On the surface this may seem like an obvious answer, but l want to open it up a bit.
Kirby is a dynamite recruiter. Now let’s be honest, there’s obviously some shady stuff going on with his recruiting.
To this point about recruiting, In 2016 he won 8 games, got embarrassed by Ole Miss, lost to Derek Mason’s Vandy, lost to us and Florida, and barely squeaked by Nicholl’s State, yet was magically able to pull the #3 class the next year. What did TWENTY 4/5 star players see that made them want to come play for Kirby after year one? Since then, every year some other teams win or play for a Natty, but Georgia still manages to either recruit at the same level as teams that are winning it all, or in some cases recruit better than teams that are winning it all (see the 2020 class for example). But that being said, more power to him, he’s found a way to beat the system, even if this does have a very “Hugh Freeze Ole Miss” feel to it.
In 2017 he played for a Natty, can’t deny that it was impressive, but let’s talk about how he got there. Richt’s juniors and seniors, combined with a mysteriously epic recruiting class, led to a really good football team. But Kirby got some help. In 2017 the East was a dumpster fire, with Tennessee and Florida being the dumpster fire-est of them all. From the West, Georgia drew Miss State, who was awful, and Auburn, who murdered them, handing them their only loss of the regular season. Georgia didn’t have to play Bama in the SEC Champ game like teams usually do, as Auburn had beaten Bama in the regular season and went on to rematch Georgia in the championship game, which Georgia won. To cap it off, Georgia got the luxury of annual playoff chokers Oklahoma in the first round of the playoffs. They squeaked by with an OT win, then went on to lose to Bama in the Natty.
Since then, they have dropped a game every year they have no business losing, even though they are playing with some of the best talent in the country. In Kirby’s fifth year, he has Bama-level talent, and yet just got humiliated by Nick Saban.
So is he legitimately a great coach? Or is he honestly just working with enough talent to hide the fact that he is mediocre at best? What would his record look like if his classes were hanging around that Top 7-12 range like Richts?
