Kirby Smart, Georgia Nearing Long-Term Contract Extension After UGA's National Title

It appears Kirby Smart is planning to remain at Georgia for a long time. 

The national championship-winning head coach and the Georgia Bulldogs are finalizing a long-term contract extension, school president Jere Morehead said, per The Athletic's Seth Emerson.

Morehead said the deal will be "commensurate … with a national championship-winning coach."

Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks noted that the negotiation process between the school and Smart has gone well. 

"We work closely with his agent [Jimmy Sexton] on it," Brooks said. "It’s been a great process with him. No qualms there. It’s been a great process."

Smart is expected to become one of the highest-paid head coaches in college football. The terms of the deal are unclear, but it wouldn't be surprising to see him paid similarly to USC's Lincoln Riley, Alabama's Nick Saban, LSU's Brian Kelly and Michigan State's Mel Tucker, all of who have been reported to be making more than $9 million per year.

Smart's new contract will mark his second extension with Georgia. After the 2017 season, he signed a seven-year, $49 million extension with the school. When he took over as head coach of the Bulldogs in 2016, he signed a six-year deal that paid him $3.75 million annually. 

It would be a well-deserved extension for Smart, who led Georgia to a 14-1 record last season en route to the school's first national title since 1980. The 2021 campaign was his sixth season as the team's head coach.

Smart has been head coach of the Bulldogs since 2016. He has gone 66-15 in that span and is 6-2 in bowl games. Georgia's two bowl losses came in the 2018 national title game against Alabama and the 2019 Sugar Bowl against Texas. 

Before taking over as head coach of the Bulldogs, Smart served as a defensive coordinator for the Alabama Crimson Tide from 2008-15. He also served as Alabama's defensive backs coach in 2007 and was a safeties coach for the Miami Dolphins in 2006. 

In his earlier coaching days, Smart was a defensive backs coach for LSU (2004) and a running backs coach for Georgia (2005). He got his start as an administrative assistant for Georgia in 1999 and went on to serve as the defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator at Valdosta State in 2000 and 2001 before serving as a graduate assistant at Florida State from 2002-03.