ATHENS — There’s been plenty of outside chatter around Kirby Smart’s coaching staff this offseason.
Given the shortcomings the offense had in 2024, many, including former Georgia quarterback Buck Belue and ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, wanted to see change when it comes to the coaching staff.
Yet Smart experienced no coaching turnover, as the Bulldogs bring back all 10 assistants for the first time in Smart’s 10 seasons at Georgia.
And Smart believes that stability greatly helps Georgia in 2025.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in this organization, the foundation we’ve built,” Smart said. “I’ve got the best staff in the country, and I have no doubt about that. I’ve got one of the most experienced SEC staffs there is, and to be honest with you, there’s a lot of confidence in that, and I have a lot of confidence in it.”
Smart is back for his 10th season in the league, with only Kentucky’s Mark Stoops having spent more time in the SEC.
While there were calls for Georgia to replace offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and offensive line coach Stacy Searels, Smart opted to lean on their experience in helping usher in a new litter of Georgia players. The Georgia head coach said the stability on staff is one of Georgia’s “weapons”, especially in an age when there is so much turnover in the sport.
Smart estimated that a third of his roster — 33 percent — is new this season when factoring in transfers and 2025 signees.
“There’s a lot of positive about having everybody back. I think we built our program around retention,” Smart said. “I think we’ve got the most stable, not only staff, but stable organization in all of college football. I think that’s what we’ve hung our hat on. We have stability. We have retention. We have a great foundation. We’re built to last. We don’t have to worry about year-in, year-out, tons of change. I think this league will chew you up and spit you out. This league is brutal.”
From a player side, Georgia has to replace four offensive linemen and find a new full-time starting quarterback. That will already be difficult enough, especially as Dylan Fairchild, Jared Wilson and Tate Ratledge all figure to be taken in next month’s NFL draft.
Adding a new position coach could make the process of fixing the offensive line even more daunting.
Instead, offensive tackles Earnest Greene and Monroe Freeling will have to work with Searels to get the offensive line back to its prior standard.
“We’ve kinda had this coming for a while, so it’s been an anticipation of how we can create depth in our signing classes,” Smart said. “We’ve got a lot of young offensive linemen in our signing classes who haven’t played who need to grow up and play.”
On the defensive side of the ball, linebacker Raylen Wilson is among those excited to continue learning from defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann. The 2022 season will be his fourth as Georgia’s defensive play caller and 10th as the inside linebackers coach.
And while Smart was coy on the future of Will Muschamp when it comes to his role at Georgia, players are excited about the prospect of continuity when it comes to the defense.
“It helps our development tremendously because he has so much years of experience, so he really has a nugget, a new nugget every day,” Wilson said. “Just to right now, we jot everything down in the meetings. So it’s really helpful.”
Time will tell how much retention helps Smart and the Georgia program. The Bulldogs are 53-5 over the previous four seasons, winning two SEC championships and two national championships in that time.
But the Bulldogs are coming off an 11-3 season that left many, including Smart unsatisfied. Many want to see Georgia sustain the national championship winning ways the Bulldogs had in 2021 and 2022.
Entering 2025, the Bulldogs now have to break in a number of players, including at the quarterback position.
Gunner Stockton and Ryan Puglisi will battle for the starting gig. Stockton is a substantial favorite to win the job, in part because of his experience at the end of the 2024 season.
“Gunner’s obviously a very likable human,” Greene said. “A lot of people don’t have too many bad things to say about Gunner. You know, just the consistency aspect of it, it’s easy to be who you’re supposed to be for one day or two days, but just seeing somebody be the same person over the course of, I want to say, two months now, so it’s really just consistency that stands out.”
Smart is banking on the familiarity and consistency of his coaching staff to get the most out of the new faces in new places, such as Stockton.
The hope is that the higher-level continuity keeps the Georgia machine turning. As opposed to it rusting from the inside out.
