Georgia football coach Kirby Smart surveyed the practice fields behind Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall on Tuesday, striding quickly but comfortably from one drill to the next.

Smart was holding his trademark microphone, ready to call out players needing more encouragement or teaching points, or command movement from one drill period to the next.

The moving parts of running a CFP Championship team go well beyond the Xs and Os and position groups, however.

Building a championship program, as the 46-year-old Smart has done in six years, demands CEO qualities as much as it does football coaching strategies and philosophies.

Smart excels in both capacities, as one might expect when one considers his UGA background as an academic All-SEC selection and business school graduate in addition to All-SEC safety and team captain.

Smart, 14-7 against Top 10 teams, revealed there’s nothing routine about his approach, and that’s very much by design.