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Kirby Smart faces backlash for unfortunate happy birthday post on social media

Paul Harvey

By Paul Harvey

Published:

Kirby Smart is a 2-time national title winner at Georgia and has his program poised to be among the best in the country this fall. However, the head coach is not having a banner offseason away from the field.

Smart’s Bulldog program has been riddled with off-field issues the past 2 years, including a number of arrests for various issues. Most recently, receiver Rara Thomas was reportedly arrested for charges related to family violence and 1 count of cruelty to children.

According to reports, Thomas has been suspended indefinitely by the program. Still, that didn’t stop Smart (or whoever runs the head coach’s X account) from wishing Thomas a special happy birthday on Sunday.

That might sound too weird to be true, but it did actually happen. Smart’s account has since deleted the original message, but that hasn’t slowed down the criticism surrounding the situation.

RELATED: Hayes: Another arrest. Another slap on the wrist response. It’s past time to get tough, Kirby

In fairness, it’s unlikely Smart himself runs his own social media accounts on a day-to-day basis. And even if he designed the specific post for Thomas, it was likely scheduled and put in place days — or even weeks — in advance.

Still, it’s another terrible look with awful optics for a program — and a coach — in need of some positive attention after the full scope of the offseason. This incident, unsurprisingly, did not provide a positive spin for the Bulldogs with many fans and media sounding off.

Take a look:

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Paul Harvey

Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.

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