Kirby Smart opened his weekly news conference on Monday with an apology.
The Georgia coach attracted a lot of attention — most of it positive — for his use of an expletive at the end of his postgame press conference Saturday at Auburn. T-shirts featuring the acronym HBTFD already have been printed and reportedly are getting brisk sales online.
However, Mary Beth Smart was not among those entertained by the gesture. Smart’s wife chastised Kirby after the game, which led to Monday morning’s public regrets.
“I would like to apologize for something I said after the game that’s not indicative of who I want to be or what I stand for,” Smart said in the Bulldogs’ team meeting room at the Butts-Mehre Building. “It was an emotional win and I was very emotional with that.”
At the end of his 15-minute session with reporters during the Auburn postgame, Smart was asked if he even acknowledged that Georgia has secured its third consecutive SEC East title and appearance in the SEC Championship Game with the 21-14 victory.
“I said, ‘How ‘bout them [expletive] Dawgs,’ ” Smart said, shocking the room of reporters into the laughter. “Excuse my language, but that’s what I said.”
(Editor’s note: The AJC published Smart’s postgame press conference with the remark — about the 3:30 mark — edited out.)
Eyewitnesses confirmed that is exactly what Smart said. That came right before Smart launched into what has become his trade mark jumping slam dance with players in a frenzied locker-room celebration.
It’s something Georgia’s players love about their young head coach, in his fourth season leading his alma mater’s football program. He’s truly passionate about the Bulldogs pursuits of victories and championships. It manifests itself during games as well.
On Saturday, Smart ended up on his back with his heels in the air after a leaping chest-bump with 300-pound defensive lineman Travon Walker sent him flying three feet backward. The celebration came with 1:27 left in Saturday's game after Walker had secured the game-clinching quarterback sack.
Those are just the celebrations that people see in public. Smart is just as demonstrative in Georgia’s practices and certainly in their daily meetings at the football complex and in the locker room.
The players love it.
“Man, he’s just very passionate,” sophomore outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari said. “He loves this school, loves this team, loves these players. He’s just going out there giving all he has for his team, his school and his coaching staff. It’s a great feeling.”
Said tight end Eli Wolf, a graduate transfer who came to UGA from Tennessee: “I think it’s great. I think it rubs off on everybody in a pretty significant way.”
Ojulari was asked if he'd ever heard Smart cuss before. He laughed heartily for several seconds.
Of course, cursing has long been a byproduct of sports, and particularly coaching. Ojulari said he figures he heard his first cuss words when he was “in rec ball” as a grade-schooler.
But it’s unusual to hear a head coach at a major university use such language in a news conference. For that, Smart seemed sincerely sorry.
“You know you messed up when you get home to your wife … is upset at something you said,” Smart said before discussing Saturday’s matchup against No. 24 Texas A&M. “That's not what I represent and that's not the kind of behavior I want to have. So, I want to say that to Dawg fans out there and everybody, I'm going to try to handle that a lot better. It was an emotional win, but I’ve got to do a better job than that.”
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