Kirby Smart was officially named Georgia's head football coach Sunday, and with that came a sharp increase in wealth.
Smart was earning $1.5 million annually as Alabama's defensive coordinator but will now make $3.75 million guiding his alma mater. Georgia released a memorandum of understanding that detailed his salary as well as a six-year commitment that will start Jan. 1, 2016, and run through Dec. 31, 2021.
Georgia president Jere Morehead met with Smart on Sunday morning and immediately approved athletic director Greg McGarity's recommendation of the former Bulldogs defensive back.
"It was critical to identify a person who would focus on a specific, defined process of developing championship football teams on and off the playing field," McGarity said in a release. "Someone who understands the true meaning of a student-athlete by actually experiencing it himself - someone who competed at the highest levels on the playing field, was mentored by some of the very best in the game, and understood the specific ingredients necessary to excel at the highest levels of college athletics - Kirby Smart fits that profile.
"I believe Kirby Smart is the perfect fit for the University of Georgia."
Smart will be introduced at a news conference shortly after noon today in Athens but will remain with Nick Saban's Crimson Tide through their run in the four-team College Football Playoff. Alabama clinched a semifinal spot with Saturday's 29-15 win over Florida in the Southeastern Conference title game and will play Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Eve.
"Kirby is going to do what he does over there for the next week to 10 days," Saban said Sunday afternoon, "and when we come back and start practices, he's going to come back and do what he does here. I know the professional integrity that Kirby has and the commitment that he has to our players as well as the commitment he has to his new job, and I feel very comfortable that he'll be able to manage that.
"I think the University of Georgia has been first class in how they've sort of handled this transition and helping us both be able to do this the way we're going to do it."
Smart was already working for Georgia on Sunday, visiting in-state offensive line commitment Ben Cleveland.
According to the memorandum, Smart will have a $400,000 base salary and $3.35 million in supplemental income. He will receive an additional $1 million for winning the national title, $600,000 for reaching the championship game, $500,000 for reaching the four-team playoff, $400,000 for winning the SEC title, $200,000 for reaching one of the six major bowls (Sugar, Rose, Cotton, Fiesta, Orange or Peach), and $150,000 for winning the SEC East.
"It's an honor and privilege to return home to the University of Georgia and my home state," said Smart, who played safety for the Bulldogs in the late 1990s and was Georgia's running backs coach in 2005. "I'm deeply appreciative of the faith President Morehead, Greg McGarity and the athletic board executive committee have demonstrated in asking me to lead one of the truly great college football programs in the country. I also want to thank Coach Saban. I have been fortunate to spend 11 seasons with him as my mentor and have learned a tremendous amount from him as a coach and teacher.
"I'm honored and excited for the opportunity at Georgia and promise high energy, effort every day and hard work every minute on the part of all our coaches, staff and student-athletes."
Should Smart resign, he would owe Georgia $3.75 million if he stepped down in 2016, $3 million in '17, $2.5 million in '18, $2 million in '19, $1.5 million in '20 and $400,000 in '21.
If Georgia fires Smart, the school would owe him $13.5 million in 2016, $10.8 million in 2017, $7.05 million in 2018, $4.7 million in 2019, $2.35 million in 2020 and 62.67 percent of his base salary and supplemental income remaining through 2021.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.