Kirby Smart

Kirby Smart is married to Mary Beth Lycett, a former University of Georgia basketball player. Lycett was a four-year letterwinner and two-year starter for the Bulldogs from 2000 to 2003. The couple met after their undergraduate years, when Lycett worked in the UGA Athletic Association business office and helped arrange Smart's interview for Georgia's running backs coach position in 2005.

Smart and Lycett have three children: twins Weston and Julia, born in 2008, and son Andrew, born in 2012. They oversee the Kirby Smart Family Foundation, which supports children and families facing adversity. Smart's father, Sonny Smart, was a high school football coach who coached him during his playing days.

Smart grew up in Bainbridge, Georgia, and played defensive back at Bainbridge High School before joining the Georgia Bulldogs. He was a four-year letterman and played alongside future NFL standouts including Champ Bailey and Hines Ward.

Smart recorded 13 interceptions during his Georgia career, including six in 1997 and five in 1998. He led the SEC in interceptions during his senior season and earned first-team All-SEC honors in 1998. He was also named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll in each of his four college seasons and graduated from Georgia in 1998 with a finance degree.

Smart went undrafted in the 1999 NFL draft and signed with the Indianapolis Colts. He spent the preseason with the team before being released ahead of the regular season.

Smart began coaching at Georgia in 1999 as an administrative assistant. He then coached defensive backs and served as defensive coordinator at Valdosta State, worked as a graduate assistant at Florida State under Bobby Bowden, and coached defensive backs at LSU under Nick Saban. He returned to Georgia as running backs coach in 2005 before joining the Miami Dolphins as safeties coach in 2006.

Smart followed Saban to Alabama in 2007 and became the Crimson Tide's defensive coordinator in 2008. Alabama won three national championships during his tenure, including the 2009, 2011 and 2012 seasons, and Smart received the Broyles Award in 2009 as the nation's top assistant coach. He was also named the AFCA FBS Assistant Coach of the Year in 2012.

Smart worked with Saban at LSU, the Miami Dolphins and Alabama. He left Alabama after the 2015 season to become Georgia's head coach, having helped build defenses that were central to the Crimson Tide's championship run.

Georgia hired Smart as its 26th head football coach in December 2015. He won his first game with the Bulldogs against North Carolina and finished his first season 8-5, including a Liberty Bowl victory over TCU.

In his second season, Smart led Georgia to an 11-1 regular-season record, the SEC East title and the program's first SEC championship since 2005. Georgia defeated Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl semifinal before losing to Alabama in overtime in the national championship game. Smart received the SEC Coach of the Year award and the George Munger Award for the 2017 season.

Georgia continued to reach major postseason games under Smart, including SEC championship appearances and New Year's Six bowl games. His teams recorded three consecutive undefeated regular seasons from 2021 through 2023, and Georgia became the first team in the College Football Playoff era to win consecutive national championships. Smart also became the fifth-fastest coach in FBS history to reach 100 career victories, doing so in his 117th game.

Smart's coaching staff has produced six assistants who later became FBS head coaches, including Shane Beamer, Sam Pittman, Mel Tucker, Dan Lanning, Fran Brown and Dell McGee. Georgia players coached by Smart have also produced numerous first-round NFL draft selections and individual national award winners.

Georgia's 2021 team went 12-0 in the regular season before losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. The Bulldogs defeated Michigan 34-11 in the College Football Playoff semifinal and then beat Alabama 33-18 in the national championship game, ending Georgia's 41-year championship drought.

The 2022 Bulldogs completed a perfect 15-0 season. They won the SEC Championship Game, defeated Ohio State 42-41 in the Peach Bowl semifinal and beat TCU 65-7 in the national championship game. The victory made Smart a back-to-back national championship-winning coach and made Georgia the first repeat champion of the College Football Playoff era.

Georgia won SEC championships under Smart in 2017, 2022, 2024 and 2025. In 2024, the Bulldogs defeated Texas twice, including a 22-19 overtime victory in the SEC Championship Game. In 2025, Georgia defeated Alabama 28-7 to win its fourth SEC title under Smart and reached a fifth consecutive SEC Championship Game.