"But the truth is I had 10 men on the field": When Kirby Smart recalled a blunder during his first job interview

Kirby Smart has established himself as one of the best coaches in college football. Following his successful tenure under Nick Saban at Alabama, he has replicated the success in Tuscaloosa on his own at Georgia, leading the Bulldogs to two national championships.

However, the actual start to his career was a pretty challenging and hilarious one. Smart joined his alma mater, Georgia, as a graduate assistant after being cut by the Indianapolis Colts in 1999. It was long before he had got a coaching opportunity for a role at Valdosta State.

In his interview, Kirby Smart had to face a team that included Valdosta State coach Chris Hatcher and defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. Smart would go on to make a big tactical blunder during the session. He gave a narration of the hilarious story himself.

"I was a graduate assistant at Georgia, making nothing but, basically, a stipend,” Smart said. “They came in to interview me, and I was nervous, you can imagine being nervous for your first interview.

“Of course, Will is sitting back there like he knows everything and he's only been coaching three or four years ahead of me, but he's sitting back there, and he tells me to draw up the base defense at Georgia."

He continued:

"Well, I didn't get to draw up the defense that I knew from playing under. I had to draw up the defense that the coordinator at the time had, which was Kevin Ramsey, and obviously I didn't know it real well.

"So when I drew it up there, they claimed I had 12 men on the field. But the truth is I had 10 men on the field. So they kept laughing and giggling and I couldn't figure out what they thought was so funny, and then finally one of them said, 'You don't have enough people up there. We're allowed to play with 11 here in college football.'"

Irrespective of the blunder Smart committed in the interview, he landed the job and became the Blazers’ defensive coordinator in 2000. He was promoted to the defensive coordinator role in 2001 before ending his time with the program.

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Kirby Smart's coaching journey since leaving Valdosta State

Kirby Smart left Valdosta State in 2021 to return to Division I of college football. He went to Florida State as a graduate assistant in 2002 and remained with the Seminoles until 2003. He had the opportunity to work with Nick Saban for the first time at LSU in 2004 after then.

Smart returned to Georgia in 2005 after Saban had left LSU for the NFL. However, the two reunited in 2006 with the Miami Dolphins, where he was the safety coach. Smart followed Saban back to college football in 2007 when he took the Alabama Job, serving as associate head coach.

Kirby Smart became the defensive coordinator of the Crimson Tide in his second season at Alabama and was with the program until 2015. He once again returned to Georgia in 2016, taking the head coaching role.