Kirby Smart Says National Titles Aren’t the Real Measure of Coaching Success in CFB

Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart believes that national titles do not define coaching success in college football.

In less than 10 years as a head football coach in college football, Kirby Smart has risen to a level of coaching that few figures in the sport ever achieve. The Georgia Bulldogs head coach has won a trio of conference titles, reached a quartet of College Football Playoffs, and won back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022.

But while Smart is one of the most decorated college football coaches in the sport today, he maintains that championship wins are not the metric that should be used to measure success as a coach in college football. He revealed his reasoning for this earlier this week during an episode of Marty & McGee.

"Did Mark Richt win a national championship as the head coach anywhere? But he's successful as hell," said Smart. "He's one of the greatest people, one of the greatest men that I've ever been around. You don't define success by that [winning championships]. "

Smart served as the University of Georgia's running backs coach under Richt during the Dawgs' SEC Championship season in 2005. He also cited former teammate and colleague Will Muschamp as an extremely successful coach who never won a national title.

"Sometimes it takes luck, sometimes it takes breaks," said Smart. "I would not be the person I am today if it weren't for a lot of people who never won one. They impacted my life, and I was fortunate to win one."

Smart and the Bulldogs will begin their campaign for another national title on Saturday, August 30th, as they host the Marshall Thundering Herd in week one of the 2025 college football season. The Bulldogs are currently on a more-than-30-game home win streak at home and have never lost a season opener under Kirby Smart.