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Putting Kirby Smart’s first season into context: Georgia’s history of first-year head coaches
By John Hollis
Published:
Mark Richt did something not even the venerable Vince Dooley managed in his first year as the head football coach at Georgia:
Richt won eight games in 2001 debut season.
Richt, who was run off following the 2015 season and replaced with Kirby Smart, became the first Bulldogs coach to win eight games in his inaugural season since H.J. Stegeman in 1920.
Now all eyes are on Smart as the longtime former Alabama defensive coordinator is back at his alma mater amidst much fanfare and high expectations.
The Dawgs will again be loaded this season, but history has shown that almost every first-year coach in Athens endures growing pains of varying degrees.
Dooley, who went on to become the most successful coach in school history after winning one national championship (1980) and six SEC crowns in 25 years, went 7-3-1 during his first season in Athens in 1964, capped by a win over Texas Tech in the Sun Bowl.
That was the standard for first-year coaches until Richt, a former Florida State offensive coordinator, arrived and went 8-4 in 2001.
The Dawgs finished a respectable 5-3 in the SEC that fall, handing Tennessee its only regular season loss and beating rival Georgia Tech for the first time since 1997. Georgia lost in the Music City Bowl, but Richt’s first season was a success by any definition and set the stage for future success during his 15-year tenure.
But Richt and Dooley have been more the exception than the norm for first-year Georgia head football coaches.
Ray Goff, who replaced Dooley, started with a 6-6 mark in 1989.
Richt’s predecessor, Jim Donnan, was a middling 5-6 his first season in 1996. Both Harry Mehre (4-5 in 1928) and Wallace Butts (5-6 in 1939) also endured losing inaugural seasons before getting their programs rolling later.
A first-time head coach, Smart might be poised to break the trend if he has a healthy Nick Chubb back at tailback. Smart said Tuesday that Chubb is ahead of schedule following last year’s season-ending knee injury.
Even if Chubb isn’t ready by opening day, Georgia still boasts plenty of talent with the likes of tailback Sony Michel, promising receiver Terry Godwin and electrifying return man Isaiah McKenzie.
Resolving questions at quarterback, linebacker and special teams will be chief among Smart’s top priorities. He’ll have to do so quickly because the Bulldogs face a demanding schedule that includes games against three ranked teams within the season’s first five weeks, including the Sept. 3 opener in Atlanta against North Carolina.
Spring football is usually an afterthought of sorts at rich programs like Georgia, where talent abounds and coaching changes are rare. But these are hardly normal times in Athens, and Smart needs to gauge quickly what cards he’s been dealt as the 2016 season nears.
That’s because getting his coaching career off on the right foot will be critical for him. Both Mehre and Butts overcame their slow starts and went on to become Georgia legends. But the public is considerably less patient these days.
Just ask Richt.
John Hollis is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers Georgia and Florida.
