EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsAt the 2026 Steve Spurrier Awards dinner -- hosted by a coach known for his witticisms -- Miami's Mario Cristobal and Georgia's Kirby Smart fired off some joking barbs of their own on Monday night in Gainesville, Florida.Bulldogs freshman defensive back Ellis Robinson IV was among the honorees, leading Smart to take up the microphone to introduce his player -- and troll another guest sitting near Robinson."Mario's sitting right behind him, if it had been up to him he would have paid a lot more NIL money," Smart said, referring to Robinson's recruitment and the presumably hefty amount of money Georgia is paying for his services. "It came down to us two, so I don't like [Robinson IV] being real close to Mario right now, you know what I'm saying. He's still got another year left. Got to be careful around Mario, sometimes he'll take your players if you know what I mean."Smart was quick to mention that he was kidding but continued ribbing Cristobal."I was talking to Mario earlier, he came up to me and gave me a Lane Kiffin joke. He and Lane are very similar in a lot of ways, they're like best friends. And he came up to me and was like 'You ought to start getting on some protein shakes, you've had too many carbs,'" Smart recalled. "And I said, 'Well you probably ought to spend some time with Steve Spurrier because he won more conference championships at Duke than you have at Miami.'"Soon after Hurricanes star freshman Malachi Toney was honored, Cristobal spoke, and while he did honor the final request of Smart's speech -- "hey Mario, no fat jokes!" -- he did make sure to offer some retorts of his own."It's a great piece right here to watch what a player like Carson Beck can do with great coaching," Cristobal said, referring to the quarterback who transferred from Georgia to Miami last offseason.Cristobal wasn't done: "Let's give it up for Kirby Smart. I mean, if it wasn't for all his years of pre-NIL, we wouldn't have NIL right now," Cristobal said. "Robinson family, great seeing you. We leave at 9:30 on the real jet. We have more than one restaurant in Miami as opposed to Athens."The Hurricanes coach added one more shot for good measure: "You got to give a guy like Kirby credit. You know, I mean, when you have all that time to sit at home watching us play on TV throughout the playoffs when you don't take care of business..." Cristobal said. "But congratulations on the SEC and the championship, that's awesome. We were 5-0 against the SEC [across the last three seasons]. I don't know what you were."In addition to sniping at each other, there was one subject that both Smart and Cristobal found mutual joy in mocking: Florida, which both coaches have enjoyed strong records against in recent times.As Smart put it: "Your daughter is a realtor, did I hear that right? Is she the best realtor in Gainesville?" the Bulldogs coach asked Spurrier, before looking at new Gators coach Jon Sumrall and continuing, "Well you're the fourth [Florida] coach I've played since being at Georgia, so she's getting a lot of money selling houses."
