ATHENS — Georgia will hire Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart to replace former coach Mark Richt, who was fired on Sunday after coaching the Bulldogs for 15 seasons, according to several people with knowledge of the situation.

Smart, a former Georgia safety and assistant coach, has not signed a contract with the Bulldogs, and won’t be able to do so until after the No. 2 Crimson Tide plays No. 18 Florida in Saturday’s SEC championship game in Atlanta.

Georgia targeted Smart from the infancy of its search and is expected to announce his hiring early next week, according to the sources.

According to the sources, Georgia contacted representatives of at least a couple of other candidates, including Houston’s Tom Herman, but it was apparent to the other candidates that the job was Smart’s from the beginning. Herman never talked with UGA athletics director Greg McGarity about the job, the sources said. Smart, a native of Bainbridge, Georgia, has long been tied to Georgia, where he played football and graduated from in the late 1990s. Smart, who’s never been a head coach, was also a leading candidate for the South Carolina job. Sources told ESPN.com that one of the reasons Georgia acted so decisively Sunday in parting ways with Richt was to ensure moving in a strong position with Smart, who was a finalist for the Auburn job in 2013 when Gus Malzahn was hired.

Smart’s wife, the former Mary Beth Lycett, is a former Georgia basketball player and worked in the school’s athletics department. Smart also owns a vacation lake home near the Georgia campus. Richt averaged nearly 10 wins a season in his 15 years at Georgia, but last won an SEC championship in 2005 and never won a national championship. His 74 percent winning percentage ranked fifth-highest among active FBS coaches with at least 130 victories, behind only Urban Meyer, Bob Stoops, Nick Saban and Gary Patterson.

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