Before Kirby Smart’s Georgia team went 12-1 in an eventual national championship season, the Bulldogs head coach was “ready to step down.”
The COVID-19 pandemic halted in-person recruitment and created a dead period until June 1 last year, triggering an influx of visits that left the coach and his staff feeling burnt out.
“I was ready to step down,” Smart said Tuesday at the Texas High School Coaches Association convention, according to ESPN’s Dave Wilson. “I was ready. We had kids every day from June 1st to June 28th. We had caravans coming to the Atlanta airport at midnight and they wanted to come in and train at midnight because they were going to another school at 7am They had to go to another school at 10 o’clock in the evening, and they tried to quit.
“If we weren’t there by midnight, we wouldn’t see them. What are you doing? Say no? Those kids are flying from Washington, from California. We were there with them, and it drove our staff crazy.”
To avoid burnout this year, the head coach said every Monday in June was scheduled as a day off so his staff could recharge, according to Sam Khan Jr. from The Athletic. Smart also said he asked his staff to come on Friday afternoon rather than in the morning so they could be ready for recruit arrivals on Friday evening. The coach said these changes were helpful.
The summer fatigue of Smart and his staff was not apparent in the 2021 season, where the Bulldogs took their lone loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. Their loss didn’t stop the College Football Playoff roster from making Georgia the No. 3 seed, and the successful season continued as the Bulldogs churned through Michigan at No. 2, taking revenge on the Crimson Tide when it mattered. .
Smart, 46, later clarified to DawgNation that his comments were not meant literally, but in the context of a work-life balance question. Such was the thinking of a Texas high school soccer coach at the convention, who asked the Georgia coach if there is a healthy work-life balance in college soccer.
To that question, Smart answered bluntly, “No.”
It is clear that the coach and his staff have paid a price to become champions.
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