Kirby Smart admits he had "a lot of insecurities" upon taking Georgia head coaching job

Kirby Smart has two national titles, a 12-2 finish in 2025 with an SEC Championship win over Alabama, and one of the steadiest programs in the sport. He also spent his first months in the big chair feeling like he was in over his head, and he said as much earlier this year during an appearance on the Sons and Daughters podcast with Shannon Spoke that has began recirculating recently.

"I'm not an overly confident guy," Smart shared. "I think people mistake that of me a lot and think there's a brashness or cockiness. I've got a lot of insecurities when it comes to being a head coach. I had not done it."

That is not the Smart most people see from the outside. The gap he described was a specific one. Coordinating a defense never scared him. Running an entire program was a different story though.

"If you had told me, 'Go be the best D coordinator in the country,' I'd have probably said, yeah, I can do this. I've done it," Smart said. "But I didn't feel that way coming into this job. I felt a little overwhelmed."

Smart took the Georgia job in 2016 after eight seasons as Nick Saban's defensive coordinator at Alabama, with earlier stops under Saban at LSU and with the Miami Dolphins. He had run elite defenses for a decade. However, there was plenty he hadn't done that was going to be required of him at Georgia including hiring an offensive staff, building a strength program, and running the program's budget.

"I don't want to say unprepared because that would be a slap in Nick's face. Nick prepared us really well, but there were things I had not done. There were jobs I had not done. Hiring an offensive staff. Running a budget. Hiring a strength staff. That was not comfortable for me."

The two coaches who shaped how Smart thinks about the job could not have been more different. He worked under Bobby Bowden at Florida State in 2004 before his years in the Saban tree.

"Bobby Bowden and Nick Saban were two extremes," Smart said. "You're talking about a guy that delegated everything in Bobby and a guy in Coach Saban that had his hand in everything. I got these two completely different experiences in terms of watching people work."

The insecurity did not last. "There was a lot of insecurity. I was not overly confident that I could come in and just do a great job. But as I did it, I felt more confident."

Every coordinator who makes the jump inherits a lot of the same things on the list Smart rattled off. Hiring, budgets, strength staff, all the parts of the job that have nothing to do with scheme. Smart's point is that feeling overwhelmed by it does not disqualify you. Doing it anyway is not only where the confidence comes from, but is also essential to how you build the confidence. Two national titles later, and those insecurities in the rearview mirror, he can share his perspective for all to hear.

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