ATHENS — Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo did not win the Broyles Award on Tuesday. But the fact that he was a finalist in his first year on the Bulldogs’ staff was a nice consolation prize.
Phil Parker, Iowa’s defensive coordinator, won the 2023 award as the nation’s top assistant coach. But Bobo, who returned to UGA as an offensive analyst last year and then took over as coordinator, was one of the five finalists invited to Tuesday’s luncheon in Little Rock, Arkansas, and he spoke about his first year back on the job.
“We’ve had a great year, and I want to say a lot of that is because of our head coach, Kirby Smart,” Bobo said. “I played with coach Smart. We grew up together in South Georgia. Both our dads were high school coaches. And then to come back and have an opportunity to be there at the University of Georgia with him and under his leadership and the direction he sets every day has been a blessing for me and my family.”
The No. 6-ranked Bulldogs (12-1) lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship game Saturday. They will play No. 5 Florida State (13-0) in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30 in Miami (4 p.m., ESPN).
Bobo said he never planned to be a college coach. He said he went to the University of Georgia as a quarterback out of Thomasville with the hopes of one day becoming a high school coach like his father, George Bobo.
Bobo thanked former Georgia coaches Ray Goff, who signed him, and Jim Donnan, who would bring him on as graduate assistant, for encouraging him to become a college coach. That led Bobo to becoming an offensive coordinator at Georgia, South Carolina and Auburn and head coach at Colorado State.
Now 49, Bobo succeeded Todd Monken as the Bulldogs’ offensive coordinator in February. Breaking in new starters at quarterback, running back and both offensive tackle positions, Bobo guided an offense that finished eighth nationally in yards gained (482.9 pg), ninth in scoring (38.4 ppg) and 10th in passing (305.6 ypg).
“We have an unbelievable staff,” Bobo said. “Every day I love to go in that (meeting) room and work with them and figure out what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it and how we’re going to present it. We have a have an unbelievable (group).”
Bobo mentioned offensive line coach Stacy Searels, tight ends coach Todd Hartley, running backs coach Dell McGee and wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon. But he also thanked the offensive support staff, of which he was a part only a short time ago. That includes Darryl Dickey, Brandon Streeter and Montgomery VanGorder.
Then he turned his attention to Georgia’s players.
“Every coach will tell you it’s about the players,” Bobo said. “We get into this profession to help players, and I can’t say enough about this group of players at the University of Georgia. The expectations these kids have on them coming off back-to-back national championship seasons, they performed. They poured it all in.
“We came up a little short, but I love those guys and how they perform.”
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