Georgia's Kirby Smart will rank fourth in salary among Southeastern Conference football coaches for the 2018 season after specific terms of his new seven-year, $49 million contract were released Friday.
Smart is scheduled to earn $6.6 million this year, $6.7 million in 2019 and $6.8 million in 2020 before his pay bumps to $7 million in 2021 and $7.2 million in 2022. The final two years of his new contract, which was announced May 3 by the university, have him making $7.3 million in 2023 and $7.4 million in 2024.
"Kirby has provided an incredible level of energy and excitement to our football program," Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said last week in a release, "and we look forward to his leadership for many years to come."
The specifics of Smart's contract were revealed Friday afternoon by the Athens Banner-Herald via an open records request. Smart was paid $3.75 million last year, when the Bulldogs won their first league championship since 2005 and suffered an overtime loss to Alabama in the national championship game.
Smart's salary this year will rank behind Alabama's Nick Saban ($7.53 million), Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher ($7.5 million) and Auburn's Gus Malzahn ($6.7 million) among SEC coaches. Saban made $11.13 million last year, receiving a $4 million bonus as a result of the eight-year contract he received in April 2017.
Malzahn received a seven-year, $49 million contract in December that begins at $6.7 million this year and increases by $100,000 annually. Saban, Fisher, Malzahn and Smart are among the 11 SEC head football coaches represented by agent Jimmy Sexton.
Should Smart choose to resign or terminate his new agreement, he would have to pay $6 million this year, $6 million in 2019, $4 million in 2020, $3 million in 2021 and $2 million in 2022.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.