If you're in or around the white collar business world these days, you know that CEOs and COOs always seem to have a book in their hand. Even if it's just a prop. They're really big on the trendiest leadership theories and lingo, as defined by the NY Times Bestseller list. And they want you to know they've read up. Right now it's Atomic Habits, maybe Good to Great or Hidden Potential. CEOs hand these out to the team so everyone will know the buzz words and rework their "personal mission statements."
In the college football world, someone told coaches they're no longer whistle-and-clipboard guys, but CEOs. It's a large organization, your program, and it must be run like an efficient business. So we hear coaches spouting cliches. The year goes by, and it's a new book, new philosophy.
What's different about Georgia's head coach, to my observation, is that he isn't striking these poses, or just reading the book flap. If he's the very image of the CEO coach--much like Saban, his mentor--it's because that's who he really is. He didn't major in phys ed (pssst, he did get his masters in it); he was a Finance major in Athens. SEC Academic Honor Roll all four years. And while he does mouth a few buzz words and self-help maxims, they're always in context and reflect what he really thinks. This is why I believe the "learned everything from Saban" meme is overplayed and less accurate than many believe. Saban hired him because he saw strong leadership philosophy already in place.
More than that, Smart leads and builds based on his philosophy consistently and across all areas of his program. He seems to study constantly, visiting with other coaches and staffs, consulting not just on Xs and Os but on mental health and nutrition. He combines all this cerebral grind-work with being a natural people person, one of those rare coaches who is as tough and demanding as he is loved by his players.
A decisive moment for me came when he embraced the problem of the low-effort Sugar Bowl against Texas, and solved it in the ensuing year. Thus the contrast between FSU's response to disappointment and Georgia's this year. You can try to catch Georgia, but Georgia is a moving target. What's that cliche? Better never sleeps.
Does that mean UGA football is leakproof, unsinkable? We know better. But it does mean that when a new challenge arises, whether it's the portal or a thin defensive line, Smart isn't going to look the other way or (worse) whine and point fingers. Smart is proactive, an answers guy.
Compare to Dabo. Compare to Freeze. Compare to Mullen or a number of others. An issue I know he's looking at is the low grad rate, though we know the NFL draft rate has something to do with that. Because he's a people person, because he genuinely cares about his players, and because he knows the value of a diploma, I think we'll see improvement in that figure.
In the college football world, someone told coaches they're no longer whistle-and-clipboard guys, but CEOs. It's a large organization, your program, and it must be run like an efficient business. So we hear coaches spouting cliches. The year goes by, and it's a new book, new philosophy.
What's different about Georgia's head coach, to my observation, is that he isn't striking these poses, or just reading the book flap. If he's the very image of the CEO coach--much like Saban, his mentor--it's because that's who he really is. He didn't major in phys ed (pssst, he did get his masters in it); he was a Finance major in Athens. SEC Academic Honor Roll all four years. And while he does mouth a few buzz words and self-help maxims, they're always in context and reflect what he really thinks. This is why I believe the "learned everything from Saban" meme is overplayed and less accurate than many believe. Saban hired him because he saw strong leadership philosophy already in place.
More than that, Smart leads and builds based on his philosophy consistently and across all areas of his program. He seems to study constantly, visiting with other coaches and staffs, consulting not just on Xs and Os but on mental health and nutrition. He combines all this cerebral grind-work with being a natural people person, one of those rare coaches who is as tough and demanding as he is loved by his players.
A decisive moment for me came when he embraced the problem of the low-effort Sugar Bowl against Texas, and solved it in the ensuing year. Thus the contrast between FSU's response to disappointment and Georgia's this year. You can try to catch Georgia, but Georgia is a moving target. What's that cliche? Better never sleeps.
Does that mean UGA football is leakproof, unsinkable? We know better. But it does mean that when a new challenge arises, whether it's the portal or a thin defensive line, Smart isn't going to look the other way or (worse) whine and point fingers. Smart is proactive, an answers guy.
Compare to Dabo. Compare to Freeze. Compare to Mullen or a number of others. An issue I know he's looking at is the low grad rate, though we know the NFL draft rate has something to do with that. Because he's a people person, because he genuinely cares about his players, and because he knows the value of a diploma, I think we'll see improvement in that figure.
