Kirby Smart on relationship with Mark Richt, honoring former UGA coach
Kirby Smart has great respect for former Georgia Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt, who will be honored at halftime of Saturday’s game vs. Mizzou.
When asked about Richt’s impact, and the bond between the former and current Bulldogs coaches, Smart didn’t hold back.
“I think the cohesiveness is just about having class, and both the University of Georgia and Coach Richt have that, along with tremendous respect for each other,” Smart said on Wednesday.
“A lot of those decisions that are made, they pass over time, and the history and tradition that he helped build here was tremendous. And I think there’s no better documentation than that than the players that played for him. Any chance you get to honor somebody that’s affected this university the way he has, I think you do that.”
Kirby Smart had rare job under Richt at Georgia
Smart is now synonymous with defense and that’s where almost all of his experience comes from, with the exception of one season. Ironically, the only time Smart was asked to lead an offensive group was in 2005 as a Georgia running backs coach under Richt.
The current Bulldogs front man says that 2005 season was extremely valuable because he got to see how the other side of the ball plans, executes and performs.
“It was just a lot about the game of football, learning the management of it,” Smart said of his lone season under Richt.
“I was a young coach then, had only been a GA for two years, a full-time coach for three. (So it was) a lot about recruiting, a lot about relationships and Coach Richt’s demeanor, leading the team, things like that. It was a valuable year probably most because I was on the other side of the ball.”
The now retired head coach has been impressed with the direction of the Georgia program under Kirby Smart and the new regime. Since Richt was fired in 2015, the program has added $175 million in projects for football.
“Well, it just didn’t happen in my time,” Richt told the Atlanta Journal Constitution “But I’ve gotten a chance to see most of it, and it’s pretty spectacular, I can say that. It certainly helps in recruiting and people’s impression of how serious is Georgia when it comes to being great to being the best. You can see it.”
It’s clear Kirby Smart has tried to build upon the foundation Richt built, instead of revamping the entire culture of the program. The respect between the two Georgia coaches both obvious and refreshing.