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Kirby Smart knows coaching change is inevitable at Georgia

In the hours after winning a National Championship, a hoarse Kirby Smart was speaking to Rece Davis. He wasn’t speaking about Kelee Ringo’s interception or the touchdown pass to Adonai Mitchell.

He was speaking gravely about his growing concerns about the sport of college football. And while he didn’t mention Matt Luke by name, after the Georgia offensive line coach stepped down this week to spend more time with his family, Smart’s comments sound like they’re alluding to the decision Luke made.

“It worries me, I’ll be real honest with you, where the game of college football is going,” Smart told Davis. “The first concern I have is the best leaders and the best men to run it and organize it are leaving. Because you said relentless, the best coaches are going to the NFL because they get more time with their families. They want no part of NIL, portal, constant recruiting. Go live it and see how long you want to do it.

“It’s not what it used to be. I see coaches left and right that have stepped out of this game that are done. Great leaders, they don’t want to be a part of it. That concerns me for the future of it.”

For Luke, he spent two years at Georgia, which was proceeded by over 20 seasons at Ole Miss, Tennessee, Duke and Murray State. He went straight from playing and into the coaching ranks. He had been a lifer in the sport.

But with all the rapid change in college football, even in the time since Luke arrived in Athens, the job wears on you and your family. Multiple times this season Smart spoke openly about the sacrifices he and his fellow assistants made with their own families in order to help recruit the next wave of Bulldogs.

Related: Matt Luke resignation sign of times, demanding nature of Kirby Smart’s Georgia program

Add in new name, image and likeness laws and the ability for every college athlete to transfer at least once and managing a roster becomes a lot more difficult. That’s before you factor in the excellence that winning a championship demands.

Georgia has lost four assistant coaches this offseason. Dan Lanning was hired to run his program up at Oregon. Luke stepped down from his post as Georgia’s offensive line coach to be with his family.

“Last, and most importantly, I want to thank my wife Ashley, my sons Harrison and Cooper, as well as my entire family, for their love and support over the years,” Luke said in a statement on his departure. “The opportunity for us to be together more excites me about this next chapter in our lives.”

Cortez Hankton accepted the wide receivers position at LSU and Jahmile Addae is now the defensive backs coach at Miami. Both of those coaches had various reasons for leaving, but it’s worth pointing out that both coaches are moving closer to places where they grew up. Hankton is from Louisiana and has many ties to the state, while the same goes for Addae and south Florida.

The coaching hires Georgia has made this offseason also mirror this same philosophy in some ways. Bryan McClendon and Mike Bobo are coached all over the country, but the two most high-profiles hirings Georgia made bring both assistants back to where they previously played and also coached.

This amount of turnover is the price that comes with winning a championship. Players move on — Georgia is sending a record 14 players to the NFL combine next week — and coaches get bigger jobs. Alabama deals with this every offseason. Now Georgia does as well.

So how do Smart and Georgia go about adapting to these new circumstances impacting the program and the players?

Related: How Georgia football juggles challenges of modern recruiting

“I think we are ever-changing. I can’t say that we changed from this year to last year. I just think it is subtle,” Smart said. “The way things are going you are going to have to continue to do that.”

Smart spent much of his National signing Day press conference talking about the importance of fit. With a college football-best 18 early enrollees, it’s clear Georgia is looking for a specific type of person, in addition to talented players.

The same can be said with regards to coaches as well. Fran Brown and Chidrea Uzo-Diribie both figure to be excellent recruiters. It’s the name of the game in college football. What’s more is that with both are on the younger side in terms of age and figure to build up at Georgia over the coming years. They won’t be in and out and onto the next job.

While it’s understandable that one might fret about that level of change on the coaching staff, it’s also worth remembering which coaches ended up staying on staff. Running backs coach Dell McGee and inside linebackers coach Glenn Schumann will return for their seventh seasons with the program. They are the lone two original on-field assistants from Smart’s first staff that are still on the team.

Defensive line coach Tray Scott returns as well for Georgia, making it his sixth season in Athens. Todd Hartley, tight ends coach who like McClendon and Bobo graduated from the University of Georgia, will be back for his fourth season.

Georgia also will end up keeping offensive coordinator Todd Monken and now co-defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. If you had been told in August of 2021 that Georgia were to win a National Championship, one likely would’ve assumed that Monken would’ve gotten a bigger job elsewhere.

Muschamp also received a significant raise and seems to very much fit what Smart wants on his coaching staff going forward. The longer Georgia can keep the core coaches like McGee, Schumann, Hartley and Muschamp around, the strong Georgia’s culture will be. A superior culture is better able to withstand the ever-changing landscape in college football.

Luke stepping down is a loss for not just for Georgia but the sport as a whole. He won’t be the last coach to do so and likely won’t be the last coach affiliated with Georgia who makes the decision in hopes of spending more time with their family.

The Bulldogs now have to go out and find a replacement for Luke. Someone who fits the Georgia culture, while being able to withstand the relentless pressure that comes with working in modern college football.

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