re: Nick Saban (2008-2014) vs Kirby Smart (2017-2023)

quote:

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Add it up, That’s 12 years of HC experience to learn from, which is far more than the 0 Kirby had.

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Ultimately it really depends on what lessons were most critical to the success for Saban and Kirby.

If it was recruiting, then 8 years being under Saban trumps being a HC at lesser programs.

If it's X's and O's, then being a HC at smaller programs trumps being a coordinator for 8 years prior.

I think we can all agree that Georgia owes no small amount of their success to recruiting, and Smart learned a lot of that under Saban. Saban didn't learn recruiting at this tier from any other coaches; hell, I don't know if recruiting at this tier existed at a school prior to Saban... maybe Florida under Spurrier or FSU giving away shoes. No clue.

I'm not trying to take anything away from either coach; however, I think the "learned from so-and-so vs coached on their own at the HC level" takes on different levels of importance when you think about which was most critical for the success of the program.