ATHENS, Ga. — Another leaked Kirby Smart speech to his Georgia football team has gone viral. This time, the coach is not happy about it.
Smart’s profanity-laden pregame and postgame speeches from Georgia’s 20-17 win at Alabama on Saturday were posted on social media after the game and went viral. This wasn’t the first time it’s happened, and in the past Smart has been coy or hasn’t commented. But on Monday, it was clear he regretted that both pieces of audio became public. It’s not clear where the leak came from, but the audio made its way to social media.
“It’s not something I want,” Smart said. “I feel like that’s a spot that you should be able to feel safe to talk to your team and communicate with your team. It’s happened before to us; we’ve got to do a good job of handling it, to be honest with you.”
Previous leaked audio has included Smart in 2022 at halftime of a win over Florida, and another the same season that came out during the national championship win over TCU. But Smart said later it was from earlier in the season, without identifying which game.
“Somebody asked which game, and I honestly don’t even remember because they all sound like that,” Smart said on a podcast with TNT’s Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley. “The players were all laughing when it came out. A bunch of my guys texted me and said, ‘They ain’t even heard the best one.’”
But in this case, Smart was less good-humored. For one thing, Georgia has a decent chance to see Alabama again, whether in the SEC championship or the College Football Playoff. For another, Smart worked at Alabama from 2007-15 and has spoken of his respect for the school and football program.
In Smart’s pregame speech, he homed in on Alabama’s emphasis on physicality this season, an improvement over last season, when it lost 28-7 to Georgia in the SEC championship:
“All they talk about is being physical. That’s all the f— they want to talk about. You know what, guys? It’s a him-or-me night.”
In the postgame audio, Smart praises his coaches and players for big plays. Then he turned to freshman receiver Craig Dandridge, who did not respond when Alabama’s Dijon Lee hit him, leading to a penalty that clinched the game for Georgia.
“He (Lee) swung at Craig twice; Craig smiled at him. We needed a first down, guys, to win the game, and we didn’t need to do s— to win it.”
Smart also praised his team for winning in Tuscaloosa “for the first time in 100 years” — it had actually been 19 years — and his first win at Bryant-Denny Stadium as Georgia’s coach.