Kirby Smart has created a better fan environment for Georgia Bulldogs football
By Abbey Giese
There seems to be more excitement among the Georgia Bulldogs football fan base this season. Kirby Smart has ignited a new enthusiasm around the program.
On Saturday, the Georgia Bulldogs football team won the SEC Championship for the first time since 2005. The Bulldogs locked in their spot in the College Football Playoff by earning a No. 3 ranking after beating the Auburn Tigers 28-7 in the conference title game.
In just his second year as head coach, Kirby Smart has brought Georgia from average to exceptional, and it all started by garnering more support from the fans. One of the first things Smart addressed when Georgia hired him in 2015 was the crowd at the G-Day spring scrimmage game.
At the time, Alabama held the SEC record for spring game attendance. Smart coached under Nick Saban as a defensive coordinator when the Crimson Tide set that record.
Smart wanted to break that record in Athens. He pushed for fans to come and fill Sanford Stadium for his first spring game. The new head coach got exactly what he asked for when the 93,000 fans showed up for the 2016 G-Day game. Before Smart came to Georgia, the record for spring game attendance was less than 50,000.
Even though the Bulldogs did not match this record for Smart’s second spring game, that level of enthusiasm has persisted. This season, the Bulldogs’ fan base has become very well-traveled.
When Georgia played Notre Dame in South Bend early in the season, there was almost a home game atmosphere for the Bulldogs in Notre Dame Stadium.
It's a sea of red and black at Notre Dame Stadium. pic.twitter.com/0Mxzx1FeH9
— Matt Chernoff (@RealMattlanta) September 9, 2017
Georgia fans apparently have every intention of continuing to follow their team with the upcoming Rose Bowl game in the College Football Playoff Semifinal.
By the way hearing from the folks at the @rosebowlgame that the @FootballUGA fans are coming full force. @OU_Football fans better considering the trip to avoid “road” game atmosphere. UGA fans will travel anywhere in masses.
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) December 5, 2017
Before Smart arrived in Athens, the fans did not seem to be as excited about attending the games. Home games would sell out if the Bulldogs played a quality opponent. But it was not uncommon to see people leave games early, and they did not bring such large crowds to away games in the past.
Unlike the Bulldogs’ former coach, Mark Richt, who showed very little emotion on the sidelines, Smart is a particularly animated coach no matter what the circumstances are. He lets his players know when he does not like what they do. But he is also often one of the first congratulate someone for a great play.
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Fans feed off of Smart’s enthusiasm. It makes them want to be apart of what he is building at Georgia. He is developing a program that is elite. Before Georgia always seemed to have the potential to be elite. However, they could never really quite make it to that point.
Mark Richt was a good coach, but he did not have the same excitement for the program that Smart has. The fans’ enthusiasm for the program also seemed to have gotten stale in the last couple of seasons before Smart came to Georgia. To win in the SEC, the kind of passion and competitive drive that Smart has ignited is necessary for success.