Guys.
This is it.
Right now.
This moment right now, where you're not a good team, and you just got slaughtered by ND, and you're aware that if UGA wanted this the score to be 100-0, and it's only by virtue of their class as a program and their mercy that it won't be, this is the moment, where you're either going to run the experiment, or you're not.
It's not guaranteed to work. That's the thing about experiments. Sometimes they fail, but they ALWAYS fail if you give up halfway through them.
4 years ago, you guys made a choice to run this experiment. The experiment is "we're f'n sick and tired of topping out as a program because we have x's and o's, and they have jimmies and joes, so let's try to do it the other way".
You then made decisions based off that choice. "Who is the best possible recruiter that we think we can get, and who will stick with GT". You said to yourself "we're going all in on jimmies and joes, because we really, really, really believe that if you've got the best guys, it overcomes tactics"
And, "the best guys" doesn't mean "the best guys as freshmen and sophomores". It means "the best guys as seniors, with the best guys as juniors, and the best guys as sophoremores, and the best guys as freshmen".
Getting the best guys means telling them what they want to hear, and what they want to hear is "we're going to prepare you for the NFL, and we're going to make you rich because of it", and that means running stuff that translates to the nfl.
THAT means running the same stuff as everybody else, and when you run the same stuff as everybody else AND they've got 2 years of recruiting and S/C on you, they kick your asses 55-0.
Is there a world where you have both? Meh, IDK, but you believed that collins was the best guy to get you the best jimmies and joes, and would stick at GT, and frankly, that wasn't a bad guess.
Could you guess maybe Charles Huff? Maybe. Could you guess maybe Mike Locksley? Maybe. Could you guess maybe Dre Bly? Maybe. Collins was probably a better pick for GT at the time, knowing what we knew then. He was in that elite cadre of recruiters, reputation wise, and he WANTS to be at GT.
For the experiment you're trying to run, Collins was the best pick.
So, we get to now.
If you're going to run this experiment to its conclusion, THIS is when you just shut up, and grind your teeth, deal with the massive L's.
The point of an experiment is to get datapoints, and you'll never get the data you want if you bail now. The data is "Can GT REALLY recruit their way to wins? Like, you've talked about it forever, and some people think yes, and some people think now, but right now you're halfway through an experiment. If you finish the experiment (because you'll probably lose next year, too), you can make decisions.
If, after 2023, you're still losing, then you know: We cannot do this. Our fundamentals do not allow it. Lets go get Jeff Monken, or Jamie Chadwell, or some Leach disciple, and try to do it on scheme.
If, on the other hand, after 2023, suddenly you're lining up and kicking UVa's *** at the point of attack, and giving UGA a game, and all we need to do is keep it up, and maybe tweak here or there, then you know that, too.
But if you quit now, and you never REALLY try to win on talent, with an entire roster stocked top to bottom, and fully developed with the best recruiter you're ever likely to get, then you'll never know, and that'll lead you to bad decisions (or at least decisions made on incomplete info).
I can't stand Geoff Collins. I think he's a clown, I think he's a D-bag, and I'd NEVER hire that guy to coach for me. Also, I think GT CAN'T do it. I think your academic and social environment, as well as your disinterested alumni base (and they'll ALWAYS be disinterested vis a vis uga) preclude you from winning like UGA does. THAT SAID, you've sunk 3 years into this experiment, and it's a good, valid experiment. You really want to get the data from this, so shut up, see it through, take the huge loss to UGA. Take a ****-ton of losses next year, and then the year after, get your data and move on from there.
You guys are numbers guys. Get your numbers.
Right now. This moment. Stop thinking with your hearts, and your "jesus, I'm going to have to hear about this from my UGA inlaws for 20 years when they beat us by 70" and start thinking with your "I'm dealing with unpleasantness that will allow me to make optimal football-related decisions for 2 generations".
Signed,
The least likely guy on this board to write this post (and also somebody with no skin in the game)
