FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – No. 3 Georgia continues its pursuit of the 2021 national championship in football as it arrives in sunny Miami on Sunday afternoon for the Orange Bowl. Regardless of what happens Friday night against No. 2 Michigan, it already has been a very good year financially for coach Kirby Smart and his staff.
By playing in the SEC Championship, landing a College Football Playoff berth and winning SEC coach of the year, Smart already has secured $700,000 in bonuses from Georgia. According to Smart’s 35-page contract, signed in 2016 and amended in 2018, the sixth-year coach earned $500,000 just by making the playoff. He got $150,000 for playing in the conference championship and $50,000 for being named the SEC’s top coach for 2021.
A win over Alabama in the SEC title game would have meant another $250,000. A victory over No. 2 Michigan (12-1) on Friday will bring an additional $100,000.
A national championship is worth $1 million for Smart. His contract states that his performance bonuses are cumulative, but they are capped at $1.6 million.
Even without those bonuses, Smart is due to make exactly $7 million this year. He is in the fourth year of a seven-year deal that will pay him $49 million in salary through the 2024 season.
That’s if Smart’s contract remains unchanged. With Brian Kelly coming into the league and commanding $9.5 million as LSU’s coach, Smart falls to No. 4 among SEC coaches in compensation, behind Alabama’s Nick Saban ($9.8M) and Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher ($7.5M). Lincoln Riley is thought to have surpassed Saban as college football’s top coach for a reported $110 million over 10 years at USC.
The No. 3 Bulldogs (12-1) will face No. 2-ranked Michigan (12-1) in the College Football Playoff semifinals on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at Hard Rock Stadium. The winner advances to Indianapolis to face either No. 1 Alabama or No. 4 Cincinnati in the championship game on Jan. 10.
Smart’s 10 assistant coaches are doing pretty well, too. Locking up the playoff berth means they will receive a bonus worth 40% of their salary. That’s 25% for the playoff appearance plus 15% for reaching the SEC Championship. They’ll earn another 5% with a semifinal victory, and that increases to 40% – and 55% total – with a national championship.
That might explain why Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning chose to stick around despite accepting the head coaching job at Oregon. The Bulldogs winning the national championship would be worth $935,000, or 55% of his $1.7 million UGA salary. Then again, he could have left right away with an additional $680,000.
“It would be totally unfair for our guys if I left and didn’t finish what was started here,” Lanning said on ESPN last week. “I’m grateful Coach Smart would let me come back and help. We certainly have some unfinished business.”
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