For the longest time, the SEC and college football as a whole ran through Nick Saban and Alabama.
Nobody could stand up to the Crimson Tide. That was, of course, until Saban’s former assistant coach and mentee, Kirby Smart, took the reigns at Georgia.
He hit the ground running at UGA, playing in the national championship in just his second season as head coach before winning it all in 2020 and 2021. The Bulldogs had a shot to pull of a three-peat to cement themselves as a dynasty, but the CFP just wasn’t in the cards in 2024 despite Smart consistently cleaning up on the recruiting trail and year after year putting out one of the best teams in college football.
He’s turned UGA into a football factory, so it makes all kinds of sense that the Bulldogs just repaid him in a big way.
Per Seth Emerson of The Athletic, Smart is getting a raise that will make him the highest-paid coach in the sport.