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Kirby Smart knows what it takes to win in the modern college football landscape.
Smart, like any other college football coach, must balance winning games while navigating the challenges created by the transfer portal. Despite those demands, Nick Saban’s former assistant has led Georgia to four Southeastern Conference titles and two College Football Playoff national championships.
This week, Smart shared his distaste for social media rumors and the general attention that is routinely placed on a given player’s transfer decision.
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Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart during the first half against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on January 2, 2025. (Stephen Lew/Image Images)
Instead of focusing attention on a transfer announcement, Smart urged athletes to focus on development.
“Everyone announces what they’re doing,” Smart said Monday. “‘I’m announcing that I’m going to enter the portal. I’m announcing that I’m going to renew the contract.’ How about you announce that you’re improving and that you’re going to practice and actually do what the 20- and 30-year-old college football players did before you, which was practice in December, when they’re on good teams and they’re improving?
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Smart and Georgia are spending the week preparing for a quarterfinal showdown with Ole Miss. The Rebels soundly defeated Tulane in the first round to clinch a spot in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia on New Year’s Day.
However, preparing for a bowl game or playoff matchup doesn’t give coaches or teams a break from the ongoing competition to retain players.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart reacts on the sideline during the second half against Tennessee on Nov. 16, 2024, in Athens, Georgia. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
“I mean, we’re focused on this team,” Smart said. “I think it would be remiss to say that we are focused on staff management. We are not focused on that.”
This is not the first time Smart has spoken out about what he sees as the portal’s shortcomings. He previously described it as the sport’s most pressing problem that needs correction. In September, the NCAA announced it would reduce the two portal windows to a single 15-day window starting Jan. 2.
Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart on the sideline against the Tennessee Volunteers in the first quarter at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, on November 16, 2024. (Brett Davis/Image Images)
After the Bulldogs defeated the Texas Longhorns in November, Smart talked about how process and physicality are pillars of the program he helped build during his decade-long tenure at Georgia. However, he added that not all players in the current era of transfer portals and names, images and likenesses (NIL) are suitable for his program.
“You have to recruit physical players and they have to accept that process,” Smart said. “I don’t know, a lot of these kids today want a check. They don’t want anything physical. When you have the check and there’s nothing physical, you end up with nothing. So you don’t just get checks in our house. We’re beating people up.”
Georgia and Ole Miss kick off in the Sugar Bowl from the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on January 1, 2026 at 8 pm ET.
