🔥🔥🔥 Good Take on our Current Challenges

[GTBlaze]

It’s amazing that the GT meltdown is still in full effect after the season!

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

Extremely well written. Facts can be hard to argue - blind and ignorant optimism can’t refute hard data.

 

[DvilleJacket]

I feel Collins could still succeed if only we had the resources for stud coordinators. We just ain't Clemson is the problem.

 

[chewybaka]

An interesting take Midtown. Down near the bottom of the comments, was one that I thought was spot on. Paraphrasing here but the poster basically said that during the press conference for Signing Day, Geoff kept his head down as though he was "beaten down". The poster followed that up by observing that the Atlanta media has been merciless. Further, he observed that as fans little more can be accomplished by continually denigrating the man, though God knows, he bought a lot of this on himself. That said, I agree that there is little point (I am including myself here) in continually belittling him for a number of reasons: for one, redemption is a story as old as athletics, he just might have a new chapter to add. Secondly, these things can turn around on a dime, not saying it will, saying it might. Third, how many of us brought into the hype and hoopla? I know I did. Let's see how next year plays out. We may be in for a pleasant surprise...or more of the same in which case the problem of what to do about Geoff will take its natural course.

Nice post…

I could kick myself, but olde CGC is starting to get me cautiously optimistic with his new coaches, signings, portal escapades and focus on wining.

I’ve gotten past my disillusionment and have had fun with the signing day results and am intrigued to see this this upcoming year at BDS….of course I always am!

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Nice post…

I could kick myself, but olde CGC is starting to get me cautiously optimistic with his new coaches, signings, portal escapades and focus on wining.

I’ve gotten past my disillusionment and have had fun with the signing day results and am intrigued to see this this upcoming year at BDS….of course I always am!

But the people on this site who claim to be experts on the “transition” suggest we are at least two more years away from having a winning team.

I get excited too about the recruits and transfers until I realize most of them won’t see the field any time soon and those who do will probably be part of a four win season.

I have started taking very seriously the Collins supporters around here who have continually said it’s a 7 year transition. And, by the way, many of them don’t count 2020. So 2026 is the earliest we see the really big payoff of the Collins hire.

 

[85Escape]

Let me preface what I am about to say by saying I am just as happy with 3 win seasons as everyone else here is. With that out of the way I am strangely fascinated by this guy and what he says.Most guys in his position know how to do the "coach speak", play it down the middle type of corporate jargon that many of us have heard in our everyday work lives. But Collins refuses to or is incapable of doing that and is, instead, doing things his own way (like Sinatra). Whether he sinks or swims, and we all know what the most likely outcome for him is at this point, I give him credit for going against the grain and sticking to his guns if nothing else. After he is done, we will demand and revert back to the norm for what we expect coaches to sound and look like and we will be comfortable there.

You know. You're right. We've had a largest transition in the modern era...and I'm not talking about schemes. We went from a 'here's a middle-finger for you, Media' coach to a 'I've had lens replacement surgery and they used rose-colored implants' coach. It's a bit of whip-lash as fans. And it exacerbated the fan divide between those who don't like my generation's "hard @ss" style and those that do.

But for a fan-base made up of people who take pride in their contrarian attitudes, we got that in both cases. I firmly believe if we got a coach who was a master of the neutral coach-speak there would be 50% of this board upset that he sounds like a PR-controlled middle-manager. I, for one, prefer Elon Musk's more 'say what you mean' approach to what you get from more filtered leaders (of which there are way too many to name.)

As to Collins, he's unlikely to survive this learning experience. And that's too bad. Although I don't think he'll be able to pull it off, I am not rooting against him...quite the contrary. The best thing that could happen for GT is for CGC to be wildly, unexpectedly successful in 2022.

I'm not convinced that everyone on this board agrees with that sentiment.

And that's really sad.

 

[motynes]

I understand one thing of trying to be positive, but these statements come off as down right lies. He has lost a lot of trust in the GT fan base for just stating things that are not true. I can only imagine there has been a loss of trust in the locker room. I hope he finds his way to the truth.

 

[4shotB]

I understand one thing of trying to be positive, but these statements come off as down right lies. He has lost a lot of trust in the GT fan base for just stating things that are not true. I can only imagine there has been a loss of trust in the locker room. I hope he finds his way to the truth.

I think, like Professor Harold Hill, CGC has believed in his "think system" for running a college program. Unlike the Professor, I don't think he is being intentional or disingenuous. I am convinced that he does indeed want to be a successful head coach at GT.

 

[motynes]

I think, like Professor Harold Hill, CGC has believed in his "think system" for running a college program. Unlike the Professor, I don't think he is being intentional or disingenuous. I am convinced that he does indeed want to be a successful head coach at GT.

You are probably correct.

 

[slugboy]

You know. You're right. We've had a largest transition in the modern era...and I'm not talking about schemes. We went from a 'here's a middle-finger for you, Media' coach to a 'I've had lens replacement surgery and they used rose-colored implants' coach. It's a bit of whip-lash as fans. And it exacerbated the fan divide between those who don't like my generation's "hard @ss" style and those that do.

But for a fan-base made up of people who take pride in their contrarian attitudes, we got that in both cases. I firmly believe if we got a coach who was a master of the neutral coach-speak there would be 50% of this board upset that he sounds like a PR-controlled middle-manager. I, for one, prefer Elon Musk's more 'say what you mean' approach to what you get from more filtered leaders (of which there are way too many to name.)

As to Collins, he's unlikely to survive this learning experience. And that's too bad. Although I don't think he'll be able to pull it off, I am not rooting against him...quite the contrary. The best thing that could happen for GT is for CGC to be wildly, unexpectedly successful in 2022.

I'm not convinced that everyone on this board agrees with that sentiment.

And that's really sad.

Gailey was right in the middle with saying nothing interesting. There was not a lot of love there, either.

If you’re going bowling as a coach here, that’s good to keep about 50% of the fans on your side. Getting shares of the other 50% is a skill in itself.

 

[JacketOff]

But the people on this site who claim to be experts on the “transition” suggest we are at least two more years away from having a winning team.

I get excited too about the recruits and transfers until I realize most of them won’t see the field any time soon and those who do will probably be part of a four win season.

I have started taking very seriously the Collins supporters around here who have continually said it’s a 7 year transition. And, by the way, many of them don’t count 2020. So 2026 is the earliest we see the really big payoff of the Collins hire.

Literally no one has ever said it would be a 7 year transition. I don’t know why you keep repeating that. It’s always been 3-4 years. Nobody expected to only win 3 games last year or be as bad as we were. Not even Collins. That’s why his tagline for the year was WIN21. Everyone thought last year was the year real progress would shine through, and there were flashes of it early in the year. But since there was little to no progress in year 3, it’s do or die in year 4. No one has ever thought it would take 7 years to get back to 7-5. I’ve never seen or heard anybody say that, but you keep repeating that notion for some reason

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Literally no one has ever said it would be a 7 year transition. I don’t know why you keep repeating that. It’s always been 3-4 years. Nobody expected to only win 3 games last year or be as bad as we were. Not even Collins. That’s why his tagline for the year was WIN21. Everyone thought last year was the year real progress would shine through, and there were flashes of it early in the year. But since there was little to no progress in year 3, it’s do or die in year 4. No one has ever thought it would take 7 years to get back to 7-5. I’ve never seen or heard anybody say that, but you keep repeating that notion for some reason

Then you haven’t been paying attention?Because that is what a lot of people initially said. This was the whole justification for a 7 year guaranteed contract for Collins. Admittedly those people are not as vocal as they were 3 years ago or even last year but the whole point of writing off 2019 (CPJ’s fault) and 2020 (COVID year doesn’t count) was to suggest that 2021 was actually year 0 and we still need at least 2 more years after that. Some people still want to buy time for this experiment to work.

As for win in 21, most of the public reporting from AJC as well as sports blogs is that Collins felt forced to over promise in 2021 because of pressure from TStan. But around here there are still plenty of people clinging to the idea that it takes years to build an offensive line “from scratch.” Yeah, 7 years is still a thing for some people though they aren’t as vocal as they used to be.

Sorry you missed all those conversations.

 

[awbuzz]

Part of what bugs me was the inferences that we weren't working enough on football in winning but on building culture/brand. I thought the number one thing is to win while building culture/brand.
If you're not winning, your culture/brand = losing. Not the "team" people want to be associated.

 

[Oakland]

Part of what bugs me was the inferences that we weren't working enough on football in winning but on building culture/brand. I thought the number one thing is to win while building culture/brand.
If you're not winning, your culture/brand = losing. Not the "team" people want to be associated.

I agree with this. I also believe during 2019 there was a lot of experimenting going on with not being able to choose a starting quarterback and not playing to the strength of the team. We had good enough players to win more games that year. Then during 2020 we chose to run a hurry up offense in games against superior talented teams that resulted in us getting squashed. The culture change and experimenting started to really trouble me. I thought we were going to turn the corner this year with the close game against Clemson and the win again UNC. One of the scariest parts of our new culture / branding change was how Duke was more physical than our team. If one of our offensive lineman had not controlled a Gibbs fumble in the fourth quarter, we would have been 2 and 10 this year. I hope Collins does what he says about coaching football versus the culture stuff this year. We need him to be successful.

 

[IronJacket7]

Good Take on our current challenges:

1. Our fan base or lack thereof and their negative mindset

2.

3.

 

[randerto]

Good Take on our current challenges:

1. Our fan base or lack thereof and their negative mindset

2.

3.

Disagree. Granted our fan base is not as large as UGA's, it is not more negative than any others. Throughout history in every sport in every part of the world, fans will show up if the team starts winning - it works the other way too. And every team's Internet chat boards are ALWAYS very negative - GT online fans are no more negative than any other online fan base (though admittedly it seems that way when reading this chat site!). Keep it in perspective - this site will always be negative and our fans will fill seats AFTER we start winning consistently.

 

[IronJacket7]

Disagree. Granted our fan base is not as large as UGA's, it is not more negative than any others. Throughout history in every sport in every part of the world, fans will show up if the team starts winning - it works the other way too. And every team's Internet chat boards are ALWAYS very negative - GT online fans are no more negative than any other online fan base (though admittedly it seems that way when reading this chat site!). Keep it in perspective - this site will always be negative and our fans will fill seats AFTER we start winning consistently.

Several good points but I believe GT fan base as a whole is one of the most negative. JMO. Many other schools still fill the seats when their team is in a major rut.

 

[lv20gt]

Disagree. Granted our fan base is not as large as UGA's, it is not more negative than any others. Throughout history in every sport in every part of the world, fans will show up if the team starts winning

Basketball kind of proves otherwise as we won the ACC and still had lack luster fan support to begin the year.

GT fans look for reasons to be pessimistic even after winning.

 

[Richard7125]

Then you haven’t been paying attention?Because that is what a lot of people initially said. This was the whole justification for a 7 year guaranteed contract for Collins. Admittedly those people are not as vocal as they were 3 years ago or even last year but the whole point of writing off 2019 (CPJ’s fault) and 2020 (COVID year doesn’t count) was to suggest that 2021 was actually year 0 and we still need at least 2 more years after that. Some people still want to buy time for this experiment to work.

As for win in 21, most of the public reporting from AJC as well as sports blogs is that Collins felt forced to over promise in 2021 because of pressure from TStan. But around here there are still plenty of people clinging to the idea that it takes years to build an offensive line “from scratch.” Yeah, 7 years is still a thing for some people though they aren’t as vocal as they used to be.

Sorry you missed all those conversations.

I disagree with your understanding of the 7 year justification. Conventional wisdom on coaching contracts is that you always want to have 3 to 4 years remaining for recruiting purposes. That’s why coaches will get 1 year extensions after mediocre seasons when they still have 3 years left on a contract. The 7 year contract Collins got was acknowledging he was going to suck for 2 (and maybe 3) years and the AD wouldn’t have to give him an extension to protect recruiting.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I disagree with your understanding of the 7 year justification. Conventional wisdom on coaching contracts is that you always want to have 3 to 4 years remaining for recruiting purposes. That’s why coaches will get 1 year extensions after mediocre seasons when they still have 3 years left on a contract. The 7 year contract Collins got was acknowledging he was going to suck for 2 (and maybe 3) years and the AD wouldn’t have to give him an extension to protect recruiting.

That’s a distinction without a difference.

Where these conversations get off track, in my opinion, is we have some who want to delay as long as possible the time when we finally hold CGC responsible for results. I think they really believe that he needs an extended period before his recruits finally kick in and start winning. I’m skeptical but willing to be proven wrong while at the same time frustrated that, by some people’s math, we have to endure at least two to three more years of poor to mediocre results. That makes me restless.