Kirby Smart's message for Nick Saban after SEC title revealed
What Kirby Smart had to say to Nick Saban after losing the SEC Championship Game
Kirby Smart and Nick Saban have had a long history coaching with and against one another, one that came to an end last postseason after Alabama upset Georgia to win the SEC Championship and qualify for the College Football Playoff, and one that Smart seemed to know would end soon.
"I just said, 'Look, I appreciate all you've done for me and my career,'" Smart said, via ESPN. "'You're one of the best to ever do it, and I have immense respect for you.' And then I joked with him: 'You can't keep doing this much longer.'"
Smart's humorous aside was accurate, as Saban would announce his retirement not long after the Crimson Tide lost to Michigan in the Rose Bowl playoff semifinal game, putting a bow on a career many call the single greatest in college football history.
Saban holds the NCAA record with seven national championships, including six at Alabama, which he built into the dynasty of the 21st century, if not the history of the sport.
"I love the man," Smart said. "I appreciate all he's done, and I enjoyed competing against him. I wish he was still around so that I could get some more shots at him because hadn't done real well against him. We've had some really close games, some really great games. But yeah, I wish he was still here."
Smart went 1-5 against Saban, for whom the Georgia head coach served as defensive coordinator at Alabama before branching out on his own, but that one game was momentous: the first of his two straight national championships for the Bulldogs.
"There's so much respect having worked for him that I'm happy for him that he's chosen to do what he wants to do," Smart said of Saban. "He deserves to go out how he wanted to."
(ESPN)
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