The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
4. Smart’s ‘other’ big decision
Besides deciding on a starting quarterback for the season opener vs. North Carolina, Kirby Smart is facing another critical decision: Will the new UGA coach wear a visor?
ATHENS — Kirby Smart was bowed up as usual behind the dais in the front of the interview room at the ButtsMehre football complex on Wednesday, ready to volley back the hardball questions from his daily opponent, the media. But the glower that usually sticks to his face disappeared for just a moment when the discussion moved to his game-day wardrobe.
Will he or won’t he wear a visor in his first game on the sideline as a head coach?
“Great question!” Smart said, the slightest of grins breaking out across his face. “I haven’t decided yet. It’s not something I usually think about. I’ve worn them sometimes and I haven’t sometimes. It just kind of depended on the day.”
As defensive coordinator at Alabama the past nine years, sometimes Smart wore the headgear made famous by Steve Spurrier and sometimes he didn’t. But, he advised, he always packed one on game day.
“I always had a visor ready,” he said. “I didn’t know if I’d wear it. It depended on weather conditions or depending on whether we were indoors. But I haven’t really thought about that. There are a lot of other things to think about right now.”
For a second opinion, we turned to the only person who would have an informed one on this particular subject. No, not Spurrier. Smart’s wife, Mary Beth. “I don’t know whether he will or not,” Mary Beth Smart said. “He used to not. Sometimes he does when it’s bright outside.”
But Mary Beth did say that some others have advised her husband that he should.
“We saw Coach Spurrier this summer at a golf tournament and he said, ‘I’m so glad that you’re wearing a visor. I didn’t think they’d ever let a Georgia coach wear a visor.’”
Smart’s response, according to Mary Beth? “He said, ‘I’ve always worn a visor.’”
Smart wears a visor every day at Georgia’s practices, just as he did at Alabama’s practices. And he wore a visor for “93K Day,” otherwise known as G-Day, the spring game.
“I like wearing visors. I just don’t know if it’s appropriate indoors,” said Smart, referring to Sept. 3 date with North Carolina in the Georgia Dome.
Mary Beth doesn’t buy that her husband hasn’t decided yet.
“I bet he has,” she said. “He’s very detail-oriented. I’m sure he’s already decided which end zone they’re going to take in the Dome.”