Kirby Smart is developing quite the coaching tree not even a full decade into his run of dominance at Georgia.
Kirby Smart may be an outstanding head coach, but you cannot deny the great support he has had from his staff while leading Georgia.
The long-time Nick Saban assistant left Alabama for his alma mater in 2016. While his first year at the helm was a bit of a struggle, Smart has returned Georgia not only to glory, but taken the program to new heights. He was won back-to-back national titles, played for a third in 2017 and has had the Dawgs playing in a New Year's Six bowl every holiday season since his second year.
While great assistants come and go, Smart's ability to recalibrate a staff on the fly is almost as impressive as his recruiting and motivational chops. He has former head coaches on his staff currently in college friends Mike Bobo and Will Muschamp. Other top assistants such as Glenn Schumann, Bryan McClendon and Dell McGee could one day be leading their own college teams.
As of 2023, four former Smart assistants have gone on to lead their own programs. Here they are!
Kirby Smart coach tree: Ranking the head coaches who have served under him
Mel Tucker is a great defensive mind, but only has one great season in four years
Sincerely, I wish nothing but the best for Mel Tucker. He was Smart's trusted defensive coordinator from 2016 to 2018. Tucker left Athens for Colorado, where he had a respectable 5-7 season for CU standards before getting a tremendous opportunity to replace Mark Dantonio at Michigan State. Given that Tucker served as a graduate assistant there under Nick Saban, he had to take it.
In four years as a college football head coach, Tucker is 23-21 overall. The good news for him is he had a fantastic 2021 season at Michigan State, one where the Spartans went 11-2 and won the Peach Bowl over ACC champion Pitt. The bad news is his three other seasons as a Power Five head coach are all of the sub-.500 variety, including this past year's 5-7 disaster in the Big Ten.
Tucker is well-respected in the industry. Even if it doesn't work out for him in East Lansing in the end, he could get pretty much any defensive coordinator job in the Power Five, as well as several in the NFL. Keep in mind he was the defensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears previously. Simply put, Tucker needs to win in the worst way this year.
Michigan State is not the easiest job in the world, but it is a top-15 job with now top-15 resources.
Shane Beamer has turned South Carolina around very quickly in just two seasons
Shane Beamer may be the son of a college coaching legend, but he too stems from several outstanding coaching trees. Whether it be Phillip Fulmer at Tennessee, Steve Spurrier at South Carolina, his dad Frank at his alma mater Virginia Tech, or Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma, these stops have all helped Beamer become a helluva coach at South Carolina. He used to work for Smart, too.
Beamer served as Smart's tight ends and special teams coordinator from 2016 to 2017 before heading to Norman to work for Riley in 2018. Besides his father, Beamer's biggest coaching influence has to be the Head Ball Coach from his time in Columbia. He saw first-hand what you can do at South Carolina under Spurrier. In two seasons, Beamer is 15-11 leading the program.
South Carolina may have great fans, but this is not an easy place to win. The Gamecocks play in the same division as traditional powers Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. At least one must be down for South Carolina to be up. Plus, their biggest rival is in-state foe Clemson! After beating Tennessee and Clemson at the end of year and taking Notre Dame to the brink, Beamer is cooking!
In time, Beamer could be destined for a bigger job, but he is exactly what South Carolina needs.
Sam Pittman never gets the credit he deserves for making Arkansas respectable
Sam Pittman was the second branch to sprout off the Smart coaching tree. The longtime offensive line coach seemed destined to only be a position/assistant head coach in his career. Then, the right job at the right time at the right spot opened up. Pittman had sentimental attachments to Arkansas having coached there previously. What he has done in three years is absolutely amazing.
Pittman has gone 19-17 leading the Razorbacks. Keep in mind the Hogs were the worst team in the SEC by a country mile when he took over in 2020. After going 3-7 in his first season at the helm, Pittman led Arkansas to nine wins in 2021 and seven last year. It should be noted that the Razorbacks play in what has long been the toughest division in college football in the SEC West.
I don't know if Pittman will ever have the Hogs playing in a New Year's Six bowl like Tucker did at Michigan State, Dan Lanning will soon at Oregon and Beamer might at South Carolina. However, not all jobs are created equally. Pittman has embraced being the CEO-type of head coach to perfection. He has done a marvelous job in hiring coaches and getting his players to buy into him.
Yessir! The Boss Hog looks to be here to stay in the SEC for the foreseeable future at Arkansas.
Dan Lanning has the potential to turn Oregon into a national West Coast power
While it remains to be seen what becomes of other notable Smart assistants, namely Glenn Schumann, Dan Lanning stands as potentially the strongest branch to be sprouted to date. Lanning was Smart's former outside linebackers coach beginning in 2018. He replaced Tucker as defensive coordinator in 2019, leaving for the Oregon Ducks after winning it all two years ago.
In his first season leading Oregon, the Ducks went 10-3 in a deep Pac-12. Keep in mind that one of their losses was to Georgia in Week 1 in that absolute lamb slaughtering in Atlanta. Even though the Ducks didn't get to Las Vegas, we saw things out of the Oregon program that leads us to believe Lanning will pick up where Mario Cristobal left off and take this thing to greater heights.
Lanning will take the Smart blueprint and transform Oregon from a team with pretty fly uniforms into a team built on defenses tougher than a $2 steak. With USC and UCLA leaving for the Big Ten after next season, you would think Oregon would be in the mix to dominate whatever becomes of the Pac-12 with the likes of Utah, Washington and quite possibly, Colorado. Lanning is a rock star.
I mean, would it shock you if Lanning's Ducks won the Pac-12 next season and made the playoff?
