As important as recruiting is for new Georgia coach Kirby Smart, so is getting a staff in place. The two, after all, go hand-in-hand.
Smart quite publicly took a jet to Lake Stevens, Wash., on Monday to visit with quarterback commitment Jacob Eason. The most important information he could impart to the elite prospect is, “this is who your offensive coordinator is going to be.”
Whether he could actually do that or not on Monday is uncertain. But those in the know say Smart most definitely has a plan, and it is being enacted at a pace he expected.
“We don’t put a timetable when we make those decisions,” Smart said at his introductory news conference on Monday. “It’s a very fluid situation, constantly moving and changing. I won’t put any timetables on anything.”
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Smart did say he has the freedom to retain anyone he wants from the current staff at Georgia.
So far, Smart’s only known hire is Glenn Schumann. Schumann has been a defensive quality-control assistant for the Crimson Tide the last four years and has been Smart’s right-hand man.
What Schumann will do at Georgia is unclear.
“I wouldn’t define the role just yet,” Smart said. “I’d just say he’s going to be part of our staff.”
Another coach Smart hopes to bring with him from Tuscaloosa is strength and conditioning director Scott Cochran.
“I don’t know if Scott Cochran is joining my staff or not,” Smart said.
Smart said he plans to be intimately involved in defensive game-planning and strategies, but couldn’t say who his defensive coordinator might be. There are some head coaches who also call defenses during games, including TCU’s Gary Patterson and BYU’s Bronco Mendenhall, who just went to Virginia. But it is rare.
Smart knows current UGA defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt well as the two worked together at Alabama from 2007-12. But he would not get into specifics about whether Pruitt would be retained.
» Read more about Kirby Smart's move to Georgia on DawgNation
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