After a magical 14-1 season and the program's first national championship in 40 years, Georgia football decided to reward head coach Kirby Smart with a massive new contract. Smart was slated to make $7.1 million this season, which the Bulldogs rectified by giving him the highest annual average salary in the nation at $11.25 million. His total $112.5 million salary is the most money ever committed to a college football coach, per ESPN.
The Georgia football coach is certainly deserving of the payday, though it doesn't mean he and the Bulldogs can rest on their laurels. They'll now be “the hunted” in the 2022 season, with complacency now an added opponent on the schedule every weekend.
As the nation's highest paid coach, Smart will be expected to perform and keep this Georgia team atop the SEC. That said, here are three things Kirby Smart must do to fulfill his massive contract with the Georgia football program.
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3 Things Kirby Smart Must Do To Fulfill Georgia Football Contract
3. Keep Georgia football atop the recruiting ranks
One of the reasons the Bulldogs felt so emboldened to make Kirby Smart the highest-paid coach is for his recruiting prowess. Since being named the head coach in 2016, Georgia football has ranked inside 247 Sports' top-10 recruiting ranks every single year, with two finishes atop the rankings during that span.
College football is changing by the day, with expensive NIL deals, transfer portal rule changes and conference realignment all promising to shake up the normal way of doing things.
In such an environment, a proven recruiter is needed to stay competitive. With double-digit wins in four of the last five seasons and an impressive track record of recruits, Smart is that guy.
Now he'll be paid to keep doing what he does best.
2. Figure out how to beat Alabama
One could say that Smart and Georgia football did just that with their victory in last year's national championship. Even with that monumental victory over Alabama, it's hard to forget the way the Bulldogs collapsed against the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship earlier last year.
Alabama has won seven of their last eight meetings against the Bulldogs. Since Smart took over, that includes four victories for Nick Saban's Crimson Tide, three of which occurred in the SEC title game or the national championship.
It's clear that Alabama has Georgia's number lately. As the nation's highest paid head coach, it will be up to Kirby Smart to get his program over the hump against the Crimson Tide.
1. Win another national championship
Georgia football fans can't get too greedy. After all, they hadn't won a national title since 1980 before defeating the Crimson Tide.
However, ask any Bulldogs fan this question. Would they be disappointed if the program didn't win another national championship over the remaining 10 years of Smart's contract?
Of course, they would. Fair or not, Smart will be judged on how he builds off of the success his program garnered last year. If he can lead Georgia to another national championship during the tenure of his contract, it would be hard to not consider it a massive success.
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