Kirby Smart

Kirby Smart
Sport(s)	Football
Current position
Title	Defensive coordinator
Team	Alabama
Annual salary	$750,000
Biographical details
Born	December 23, 1975 (1975-12-23) Montgomery, Alabama
Playing career
1995–1998	Georgia
Position(s)	Defensive back
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1999 2000 2001 2002–03 2004 2005 2006 2007–Present	Georgia (Admin. asst.) Valdosta State (DBs) Valdosta State (DC) Florida State (GA) LSU (DBs) Georgia (RBs) Miami Dolphins (Safeties) Alabama (Asst. coach/DC)
Accomplishments and honors
Awards * 2009 Frank Broyles Award Winner

Kirby Smart (born December 23, 1975) is the defensive coordinator for the University of Alabama.

Playing career

The son of a coach himself, Smart started his football career playing High School ball with the Bainbridge High School (Georgia) Bearcats. He then moved on to play defensive back for the University of Georgia Bulldogs. As a senior, he was a first-team All-SEC pick. He finished his career with 13 interceptions, which is currently fourth on the all-time Georgia ranks. He was also a four-time member of the SEC Academic Honor Roll.

Coaching career

Smart began his coaching career with the University of Georgia in 1999, serving one season as an administrative assistant. He then moved to Valdosta State where he spent two seasons as defensive backs coach then being promoted to defensive coordinator in the 2001 season. Between the 2002–2003 football season, Smart was a graduate assistant under Bobby Bowden at Florida State. Smart spent one season in 2004 under LSU head coach Nick Saban. Smart then moved back to the Georgia Bulldogs football program as he served as the team's running backs coach for the 2005 season. His only season in the NFL occurred in 2006 in which he served under Nick Saban again, this time as Miami's safeties coach.

In January 2007, Smart once again followed Nick Saban after Saban was named the head football coach at the University of Alabama. On January 9, Saban named Smart as an assistant coach. On February 27, 2008, Smart was promoted to the team's defensive coordinator.

On December 8, 2009, Smart was awarded the Broyles Award for the nation's best assistant coach. He is the first Alabama assistant coach to win the award.

Smart considered a lucrative contract to be the defensive coordinator at his alma mater, the University of Georgia, but chose to stay with the Tide in early January 2010. On February 2, 2010, the University of Alabama System's Board Of Trustees voted to more than double Smart's salary and extend his contract a year making Smart the highest-paid football assistant on head coach Nick Saban's staff.

Personal

He received an undergraduate degree from Georgia in 1998 and received his master's degree from Florida State University in 2003. He is married to Mary Beth Lycett, who played basketball for the University of Georgia.

External links

• Bio at RollTide.com