Smart not happy with Ludacris contract story, or other ‘distractions’

ATHENS — Kirby Smart mostly talked football during a Thursday interview on the SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum Show. But at the end of the interview Georgia’s head football coach was asked about the G-Day Ludacris concert, and revelations about UGA’s contract with the rap star.

UGA paid Ludacris $65,000 for his performance, according to a contract that was released Tuesday in compliance with the Open Records Act. The contract also included a rider showing that UGA agreed to provide 42 items for Ludacris’ room, including, most notoriously, condoms.

“To be honest with you I don’t have much of a reaction,” Smart said. “I wasn’t privy to the contract, and didn’t see much of it. I’ve only seen the publications of it, and obviously we’ve gotta do a better job of managing situations like that.”

Smart didn’t elaborate. Earlier in the interview, he did make an oblique mention about “distractions” when asked about managing expectations for highly-touted freshman quarterback Jacob Eason.

“I think the best thing you can do is provide distractions, Paul, which seems to be what we’re able to do here in Georgia is get a lot of distractions for him,” Smart said. “Because we’ve had a lot of other stuff going on that has kept him out of the media.”

There have indeed been those, and that was just during the five weeks of spring practice: Three players arrested, the debate over Smart’s transfer policy, and the Open Records Act legislation to protect UGA athletics.

Smart did go on to comment more on Eason, and as we are contractually obligated to write practically everything that is said about the quarterbacks, and especially Eason, here you go:

“He made some bad reads and he made some bad decisions but he made some really good throws,” Smart said. “Anytime a guy makes elite throws it opens your eyes to what the guy can do. He’s gotta mature some, he’s gotta be able to command the huddle and correct mistakes that other players make. He’s gotta improve on that. But obviously he’s very talented. We knew that coming in. We got to see that a little bit Saturday.”

Smart was on the Finebaum show for about 12 minutes, and was asked about a number of subjects, including the adjustment to head coach, the transition period while Alabama was in the national playoff, and other football matters.