Kirby Smart told 'no crying from the yacht' when discussing transfer portal windows

Kirby Smart was potentially put in his place when he discussed the transfer portal windows in college football. Currently there is a winter and spring window for players to move around.

The Georgia head coach noted that figuring out the portal is what needs to be done before anything else in college football. Easier said than done of course.

“So the biggest decision that has to be made across football right now, by far to me, is when is the portal window and is there one or two,” Smart said. “Okay, that’s not being decided by us today. A lot of people don’t even know how it’s getting decided. Who’s deciding it, but I need you to think for a second, there is a strong contingent. We had an AFCA meeting. We had a meeting in which we unanimously decided that there really needed to be one portal window, whatever that is, what it is, and it needs to happen sometime in January.

“There’s different conferences that feel like it should not fall out during playing season … Is basketball able to do that? Or do they deal with the portal during their championship? During their tournament … We deal with that. Okay, that’s because of the academic calendar for us … Oh, by the way, we had to deal with that multiple times. It’s not fun. It’s not fun. It’s really hard to be playing in a championship setting, and having to deal with that. But when I brought that up as a complaint or a problem, it was told to me, there’s no crying from a yacht. So if you’re going to play in these environments, you have to be willing to do that.”

Now what does that mean exactly? Maybe that Smart doesn’t have much to complain about considering his success at Georgia.

He’s won two national titles, just made the College Football Playoff again last season and has more resources at his disposal than a vast majority of the football programs in the country.

There’s a high standard at Georgia, especially after there was a lot of disappointment the program couldn’t earn its three-peat in national championships. The Bulldogs are expected to compete for the SEC and the top of college football once again in 2025.

“That’s a good thing that you do that,” Smart said of embracing expectations. “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.

Has Smart taken advantage of the transfer portal? Sure. Is the portal window being open during the postseason a little wonky and sometimes unfair to players? Maybe it is.

Look at Penn State last year with backup QB Beau Pribula. Based on what he had to do within the confines of the rules, he had to enter the portal during the College Football Playoff in order to have a chance to be recruited by multiple suitors. He ended up at Missouri.

So Smart could very well be right about the portal window needing fixing. But don’t expect many coaches to feel bad for him.