"It gets much, much tougher": When Kirby Smart highlighted major challenges that come with winning a championship

Kirby Smart led Georgia to the College Football Playoff national championship in the 2021 season. The Bulldogs defeated Nick Saban's Alabama 33-18 at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis weeks after losing the SEC championship game to the Crimson Tide in Atlanta.

After Georgia's emphatic victory on Jan. 11, 2022, Kirby Smart appeared in an ESPN interview dedicated to the winning coach. He explained how his program will only get more difficult in the coming years after attaining such a level of success.

“First thing is players, you have to recruit well,” Smart said (Timestamp 7:25). “You gotta have the right people in your program, in your organization and you gotta have good leadership at the top. We've got that in our president Jere Morehead, our athletic director Josh Brooks. They all do a tremendous job.

“But it doesn't get easier. I saw it and I say it all the time. I saw it firsthand. It gets much, much tougher because the entitlement and complacency of ‘We don't have to work to do this.’ It's human nature to want to relax and feel comfortable. That's what human nature says you should do.”

Kirby Smart and Georgia successfully overcame all those challenges the following season as the Bulldogs became the first team since Alabama in 2011-12 to repeat as national champions. Georgia went an undefeated 15-0 and blew out TCU 65-7 in the national title game.

Kirby Smart explained how consistent Georgia had been before the title

Staying consistent in the world of college football is no easy task. However, this is what Kirby Smart has ensured at Georgia prior to winning the national championship. He immediately transformed the program into a contender in the landscape, and he explained that on ESPN.

“I've always said pressure is a privilege,” Smart said (Timestamp 4:07). “Our team has finished – I think five or whatever years in a row. Whether we lost that game last night, we're going to be one of only two teams to finish in the top 7 of CFP for five straight years.

“The other is Ohio State. And That's hard to do year in and year out with consistency. Now, our job changes as coaches. We have to do a tremendous job explaining to our kids how the wind blows at the top.”

With the level of competition in all areas of the college football world, many teams find it really hard to stay consistent. A host of traditional blue blood programs have lost status over time. Nonetheless, Kirby Smart has been able to make Georgia a consistent program on and off the field.