nick (Saban). I’ve spent hours and hours with both of them over the years and they’re very similar. It’s why the run was so good with Nick. Nick had a guy that was like him on the defensive side of the ball that he could trust and he could do other things and not have to be in it all the time,” Pollack said during a recent episode of his podcast, See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack. “But just the leadership, the motivation. When they leaked the pregame speech before the national championship, mother-freaker, I wanted to make that my ringtone. Literally. … But I couldn’t because I knew I’d wake up every morning and run through the sheetrock and have to replace it.”

Smart’s ability to motivate his players is just one of a litany of reasons he’s become one of the sport’s top head coaches in less than a decade leading his alma mater. The 49-year-old Smart even topped ESPN’s recent list of college football’s Top 10 head coaches. But, for Pollack, it’s Smart’s unrelenting desire to always be the best that really separates him from his coaching peers.

“(Kirby Smart) did (a speech) on leadership, this was awhile back — this was two SEC Media Days ago — and he talked about the cost of leadership,” Pollack continued. “I was like, ‘that’s fascinating.’ I’ve heard put in so many packages, so many ideas, but he was like, ‘You have to understand, when you’re a leader, it costs you something.’ Like, you have to be OK when people get upset with you. That’s part of the cost. It’s not fun, (but) you’ve got to be Ok with not being liked. I think there’s hundreds of those with Kirby, the quotes and stuff, that in-the-moment intensity (that) can sit down and get a rise out of you where I’m ready to Mel Gibson charge – ‘Freedom!’ I’m ready to rock and roll.”

Kirby Smart embracing high standard for Georgia football: ‘I love the expectations’

The Georgia Bulldogs are coming off a season where they won the SEC and made it to the College Football Playoff. Still, head coach Kirby Smart knows it didn’t reach the high expectations many have for his program.

Smart explained on The Paul Finebaum Show that he embraces those high expectations. After all, it’s a sign that there is passion for what he’s doing and a belief that he’s capable of doing it at the highest level.

“That’s a good thing that you do that,” Smart said. “Because I actually think that it’s a great thing when you win a 16-team SEC conference that’s probably one of the best years we’ve had in terms of winning games, and it is hard to do when you play seven or eight top 10 teams, which we were able to do. I really don’t get caught up in it. I love the expectations. I embrace that. I think it’s a good thing because if it’s not there, what are you playing for?”

Smart came to Georgia in 2016 and, since then, has put together a record of 105-19 overall and 62-11 in SEC play. He’s also managed to win the national championship twice and the SEC three times. So, it’s not a surprise that he’s managed to set the bar incredibly high in Athens.

— On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this report.