“Year 1 was disappointing. Any time you finish 8-5 it’s a
disappointment at the University of Georgia. Certainly not the standard I
expect to keep.”
-
Kirby Smart
For the past 10 years, there is an unfortunate tradition
that has been observed in Athens, Georgia. During the summer, expectations and
hope abound and by December, gloom and disappointment ruin Christmas.
Last year was a disappointment, and if you don’t believe me,
just ask Kirby Smart. You might think it is a little crazy to say this, but
year 2 might just be make or break for Kirby at Georgia. No, I’m not one of the
crazy people that will calling for Kirby’s job if Georgia goes 8-5 again in
2017, but if Kirby Smart is going to achieve the success that he, and Georgia
fans, expect him to achieve, we will probably see something special in Athens
this fall.
What do Vince Dooley, Mark Richt, Nick Saban, Steve
Spurrier, Pete Carroll, and Bob Stoops all have in common? Well, Georgia fans
know all too well that it isn’t a National Title, even though Richt is the only
person on that list without a national championship ring. No, the thing all
those coaches have in common is that they became the coach you know them to be
in year two at the school.
You see, year one is difficult. Just think about it from a
human standpoint. You have to move, you have to find schools for your kids, you
have to hire a staff, you have to find someone to cut your hair, you have to go
around to every booster club meeting in your state, and some out of state,
selling yourself to the fan base. There is a lot of crap to do in year one, and
none of that even includes what you have to do on the field.
On the field you have to figure out a spring and fall
practice schedule. You have to organize the practices themselves. You have to
plan pre-game meals, meeting times, finalize playbooks, decide on a pre-game
warm up routine, organize your sideline and substitution packages, oh yeah, and
you have to figure out how to be a head football coach.
So I think we can all understand that year one requires a
lot of work before you kickoff and a lot of learning once you have kicked off.
But what you may not realize is that some of the best coaches of the past 20
years struggled in their first year. Here are just a few examples.
Pete Carroll went 6-6 in his first season at USC in 2001 and
was 5-3 in the Pac 10.
Bob Stoops went 7-5 at Oklahoma in 1999 and was 5-3 in the
Big 12.
Even the greatest coach in the history of sports (sarcasm),
Nick Saban went 7-6 at Alabama in 2007, and only went 4-4 in the SEC. This was
after he had already been a head coach at Michigan State and LSU.
Spurrier had a solid 9-2 season at Florida in 1990 and went
6-1 in the SEC, but again, he had experience at Duke before he took the Florida
job.
Now, bringing it closer to home, Richt was 8-4 at Georgia in
2001 and 5-3 in the SEC. Richt lost to
Florida and Auburn in his first season.
Richt lost the Auburn game himself with awful clock management and gave away
the Music City Bowl to Boston College by punting late in the game without
enough timeouts to get the ball back.
In 1965, Vince Dooley went 7-3-1 in his first season at
Georgia and was only 3-2 in the SEC.
So I think it is safe to say that a disappointing first
season isn’t the end of the world, but when you look at what those coaches did
in their second season, it raises the stakes for Georgia in 2017.
Pete Carroll led USC to be Pac 10 Co-Champions and won the
Orange Bowl.
Bob Stoops went undefeated and beat Florida State for the
National Title in 2001. Mark Richt was
FSU’s offensive coordinator in that
game, and FSU failed to score a point on offense.
Nick Saban went 12-2 in his second season at Alabama, but
the Tide were 12-0 and ranked #1 in the nation before losing a close SEC title
game to Florida and then losing the Sugar Bowl to Utah in a game they didn’t
care about.
Steve Spurrier went 10-2 in 1991, won the SEC but lost the
Sugar Bowl and a possible national title to Notre Dame.
Richt, of course, went 13-1 in 2002, won the SEC and beat
his mentor, Bobby Bowden in the Sugar Bowl.
Dooley went 10-1 in 1966. Georgia shared the SEC title and
won the Cotton Bowl.
Even Gene Chizik, who went 8-5 in his first season at
Auburn, went undefeated in his second season and won the National Title with
the best player money could buy, Cam Newton.
So, this summer, just like every summer, Georgia fans will
count down the days until kickoff with anticipation of a return to Glory, Glory
for Old Georgia. But this year we might just feel differently come Christmas
Day.
If Kirby Smart is going to be the man to finally get Georgia
to the top of the highest mountain in college football, then 2017 will most
likely be the year we point to as the first and biggest step of that journey.
Glory, Glory
73 days until kickoff against App State
Go Dawgs
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