In his second season as Georgia’s head football coach, Kirby Smart guided the Bulldogs to their first Southeastern Conference championship in 12 years, their first trip to the Rose Bowl in 75 years and their first appearance in the four-team national playoff.
Georgia’s 13-2 season ended with a 26-23 overtime loss to Alabama in January’s national championship game, but the Bulldogs have since landed the nation’s No. 1 signing class and packed Sanford Stadium for their G-Day spring game for a second time in three years.
In the money
What SEC football coaches are scheduled to make in 2018:› Alabama’s Nick Saban, $7.53 million*› Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher, $7.5 million› Georgia’s Kirby Smart, $7.0 million**› Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, $6.7 million› Florida’s Dan Mullen $6.1 million› South Carolina’s Will Muschamp $4.2 million› Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, $4.0 million› Tennessee’s Jeremy Pruitt, $3.8 million› LSU’s Ed Orgeron, $3.5 million› Arkansas’ Chad Morris, $3.5 million› Mississippi’s Matt Luke $3.0 million› Vanderbilt’s Derek Mason, $2.72 million***› Mississippi State’s Joe Moorhead, $2.6 million› Missouri’s Barry Odom, $2.4 million* Saban’s salary last season was $11.13 million, which included a $4 million signing bonus for the eight-year contract he agreed to in April 2017.** Georgia did not announce Thursday whether Smart’s salary will be $7 million annually or incrementally staggered over the seven-year period.*** Mason may be above $3 million now. Vanderbilt is the league’s lone private institution and doesn’t have to reveal salary information. The $2.72 million figure was obtained by USA Today from Mason’s federal tax returns from 2015.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart during the National Signing Day press conference at Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall in Athens, Ga., on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018. (Photo by Steffenie Burns)Thursday afternoon, Smart was rewarded for all his efforts.
Handsomely.