How does UGA endure ‘super volatile’ college sports? Josh Brooks gives insight.

Smart, one of three current coaches in place at UGA before Brooks’ hire, shared why and how his athletic director has been pivotal to the Bulldogs’ success.

“For the past five years football and collegiate athletics, in general, have been a super volatile space,” Smart said. “Georgia has been lucky to have a leader like Josh Brooks who has worked in football operations and administration, understands the dynamics of our sport’s business and who has helped us navigate many of the challenges we have faced and continued to face.

“No one has the quick answer and there are certainly future challenges to come, but it has been reaffirming for our athletic association to have a leader like Josh who is working to navigate this landscape.”

Brooks, in an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, shared insight into the role Smart has played helping the athletic department and how he has worked to build the rest of the UGA sports programs up to Georgia football’s championship level.

Q&A with UGA AD Josh Brooks

One of the coaches you inherited is Kirby Smart. How does he play a role in the overall success of the athletic program, beyond his football success providing the vast majority of financial support for other UGA programs?

JB: It’s tremendous in so many ways. Think about it, Kirby Smart, who’s willing to meet with a gymnastics recruit or a women’s basketball recruit, as big of a name as he is in collegiate sports big picture. When a student-athlete from another sport gets to meet with him, that’s a big highlight of their recruiting weekend.

Then think about the success of football and the run at home we’ve had where we’ve won so many home games the last five or six years, right? So naturally, a lot of sports have recruiting weekends around home football games. When you’re having a great home football game, the atmosphere is amazing. A lot of student-athletes from other sports, they want to come to a school where football is successful.

Then take the Kirby factor to the next level and think about a winning mindset, winning culture permeating through a department — we want winners to hang around winners. Attitudes are contagious and worth catching.

“With our winning attitude and mindset in football, that permeates through other departments, and that happens because these student-athletes spend time with each other. So, we want winners hanging around winners and that mindset grows. The effects are multiple.

There’s the financial impact because of the fundraising we’ve been able to do because of football’s success. It’s allowed us to build and renovate a lot of facilities the last five years, so that’s a rising tide that’s lifted all ships.”

How do you build a competitive non-revenue sports culture when resources are limited and there are 15 other SEC schools trying to do the same thing?

JB: You’ve got to get creative. Thankfully, NIL is not a factor in every single sport, though in some sports, it’s a small factor.

So, you can get creative, whether it’s finding businesses that align, that can support student-athletes in certain sports, finding those connection points, or just allocating and giving the resources needed in a few sports where you know that NIL has a bigger role.

But it still starts with how we recruit and how we do things. It can’t always be about money. In truly successful programs in the modern sports landscape, money can only take you so far.

You’ve got to be able to show development, and you got to find people who care about the full student-athlete experience. So, when you talk about sports where there aren’t a lot of pro opportunities, that’s what we’re going to sell — what Georgia can do for you later on, like the 20-year test we talk about.

So, it’s a balance, it’s a mix, and you’re never perfect in any of it. Because, look, I want to win in all sports, but you have to pick your battles and be creative where you can and try to find student-athletes that want to be here for the right reasons.”

What are some of those inherent advantages that you encourage your coaches to promote when recruiting to Georgia?

JB: It starts with hiring great coaches who are going to develop you as a person on and off the field, and facilities still play a role in a lot of non-revenue sports.

When we bring in a student-athlete and they see the new baseball facility, the new softball facility, the tennis indoor, the tennis grandstand, the new track, those things still matter.

And then when you talk about development, you talk about how they are going to grow, and we can show (a) track record of how we develop student-athletes here.

Of course ... we have one of the greatest college towns in America in Athens, and a great education at the University of Georgia with phenomenal majors.

We’re starting a medical school, we’re starting a nursing school, and we have a phenomenal Terry business program along with our Grady journalism school.

There are so many opportunities here that go beyond sports that make Athens a very special place for a lot of people.

What are some of the unique things that separate the Georgia athletic department, beyond the coaches and track record for development on and off the field?

JB: What first comes to mind something that I didn’t build, but (former athletic director) Greg McGarity and (former deputy director of athletics) Carla Williams built for me: We have one of the most robust student-centric departments in the country.

Here’s where we talk about nutrition, sports medicine, mental health, strength and conditioning, academic support. It’s the way we invest in student-athletes as a whole, even though it sometimes doesn’t show up on individual athletic sport budgets.

Someone can look at our budgets of an individual sport and say, ‘Oh, it’s bottom third of the SEC,’ but that doesn’t account for the money we spend on what’s more of a general expense and how we support athletes on a global level.

When you come to Georgia, we got you covered. Whatever departmental thing you may need more special help or care, we have resources to help you. Again, I tip my hat and I’m so thankful to the people who came before me that built this robust student-centric department that students can feel supported and they can get the resources they need in every category that you can imagine.”

How have you gone about making your coaching hires as there are some former UGA athletes, some first-time head coaches and some higher-priced hires of proven coaches brought in from other programs?

JB: Every situation is different.

When you’ve got someone waiting in the wings that you feel good about, and you know well — like, we knew what we had in (women’s tennis coach) Drake Bernstein from a cultural fit, from a talent fit, and someone who’s a Georgia guy and loves the place. Those things matter to me.

I’m a big gut-feeling kind of guy, and with the 16 head coaches I’ve hired, there has been different situations with where their programs are at, what was needed at the time.

But again, knowing we have a guy like (pending golf coach) Mookie DeMoss, who’s been in that No. 2 role for a couple of years, seeing him grow and develop. So, you’re like, ‘All right, I know he’s ready, and I know he has it, all the intangibles.’ You can always refine the technical things of being a head coach from the organizational standpoint. But when you know a coach has ‘it,’ that’s something that you can go on. We can train them up, and there’ll be bumps in the road and a learning curve, but when you’ve when you got it, you got it, and that’s what I look for.”