re: Kirby's transition to Head Coach

I had the pleasure of getting to know him a little bit back in 2000. I have a cabin on a private fishing pond below Lake Park, Ga. and took him bass fishing twice. He was the DB coach at Valdosta State at the time and I met him at my friends hunting club. Started talking about fishing and invited him to go out on the lake whenever he had time. I was an 8th grade HC at the time and a UGA alum so we talked a little about his playing days at UGA and his experience so far as a coach. Talked mainly about hunting and fishing during the grand total of 6 hours I spent with the guy on the lake. I never could have envisioned, at that time, the track he would take. Not sure he could have either. We talked one more time after the second fishing outing about another outing and next thing I knew he was gone to FSU.

Point being that I actually spent time with the guy when he was younger and couldn't tell you one thing about his mental toughness. He was just a young (and much skinnier) DII coach who was extremely humble and well mannered and liked to hunt and fish. Would love to have a chance to see him again and tell him that had I known he would be earning 4 million a year in 16 years I would have wanted a deferred payment on the two monsters he caught out of the lake.