Kirby Smart says his dad taught him to take a step backward in his early career to work for people smarter than him and optimize less for title/money and more for who he gets to learn from “Throughout my career, each move I made, I would call my dad. ‘Okay, I have an opportunity to go to Valdosta State. What should I do?’ And he would say, ‘Take it. Run with it. You’re ready for it.’ The next year: ‘Okay, I have an opportunity to be the defensive coordinator at 23 years old at a Division II school.’” “‘Yeah. Take it. Do it. Then when I had a chance to go to Florida State and be a graduate assistant, and you would see that as a step back from defensive coordinator, my dad was like, you’re going to get to work for Bobby Bowden.” “He saw the path. He’s like, go work for people that are smarter than you, that are more successful than you, and it’ll pave a long path for you.’” “My first job at Valdosta State, I made $9,000 annually. Then you go from being a GA at Florida State making no money to being a coach for Nick Saban at LSU. My first real SEC job, I made $100,000.” “That was more than my dad had made his entire career coaching. He had coached for 30 years.”