Smart defends Bulldogs in interview with ESPN
University of Georgia football coach Kirby Smart said his program does not have a culture problem, and there will be no policy changes as a result of a car crash that killed a player and a support staff member this winter.
Smart spoke to ESPN on Friday, his first comments on the two-time reigning national champions’ grim offseason that has included two deaths and two arrests. Through the university, Smart has not responded to several interview requests from the AJC, including one as recently as this week.
In addition to the Jan. 15 crash in which offensive lineman Devin Willock, 20, and recruiting specialist Chandler LeCroy, 24, were killed, two Georgia players have been arrested in the past two weeks for racing and reckless driving. Jamon Dumas-Johnson was arrested last week for an incident that occurred the day after the Bulldogs beat TCU 65-7 in the College Football Playoff final to finish 15-0. Jalen Carter was arrested Wednesday as part of the investigation of the crash that killed Willock and LeCroy and injured two others, hours after a parade and Sanford Stadium ceremony to celebrate the national title.
Police said LeCroy was going 104 mph at the time of the crash at 2:45 a.m. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation toxicology report cited her blood alcohol concentration at .197, about 2 1/2 times the state’s legal limit. Carter previously has been ticketed for speeding, traveling 89 mph in a 45 mph zone.
“Absolutely not. I would say we’re far from it,” Smart told ESPN on Friday when asked whether the program has a problem. “When you talk to people outside our program that come into it, they talk about what a great culture we do have — and we do an incredible job. Because I’ve got a lot of outside entities that come into our program and pour into these young men.
“Do we have perfect young men and women and players? Not necessarily. But I promise you this, that’s the intent: for us to grow these guys and get them better. And I feel really good about the culture within our program.”
LeCroy was driving a 2021 Ford Expedition, a vehicle rented by the university to transport recruits visiting for the weekend. Georgia previously stated LeCroy was not authorized to drive the vehicle, but the university has not answered the questions of who gave LeCroy the keys to the vehicle, why it was not turned in after the celebration day’s events, whether there is a policy to ensure a vehicle is not used without authorization and why LeCroy, a university employee, had the vehicle in the early morning hours to fraternize with athletes.
“Absolutely not. Absolutely not,” Smart said in the interview when asked if it was LeCroy’s job to get players home that night.
Smart also said there were no policy changes as a result of the crash.
At a meeting of the university’s athletic association board in February, school president Jere Morehead said he wasn’t sure whether policy changes would be made.
“So far, I haven’t seen anything that has caused me concern,” he said. “Obviously we wish the vehicle had been turned in that evening. But the review is ongoing, and I’m confident that if any procedures need to be changed — I’m not sure they will need to be changed — but I’m confident that our athletic director and head coach will do whatever they need to do.”
Smart said he was awoken at 3 a.m. by his wife and went to the emergency room the morning of the fatal crash.
“Inside our building, we’ve got 130 football players that are hurting and have been dealing with pain. And we’ve emotionally supported those guys’ mental health,” Smart said in the ESPN interview. “We had several players that struggled to come back after the parade that have really dealt with this. It’s been a tough, trying time for our family, our in-house family, both staff and players. And we continue to support both the Willock and Chandler families.”
Dave Willock, Devin’s father, told the AJC on Friday that the school and police have not told him details of the crash as the investigation has unfolded and that he and his wife, Sharlene, have been disappointed with the lack of communication.
“Excess speeding, and that’s all,” Willock said of what he had been told before police released a public statement this week. “I had no knowledge of nothing else. It was just a situation of wondering what happened. But it just shocked me to know that this was drag racing, you know, and drunken driving. I was really shocked to hear that.”
Smart said officers from local police departments were brought in last summer to educate the Bulldogs about the dangers of street racing. In an email to the AJC on Thursday, Darrice Griffin, the school’s senior deputy director of athletics, listed several areas of “critical life skills programming and discuss community standards in the areas of personal well-being, mental and physical health, inclusion and safety.” In the list was “vehicle and traffic safety in partnership with local authorities.”
“I mean, there (are) laws in place for these things, to prevent it for a reason,” Smart said in the ESPN interview. “And we want to educate our players in every way, every part of our organization. We’re constantly looking for a better way in whatever that is, health and safety included.”