re: Pick a Football Coach: Kirby vs Saban

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It's too close to call.

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It is?

Saban. His record speaks for itself

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Actually for UGA specifically I would say yes. Kirby is a 100% perfect fit at UGA, or at least it looks that way at the moment.

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I'll grant this much -- if Georgia had the opportunity to fire Kirby and hire Saban, that would actually be a tough question. But that wasn't the question the OP asked.

To me it is, yeah. As it is right now, I wouldn't trade him straight up for Saban.

I think Kirby proved last year that he can keep his team focused and mentally prepared throughout a season, much like Saban. He can also recruit and win big games, and he's a Georgia guy.

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Actually for UGA specifically I would say yes.

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Kirby has been a head coach for two years? Right?

So you are saying a guy who has multiple nc's and conference championships at more than one program is remotely close to same as Kirby?

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To me it is, yeah. As it is right now, I wouldn't trade him straight up for Saban.

I think Kirby proved last year that he can keep his team focused and mentally prepared throughout a season, much like Saban. He can also recruit and win big games, and he's a Georgia guy.

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This is why OP was asking non-UGA and non-Bama fans. To try and stamp out the homerism.

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I think Kirby proved last year that he can keep his team focused and mentally prepared throughout a season, much like Saban. He can also recruit and win big games, and he's a Georgia guy.

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Personally, I think all of those things are probably true. But I'm not giving up 5 good years (where good years equal national titles 50% of the time) for a guy who hasn't at least done the things you mentioned in multiple years. Way too many coaching carcasses out there of guys with 1 big run early on and good but not great success from then on out. Personally, I don't think Kirby is one of those, but I'm always wary of a 1 year sample size.

JMHO

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if Georgia had the opportunity to fire Kirby and hire Saban, that would actually be a tough question. But that wasn't the question the OP asked.

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It's a very similar question. It is almost identical. Actually, the question is the same, you are just analyzing it from a different perspective, as all smart people should, when a difficult question arises.

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Not really since you specifically said non-UGA fans in the OP. Smart is likely uniquely special to Georgia and Georgia alone for a variety of reasons. The question you asked in the OP was rightfully trying to account for that by asking non-UGA fans. The questions are very different.

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It's a very similar question. It is almost identical. Actually, the question is the same, you are just analyzing it from a different perspective, as all smart people should, when a difficult question arises.

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No, it's not really. Your question presupposes that the program, any program, faces no consequences from making the choice itself, just from the ultimate outcome. My question supposes you ditch one for the other, or not. Fire Kirby and risk the long-term potential for a proven winner, or keep Kirby and risk him flaming out while Saban is likely retired and unavailable by the time y'all realize you made the wrong choice. This is a very concrete situation as opposed to your original question, which carries virtually no risk for any SEC program other than Georgia. Very different scenarios. Put it this way...say you had the chance to hire either Saban or Kirby three years ago. Who do you think the UGA fanbase would be pulling for?

Saban