Maybe it’s the gray hair.
Maybe it’s the fact that Kirby Smart has now been Georgia’s head coach for more than a decade.
But looking at Smart at the podium heading into the 2026 season, it’s fair to wonder how much longer we’re actually going to see him coaching Georgia.
Smart is only 50 years old.
That’s obviously not old in the coaching world. Nick Saban coached Alabama until he was 72. Plenty of coaches have stayed on the sidelines well into their 60s and even 70s.
But Smart has never sounded like somebody who wants to do this forever.
Last year, he admitted that while he admired Saban’s ability to coach for as long as he did, he has “so many things” he wants to experience outside football and acknowledged just how consuming the grind of coaching can be.
And college football certainly isn’t getting any easier.
Smart is now the longest-tenured head coach in the SEC, and this will be his 11th season running Georgia. He’s dealing with NIL, the transfer portal, constant roster management, recruiting, revenue sharing and seemingly endless changes to the sport. At SEC Media Days this summer, Smart openly expressed frustration with constantly having to discuss where college football is heading.
That kind of stuff adds up.
You can almost see it.
Go back and look at Kirby when Georgia hired him in 2015, then look at him now. The gray has definitely arrived.
That’s not to say Smart looks ready to walk away tomorrow. Far from it.
Georgia has him under contract through December 2033, and his deal pays him $13 million annually.
He’s still recruiting at an elite level, still competing for championships and still appears completely obsessed with winning football games.
But I would be surprised if Kirby Smart is another Nick Saban and we’re watching him patrol the Georgia sideline into his 70s.
The more interesting question might be whether Smart even makes it to the end of that 2033 contract.
By then, he’ll be 58.
He’ll also have spent nearly two decades as Georgia’s head coach, assuming he stays that long.
At some point, the championships, money and accomplishments may be enough. Smart has already delivered Georgia two national championships, multiple SEC titles and one of the greatest stretches in program history.
There really isn’t much left for him to prove.
So enjoy Kirby Smart while he’s here.
Because the gray hair might just be a reminder that the Kirby Smart era isn’t going to last forever.
