What a great day July 28 was for Georgia alum Nic Fink! The swimmer graced the Paris Olympics being on the Team USA roster. And with his participation came a big win as bagged his first Olympic medal. While he gifted his country with a big surprise, he too had to receive something big as a gift for making his talents heard on the international platform. But hardly did Fink expect that he would be lucky enough to talk to the Bulldogs HC. 

The interaction happened over FaceTime since Smart was approximately 4,300 miles away from Fink. And it’s the HC’s bad luck that he is a magnet of controversy. Smart’s virtual victory cheer did not sit well with Brandon Adams, the host of the DawgNation Daily podcast, who called it a ‘setup.’ On the other hand, the Georgia HC is blamed for the Bulldogs’ cultural hiccups. 

Smart’s congratulatory message for Georgia alum goes awry

Fink took home his first Olympic medal, a silver for acing the 100m Breaststroke. The Georgia alum finished in a dead tie with Great Britain’s Adam Peaty. The success was so grand, that he was then hijacked by fellow Georgia graduate, Maria Taylor to be on air with the NBC Broadcast. Taylor then posted a clip from the interview on her Instagram. In the clip, it’s seen how Fink had no clue that THE KIRBY SMART would congratulate him. As Taylor Facetimed the Bulldogs HC, “Go Dawgs! Silver medalist, I’m so pumped. I was a breaststroker back in high school, I was pumped,” came Smart’s congratulatory message.

While the Georgia fandom must be going gaga over Smart hyping up the swimmer over his Olympic win, it did leave the podcast analyst on a sour note. On the show, Adams mentioned it twice in one line, “Now this seems like it was set up a little bit. Nick Fink by the way is the swimmer’s name. It seems like this was a little bit of a setup.” But why does he think so?

Josh Pate’s bold claim about Georgia’s culture

Given the present scenario in Athens, Smart is busy saving his image. Initially, the Bulldogs HC landed huge credit for establishing a winning culture in Georgia by bringing home back-to-back titles. But not anymore. Smart has been held responsible for failing to instill discipline within the roster.

Last month in July, not one, not two, but three Bulldogs players went behind bars. On July 26, WR Rodarius “Rara” Thomas was cuffed surrounding three counts of family violence battery and three counts of second-degree cruelty to children. Before Thomas, two other players from Smart’s roster, linebacker Smael Mondon, and OL Bo Hughley were arrested on reckless driving charges. However, Josh Pate has an interesting take on Georgia’s problematic situation. On the Late Kick with Josh Pate show, he came up with a big claim.

Pate highlighted, “If you have a win-at-all-cost mentality, maybe that’s the culture. And so maybe winning football games is the culture they have there, off-field incidents be d*mned.” Now that Smart has already pulled the reins by dismissing Thomas, it’s now to be seen how the HC drives through the upcoming season.