As we head into the second round of the College Football Playoff, plenty of questions are swirling around the national college football conversation. Does Miami stand a chance of even covering the spread against Ohio State? Will Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss carry their momentum into a matchup with the Dawgs? How will Alabama, the dominant force of the old playoff era, fare against perhaps the clearest example of a contender in the new version of college football, the Indiana Hoosiers?

While the rest of the media landscape debates those questions, obsesses over Lane Kiffin, and argues endlessly about what the playoff format should look like next year, here at The Fringe we have been focused on other journalistic pursuits.

Over the past several days, The Fringe’s investigative team has poured over documents, photos, interviews, and websites in an effort to answer one of the most important unanswered questions in all of college sports.

How tall is Kirby Smart?

Height has always been a tricky thing in sports, especially when players transition from college to the pros. Fans and scouts alike wait for combine measurements to reveal how tall someone really is compared to what their school listed them as. Even in professional sports, listed heights are often inflated. Charles Barkley was listed at 6'6 but was closer to 6'4. Kevin Durant, nearly seven feet tall in shoes, famously insisted he was only 6'9.

College football may have the most glaring example of this phenomenon in Bryce Young. At Alabama, Young was listed at 6'0. Anyone who has seen Bryce Young in person or in photos knew that number was generous. At the NFL Combine, he measured just over 5'10, and even that still felt optimistic to some.

Players’ heights are endlessly debated. Coaches’ heights, almost never. That’s where we come in.

After watching Kirby Smart on the sideline recently, something felt off. He looked shorter than remembered. A quick search on December 7th revealed that Wikipedia listed Kirby Smart at 5'6.

Case closed? Not quite.

That number felt shockingly low for a former SEC defensive back. So the investigation continued. Photos of Smart standing next to Nick Saban, who is listed at 5'6 himself and may actually be shorter than that, show Smart clearly taller than Saban, but not by nearly as much as expected.

According to information found online, which always deserves skepticism, eye level adds roughly four inches to a person’s height. If Smart’s eyes aligned with the top of Saban’s head, that would put him around 5'9. But Smart’s eyes appear lower than that, suggesting something closer to 5'8.

And then things really got strange.

Kirby Smart’s wife, Mary Beth Smart, is a former Georgia basketball player who shot 35 percent from three and was listed at 6'0. In family photos, Kirby and Mary Beth appear to be nearly the same height.

So now Kirby Smart is somehow 5'6, 5'8, and 6'0 at the same time.

But there’s more.

In an interview, Mary Beth Smart addressed this very topic. She said that when she first met Kirby, she was surprised by how short he was. She then added that Kirby is taller than her and is about 5'11. It would not be shocking if her listed basketball height was slightly inflated, which could put Kirby somewhere near 5'10 or 5'11.

That reminded us of Stetson Bennett, who measured 5'11 at the NFL Combine. If Bennett and Smart were similar in height, the mystery could finally be solved.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple.

Photos show Bennett comfortably taller than Smart. Cleats versus sideline shoes do not account for the difference. Even photos from recruiting trips, when Bennett was still growing and wearing street clothes, show him clearly taller than Smart.

To make matters worse, Kirby Smart’s Wikipedia page has fluctuated wildly in recent weeks, bouncing between 5'6 and 5'11. Maybe it’s a prank. Maybe rival fans are involved. Or maybe someone is desperately trying to surface the truth.

After all this investigation, the official conclusion is simple.

We do not know.

There are too many plausible answers, too much conflicting evidence, and too many photos that refuse to cooperate. Perhaps Kirby Smart exists at a variable height, changing depending on the moment. Perhaps college football is experiencing a silent height inflation crisis. Or perhaps some mysteries are simply not meant to be solved.

We are not Woodward and Bernstein. We are not Mulder and Scully.

But if you happen to have any information on Kirby Smart’s true height, we encourage you to reach out.

The Fringe knows what sideline we’ll be watching when Georgia faces Ole Miss.

The truth is out there. We believe it is. Do you?

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