Former Georgia Bulldogs will finally meet as head coaches

Kirby Smart (16) and Will Muschamp (30) were Georgia safeties during the 1990s, and they will meet as head coaches for the first time Saturday night when Smart's Bulldogs visit Muschamp's South Carolina Gamecocks.
Kirby Smart (16) and Will Muschamp (30) were Georgia safeties during the 1990s, and they will meet as head coaches for the first time Saturday night when Smart's Bulldogs visit Muschamp's South Carolina Gamecocks.
photo Kirby Smart (16) and Will Muschamp (30) were Georgia safeties during the 1990s, and they will meet as head coaches for the first time Saturday night when Smart's Bulldogs visit Muschamp's South Carolina Gamecocks.
photo Kirby Smart (16) and Will Muschamp (30) were Georgia safeties during the 1990s, and they will meet as head coaches for the first time Saturday night when Smart's Bulldogs visit Muschamp's South Carolina Gamecocks.

ATHENS, Ga. - Kirby Smart and Will Muschamp were the two defensive coordinators when Alabama defeated Texas in the BCS title game that decided college football's 2009 national championship.

Smart and Muschamp were the defensive coordinators in last year's Iron Bowl.

The two friends will meet for the first time as head coaches Saturday night when Smart's Georgia Bulldogs travel to face Muschamp's South Carolina Gamecocks, but neither is making a big deal about it.

"It's South Carolina-Georgia," Muschamp said. "It's a great rivalry. It's an SEC Eastern Division game and an important game all the time for both schools, and with both schools coming off back-to-back losses, it's a critical game for both squads.

"I have a lot of respect for Kirby. He's a great friend, and regardless of what happens Saturday or 10 years from now, we'll always be friends."

Smart is in his first season as head coach at Georgia, while Muschamp is in his first year in Columbia and his fifth as a head coach in the Southeastern Conference. Muschamp guided Florida to a 28-21 record from 2011 to 2014, with the highlight being an 11-1 regular season in 2012.

The two were Georgia safeties during the 1990s, but their paths barely overlapped as players. Muschamp was a senior starter in 1994, when the Bulldogs went 6-4-1 in Ray Goff's sixth season as coach, while Smart redshirted that year.

"I think I've had so many hits since then that I don't remember everything that well," Smart said. "I just remember he was a senior when I was redshirting as a freshman. He's a very good friend of mine and a good friend of our family. We've been good friends for a long time, and it will remain that way throughout."

Their relationship as coaches began in 2000, when Muschamp was the defensive coordinator and Smart the secondary coach at a Division II school.

"I got to know him pretty well at Georgia, but it was really when Chris Hatcher hired me as defensive coordinator at Valdosta State," Muschamp said. "Kirby had just been cut by the Colts and was looking for a coaching job. He interviewed, and we hired him, and he lived with Carol and I for a while."

Muschamp was hired by LSU's Nick Saban after the 2000 season and worked as Saban's defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 2001 to 2004, with the Tigers winning the national title in 2003. Smart replaced him as Valdosta State's coordinator for the 2001 season and spent the 2002-03 seasons as a Florida State graduate assistant before reuniting with Muschamp as LSU's secondary coach.

When Saban left college coaching for his two-year stint with the Miami Dolphins, Smart and Muschamp traveled different paths. Muschamp worked with the Dolphins in 2005 before becoming a college coordinator again with Auburn (2006-07) and Texas (2008-10).

Smart became Georgia's running backs coach in 2005 before joining Saban with the Dolphins the next year and then following him to Alabama, where he worked for nine years. He was the Crimson Tide's defensive coordinator for the last eight of those years and was a part of four national titles.

A Muschamp-coached team last beat a Smart-coached team in 2007, when Auburn beat Alabama. Smart teams have won the past three meetings.

"It's never really been about that for me," Smart said. "Will and I are good friends who talk from time to time, but it's never an extra motivation, because that's not what it's about. It's about our players."

The Bulldogs hold a 48-18-2 series edge over South Carolina but have won just two of the last six meetings.

Chubb good to go

Bulldogs junior running back Nick Chubb got in for just one play in Saturday's 34-31 loss to Tennessee, gaining 3 yards on the first play of Georgia's second possession. Chubb injured his ankle during the first half of the previous week's loss at Ole Miss.

"We feel good about him going into this week," Smart said. "We're not holding him back in any kind of way. He was cleared to go for this last game, but it was a deal of whether he was better at the time than the other backs. He didn't practice the whole week, and that made it a lot harder for him to go in, but he's cleared to go."

Excessive celebration

Smart was asked Monday about sophomore cornerback Rico McGraw racing on the field without his helmet following Jacob Eason's 47-yard touchdown pass to Riley Ridley with 10 seconds remaining that put the Bulldogs up 31-28. The 15-yard penalty gave the Vols a more manageable final throw to win the game.

"It's a rule, and it's probably a good rule for college football," Smart said. "You're trying to teach young men about discipline and doing things the right way and that it's a team atmosphere, and that's what we all want. I talked to the team right after the game, but it wasn't to rant or rave by any means.

"I was very honest, truthful and blunt, and that's the way they need to hear it."

Odds and ends

South Carolina ranks last in the SEC in scoring offense (14.0 points per game), while Georgia is 13th in scoring defense (30.8).... Smart expects freshman defensive end David Marshall (concussion) to play this week after sitting out Saturday.... Georgia's home game next week against Vanderbilt will kick off at noon and be televised by the SEC Network.... Smart on five-star freshman Mecole Hardman, who has played on special teams but not at cornerback: "He's trying hard. He's competing and playing with toughness. He's just not the guy right now. He doesn't play as well as the other guys, but he's a great kid who competes every day and is learning a new position."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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