Reviewing Kirby Smart’s First Decade as Georgia Bulldogs Head Football Coach

A review of Kirby Smart's first complete decade as the head coach for the University of Georgia's football team.

Kirby Smart completed his 10th season as the Georgia Bulldogs head coach, following a disappointing loss to the Ole Miss Rebels in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. With the 2025 season now complete, Smart officially has a full decade of head coaching under his belt, and is now the longest-tenured active coach in the SEC. So how has the Bulldogs' first decade under Smart been?

Kirby Smart was introduced as the Georgia Bulldogs head coach ahead of the 2016 college football season, following his national championship victory as the defensive coordinator for the Alabama Crimson Tide.

At the time, the Bulldogs' football program had become somewhat synonymous with underpreforming and being elluded by a championship victory, whether it be the SEC Championship or a national title. Smart's hiring came with the promise that this would change, and a new era of Georgia Football was born.

Kirby Smart's First Decade as the Georgia Bulldogs' Head Coach

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart speaks with Georgia free safety Quincy Mauger (20) during the second half of the Georgia - North Carolina game at the Georgia Dome, Saturday, September 03, 2016. (Photo/ John Roark, Athens Banner-Herald) | Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The coach's first season did not go as planned. Despite a few promising victories, the Dawgs' regular season ended with a 7-5 record and included disappointing losses to Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, and Florida. But with a return of handful of key contributors, hope remained high for the following season.

2017 became the first great season under Kirby Smart, as Bulldogs finished with an 11-1 record and earned massive SEC Championship and Rose Bowl victories, which punched their ticket to the national title game.

This would be where Smart's "Alabama Problem" would begin, as the Dawgs would suffer a heartbreaking overtime defeat at the hands of the Crimson Tide in teh national championship game.

For the next three years, the Bulldogs continued to turn in fantastic seasons, boasting winning streaks against rivals and routinely reaching the SEC Championship game. However, the ultimate goal of a national title had not been completed, and Dawg fans were beginning to grow impatient.

With pressure mounting heading into the 2021 season, Smart and his staff turned in their best season to date. The Bulldogs defense was absolutely suffocating all season, and resulted in the team's first ever 12-0 regular season.

Despite a disappointing loss in the SEC Championship (to Alabama), the Bulldogs avenged their losses, dominating the College Football Playoff, holding each opponent to under 20 points. This resulted in the team's first national title victory in over 40 years.

Things only got better for the Bulldogs, as the Dawgs' 2022 season resulted in a perfect 15-0 record which led Georgia to becoming the first back-to-back champions of the College Football Playoff. A feat that has yet to be replicated.

Since the 2021 season, Georgia has yet to miss an SEC Championship game, has reached the College Football Playoff four times, and possesses win streaks of five games or more over virtually all of its rivals.

While there has been a fair share of dissappointing losses and frustrating moments, there is absolutely no doubt that Smart and his staff have delivered some of the most incredible moments the Univeristy of Georgia has ever seen and the Bulldogs' program would be nowhere close to it was without him at the helm.

There will undoubtedly come a day when the head coach dawns his iconic visor for a final time and the gaurantee of a Kirby Smart-led football team will be no more. Only then will those who were his biggest critics, proclaim their affinity for Coach Smart. Ultimately admitting his time in Athens was "The Glory Days" of Georgia Football, and outwardly expressing how much they miss him via social media or any other platform.

But for those who have not forgotten the agonizing desert of routine heartbreaks and "this should've been our year." Smart has already been annointed as the greatest Georgia Football coach of all time. And if the head coach's next decade is half as successful as his first, the University of Georgia is in for an extremely fruitful 10 years.