Georgia football Kirby Smart skull sessions

sATHENS — The investigation into hazing allegations at Northwestern underscores the value of Kirby Smart building and maintaining close relationships between players and coaches that has translated on the field.

The Wildcats’ program, coached by Big Ten media favorite Pat Fitzgerald, stands accused of “vile and inhumane” activity after an investigation into “coerced sexual acts,” per The Daily Northwestern.

Smart has shared how delegating valuable team time for coaches and players to grow relationships has been a winning edge on the field for his Georgia program, which ranks as the only to win back-to-back championships in the four-team CFP era.

“The biggest difference in the last two years has been the players themselves believing in each other and buying in and connecting,” Smart said during a recent appearance on The Growth Project podcast.

Last season, Smart gave an example of the importance of players knowing and respecting one another on the field, saying “it’s easy to be connected when Ladd McConkey runs 80 yards for a touchdown. It’s hard to be connected when a guy misses you for a touchdown pass and you don’t pout about it. You know, a guy fumbles, a guy throws an interception, a guy gives up a huge pass interference. Where’s your connection now when it’s needed most?”

Former Georgia team captain and Outland Trophy winner Jordan Davis, a likely first-ballot College Football Hall of Famer, shared why he turned down guaranteed millions of dollars to return for a season season in 2021.

“Honestly this season has been so fun, (and) I’m so glad I came back,” Davis said during the 2021 campaign. “I couldn’t have made a better decision. It’s just fun. I’m enjoying the ride, having fun, every moment of it, even the part about waking up early. It’s just, like, you don’t have many opportunities like this.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to play for the University of Georgia, and I just want to savor it, to enjoy every moment of it.”

That sort of locker room environment is not always present in team sports, as the Northwestern football investigation has revealed.

Fitzgerald, like Smart a head coach at his alma mater, was placed on a two-week unpaid suspension on Friday after the investigation into alleged improper locker room-related activities came to light.

ESPN is reporting that Northwestern president Michael Schill is reconsidering the penalty for Fitzgerald — who has been the head coach since 2006 —and will speak to university leadership to reconsider the penalty.

“In determining an appropriate penalty for the head coach, I focused too much on what the report concluded he didn’t know and not enough on what he should have known,” Schill wrote, per the ESPN report.

“As the head coach of one of our athletics programs, coach Fitzgerald is not only responsible for what happens within the program but also must take great care to uphold our institutional commitment to the student experience. ... Clearly, he failed to uphold that commitment, and I failed to sufficiently consider that failure in levying a sanction.”

The Daily Northwestern reported the hazing involved “coerced sexual acts,” with testimony from a former player that “vile and inhumane behavior” took.

Per the player, who chose to remain anonymous in the report, player-victims were restrained by upperclassmen wearing masks before inappropriate hazing activity took place.

The report also included allegations of freshmen players being forced to strip naked and perform various acts in team areas, including a naked center-quarterback exchange.

The Northwestern situation has sent shockwaves across the collegiate football landscape, no doubt leading many programs to self-assess their team relations.

Smart and the Bulldogs seem ahead of the game in how their players build close relationships and respect one another.

FLASHBACK: ‘Georgia saved my son’s life,’ how Kirby kept fallen player connected

“I didn’t fully believe in doing things like this when I first became a head coach,” said Smart, who is entering his eighth year leading the Bulldogs.

“I didn’t believe in it the second year. I didn’t believe in it the third year. Somewhere along the way, it morphed to that, into the mindset part, the training.”

Smart’s investment into relationships came after the head coach had reflected on how team dynamics changed during the Covid pandemic, when restrictions led the staff and players to spend more time with one another and bond closely.

Smart began delegating time for “skull” sessions, where players open up to one another about their personal lives and the “why” that drives them to work hard.

“I’ve got coaches that maybe have never done that and they’re older than me, and they’ve been coaching longer than me, and they’re an assistant coach and they’re like, ‘Well, I’ve never done it this way,’ " Smart said.

“Well, hey, we’re going to do it this way here because this is what I believe in .. everybody’s got to buy into this …. we’ve got 10 athletic trainers, we’ve got five strength coaches, we’ve got four-player development people, and when you add all of them up, they’ve got to buy into it just as much as I do.”

Smart’s proactive approach to players getting to know and respect one another has been a much-talked about theme the past two seasons.

“There is no substitute for a relationship over time,” Smart advises. “It’s been the age-old theory: You’re going to be who you invest in, and they’re going to care more about you and you’re going to care more about them when you spend time together. So we spend tons of time together.”