Kirby Smart would've never stuck as an Auburn man had the Auburn football program, though more specifically, the search committee in charge of replacing fallen national championship head coach Gene Chizik, had Georgia eventually come calling -- this, at least, according to Crain & Company's Jake Crain.
"Kirby Smart would have left Auburn for the Georgia job if he took the job," Crain prefaced before saying, "It was momma calling him home. That’s a fact."
Smart explained why he didn't get hired in 2012 back in 2017 while speaking with ESPN's Chris Low: the Tigers didn't have the blessing of AD Jay Jacobs.
“The others on the search committee were good with it, I think, but I don’t think Jay could ever get past the thought of the Auburn coach coaching at Alabama for another month and all that went into that,” Smart said. “I get that, and the truth is it worked out the way it was supposed to. My experience is that it usually does.”
Kirby Smart won big everywhere he went instead of Auburn football
Smart saw success at the places he ended up spending his career with instead of Auburn; four titles with Alabama as defensive coordinator and two straight as Georgia's head coach, to be exact. Jacobs would probably like a mulligan in hindsight. Even if Crain's prophecy happened as it was foretold.
AU is looking like a factor on the recruiting trail again, and results on the field could follow in 2024 and 2025 after the Hugh Freeze era started off underwhelmingly in 2023.
But no Tiger fan could ever forget the pain of the Bryan Harsin era or the frustration of Gus Malzahn's later years. It could've been better. For how long, it's not clear. But Smart would've been a better option than the rest for however long he would've been on the Plains before his eventual UGA jump.