Kirby Smart

Every kid I've been around as a football player, they want their coaches to make them better as men and as players.

Every college coach I talk to won't say it on record, but everyone's thinking, 'Should I go to the league?' Because you don't have the same requirements. It's different. The hours are different.

I think, as a coach, you have to be willing to do what's best for the player. And you say what's best for the player: is it better to give him a game suspension, three-game suspension, no suspension. I think each case may be different in that.

To be honest, it makes you a lot better coach when your boss is in the meeting room. You're a lot more driven every day.

What you have success with, you feel comfortable with, you always rely on that a little bit.

It's very important that we don't make the same mistakes twice. That's a big part of improvement.

The amount of pressure that I've put on myself as a defensive coordinator for the last 10, 11 years, I really believe there's a lot more decisions that go into that position than the head coach.

I don't think I've worked a day in my life.

The only thing that matters with my kids are them graduating and playing well, and I try to do my dangedest to get them to play well.

How do you play well? You practice well. You prepare well.

It's always a danger when you've got a great quarterback that throws the ball well, that scrambles well. You may push him into his asset. You may force him to do what he does best. So you've got to be able to throw curveballs and stop the pass as much as stop the run.

I've got recruits that will text and call and do everything in the middle of the night. And I'm thinking, 'I'm with my family.' But you've got to dedicate time to that, or you can't do it.