Nick Saban Tale of the Tape: Kirby Smart

Usually when coaches want to heap praise or wish former colleagues well when they meet on the football field, it happens after the game with the congratulatory handshake at midfield. But when Alabama and Georgia met in the 2023 SEC Championship game, Kirby Smart went out of his way to do so before the game, maybe just in case.

“Look, I appreciate all you've done for me and my career,” Smart described his conversation with Nick Saban. “You're one of the best to ever do it, and I have immense respect for you.”

There was also a thank you or two in there as well, and with good reason. Saban gave him his big break, hiring him in hopes of making him a protégé. He brought him along as an assistant coach at both LSU and the Miami Dolphins, and then Smart was the one next to him on the sideline during the first half of his time at Alabama, during which the Crimson Tide won four national championships with him as defensive coordinator.

Of course, Smart then took over at Georgia for the 2016 season, taking the Process and numerous coaches and staff personnel with him — even the way the Bulldogs evaluated recruits. Some joked he created Tuscaloosa East, but no one argued with the results. During just his second season leading his alma mater, Georgia reached the national championship game at the end of the 2017 season, and then won back-to-back national titles in 2021-22.

“I don't think there's a whole lot (of differences),” said Jeremy Pruitt, another of Saban’s defensive coordinators. “I think both teams are very similar. They're both committed to running the football, playing good on special teams and playing good defense.”

Same system. Same style. Similar schemes. A lot of familiar faces on both sides.

“The foundations are the same,” said Georgia outside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer, who used to work for Saban as his Director of Player Development (2010-12). “Kirby is probably a little more personable, approachable.”

When Smart returned to his alma mater in 2015, he also hired Crimson Tide defensive backs coach Mel Tucker to be his defensive coordinator, and Alabama staffer Glenn Schumann to be his inside linebackers coach. Strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran later followed.

Meanwhile, many of Alabama’s star players on the defensive side had also been recruited and coached by Smart. It made for an interested dynamic when the teams players as there really were secrets between the teams.

“He's somebody that challenged me and pushed me outside of my comfort zone every day,” All-American defensive back Minkah Fitzpatrick said. “So (I) definitely got better from him being my coach.

“It's really cool just seeing the success that they've had. I'm kind of not surprised by it.”

Although Alabama and Georgia seemed to regularly go toe-to-toe after Smart took over the Bulldogs, he managed to beat his former boss only once, albeit at a crucial time, the 2022 National Championship Game. Alabama had won the SEC Championship Game a month previous, but the Crimson Tide subsequently suffered numerous crucial injuries, sidelining quarterbacks Bryce Young’s two most dynamic receivers, and both starting cornerbacks. 

Of course, Saban and Alabama broke Georgia’s heart with the 2017 title game at Mercedez-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, where freshman Tua Tagovailoa replaced Jalen Hurts and threw the second-and-26 touchdown to DeVonta Smith one play after taking an overtime sack. The following year it was Hurts replacing Tagovailoa and pulling off another dramatic comeback in the SEC Championship Game at the same venue.

The Crimson Tide also won the 2023 SEC Championship Game as well, by the narrow score of 27-24 to snap No. 1 Georgia’s 29 game winning streak and knock the Bulldogs out of the College Football Playoff.

That’s where Smart had gone out of his way to say thanks.

“What you all don't understand is this guy was on our staff for, I don't know, 10 years,” Saban said. “(My wife) Terry was there when his babies are born. I mean, you become a part of a family. That's what you do when you're together for a long time.”

The next time they would see each other in a football setting was six months later at SEC Media Days, where Saban was an analyst for ESPN. Smart, who might have the best chance of anyone to top some of Saban’s accolades if he stays in the college game, was still getting used to the idea.

"I feel like I'm giving answers to Darth Vader,” he joked.

Note: Statistics for both coaches are through Nick Saban's final year in college football, 2023.

SEE ALSO: Nick Saban vs. Jim Harbaugh

Tale of the Tape will regularly appear on Alabama Crimson Tide On Si/BamaCentral through the 2025 and 2026 college football seasons. Christopher Walsh is the author of the 2014 book "Nick Saban vs. College Football: The Case for College Football's Greatest Coach."