'I thought Derek Dooley and Coach Spurrier were about to throw blows' – Kirby Smart drops must-hear story that every SEC fan will love
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Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart was in rare form on Monday at The Steve Spurrier Awards in Gainesville.
Smart gave a seven-minute monologue while on stage beside Spurrier that would've killed at an open-mic night.
The three-time SEC coach of the year told stories in front of a crowd that included legendary Tennessee Vols head coach Phillip Fulmer and Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal, among others.
One of the stories that Smart shared was a classic about playing golf with Steve Spurrier and Derek Dooley.
Kirby Smart shares hilarious story about Steve Spurrier and Derek Dooley
DawgNation was in Gainesville Monday night to capture Smart's comments on video.
"The Peach Bowl golf tournament, every year we get to play [it] and enjoy golf," said Smart. "They have the coaches, and then they have the legends. We play golf and they pair a coach with a legend. So last year — I'm not a very good golfer, by the way, guys, I'm a 15 handicap, and that's being nice — but I got paired with Coach Spurrier. And I've always been paired with a legend that was not a good golfer. And I'm competitive as hell. I want to win everything I do. We're playing the golf tournament, and the first thing I do is go up to Gary Stokan [and ask], 'Who's my legend?' Finally, I got Coach Spurrier. I'm fired up.
"He's playing. He's in a bunker on about number 16 or 17. We're two or three back. We're not playing real well. He's struggling to get in the bunker. The bunker is deep, and I'm like, 'You don't need to go in there, coach.' He says, 'I'm going in there.' He holes out from the bunker. And he couldn't even see it…We end up not winning the event, but I had the greatest joy getting to play in that event. But here's the best part of the story. They had to stretch for legends. No offense, Coach Fulmer, but one of the legends was former Tennessee coach Derek Dooley."
"So [Dooley] was one of the legends that got to come play in the event," continued Smart. "And he came over to me, and Coach Spurrier came over to me. [Spurrier's] like, 'Hey, Kirby, you've got a chance to win some SEC championships.' And he goes, 'How many have you won?' I was like, 'I don't know, two or three.' He's like, 'You've got a chance at my record.' I was like, 'Well, what's your record?' He was like, 'Well, we won seven.'
"So he says seven. And Derek Dooley is standing beside me. I don't know if you know the whole story, but Derek's dad is Vince (Dooley). And Vince won six. [Spurrier] says seven and immediately Derek says, 'No coach, no coach, one of those was taken away, so you only won six. You're tied with my dad.' I thought Derek Dooley and Coach Spurrier were about to throw blows right there in front of everybody. I mean, it made me somewhat uncomfortable, because I didn't know who was right. I mean, when all that was going on, I was a little minnow running around when they were winning all of those back and forth."
The SEC championship that Spurrier counts that isn't recognized came in 1990. Florida finished with the best record in the SEC that season, but Tennessee was named the SEC champion due to the Gators being on probation.
You can check out the video of Smart's classic story here (again, thanks to DawgNation).
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This story was originally published by A to Z Sports on Feb 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the Nashville section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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