The Georgia Bulldogs have won two national championships in a row but have yet to visit the White House. And Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart wants you to know there’s nothing political about that.
Earlier this week, Georgia made headlines after announcing they would not be able to visit the White House during June when the Biden administration offered the visit.
Head coach Kirby Smart of the Georgia Bulldogs celebrates after defeating the TCU Horned Frogs in the College Football Playoff National Championship game at SoFi Stadium on January 09, 2023, in Inglewood, California. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
“Unfortunately, the date suggested is not feasible given the student-athlete calendar and time of year,” the university spokesperson said. “However, we are appreciative of the invitation and look forward to other opportunities for Georgia teams moving forward.”
Georgia’s denial of Joe Biden’s invite sparked widespread speculation that the team had nixed the visit for political reasons. Speculation that head coach Kirby Smart shut down on Wednesday when he let the world know the real reason for not visiting Joe Biden: Georgia has a crucial recruiting camp scheduled in June.
“Tough deal timeline-wise, it didn’t work,” Smart said. “Number one time for recruiting for football coaches. When you’ve got 600, 700 kids coming to your campus, you can’t take 200 people to the White House and have no one on campus.”
Head coach Kirby Smart of the Georgia Bulldogs raises the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy after defeating the TCU Horned Frogs in the College Football Playoff National Championship game at SoFi Stadium on January 09, 2023, in Inglewood, California. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The champion coach added, “The time just didn’t work out. Nothing political about it, but I’ve been before. It’s very educational. It’s a great experience.”
Georgia didn’t make the trip to D.C. two years ago due to Covid. Usually, the national championship team gets an invite and visits relatively close to the time of the championship game. However, this time, the White House wanted to host the Bulldogs in the middle of June, and that interfered with Georgia’s plans to build a future championship team.
So, it’s not political. But it does show that football is way more important than Joe Biden.