Why ESPN insider has Georgia football’s Kirby Smart over Curt Cignetti as best CFB coach
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With Kirby Smart and the Georgia football team looking to dominate college football once again, there is no denying that the head coach is hunting to add another national championship to his resume. While Smart and the Georgia football program have had flameouts in the past two College Football Playoff tourneys, many analysts still believe that the coach is the best in the nation.
In the latest piece from ESPN that ranks the head coaches in the nation, Indiana Hoosiers’ Curt Cignetti was No. 1 with Smart coming right after. However, four voters chose Smart over Cignetti, with Max Olson saying that the Bulldogs “remain the gold standard for elite, sustained success.”
“Cignetti has pulled off an absolute miracle in his two years at Indiana, and I have no issue with him sitting on the throne in these rankings. The argument for Smart is his program remains the gold standard for elite, sustained success, even as the expanded CFP, the portal, and NIL have, in many ways, made his job tougher. He has maintained an incredibly high standard at Georgia with no bad years, finishing in the top seven of the AP poll in nine consecutive seasons, with eight trips to the SEC title game,” Olson wrote.
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“If you exclude the COVID year, Smart is averaging 12.6 wins over his last eight full seasons at Georgia,” Olson continued. “His SEC record is a ridiculous 40-5 since 2021. Sure, consecutive CFP semifinal losses in the Sugar Bowl have been disappointing endings for the back-to-back SEC champs, but I still think Smart’s track record of acquiring and developing blue-chip talent and consistently winning at the absolute highest level can’t be beat.”
At any rate, Smart looks to retain that success this season as the Georgia football program opens on Sept. 5 against Tennessee State.
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