By: Joe Delaney

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The Georgia Bulldogs have played NCAA Football for 122 years.

During that time they have won over twice as many games as the have lost. That is a very good record.

In the last 30 years the Bulldogs have had a winning record in 28 of those seasons. Not many schools have had that kind of success.

But in the last 10 seasons the Bulldogs have won 117 games. That includes multiple SEC Championships and multiple NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS. They have gone from good, to great, to arguably the best college football program in the country.

How did the Dawgs accomplish this? The answer can be summed up in one word, KIRBY.

Leaving Alabama after the 2015 season, Kirby returned to his alma mater where he was an All-SEC defensive back in the 90’s.

Starting with 2016 season, Smart led Georgia to an 8-5 record and a 31-23 win in the Liberty Bowl. Humble beginnings.  It was just a mere taste of what was to come.

The 2017 season was highlighted by the 54-48 double overtime win over the Oklahoma Sooners. And while the Dawgs would lose in the National Championship to Alabama that year. The dye was cast.

The Dawgs have gone on during these 10 years to more SEC championships and 2 national championships.

The first National Championship being a thrilling win over the nemesis Crimson Tide 33-18 in 2021. The Dawgs then went 15-0 and back to back in 2022 with the cap being a 65-7 crushing of TCU in the final.

In Kirby Smart the Georgia Bulldogs have the best football coach in the NCAA.

They have become in Coach Smarts words “elite”.

In 2025 the Dawgs went 12-2. The lost 2 games were by a total of 8 points.

They won another SEC championship and finished ranked in the top 5.

Ask a gazillion Georgia fans and they will say it was a good year. A good year? Yeah, that’s it. That’s how high Kirby Smart has set the bar at UGA.

His favorite saying is that “you’re elite or you’re not”. Never has a Georgia football coach expected so much from himself, his players, his team and school. That’s saying a lot when you look back at all the great Georgia coaches.

So how did Kirby Smart go from eating hamburgers at Twin Lakes and coaching linebackers at Valdosta State University to being the head honcho of college football? Two reasons with one being just as important as the other.

First, you coach for almost a decade under the best college coach ever. You coach with Nick Saban every day and you learn and learn and learn. You grow with the guy and when your time comes, you’re ready.

And the second is you bleed Red and Black. Your family bleeds red and black. Kirby isn’t a coach for hire. He’s a damn DAWG. Those two things are what have made him he is. And that is ELITE.