ATHENS — Few coaches display the level of involvement Georgia football coach Kirby Smart exudes while patrolling the game day sidelines.
Smart keeps his headset on over his visor, seemingly constantly engaged with coaches in the booth when he’s not directing action on the field of coaching up a player.
There’s a method and a plan to all of it, of course, with the Bulldogs’ two-time defending coaching staff as finely calibrated as any in the nation.
Georgia is simply not a program that beats itself with too many men on the field, personnel package mixups or late and/or illegal substitutions.
But beyond the game day management, Smart maintains a philosophy of who decides what, and the Bulldogs are systematic in how they go about their game planning and schemes.
“I’m more involved in what the defense does and telling the offensive staff what hurts that,” Smart explained during his appearance in Nashville at the SEC Media Days last month.
“I don’t get much into design of plays. I don’t go over and say ‘We better run this.’ ”
Smart shared how former UGA offensive coordinator Todd Monken helped him learn to clarify his position while being interviewed before his hire after the 2019 season.
“He said ‘I just want to be clear, are you suggesting it or are you demanding it? That’s my only issue that I’ve had with a defensive coach,’ " Smart recalled. “And I thought that was good advice. I sat through a lot of head coach meetings under my last boss (Nick Saban) where we didn’t know if it was being suggested or demanded. I thought that was good by Todd.”
To be clear, Smart concedes he has made suggestions and demands at different times.
“I’ve done both in my career; I’ve said, ‘I want to do this because it makes our team better and I want this play in, whether you want it in or not,’ " Smart said. “But I’ve also done it where ‘Go take a look at this because it’s giving us problems. I think you could look at it and that’s as a suggestion.’ "
Smart also helps direct traffic with personnel and keeps a close eye on the depth chart, especially at quarterback.
“Coach (Mike) Bobo and the offensive staff bring me a sheet every day that says this is who is getting the 1′s percentage, this is who is getting the 2′s and who is getting the 3′s,” Smart revealed.
“Again, I don’t get involved in the scheme part, I get involved in who is repping, where we are repping them, how many reps they get. What is the plan if he’s not there? What is our plan if they do this, not designing plays.”
From there, Bobo oversees the offense with his assistant coaching staff providing suggestions before he sets the game plan for the given week.