How did the best head coaches do in the first 6 years?

I don't think it's a given that UGA makes the playoffs in 07. A 2 loss non division champ would have been a reach.

LSU
Ohio State

Those two were a given.

But then you had Oklahoma, USC, Virginia Tech and West Virginia who were 2 loss conference champs.

And for non conference champs, you had Missouri with 2 losses that played for the Big 12 title and Kansas, who only had one loss.

I bet the final 4 would have been:

Ohio State
LSU
Oklahoma
USC

Doubt that 2002 team could have beaten OSU or Miami.
We were ranked 4th in the last week when no. 1 and 2 both lost. tOSU moved up as they should have. LSU at no. 7, with two losses, jumped us. No one, and I mean no one wanted anything to do with that team by playoff time. We absolutely should have been in a 4 team playoff. If not us, it wouldn't have been VaTech.
 
We were ranked 4th in the last week when no. 1 and 2 both lost. tOSU moved up as they should have. LSU at no. 7, with two losses, jumped us. No one, and I mean no one wanted anything to do with that team by playoff time. We absolutely should have been in a 4 team playoff. If not us, it wouldn't have been VaTech.
The committee wouldn’t put a 10-2 non division champ over the 10-2 and 11-2 conference and division champs
 
This is, or course, directed at @Illustrious Potentate, who has advocated for the firing of Kirby Smart. I am going to be gracious and allow him to change this narrative to "I was just a dumbass troll" now that we won the natty and rule the world.


Three completely different situations. Dabo was his first HC job at a school who would only pull in recruiting classes outside the top 25. Bama was a completely different program than the Bama we know now.
Smart walked into, by far, the best situation, with by far, the most talent. He has done a great job at Georgia, but he has had the deck stacked for him.

I still have NO CLUE how the state of Georgia can have the insane amount of talent, with only one major D1 program and they had a 40 year drought in between titles and it took Bama losing their entire WR corp to do it.

I feel like, with the right coach, Georgia could pull off run like Bama has had.
 
Three completely different situations. Dabo was his first HC job at a school who would only pull in recruiting classes outside the top 25. Bama was a completely different program than the Bama we know now.
Smart walked into, by far, the best situation, with by far, the most talent. He has done a great job at Georgia, but he has had the deck stacked for him.

I still have NO CLUE how the state of Georgia can have the insane amount of talent, with only one major D1 program and they had a 40 year drought in between titles and it took Bama losing their entire WR corp to do it.

I feel like, with the right coach, Georgia could pull off run like Bama has had.
Richt wasn’t a great recruiter. Most of the top talent in Georgia was leaving the state, much like Florida now. Donnan was a mediocre coach and Goff was a bad coach that was given way too long of a leash.

But LOL @ Bama for only having two receivers on their entire roster and both of them selfishly hurting themselves untouched
 
Three completely different situations. Dabo was his first HC job at a school who would only pull in recruiting classes outside the top 25. Bama was a completely different program than the Bama we know now.
Smart walked into, by far, the best situation, with by far, the most talent. He has done a great job at Georgia, but he has had the deck stacked for him.

I still have NO CLUE how the state of Georgia can have the insane amount of talent, with only one major D1 program and they had a 40 year drought in between titles and it took Bama losing their entire WR corp to do it.

I feel like, with the right coach, Georgia could pull off run like Bama has had.
- Smart was his first HC job, too. And, recruiting is part of the job. Can't blame Smart because he knew how to recruit straight out of the gate and it took Dabo a while to learn how.

- What does Bama have to do with anything? Saban's first 6 years were at Michigan State and LSU, not Bama.

- You don't know much about UGA football if you actually believe that all Smart had to do was walk into UGA and everything was going to work out. UGA started going down in 2013 with no top 3 or even top 5 classes. Even Richt's better classes were top heavy with a ton of 3* that didn't pan out. Those of us who lived it know that (1) he did a terrible job recruiting the LOS and QBs, and (2) his roster management was poor ... many years we were way under the 85 limit. Smart came in and turned the recruiting on a dime - 6, 3, 1, 2, 1, 4, 3. His roster management is second to none, and his LOS recruiting is outstanding.

- The 40 year drought is a combination of some bad coaches - Goff, and Donan (love Doanan, but he didn't do a great job), terrible administration (President and ADs) that wasn't all-in (Jan Kemp problem, President Michael Adams), some really bad luck (Hershel Walker going to the USFL early, 5 times in those 40 years we were a win away from a NC, and a great coach who simply lost the passion needed when the game changed with Saban's emergence). I don't expect you to know the details about UGA football, but it's pretty clear to those of us who follow UGA football why the drought happened.

- We have the right coach, and all things equal we might go on such a run. I doubt it for a number of reasons: (1) what Saban has done has never been done which means it likely won't get repeated. (2) with the NIL, free agency, and expansion, CFB is going to be a totally different place over the next decade and more. Maybe that helps us, maybe it hurts. I believe we will win a couple more NCs while Smart is there, but it isn't a smart bet to think anyone will repeat what Saban has done.
 
- Smart was his first HC job, too. And, recruiting is part of the job. Can't blame Smart because he knew how to recruit straight out of the gate and it took Dabo a while to learn how.

- What does Bama have to do with anything? Saban's first 6 years were at Michigan State and LSU, not Bama.

- You don't know much about UGA football if you actually believe that all Smart had to do was walk into UGA and everything was going to work out. UGA started going down in 2013 with no top 3 or even top 5 classes. Even Richt's better classes were top heavy with a ton of 3* that didn't pan out. Those of us who lived it know that (1) he did a terrible job recruiting the LOS and QBs, and (2) his roster management was poor ... many years we were way under the 85 limit. Smart came in and turned the recruiting on a dime - 6, 3, 1, 2, 1, 4, 3. His roster management is second to none, and his LOS recruiting is outstanding.

- The 40 year drought is a combination of some bad coaches - Goff, and Donan (love Doanan, but he didn't do a great job), terrible administration (President and ADs) that wasn't all-in (Jan Kemp problem, President Michael Adams), some really bad luck (Hershel Walker going to the USFL early, 5 times in those 40 years we were a win away from a NC, and a great coach who simply lost the passion needed when the game changed with Saban's emergence). I don't expect you to know the details about UGA football, but it's pretty clear to those of us who follow UGA football why the drought happened.

- We have the right coach, and all things equal we might go on such a run. I doubt it for a number of reasons: (1) what Saban has done has never been done which means it likely won't get repeated. (2) with the NIL, free agency, and expansion, CFB is going to be a totally different place over the next decade and more. Maybe that helps us, maybe it hurts. I believe we will win a couple more NCs while Smart is there, but it isn't a smart bet to think anyone will repeat what Saban has done.
Do you actually believe that Smart walked into a more difficult situation than Dabo did at Clemson, Brian Kelly did at Cincinnati, and Saban did at Michigan State? Smart had a significantly easier jump point between a much more established roster of higher end players and being in a talent rich state.
 
Do you actually believe that Smart walked into a more difficult situation than Dabo did at Clemson, Brian Kelly did at Cincinnati, and Saban did at Michigan State? Smart had a significantly easier jump point between a much more established roster of higher end players and being in a talent rich state.
those guys didn't have to deal with the emotional abuse that @Illustrious Potentate has inflicted on Kirby over the years
 
Do you actually believe that Smart walked into a more difficult situation than Dabo did at Clemson, Brian Kelly did at Cincinnati, and Saban did at Michigan State? Smart had a significantly easier jump point between a much more established roster of higher end players and being in a talent rich state.
Georgia has the single greatest advantage over any other program, including Bama. They have an embarrassment of blue chip recruits in state, on par with the texas, cali and florida, and they are the only major D1 program, I don't count GT -- so they aren't fighting with in state schools over those recruits.

To even try to compare any Georgia's coach to Saban at MSU, Brian Kelly at Cincy, Dabo at Clemson (when Clemson was terrible) is laughable.

You could put a parking cone as Head Coach at Georgia and they'd still bring in a top 20 recruiting class.
 
Do you actually believe that Smart walked into a more difficult situation than Dabo did at Clemson, Brian Kelly did at Cincinnati, and Saban did at Michigan State? Smart had a significantly easier jump point between a much more established roster of higher end players and being in a talent rich state.
I said in a previous post that they all obviously walked into different scenarios. FFS, this isn't some type of scientific analysis where we have a control group, and want to make sure that every variable is the same. Others pointed out great coaches at OU, as an example, that had fantastic first 6 years. And, of course, it shows what a troll @Illustrious Potentate is.

Also, in my case, I look at this and compare it to Richt, one of my favorite all time coaches. For the first 5 years all we heard was that Smart was Richt 2.0. This shows how wrong that was.
 
I said in a previous post that they all obviously walked into different scenarios. FFS, this isn't some type of scientific analysis where we have a control group, and want to make sure that every variable is the same. Others pointed out great coaches at OU, as an example, that had fantastic first 6 years. And, of course, it shows what a troll @Illustrious Potentate is.

Also, in my case, I look at this and compare it to Richt, one of my favorite all time coaches. For the first 5 years all we heard was that Smart was Richt 2.0. This shows how wrong that was.
Richt wouldn’t have choked in 2017
 
Nick Saban
NC

Les Miles
NC

O
NC

I like this game
It's one of the reasons Kelly went to LSU ... not many schools where the last 3 coaches walked in a won natties in a couple years. As stupid as he has been with his accent and the videos, I think he will bring LSU back and will win a natty in the next 5 years.
 
- Smart was his first HC job, too. And, recruiting is part of the job. Can't blame Smart because he knew how to recruit straight out of the gate and it took Dabo a while to learn how.

- What does Bama have to do with anything? Saban's first 6 years were at Michigan State and LSU, not Bama.

- You don't know much about UGA football if you actually believe that all Smart had to do was walk into UGA and everything was going to work out. UGA started going down in 2013 with no top 3 or even top 5 classes. Even Richt's better classes were top heavy with a ton of 3* that didn't pan out. Those of us who lived it know that (1) he did a terrible job recruiting the LOS and QBs, and (2) his roster management was poor ... many years we were way under the 85 limit. Smart came in and turned the recruiting on a dime - 6, 3, 1, 2, 1, 4, 3. His roster management is second to none, and his LOS recruiting is outstanding.

- The 40 year drought is a combination of some bad coaches - Goff, and Donan (love Doanan, but he didn't do a great job), terrible administration (President and ADs) that wasn't all-in (Jan Kemp problem, President Michael Adams), some really bad luck (Hershel Walker going to the USFL early, 5 times in those 40 years we were a win away from a NC, and a great coach who simply lost the passion needed when the game changed with Saban's emergence). I don't expect you to know the details about UGA football, but it's pretty clear to those of us who follow UGA football why the drought happened.

- We have the right coach, and all things equal we might go on such a run. I doubt it for a number of reasons: (1) what Saban has done has never been done which means it likely won't get repeated. (2) with the NIL, free agency, and expansion, CFB is going to be a totally different place over the next decade and more. Maybe that helps us, maybe it hurts. I believe we will win a couple more NCs while Smart is there, but it isn't a smart bet to think anyone will repeat what Saban has done.
I can't help but laugh. You are talking like someone who doesn't have a grasp on reality, because you think having 100 blue chip recruits in state is the norm for everyone. :facepalm: THAT is what makes Kirby Smart a good recruiter.

2021 -- Smart signed 8 top 100 recruits. All 8 are from.............Georgia. All he is doing is keeping in state recruits, in state.

Imagine what Georgia could be if they ever just kept the QB's they could have had in state? DeShaun Watson, Justin, Fields, Trevor Lawrence.
 
Richt wouldn’t have choked in 2017
Richt was a choker. He lost to a mediocre Michigan State team in 2012. In his 15 years at Georgia only 2 conference titles while for half the time Bama was trash and one wasn’t even his guys. CHOKER
 
I can't help but laugh. You are talking like someone who doesn't have a grasp on reality, because you think having 100 blue chip recruits in state is the norm for everyone. :facepalm: THAT is what makes Kirby Smart a good recruiter.

2021 -- Smart signed 8 top 100 recruits. All 8 are from.............Georgia. All he is doing is keeping in state recruits, in state.

Imagine what Georgia could be if they ever just kept the QB's they could have had in state? DeShaun Watson, Justin, Fields, Trevor Lawrence.
Kirby does recruit quite well nationally.

Just the TDs scored from the NCG:

Zamir White- NC
AD Mitchell- Texas
Brock Bowers- California
Kelee Ringo- Arizona

But remember when Richt tried to recruit Cam Newton as a tight end?
 
Richt was a choker. He lost to a mediocre Michigan State team in 2012. In his 15 years at Georgia only 2 conference titles while for half the time Bama was trash and one wasn’t even his guys. CHOKER
One more conference title than Kirby
 
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