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Mike Bobo is back for his second stint as an on-field assistant for the Georgia Bulldogs, an opportunity he said on Thursday was too great a chance to pass on.
The longtime assistant coach was around the program last year, to be clear. He worked as an analyst for coach Kirby Smart. But when Todd Monken left Athens and Smart was faced with the prospect of hiring a new offensive coordinator, it was immediately clear the man for the job was already in the building.
Bobo first served as the program’s quarterbacks coach before he became the offensive coordinator in 2007. In total, he coached at Georgia from 2001-14 and worked with Matthew Stafford and Aaron Murray.
“After Auburn, I had opportunities to go other places, but I wanted to go somewhere I could continue learning as a coach,” Bobo said Thursday. “I always wanted to be under the Coach Smart and Coach Saban tree. I wanted to learn how they practice, how they organize, and how they went about things. I tell recruits that you want to go somewhere that you’re developed, and I came here last year so that I can be developed as a coach.
“Athens is a great place. I met my wife here, my kids were born here, and you’re at a place working for an administration that believes in what we’re doing. You have a head coach that has a plan of how to do things, and to be a part of this program that I played at, went to school at, where I graduated from, I couldn’t pass that opportunity up. But, I didn’t come here last year to be the offensive coordinator. I came here to learn and continue my growth as a coach. It just happened to work out that way.”
Georgia is atop the sport entering 2023. The Bulldogs have won back-to-back national championships. The standard is high.
Asked if he feels like he has an extra edge after previous stops at South Carolina and Auburn went awry, Bobo said he doesn’t approach pressure that way.
“I came here with the mindset of, ‘I’m doing everything I can to help make us successful at the University of Georgia.’ That’s my edge as an offensive coach,” he said. “We know this job has pressure, I’ve sat in this chair and felt those pressures, and I think I’m older and have more experiences now to handle those pressures and focus on our football team.”
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
