Gene Frenette: Georgia's 10-year investment in Kirby Smart for $112.5 million is money well spent
All over the country, there’s evidence that one of the most dangerous risks for a college administration is breaking the bank to secure the long-term services of a Power 5 football coach.
Many schools take that plunge, believing a massive investment in a rising star or a championship coach is all it takes to become a national contender. Then some regret the millions of dollars it ends up costing to buy out their fired coach.
Whether it’s Scott Frost at Nebraska, UCF coach Gus Malzahn when he exited Auburn, Geoff Collins at Georgia Tech or Herman Edwards at Arizona State, too many programs find themselves having buyer’s remorse.
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At Georgia, which awarded Kirby Smart a 10-year, $112.5 million contract extension in July after he won the Bulldogs’ first national title in 41 years, that’s looking like money well spent.
“Where presidents and athletic directors get into trouble is signing off on fully guaranteed contracts for multiple years,” said TaxSlayer Gator Bowl CEO Greg McGarity, the former Georgia AD who hired Smart in December, 2015.
“Kirby’s first contract was not 100 percent guaranteed. You’re rolling the dice doing that. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.”
Everything about Smart’s resume suggests Georgia is winning big — his .829 winning percentage (73-15) is tops among FBS coaches with a minimum seven seaons — and will continue that trend. The Bulldogs have been in four of the past five SEC title games.
The future looks even brighter as their last five recruiting classes were ranked No. 3, No. 4, No. 1, No. 2 and No. 1, according to 247Sports, and the 2023 class is currently third.
Georgia, which has won a remarkable 40 of its last 45 conference games, is a 22-point favorite Saturday at TIAA Bank Field to beat Florida for the fifth time in six years. Smart has positioned his program to potentially dominate the series in the same manner Vince Dooley (17-7-1) and Florida’s Steve Spurrier (11-1) once did.
At 46, Smart is not only one of the most highly-compensated coaches in college football, but he’s proven over time — like his former boss, Nick Saban at Alabama, and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney — to be well worth the investment.
That wasn’t the case for so many fired coaches who didn’t live up to monster contracts. Even now, Texas A&M has to be wondering if Jimbo Fisher (10-year, $75 million contract) can deliver an SEC championship in a West division where the programs of Saban, LSU first-year coach Brian Kelly (10-year, $95 million) and Mississippi’s Lane Kiffin present huge roadblocks.
More schools than not are paying a heavy price for handing out large guaranteed contracts to coaches who fall short of expectations.
Not Georgia. It made the right decision by waiting until Smart built a sustainable dominant program before giving him Saban-like money.
Florida signed first-year Billy Napier to a seven-year, $51.8 million contract, almost identical to the second contract Georgia gave Smart in 2018 after he won his first SEC championship.
The Gators are banking on Napier eventually catching Georgia, much the same way Smart’s program has closed the gap on Alabama and practically become its equal.
In the SEC arms race where nearly half the schools are giving out monster contracts, Georgia and Kirby Smart is a marriage that could benefit the Bulldogs for a long time.
Jacksonville still has upper hand
When Georgia and Florida issued what came across as a dubious joint statement this week about the future venue of their football rivalry, some interpreted it as a potential warning shot of the game moving away from TIAA Bank Field when the contract expires after the 2023 season.
Relax, folks. It’d take an extraordinary set of circumstances, even with a new SEC scheduling model coming once Texas and Oklahoma join the league, for Jacksonville to lose a game that has been played here almost continuously since 1933.
The schools cited tradition and finances as being the two most critical factors for the venue of future games. Both work heavily in Jacksonville’s favor because Georgia and Florida pay no expenses and are both guaranteed about $5 million each year. They simply can’t pocket that much money by moving it to a home-and-home series, and another neutral-site venue like Atlanta would be a tough sell for fans who genuinely embrace the game’s tradition.
Between the cooperation of the Jaguars, city politicians and the money each school generates from the game being in Jacksonville, it’s hard to imagine this game going away any time soon.
Can Gators avoid rout?
There’s about as little air of mystery to the Georgia-Florida game the past year as any time since Spurrier toyed with the Bulldogs during his 12-year reign (1990-2001), beating them 11 times by an average margin of 23.3 points.
Georgia won 34-7 last season as a 14-point favorite, and there’s little to indicate the Bulldogs won’t have their way again being favored by three touchdowns. Though big rivalries can be more unpredictable, the repeated failures of Florida’s defense this season make it difficult to see this game being close even for a half.
It’s going to take Napier and coordinator Patrick Toney more than a bye week to improve a defense that is dreadful in total yards (429.3 yards, No. 109 nationally), against the run (185.0 yards, No. 108), third-down stops (.295, No. 130) and points allowed (28.14, No. 81).
The Bulldogs have played a soft schedule since beating Oregon in Week 1, but UF’s defense is so suspect, that probably won’t matter. The most interesting aspect of this matchup might be how soon Georgia backup quarterback and Mandarin High product Carson Beck gets in the game.
Prediction: Georgia 38, Florida 13.
Jaguars-Jets game now interesting
With James Robinson traded to the New York Jets, the Jaguars’ Dec. 22 matchup with the Jets on Thursday Night Football at least has some guaranteed intrigue, providing both running backs Travis Etienne and J-Rob get an opportunity to put their talents on full display.
In his first public comments Wednesday since the trade, Robinson was clearly perturbed that Jaguars’ coach Doug Pederson implied he had some sort of knee issue to explain why he played only 12 snaps last week against the New York Giants.
If J-Rob plays against his former employer, he’d be the first ex-Jaguars' running back to face his old team since Rashad Jennings ran 26 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns in a 25-24 loss by the New York Giants at TIAA Bank Field in 2014.
Please let’s have Series drama
If baseball is going to have a modern record 19th consecutive World Series without the New York Yankees, then the least the upstart Philadelphia Phillies and dominant Houston Astros can do is take this Series to the limit.
After both teams sucked the drama out of the NLCS and ALCS by taking out opponents in five games and a four-game sweep, respectively, it’d be nice to see the Phillies and Astros bring some mystery back into the baseball postseason.
Since this is Houston’s fourth trip to the Series in six years and Philadelphia has only been there twice since 1984, the Phillies raising the trophy as a wild-card entrant would be the better story. This is the first trip to the Series for Philly’s biggest star, Bryce Harper, whose former Washington Nationals team won it all the year after he departed in 2019 in a seven-game thriller over Houston.
With the Astros’ deep pitching staff — Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez and Lance McCullers at the top of the rotation — and having MLB’s best bullpen ERA at 2.80, it’s hard to see Houston (7-0 in the playoffs) not winning it all. The Phillies have shown terrific moxie this postseason, but probably fall short on the biggest stage.
Houston winning in six games feels about right.
Biddle was Tennessee media icon
The Tennessee and SEC sports media world lost one of its most popular figures Wednesday when Joe Biddle, who made his name in Nashville as a sports columnist for the Banner and Tennessean newspapers and also in sports-talk radio, lost his battle with Alzheimer's.
Biddle, 78, was also well-known for his quick-witted sarcasm and unique insight into Florida football coaching legend Steve Spurrier. The pair attended the same high school in Johnson City, Tenn. and Biddle was often quoted in Spurrier stories that delved into his adolescent years.
"Joe was a year ahead of me in school, but we've always been good friends," said Spurrier, who learned of his death in a phone call from Biddle's sister. "He's in a better place now than being messed up with that disease. I'd see him at sporting events over the years and we spent a little more time together just talking about Johnson City. He was a real likable guy. He was upbeat, happy and always had a smile on his face. He was a fun guy to be around."
RIP, Joe. You will be missed.
Pigskin forecast
Jaguars over Denver Broncos by 10 (stress-free finishes); Washington Commanders over Indianapolis Colts by 3 (Carson Wentz thank-you notes); Houston Texans over Tennessee Titans by 1 (Jaguars get-well card); Florida State over Georgia Tech by 17 (battery recharges); Virginia over Miami by 3 (season-ending death notices); Cincinnati over UCF by 1 (crazy finish). Last week: 3 right, 4 Los Angeles Lakers game plans.
Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540
Gene Frenette Sports columnist at Florida Times-Union, follow him on Twitter @genefrenette
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Georgia investing $112.5 million on coach Kirby Smart was wise decision
