Lifelong friends, Muschamp and Kirby Smart now head coaches in SEC East
HOOVER, ALA.—Will Muschamp and Georgia head coach Kirby Smart go way back: they were teammates at Georgia for a year, Muschamp was on the coaching staff when Smart played, and they even coached together.
When the current South Carolina coach was defensive coordinator at Valdosta State in Georgia, he brought Smart in for an interview. Smart was a little nervous, and when asked to diagram a play, he had a mathematical mistake.
He left a player off the field.
“They kept laughing, and I could never figure out what they were laughing at,” Smart said. “I actually had 10 on the field.”
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Smart would eventually get the job coaching defensive backs, but his interview would last the rest of the day. It concluded with a basketball game, and Smart took revenge on Muschamp laughing during the interview.
“Me and (Valdosta State) Coach (Chris) Hatcher beat his eyes out and he ran out of the gym mad,” Smart said, smiling. “He left the gym and we never saw him for four more hours because we beat him mercy rule in basketball.”
That basketball game started what would turn into a lifelong friendship—and rivalry—between the two coaches.
The two would make their rounds in the SEC; Muschamp and Smart both had stops at LSU, where they coached together in 2004. Smart used words like colleague and friend to describe Muschamp, saying, “he’s a guy I feel like I can always trust.”
After, Muschamp would have stops in the SEC with Auburn and Florida with Smart going to Alabama. Smart spent nine years at Alabama under Nick Saban. He’s been a part of four National and SEC Titles.
Now, they’ll be reunited once again, for the first time with both as head coaches. Georgia and South Carolina will play in Columbia on Oct. 8.
Smart said there will “unfortunately” be no basketball played this trip, joking that he wishes he could still play. But what will happen is a chance for two career SEC coaches and friends to spend some time together again.
“I know that’s hard for you guys to believe—I know it’s hard for the fan bases to believe—but a lot of this coaching profession goes way deeper than the competitive nature on the road recruiting and on the field,” Smart said. “I know his kids, I know his wife, his parents; it goes deeper than that.”
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