Rival coaches Kirby Smart and Mario Cristobal roasted each other at a dinner on Monday night, and the two did not hold back.
Smart and Cristobal both spoke at the annual Spurrier Awards in Gainesville, Fla., and turned the entire thing into a roast. Smart was responsible for starting it off by joking about the Miami Hurricanes’ NIL spending.
“I don’t like you being too close to Mario, you know what I’m saying?” Smart joked to the parents of standout freshman cornerback Ellis Johnson IV. “He’s still got another year left. You gotta be careful around Mario, sometimes he’ll take your players.”
Cristobal hardly let the Georgia coach’s comment pass without a response of his own.
“It’s a great piece to watch what a player like Carson Beck can do with great coaching,” Cristobal joked of the former Georgia quarterback. “No, seriously, let’s give it up for Kirby Smart. If wasn’t for all his years of pre-NIL, we wouldn’t have NIL right now.”
Kirby Smart took some friendly shots at Mario Cristobal for NIL, saying he wasn’t sure Mario should be sitting near UGA cornerback Ellis Robinson… but Cristobal has jokes too👀 https://t.co/d2J1BQN19y pic.twitter.com/Sqb6ockg5V
— Jack Leo (@theleoreport) February 24, 2026
Cristobal and Smart worked together at Miami, so there is no actual animosity here. Honestly, each coach got some pretty good shots in at the other, though Cristobal really went in after Smart opened the door.
Smart is a popular punching bag among his fellow coaches. That may be what happens after you win back-to-back national titles and three SEC championships in four years.
