Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has agreed to a new seven-year, $49 million contract — about double his previous deal.
Smart's contract will take him through the 2024 season with the Bulldogs. In his second season in Athens, he finished with a 13-2 record, Georgia's first SEC title since 2005 and an appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship — a 26-23 overtime loss to Alabama.
"As a young boy, I grew up in this great state dreaming of being a Bulldog," Smart said. "To have been able to do that — first as a player, and now as the head football coach — is beyond anything I ever dreamed. I do not take lightly the awesome responsibility of leading this program, and while I'm pleased with where we are as a program, I couldn't be more excited about where we're going in the future. You can rest assured that we will continue to work tirelessly to make Georgia football the best it can possibly be."
Smart is now the fifth-highest paid coach in the FBS, per ESPN. Ahead of him are Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher ($7.5 million), Michigan's Jim Harbaugh ($7.73 million), Alabama's Nick Saban ($8.28 million) and Ohio State's Urban Meyer ($8.49 million) — the highest-paid FBS coach by average annual salary.
Georgia nearly doubled Smart's salary from a year ago, when he earned $3.75 million, which put him in the middle of the SEC.
Through all the awards, accolades and accomplishments, Smart has come a long way.
$8,000: What Kirby Smart made as defensive backs coach at Valdosta State in 2000 (*Job included helping to build the locker room.)
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) May 3, 2018
$19,178: What Kirby Smart will make PER DAY, 18 years later, as Georgia's head coach. pic.twitter.com/4krJghH5AV