Coach has funny take on old rival

Nick Saban is a member of the media. He’ll be part of ESPN’s College Gameday for the upcoming football season. But for some of his now-former rivals in the coaching ranks, it may take a while to get used to Saban in his new role.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart put it into perspective on Tuesday.

Smart spoke about a call to set up for media day. Realizing that he’d be talking to Saban created a strange feeling for Smart.

“I was nervous,” Smart said in a video shared by Zach Klein of WSB-TV , Atlanta’s ABC affiliate. “I was like, ‘For 15 minutes, I’m gonna share with him? About my team?’ I’m like, ‘I feel like I’m giving answers to Darth Vader or something.’ It’s very different.”

Saban and Smart have had different professional relationships over the years.

Smart worked under Saban as the defensive backs coach at LSU in 2004, then as the safeties coach in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins in 2006. Smart followed Saban to Alabama in 2007, serving as an assistant head coach and defensive backs coach in 2007, then becoming the defensive coordinator in 2008, a position he held through the 2015 season. In 2016, Smart became Georgia’s head coach and battled with Saban’s Alabama teams for conference and national championships. From 2016-2023, either the Bulldogs or Crimson Tide won all but one SEC title. Saban and Smart both one a pair of national championships in that time with each beating the other for one of those.

Given how long they coached against each other and the stakes in nearly all of those games, it makes sense that Smart would feel a little weird about giving Saban too much. In time, though, some of that awkwardness should fade.

[Zach Klein on X ]

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