Re: Kirby Smart and the tug of UGA...
I'm not sure about that. I'm a Vandy alum and live in Nashville. The new Chancellor (Zeppos came in after Gordon Gee) has pulled out the checkbook for the baseball coach and the basketball coach in ways that have never happened before. Rumor is they were willing to match the Penn State offer of $4M. Vanderbilt appears to have figured out that sports success equals national prominence. My 2 cents.
Yeah, it really does seem like David Williams, in particular, has committed to investing in the football program. I mean, they almost got Gus Malzahn last time, and hired James Franklin, an absolute home run hire. They might have gotten lucky. Who knows?
But, Williams does his homework. I am convinced that they are going to get a good coach. Now, whether the good coach can win 9 games next year or the year after, who knows.
And, about Kirby. I have now heard two people I respect say that he is going to Georgia, but neither one could say for certain. I can understand why he might want to go. It seems pretty clear to me that if he wants a legit FBS head coaching job, he is going to have to prove himself apart from Saban. If he had taken the Georgia job last time and was putting together top 10 defenses, I think his head coaching stock would be higher than it is now. But apart from Auburn interviewing him last year, he hasn't really gotten much interest from BCS-conference schools that I know of.
