From OnlineAthens.com
February 24th, 2016 02:11 PM
It is a winter of content with Georgia’s new football coaching staff.
At least that’s the message put forth in the early days of Kirby Smart’s time as Bulldogs head coach.
Disharmony and dissension may have been portrayed inside the Butts-Mehre football offices at the end of Mark Richt’s tenure but an upbeat picture is emerging now.
“In this short period of time, I’ve been fortunate enough to watch what’s happened with Coach Smart,” Mike Cavan, a special assistant to the head coach, told the crowd at the Macon Touchdown Club jamboree this week when introducing Smart. “He’s got the best staff at Georgia I’ve seen in a long time. There is more excitement there than I’ve seen. I’ve been there a long time and I’ve played (quarterback) on a championship team in the 60s. I coached in the 70s and on a national championship (team) in the 80s and three more SEC championships in the 80s. And I promise you, I’ve never seen the excitement there is right now at the University of Georgia with our fans, with our players."
Of course, Georgia is selling this new era under Smart. He said he was able to put together a “first-class, real competitive,” staff that has its fill of SEC coaching experience. After working for the demanding Nick Saban at Alabama, Smart is now asking his staff for the same work ethic.
“I want the guy next to me to put the same sweat in the bucket that I’m putting in,” Smart said. “That’s carried over to my staff. When you get kind of mixed messages in there where this guy’s got to do this and this guy doesn’t, you create a little bit of envy in the room. He makes sure there’s no envy in the room. It’s very straight forward about what you’re supposed to do.”
Smart said he’s taking a lot of things he learned from Saban and applying it to Georgia, but “there’s also things that I’m not doing that are different. You learn that by working for somebody.”
Cavan, who has worked in fundraising at Georgia starting in 2002 and later became a special assistant to athletic director Greg McGarity , called Smart the “most thorough coach I’ve seen in a long, long time.”
Smart is promoting a simple message that he shared on Monday: Do Your Job.
“We’re trying to send a message to our team, I’m trying to give them a message, deliver a message and hammer it home,” he said.
Smart got the “Do Your Job” slogan from a professional development trip he took to visit the New England Patriots several years ago during an Alabama offseason.
The words were written behind a secretary’s desk. In the defensive team meeting room. Even in the bathroom over the urinals. Bill O’Brien, now the Houston Texans head coach and then a Patriots offensive assistant, filled Smart in on what it all meant.
It was how coach Bill Belichick defined everyone’s job in the organization and held them accountable. He told everyone on the 53-man roster what their role was.
So Smart returned to Alabama with that simple message from the Patriots. It’s caught on with the NFL team now hawking items at its online ProShop on everything from hoodies to knit hats to coffee mugs.
Smart is instilling that to Georgia’s current players now this offseason.
It’s the latest phase after assembling a coaching staff and putting the finishing touches on a top 10 signing class.
“I know what kind of grinder he is and what kind of worker he is,” former Georgia All-American defensive end and ESPN analyst David Pollack said Wednesday on the “Bulldog Bytes” podcast. “He showed that with a great recruiting class even though he was only in office for what, about four weeks? I think he’ll do great things. I think Georgia’s in great shape. I think you’ve got a young, proven guy, not proven from the standpoint of a head coach, but a proven recruiter, a proven defensive pedigree and a guy that’s spent time with the best coach in college football in Nick Saban. Everything about the signs for Georgia points up.”
That doesn’t mean that Georgia will be world-beaters in 2016.
Pollack points to questions at offensive tackle and on a need for the defensive line to continue to improve. Of course, there is the matter of quarterback to determine.
“Georgia is definitely a closer step to being back to where they need to be,” Pollack said. “I think Kirby will do a great job.”
Cavan arrived ahead of Smart Monday in Macon and sat beside him on the dais. He was on the plane back from Arizona with Smart, defensive coordinator Mel Tucker and inside linebackers coach Glenn Schumann after Alabama won the national title game in January. He accompanied Smart to an athletic board meeting last week.
“Our coaches there with him are doing a great job with these guys,” Cavan told the crowd. “You’ll be pleased next year when we kick it off.”
...READ MORE HERE...
February 24th, 2016 02:11 PM
It is a winter of content with Georgia’s new football coaching staff.
At least that’s the message put forth in the early days of Kirby Smart’s time as Bulldogs head coach.
Disharmony and dissension may have been portrayed inside the Butts-Mehre football offices at the end of Mark Richt’s tenure but an upbeat picture is emerging now.
“In this short period of time, I’ve been fortunate enough to watch what’s happened with Coach Smart,” Mike Cavan, a special assistant to the head coach, told the crowd at the Macon Touchdown Club jamboree this week when introducing Smart. “He’s got the best staff at Georgia I’ve seen in a long time. There is more excitement there than I’ve seen. I’ve been there a long time and I’ve played (quarterback) on a championship team in the 60s. I coached in the 70s and on a national championship (team) in the 80s and three more SEC championships in the 80s. And I promise you, I’ve never seen the excitement there is right now at the University of Georgia with our fans, with our players."
Of course, Georgia is selling this new era under Smart. He said he was able to put together a “first-class, real competitive,” staff that has its fill of SEC coaching experience. After working for the demanding Nick Saban at Alabama, Smart is now asking his staff for the same work ethic.
“I want the guy next to me to put the same sweat in the bucket that I’m putting in,” Smart said. “That’s carried over to my staff. When you get kind of mixed messages in there where this guy’s got to do this and this guy doesn’t, you create a little bit of envy in the room. He makes sure there’s no envy in the room. It’s very straight forward about what you’re supposed to do.”
Smart said he’s taking a lot of things he learned from Saban and applying it to Georgia, but “there’s also things that I’m not doing that are different. You learn that by working for somebody.”
Cavan, who has worked in fundraising at Georgia starting in 2002 and later became a special assistant to athletic director Greg McGarity , called Smart the “most thorough coach I’ve seen in a long, long time.”
Smart is promoting a simple message that he shared on Monday: Do Your Job.
“We’re trying to send a message to our team, I’m trying to give them a message, deliver a message and hammer it home,” he said.
Smart got the “Do Your Job” slogan from a professional development trip he took to visit the New England Patriots several years ago during an Alabama offseason.
The words were written behind a secretary’s desk. In the defensive team meeting room. Even in the bathroom over the urinals. Bill O’Brien, now the Houston Texans head coach and then a Patriots offensive assistant, filled Smart in on what it all meant.
It was how coach Bill Belichick defined everyone’s job in the organization and held them accountable. He told everyone on the 53-man roster what their role was.
So Smart returned to Alabama with that simple message from the Patriots. It’s caught on with the NFL team now hawking items at its online ProShop on everything from hoodies to knit hats to coffee mugs.
Smart is instilling that to Georgia’s current players now this offseason.
It’s the latest phase after assembling a coaching staff and putting the finishing touches on a top 10 signing class.
“I know what kind of grinder he is and what kind of worker he is,” former Georgia All-American defensive end and ESPN analyst David Pollack said Wednesday on the “Bulldog Bytes” podcast. “He showed that with a great recruiting class even though he was only in office for what, about four weeks? I think he’ll do great things. I think Georgia’s in great shape. I think you’ve got a young, proven guy, not proven from the standpoint of a head coach, but a proven recruiter, a proven defensive pedigree and a guy that’s spent time with the best coach in college football in Nick Saban. Everything about the signs for Georgia points up.”
That doesn’t mean that Georgia will be world-beaters in 2016.
Pollack points to questions at offensive tackle and on a need for the defensive line to continue to improve. Of course, there is the matter of quarterback to determine.
“Georgia is definitely a closer step to being back to where they need to be,” Pollack said. “I think Kirby will do a great job.”
Cavan arrived ahead of Smart Monday in Macon and sat beside him on the dais. He was on the plane back from Arizona with Smart, defensive coordinator Mel Tucker and inside linebackers coach Glenn Schumann after Alabama won the national title game in January. He accompanied Smart to an athletic board meeting last week.
“Our coaches there with him are doing a great job with these guys,” Cavan told the crowd. “You’ll be pleased next year when we kick it off.”
...READ MORE HERE...
