Sonny Smart, the father of Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, passed away on Saturday, January 4 at 12:15 a.m.

The University of Georgia announced in a statement that Sonny Smart fell on New Year’s Eve and fractured his hip. Smart underwent hip surgery but complications arose. Smart was surrounded by his wife Sharon, and their three children: Karl, Kirby and Kendall.

“The Smart family expresses their heartfelt gratitude to the Ochsner hospital and medical staff for the exceptional care provided to Sonny,” per the statement.

Per the statement put out by Georgia, the family also asks for continued prayers for those affected by the tragic events that occurred in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Sonny Smart’s fall was not related to the attack.

Smart often attends Georgia gamse in support of his son. Like Kirby Smart, Sonny Smart was a football coach, though Sonny Smart worked at the high school level coaching at Bainbridge High School from 1988-1994 and Rabun County High School from 1995-2003. During his time as a coach, including when he coached Kirby, Sonny Smart went 90-78-1.

Kirby Smart often spoke of his father and how much he helped shape his own coaching career.

“He’s taught me so much just about the way you handle things, the right way, the wrong way,” Smart said of his dad prior to the 2023 National Championship Game against TCU. “Control the controllables. The moment’s never too big if you’re prepared. And I always watched the way he prepared our teams and our staff in high school. He was a very wise man, a man of few words. I tried to follow his mantra as a coach. I’ve certainly evolved from going to coach for other people, but a lot of my core beliefs came from the way he ran our programs in high school.”

Georgia’s season came to an end on Thursday with a 23-10 loss to Notre Dame.