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Greetings from "Can't Wait For Saturday," your morning morsel of college football, courtesy of longtime Illini beat writer, AP Top 25 voter and Heisman state rep Bob Asmussen. He'll give you his views each day on the game he loves
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Somebody had to replace Nick Saban as the highest-paid coach in college football. Kirby Smart is the right guy for the job.
Georgia redid the beloved coach's deal, giving Smart a $13 million salary for 10 years. That puts him a couple million or so ahead of Clemson's Dabo Swinney, who can bring it up in his next salary discussion.
And Smart can earn a lot more than that with annual bonuses well over another million.
Smart is getting a $2,5 million raise, And it is a bargain for the folks in Athens. In his eight seasons, he has a ridiculous 94-16 overall record and 56-9 record in league games. Except for his 8-5 first season and 8-2 COVID year, Smart has won at least 11 games every campaign. He has two national titles so far and is 42-2 the last three seasons.
The Bulldogs lost a bunch of guys to the NFL, but Smart has simply reloaded and has a team considered one of the national title favorites in 2024.
Another good thing about Smart, not a whiff of trouble off the field. A good guy with a nice family, who has his dream job at his alma mater.
He is only 48 and on path to be an easy, first-ballot College Football Hall of Famer. But he isn't stepping away any time soon. It won't be easy to walk away from his current salary, which is only going to grow.
