Georgia head coach Kirby Smart is known for his motivating ways — including NSFW locker room speeches.
The infamous speech — given ahead of the 2022 National Championship — led to the first of Georgia’s back-to-back College Football Playoff National Championships, with the team taking down SEC rival Alabama and stamping Smart as an all-time legendary motivator.
College Football Hall of Famer Talks Kirby Smart’s Motivating Ways
College Football Hall of Famer and former Georgia linebacker David Pollack discussed Smart’s motivating ways, calling him one of the coaches that inspires the most confidence in him.
“Obviously, Kirby learned from Nick (Saban). I’ve spent hours and hours with both of them over the years and they’re very similar. It’s why the run was so good with Nick. Nick had a guy that was like him on the defensive side of the ball that he could trust and he could do other things and not have to be in it all the time,” Pollack said on his podcast “See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack.”
“But just the leadership, the motivation. When they leaked the pregame speech before the national championship, mother-freaker, I wanted to make that my ringtone. Literally. … But I couldn’t because I knew I’d wake up every morning and run through the sheetrock and have to replace it.”
Smart’s motivating ways have quickly sprung him towards the top of the college football coaching rankings after less than a decade at the helm in Georgia, even topping ESPN’s top 10 college football head coaches list. But Smart’s will to win is really what sets him apart for Pollack.
“(Kirby Smart) did (a speech) on leadership, this was awhile back — this was two SEC Media Days ago — and he talked about the cost of leadership,” Pollack continued. “I was like, ‘that’s fascinating.’ I’ve heard put in so many packages, so many ideas, but he was like, ‘You have to understand, when you’re a leader, it costs you something.’
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Like, you have to be OK when people get upset with you. That’s part of the cost. It’s not fun, (but) you’ve got to be Ok with not being liked. I think there’s hundreds of those with Kirby, the quotes and stuff, that in-the-moment intensity (that) can sit down and get a rise out of you where I’m ready to Mel Gibson charge – ‘Freedom!’ I’m ready to rock and roll.”
We’ll see if he can motivate Georgia to another championship run this year.
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