Kirby Smart Quotes

The thing that drives most coaches out of coaching in college is they get tired of the grind of recruiting.

I think we can benefit from being in the ACC. It's a great basketball league. If anything, it helps our recruiting.

I didn't realize the difference between coaching college and coaching the NBA. It's a totally different animal.

Notre Dame was my dream school growing up. But in recruiting, they had some other plans, what position they wanted me to play.

I played from the time I was seven years old. My father was my first baseman coach. I had opportunities that I never really pursued - with some Miami teams and a few larger colleges, and then I ended up bailing and began cooking.

I enjoy basketball. I enjoy coaching basketball. It's the out-of-season stuff I didn't handle well.

So, I got a lot of recruitment letters from track.

I've had many a player tell me all through high school and right up until signing day that they were coming to Alabama, then they signed with somebody else.

I had played in a tournament with the captain of the University of Minnesota's golf team, and he thought I was good. He called his coach, and the coach called me and recruited me. A five-minute phone call changed my life.

I never thought Marquis Teague would leave after a year.

It's college basketball and there's a certain amount of uncertainty. As an assistant coach, you do the best job you can to win.

Michigan's been recruiting me since the eighth grade, so they have a special place in my heart, I'd say, because I've visited there seven times, and my mom lives in Michigan, still, and she'd probably like me to stay closer to home and play.

I don't recruit against Nick Saban. I recruit for the University of Georgia.

Coach Matta recruited me the best, I had a close relationship with him immediately and I saw a great opportunity at Ohio State. Sometimes it's just that simple.

I go back to Francis Schmidt. Francis Schmidt was the Ohio State coach who hired me.

I got to know Peyton Manning when he was a high school junior and I was the offensive coordinator at Mississippi State.

I could see myself coaching at the high school level, but I'd really love to coach at UCLA. That would be a dream for me.

We could fill up a whole hour's television show talking about coach's recruiting stories, I love them, they're the best.

Coaching in college is not a right. It's a privilege.

I would love to join Big Blue Nation and play for Coach Calipari at Kentucky, and I would love to join my close friend Michael Porter Jr. and play for coach Cuonzo Martin at Missouri.

When I was in college, I was a landscaper. Other than that, coaching has been my life and my job. A lot of people like coaching college, but I would never do it again. There are too many NCAA bylaws, rules and politics.

It's not true that I never left South Bend to recruit a player. It is true that I didn't leave very often.

Coach Kingsbury, I know the type of offense he runs. He recruited me out of high school and I have a great relationship with him.

I was the lead recruiter at Louisville. I think I signed four or five guys before I left.

You're not going to see Bill Walton or Kareem coming in every three years. Those days are over. That's what makes the job so difficult. But it's the dream job for anyone who has spent a career in coaching and has a sense of what UCLA means.