UGA coach Kirby Smart teams with columnist Loran Smith to author book on championship season

Loran Smith has been aligned with University of Georgia athletics for more than 60 years and has been witness to more Bulldogs sports lore than anyone.

And when the Bulldogs won the 2021 national football championship, Smith – the author of more than 20 books, ranging in subject matter from Larry Munson to The Masters, but focused primarily on UGA football – was well aware of the historical significance of the achievement and met with head coach Kirby Smart to talk about a potential collaboration on a book.

“I’m always looking for a project and I thought Kirby’s instincts and insights are so remarkable that I thought whatever he did would be interesting reading,” said Smith. “Nobody had ever profiled him from a growing-up standpoint up until this time. I saw we were doing really well in 2021 and I told him the way things were going he needed to be prepared to think about a book. And he said, ‘Well, I could be interested.’”

The result of that interest is “How ‘Bout Them Dawgs! The Inside Story of Georgia Football’s 2021 National Championship Season,” co-authored by Smart and Smith and published by the University of Georgia Press. Although Smart had never before written a book, he had definite ideas about what he wanted the project to be.

“When we first met, he said he didn’t know anything about writing a book but wanted to make sure it’s first class,” said Smith. “I assured him it would be first class because I knew the photographer (Cassie Wright) I wanted and was going to get her involved, and I told him I hoped the University of Georgia Press would publish it because they do really great work. I told him I didn’t think he had anything to worry about.”

Ranking SEC coaches: Kirby Smart is No. 1, but who is No. 2 after Nick Saban retirement?

The 288-page book, illustrated with 150 color photographs, details the 15 games of that championship season (with information about the national title campaign of 2022), provides an inside look at Smart’s thoughts about coaching, recruiting and other fundamental concepts and includes some 60 “sidebars” about UGA players, coaches and staff. There’s also a biographical section about Smart that his parents contributed to, Smith said.

Smart shared his thoughts for the book during several interview sessions and was extremely engaged in the project when time allowed

“It isn’t my book – it’s his book, too, because he gave us a great story and we just added to it,” said Smith. “And he really is thinking every day how to do something better and he wanted this book to be something to be proud of. When we met, he put his heart and soul into the thing. That’s just the way he does everything.”

Noting that Smart’s team won a national championship in his sixth season as head coach (and almost won it all in his second season), Smith said there’s also a section in the book where he details how long it took some famous coaches to win coveted championships.

“It took Vince Dooley 16 years to win a championship," Smith said. "John Wooden went 20-something years before he won his first one and then it looked like he was never going to lose one. Tom Osborne, vital to the success of Nebraska under Bob Devaney, it looked like he was never going to win one and he won three.”

Smith, who previously co-authored books with Dooley and Lewis Grizzard, has been a columnist for the Athens Banner-Herald since the early 1960s. When asked if he had another book project in mind, Smith expressed confidence he’d be writing about Smart again before it’s all said and done.

“I’m always keeping notes and I think Kirby’s greatest years are here and now, so whatever happens over the next five years – the way things are going he could win a couple more championships,” said Smith. “He’s going to have a good run because he’s so committed and so dedicated to winning championships for his alma mater.”

The book is available for purchase from UGA Press online at ugapress.org/book/9780820365220/how-bout-them-dawgs/ and through other online retailers such as Amazon as well as the UGA Bookstore.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Kirby Smart teams with Loran Smith to author book on championship season