Kirby Smart joins Nick Saban and Pete Caroll on elite coaching list after breakout season with Georgia

In any college sport, head coaches are seen as the face of their teams, and one way to measure their success in their position is by looking at how they perform when their team is ranked first in the country in the AP Poll, a weekly ranking determined by numerous media personnel.

According to a recent stat, Saban, the former Alabama Crimson Tide football coach, has the record for most games coached as a No. 1 team, with 98 games in the bag and an 88-10 record.

Kirby Smart, currently the head of Georgia’s football program, ranks fourth with 35 games coached as the No. 1 AP team and a 33-2 record.

Joining them is former USC coach Pete Carroll, coming in fifth with 33 games and a 31-2 record.

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Kirby Smart perched alongside the likes of Nick Saban and Pete Caroll

While Nick Saban may not be the winningest football coach of all time, in his 28 seasons, he won a record seven national championships, six with the Crimson Tide and one at LSU. He has a 292-71-1 record and an 80.6% winning rate.

Pete Caroll, now with the Las Vegas Raiders in the NFL, spent time as USC’s coach. He ended his college coaching career with a 97-19 record (83.6%).

Meanwhile, Kirby Smart began etching his reputation when he was the defensive coordinator under Saban. Under his tutelage, the Crimson Tide’s defense became one of the most feared in all of college football. With the upcoming season being his 10th with the Bulldogs, Smart has accumulated a 105-19 record (84.7%).

His highlights also include winning two straight College Football Playoff national championships. Smart also took his team to six SEC Eastern Division titles and eight major bowl games.

Last season, Kirby Smart became the fifth-fastest college football coach to get 100 career wins, doing so in just 117 games. He is expected to have a strong season in 2025 after Georgia lost in the CFP quarterfinals last campaign.