How Long Will UGA Faithful Give Kirby...?

Tideflyer

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To win a national championship? With the talent in Athens at unprecedented levels ( for UGA, IMO ), when will the patience run thin?
 

DawgAlum2054

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The man just finished his 3rd season as a head coach. While Georgia is recruiting at a high level, Kirby and staff are just now going into the 4th year and will have majority of the players they recruited. I am not sure what more can be expected out of a head coach than what he has accomplished in 3 years.

Personally, I give Kirby another 7 years. Who out there is better that is going to come knocking? Georgia is not going to get Saban or Dabo. Lincoln Riley and Kirby are seen as similar coaches with similar accomplishments in their timelines in my opinion and regardless Georgia is not getting Lincoln Riley.

Patience could run thin among many fans if Kirby is in his 6th season and hasn’t won it, but once again... who do you replace him with?
 

CraigD

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Way too early for this talk in my opinion. He missed one NC on a miracle-type play and came within an eyelash of being in the playoffs last year.

I think the standard for elite coaching success has changed. Nowadays making the playoffs puts you on the level formerly reserved for being in the title game. Kirby has had his team there and doesn’t look like there’s going to be a drop-off any time soon.




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81usaf92

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I would say that Kirby having the same record as Richt had in his 1st 3 years with a far superior team than Richt in those 3 years doesn't look good for Kirby.
 

rgw

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I would say that Kirby having the same record as Richt had in his 1st 3 years with a far superior team than Richt in those 3 years doesn't look good for Kirby.
Weaker SEC back then though. Spurrier exiting the conference for the Skins around the same time. Alabama on probation. Tennessee was starting the backslide. Auburn and LSU were arguably their only real competition. When a coach wins the SEC and play in a national title game within the first couple of years at a school, I reckon that coach earned himself at least 5 more years of job security. Look at Gus Malzahn. I doubt he make it to 2017 without that 2013 SEC champion and national #2 finish. As a fanbase we may have our sights almost solely on the national at this juncture but winning the state and winning the conference are goal #1 and #2 at almost every other school. If you're beating your rivals and have a trophy or two that aren't growing stale, you're a secure head coach.
 

81usaf92

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Weaker SEC back then though. Spurrier exiting the conference for the Skins around the same time. Alabama on probation. Tennessee was starting the backslide. Auburn and LSU were arguably their only real competition. When a coach wins the SEC and play in a national title game within the first couple of years at a school, I reckon that coach earned himself at least 5 more years of job security. Look at Gus Malzahn. I doubt he make it to 2017 without that 2013 SEC champion and national #2 finish. As a fanbase we may have our sights almost solely on the national at this juncture but winning the state and winning the conference are goal #1 and #2 at almost every other school. If you're beating your rivals and have a trophy or two that aren't growing stale, you're a secure head coach.
I think UGA fans will lose a bit of faith if he fails to get past Alabama this year, and will lose a ton of faith if he fails to get to Atlanta. He has probably 5 years to work with regardless, but the Fire Kirby bandwagon will problem be heard from the distance and will get louder and louder every year until he does finally break through.
 

12Namath12

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I have no love for Kirby, but even though he has lost to Bama in 2 critical games, he has already accomplished 1 SEC Championship and 1 playoff appearance.

Kirby has to make the next step ultimately winning a National Championship soon or the Jawja faithful will turn on him.
 
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81usaf92

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I have no love for Kirby, but even though he has lost to Bama in 2 critical games, he has already accomplished 1 SEC Championship. Mark Richt comparisons comes to mind at this point.

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There was a guy that won the SEC in his 1st year, came 13 seconds from winning a national championship, and BEAT BAMA... I really have a hard time thinking Kirby is special just because he beat Oklahoma and won a SECCG.
 

Tideflyer

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The man just finished his 3rd season as a head coach. While Georgia is recruiting at a high level, Kirby and staff are just now going into the 4th year and will have majority of the players they recruited. I am not sure what more can be expected out of a head coach than what he has accomplished in 3 years.

Personally, I give Kirby another 7 years. Who out there is better that is going to come knocking? Georgia is not going to get Saban or Dabo. Lincoln Riley and Kirby are seen as similar coaches with similar accomplishments in their timelines in my opinion and regardless Georgia is not getting Lincoln Riley.

Patience could run thin among many fans if Kirby is in his 6th season and hasn’t won it, but once again... who do you replace him with?

That`s interesting. So, if I understand correctly, 10 years of " close, but no cigar " as far as a national championship is concerned would be okay? That`s a lot of patience with that talent base! I agree with you about patience running thin at 6 years, and I think it would get pretty sporty in Athens regardless of who is or is not available to replace him. Then again, I could be wrong if the level to which UGA fans tolerated Richt is any indication of what they`ll tolerate.
 

rgw

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I think they'll break through one of these years probably without even having to matchup with Alabama to earn it. Too much talent to not win championships if he just follows Daddy's template.
 

81usaf92

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I think they'll break through one of these years probably without even having to matchup with Alabama to earn it. Too much talent to not win championships if he just follows Daddy's template.
I don't know. A lot of it really depends on 3 things, 1) What Dabo has2) What Saban has and 3) what Mullen has. I think this year might be one of those do or die years for him in terms of winning a title for a while. One thing is for certain, and that is he wont win a title with that dinosaur offense.
 

rgw

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Here's the thing: I think Saban outmaneuvered Smart more than purely outwit him. Alabama's two wins over Smart's Georgia come down to two big factors:

1. Alabama's QB depth the prior two seasons allowed them to cope with an ineffective QB in one matchup and an injured QB in the other matchup.

2. Georgia's OC struggled with managing the 2nd half lead in each game. Fromm has lit us up in each game but in key situations he either wasn't on the field or even taking the snap. Can't tell you how many times they've wasted first down with a gadget QB situation against you but it felt like they were often in the later stages and they did not result in an effective play.


Seems like Smart has recognized #2 and trying to correct it.
 

81usaf92

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Here's the thing: I think Saban outmaneuvered Smart more than purely outwit him. .
True, but its more of Saban's offense vs Kirby's offense. Not as much as an X's and O's type deal.





1. Alabama's QB depth the prior two seasons allowed them to cope with an ineffective QB in one matchup and an injured QB in the other matchup.



.


Yes and No. Yes because we had a gunslinger behind the #1, but No in terms of it just being a good quarterback stepping in. Jalen Hurts in 2018 was a way better passer than 2017.


In the NCG Jalen limited us on what we could do, and really played into UGA's hands of just grinding away the game. Once Tua came in UGA was in big trouble because they were basically in for a scoreboard lighting game in which they had no answer for with a dinosaur offense. It was really like if our 2011 team was to play our 2018 team.

In the SECCG, UGA probably was due to get ran out of the stadium had Tua not played injured. Once Jalen came in we had a competent qb that could stretch the field again, and they were doomed.

Basically we are an offense that scores in the upper 40's while they are a team that really scores in the high 20's low 30's.








2. Georgia's OC struggled with managing the 2nd half lead in each game. Fromm has lit us up in each game but in key situations he either wasn't on the field or even taking the snap. Can't tell you how many times they've wasted first down with a gadget QB situation against you but it felt like they were often in the later stages and they did not result in an effective play.





.

It didn't help, but ultimately it was Kirby's decision to play the hokey pokey game with qbs. But then again Kirby lives on that old Stallings idea of Score and sit on a lead. You cant do that against teams that can quick strike you. Alabama scored 21 unanswered point in just 17 minutes with an injured qb and a backup; it took UGA 26 minutes to score 21 points with a full deck.





Seems like Smart has recognized #2 and trying to correct it.


Yeah but he also lost his best asset in Mel Tucker, and a lot of key players to an early draft and transfer.
 

PA Tide Fan

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I think as long as UGA can continue winning the East the fans will be patient. If however UF overtakes them then their fans will begin losing faith and his seat may begin to get warm.
 

Relayer

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A lot of you folks are kidding yourselves. Kirby has UGA established as a top 5 program now and shows no signs of letting up. He is up against two fantastic programs/coaches, one of which is in his own conference. Nobody at Georgia is going to run him off when he is ruling the east and playing extremely competitive with Bama/Saban. If he wasn't a UGA grad he'd be one of the top names on Bama's list when Saban retires (which is not that far off). Probably will still get a call just to be sure he's not interested.
 

81usaf92

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A lot of you folks are kidding yourselves. Kirby has UGA established as a top 5 program now and shows no signs of letting up. He is up against two fantastic programs/coaches, one of which is in his own conference. Nobody at Georgia is going to run him off when he is ruling the east and playing extremely competitive with Bama/Saban. If he wasn't a UGA grad he'd be one of the top names on Bama's list when Saban retires (which is not that far off). Probably will still get a call just to be sure he's not interested.
Nobody is kidding themselves because nobody is saying he is going to get ran off in the very near future, and I hope like hell that 2020 is the last time in his lifetime that he steps into BDS. Kirby Smart makes me seriously consider cheering for Tennessee for one game a year.... but then I come to my senses and turn off the TV. We don't need Kirby Smart even if he is the best choice at Alabama.
 
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selmaborntidefan

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To win a national championship? With the talent in Athens at unprecedented levels ( for UGA, IMO ), when will the patience run thin?
Many of the most ridiculous posts on this board begin with, "Let's assume every other program under the sun thinks like Alabama fans do and BASED ON THAT WRONG ASSUMPTION, let's start a poll on when the other school is going to fire their coach based on not living up to Alabama standards."

It is debatable whether they'll ever "fire the coach for not winning a national championship" at Georgia.

Kirby's bigger risk is (like Richt) he went so high so fast that consecutive 8-5 seasons will get the natives restless, especially when Florida gets it going under Mullen.
 

selmaborntidefan

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That`s interesting. So, if I understand correctly, 10 years of " close, but no cigar " as far as a national championship is concerned would be okay? That`s a lot of patience with that talent base! I agree with you about patience running thin at 6 years, and I think it would get pretty sporty in Athens regardless of who is or is not available to replace him. Then again, I could be wrong if the level to which UGA fans tolerated Richt is any indication of what they`ll tolerate.

Oh for the love of God.....

Georgia - as glue sniffingly delusional as a lot of them can be - is NOT LSU, who emotionally fires a national championship winning coach solely because he's not Nick Saban.

I can find plenty wrong with the toleration of Richt, but Georgia at least managed to replace him with something better.

There's another problem that nobody seems to want to consider right now - we basically have free agency in college football that we didn't have even as recently as Malzahn's Season of Luck. You can have a lot of talent and then lose a lot of it very quickly because "child with NFL delusions isn't starting."
 

81usaf92

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I can find plenty wrong with the toleration of Richt, but Georgia at least managed to replace him with something better.

"
Debatable and too soon. Kirby inherited some elite talent, but still manages to get blown out atleast once a year. Richt didn't inherit near as much from Donnan.
 

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