AD chat

[Techster]

The last GT basketball coach to leave for a "bigger job" was ... uh .... what was his name? Uh .... hmmm

The insecurity of our fan base is amazing.

Insecurity led to Braine awarding Hewitt basically a perpetual 7 year contract that had a domino affect on our athletic programs for decades.

If a good coach leaves, it's up to GT to find a good coach to replace him. No sense in putting GT behind an 8 ball to keep a coach or make bad hires. Unfortunately, that's what we've been doing.

 

[YlJacket]

I still blame GT more than Brane for the dark decade. Yea would I have structured things differently but it was still an effort to hold on to a at the time high performing coach

After all that though a 7 M buyout is significant but should not be an immovable anvil for a supposed Power 5 type program. Lazy AD/GT are the issue IMHO

 

[leatherneckjacket]

What is the argument? Whether Braine was cheap or that he had too low expectations of our program? Why does it have to be one or the other?

 

[Novajacket]

For me the argument is do you offer a coach more security to lower the costs or is it better to lose the coach cause you can’t afford them? I think it’s been proven that you shouldn’t lower costs by both Braine and TS.

 

[ESPNjacket]

What is the argument? Whether Braine was cheap or that he had too low expectations of our program? Why does it have to be one or the other?

It doesn't have to be. I just think Braine thought we could win and was cheap. Drad didn't care about basketball. Mboob didn't fit in with GT alumni and it seems like he figured that out quickly.

 

[slugboy]

It doesn't have to be. I just think Braine thought we could win and was cheap. Drad didn't care about basketball. Mboob didn't fit in with GT alumni and it seems like he figured that out quickly.

1. First, your profile picture is excellent after all this time.

2. This short post got me to think about the ADs that I remember as a Tech fan.
Homer Rice had a strategic plan for Tech athletics. It wasn’t always easy and it wasn’t perfect. He started in 1980, the same year as Curry, so I’m not sure if he hired Curry or not. He did hire Cremins. The athletic program was a hot mess when he started, and when he retired he had a program where athletes graduated at a high rate, had a national football championship, and final fours. He lucked into some very good hires, and made one horrible hire in Lewis. I wouldn’t say it was all luck on his hires, but he did have some good fortune. His focus on having a strategic plan for the athletic department worked out very well.

Then, we hired Dave Braine. At the time, Virginia Tech was a powerhouse in football at the time, and from a Tech fan’s perspective we hired him to bring that success here. In retrospect, what he did that worked out well was not firing Frank Beamer when any other AD would have—that eventually made the program explode, but until 1993 his record was horrible. We thought we were hiring a mastermind who knew how to build a football powerhouse, but I think we were hiring an AD who wanted to be semi-retired and not rock the boat. He thought Tech fans should be happy with 7 or 8 wins in a football season, and I think that was all he was aiming for. I wonder if he even told Chan Gailey to win 7 games a year and then he’d have an easy coaching tenure here with no big expectations. I think he was surprised that we really wanted to win, and Gailey probably was, too. Braine lucked out with Hewitt, and I think he set up the minimum possible disruptive plan of setting the basketball program on autopilot with a perpetual contract, and he wouldn’t worry about it.

After being surprised that our fans wanted to win, Braine retired. We hired DRad as an AD. He was on a meteoric rise from LSU. Looking back, I’m not sure what he was good at. He seemed very interested in building buildings. He didn’t pay attention to basketball. His Wikipedia entry lists his achievements as adding chairbacks, hiring Paul Johnson, building an indoor practice facility, remodeling the basketball arena, and fixing up the tennis courts. He fired Paul Hewitt, made an uninspired hire in Brian Gregory, then left for Clemson.

It’s fair to say DRad did not have a mind for basketball. He seemed to do OK for football.

Neither Braine nor Radakovich seemed to have a long term plan or execute one. Braine seemed to be getting ready to go fishing, and DRad seemed to be angling for another job more than leaving a legacy here. DRad also was much more effective in spending money than in raising cash, though he did start the TECH fund.

The program was in bad shape, especially the basketball program. We hired Mike Bobinski from Xavier, who seemed to know basketball, but not much about football. He damaged our football program, hired Pastner and some good assistants in basketball, and did not seem interested in working here at all.

Stansbury had a history of being an effective AD, but the things he seemed to be effective at were building good fundraising programs. He did a good job building capital improvement projects and fundraising for them, but in the other aspects of being an AD he didn’t put together an effective plan. He didn’t seem to know or care what to do with basketball. I think he just completely lucked out with Fortner after having to fire Machele Joseph.

I’m not sure how Batt is going to turn out. He’s been given a mission to build first class athletic programs here, and there’s an emphasis on getting the business side of the house straightened out. I think Cabrera expects a strategic plan that includes staffing, NIL, and other areas.

Anyway, short version:

Rice: Great overall
Braine: Wanted a job with low expectations and no pressure. Not the AD we thought we were hiring. Was lazy.
DRad: Bad for basketball, had a lot of ideas that were probably good for LSU, but not what we needed here. Ignored important things.
MBob: Bad for football, and most other things. Not sure why we hired him.
TStan: Good at capital programs, bad at the rest, lacked planning at everything but capital programs
Batt: At least showing some sense. Huge hill to climb.

 

[cpf2001]

Crazy (tragic, sad, disappointing) thing in retrospect is that Braine was probably better overall for GT than his successors to date (hopefully not than Batt).

I would not have bet money on that…

 

[UgaBlows]

Drad hired CPJ, imo that makes him #2 after Rice

 

[dtm1997]

Drad hired CPJ, imo that makes him #2 after Rice

Well, he's the biggest contributor to our hoops program being ****ty for so long, so **** LazyAD. He's a full on piece of ****.

 

[Techster]

1. First, your profile picture is excellent after all this time.

2. This short post got me to think about the ADs that I remember as a Tech fan.
Homer Rice had a strategic plan for Tech athletics. It wasn’t always easy and it wasn’t perfect. He started in 1980, the same year as Curry, so I’m not sure if he hired Curry or not. He did hire Cremins. The athletic program was a hot mess when he started, and when he retired he had a program where athletes graduated at a high rate, had a national football championship, and final fours. He lucked into some very good hires, and made one horrible hire in Lewis. I wouldn’t say it was all luck on his hires, but he did have some good fortune. His focus on having a strategic plan for the athletic department worked out very well.

Then, we hired Dave Braine. At the time, Virginia Tech was a powerhouse in football at the time, and from a Tech fan’s perspective we hired him to bring that success here. In retrospect, what he did that worked out well was not firing Frank Beamer when any other AD would have—that eventually made the program explode, but until 1993 his record was horrible. We thought we were hiring a mastermind who knew how to build a football powerhouse, but I think we were hiring an AD who wanted to be semi-retired and not rock the boat. He thought Tech fans should be happy with 7 or 8 wins in a football season, and I think that was all he was aiming for. I wonder if he even told Chan Gailey to win 7 games a year and then he’d have an easy coaching tenure here with no big expectations. I think he was surprised that we really wanted to win, and Gailey probably was, too. Braine lucked out with Hewitt, and I think he set up the minimum possible disruptive plan of setting the basketball program on autopilot with a perpetual contract, and he wouldn’t worry about it.

After being surprised that our fans wanted to win, Braine retired. We hired DRad as an AD. He was on a meteoric rise from LSU. Looking back, I’m not sure what he was good at. He seemed very interested in building buildings. He didn’t pay attention to basketball. His Wikipedia entry lists his achievements as adding chairbacks, hiring Paul Johnson, building an indoor practice facility, remodeling the basketball arena, and fixing up the tennis courts. He fired Paul Hewitt, made an uninspired hire in Brian Gregory, then left for Clemson.

It’s fair to say DRad did not have a mind for basketball. He seemed to do OK for football.

Neither Braine nor Radakovich seemed to have a long term plan or execute one. Braine seemed to be getting ready to go fishing, and DRad seemed to be angling for another job more than leaving a legacy here. DRad also was much more effective in spending money than in raising cash, though he did start the TECH fund.

The program was in bad shape, especially the basketball program. We hired Mike Bobinski from Xavier, who seemed to know basketball, but not much about football. He damaged our football program, hired Pastner and some good assistants in basketball, and did not seem interested in working here at all.

Stansbury had a history of being an effective AD, but the things he seemed to be effective at were building good fundraising programs. He did a good job building capital improvement projects and fundraising for them, but in the other aspects of being an AD he didn’t put together an effective plan. He didn’t seem to know or care what to do with basketball. I think he just completely lucked out with Fortner after having to fire Machele Joseph.

I’m not sure how Batt is going to turn out. He’s been given a mission to build first class athletic programs here, and there’s an emphasis on getting the business side of the house straightened out. I think Cabrera expects a strategic plan that includes staffing, NIL, and other areas.

Anyway, short version:

Rice: Great overall
Braine: Wanted a job with low expectations and no pressure. Not the AD we thought we were hiring. Was lazy.
DRad: Bad for basketball, had a lot of ideas that were probably good for LSU, but not what we needed here. Ignored important things.
MBob: Bad for football, and most other things. Not sure why we hired him.
TStan: Good at capital programs, bad at the rest, lacked planning at everything but capital programs
Batt: At least showing some sense. Huge hill to climb.

This is a fair summary. I'd like to add some things.

Braine:

I think his fault was loyalty...and loyalty can cut both ways. I think be believed in Chan, and despite how some GT fans felt, Chan was actually a good coach. As we saw with Collins, Joe Schmo isn't walking off the street and taking GT to bowl games. Was he on the Ross/O'Leary/Johnson level? That's for us fans to debate, but he never had a losing season, went to 1 ACCCG (which I'm still trying to get fully dry from, and still peeved we somehow only managed 6 points with Calvin Johnson), and still had the highest rated recruiting class since the advent of hyper commercialized recruiting services. The man also knew how to spot and develop talent. How many low rated recruits ended up in the NFL? Who knows what Chan could have done with that vaunted 2007 class, and VERY promising 2008 class that was committed to us that also included a future NFL QB that ended up at Duke. It's quite possible GT could have had a run of 8-10+ win seasons. We at least knew he was good for 7 wins, amirite?! Loyalty also led Braine to extend Gailey right before he retired and we hired DRad. Loyalty also gave him a steady hand with Beamer at VT...and we all know how that turned out. What if Braine had stayed another few more years at GT? Remember, Gailey finally had a REALLY good staff put together that was hitting homeruns on the recruiting trail. Gailey given a few more years will remain a big "What if" for me given all the talent that was starting to accumulate. Don't get me wrong though, Paul Johnson years are some of my favorite years as a GT fan.

I don't think Braine "lucked" into Hewitt. There was an article I read once about how Braine knew about Hewitt from his days as an assistant at Villanova. Braine followed Hewitt's career and Hewitt started to blossom at Siena heading his own program. Hewitt career trajectory was shooting straight up, and Braine mentioned that Hewitt was hot name among college circles the time. His success catapaulted him to the top of the list when Cremins stepped down. It was just a matter of how Hewitt would adjust to the highest level of college basketball (the ACC) at the time, but the early recruiting returns from Hewitt, and his ability to take a team with Tony Akins and Alvin Jones to the NCAAT his first season at GT was a good indicator that Braine followed Hewitt all those years for a good reason.

IMO, his loyalty to Hewitt (perpetual 7 year contract), and extending Gailey ended up coming back to haunt future ADs. This is where you can say Braine had to make the best decision for GT at the time, and without worrying about how it would affect his successors.

Radakovich:

Regardless of the financial bind we were in with Gailey and Hewitt's buyouts, I don't think anyone would argue DRad could have done better than Brian Gregory. I think it's VERY fair to say that was a botched and uninspiring hiring. I'm not sure Radakovich was in tuned with basketball as much as he was with football. In the end, he was an SEC guy that lived for giant stadiums and the oblong ball not the round ball.

The CPJ hire was a great hire. At the time, it was said CPJ and GT were the perfect marriage given the circumstances. Despite the divisiveness the flex option offense would create among our fans, no one can argue 3 ACC Championship Games, 2 Orange bowls (1 win), 1 ACC championship, and multiple Coastal Division championships. Personally, it was one of the best times as I had as a GT football fan. CPJ is literally a Hall of Fame coach, and GT will be a big chapter in his career.

People also forget Radakovich spearheaded the process to get a B1G invite for GT. That means something, and could have changed the entire history of our sports programs. I'm pretty certain Radakovich saw the revenue projections of the B1G and wanted us to join. How else are you going to entice a program to leave the ACC? Maryland must have seen the revenues as well and was happy to swallow the buyout to jump ship. Of course, we all now know GT decision makers above Radakovich turned down the B1G. I've heard it was a major factor why Radakovich took the Clemson job. With that decision, Radakovich knew GT was not serious about the business of GT sports.

Bobinski:

F$ck that guy. Probably one of the worst hiring decisions ever made for GT sports. He had one foot out the door the minute he stepped into the door. The Bobinski tenure probably took years off of CPJ's coaching career...he literally said he wanted to step down years earlier.

Todd Stansbury:

This one is interesting. Prodigal son who came home with great fanfare, made some really good non revenue hires, but ultimately failed due to his football hire and the "walled garden" of loyalist he put around him. No need to rehash the Collins decision, we all know how that turned out, and it's been dissected ad nauseum over the last 6 months. I remember when CPJ stepped down, I said that Stansbury was in uncharted territory. His AD career was void of ever hiring a football coach for the schools he was at. Ultimately, his first HC for football ended up being his only HC hire in his AD career. GT history probably will not look fondly on Stansbury.

Batt:

I think the big thing so far from Batt is the synergy between the GTAA and GT the Institute. I can't ever remember when the school and the GTAA were ever this aligned. Part of that has to do with Cabrera. We'll see how this all turns out. TWO major hires within months. Ultimately, those hires will define him. I for one think both coaches are solid hires...but we'll see...

 

[mstranahan]

Minor quibble, but Rice had one Final Four. So did Braine. Rice > Braine, so I think Final Four isn’t a great barometer of AD success.

 

[UgaBlows]

Well, he's the biggest contributor to our hoops program being ****ty for so long, so **** LazyAD. He's a full on piece of ****.

Fair point, and yet the others were still somehow worse

 

[kg01]

Dang, I landed in the AD thread again.

The transfer portal?

 

[ESPNjacket]

This is a fair summary. I'd like to add some things.

Braine:

I think his fault was loyalty...and loyalty can cut both ways. I think be believed in Chan, and despite how some GT fans felt, Chan was actually a good coach. As we saw with Collins, Joe Schmo isn't walking off the street and taking GT to bowl games. Was he on the Ross/O'Leary/Johnson level? That's for us fans to debate, but he never had a losing season, went to 1 ACCCG (which I'm still trying to get fully dry from, and still peeved we somehow only managed 6 points with Calvin Johnson), and still had the highest rated recruiting class since the advent of hyper commercialized recruiting services. The man also knew how to spot and develop talent. How many low rated recruits ended up in the NFL? Who knows what Chan could have done with that vaunted 2007 class, and VERY promising 2008 class that was committed to us that also included a future NFL QB that ended up at Duke. It's quite possible GT could have had a run of 8-10+ win seasons. We at least knew he was good for 7 wins, amirite?! Loyalty also led Braine to extend Gailey right before he retired and we hired DRad. Loyalty also gave him a steady hand with Beamer at VT...and we all know how that turned out. What if Braine had stayed another few more years at GT? Remember, Gailey finally had a REALLY good staff put together that was hitting homeruns on the recruiting trail. Gailey given a few more years will remain a big "What if" for me given all the talent that was starting to accumulate. Don't get me wrong though, Paul Johnson years are some of my favorite years as a GT fan.

I don't think Braine "lucked" into Hewitt. There was an article I read once about how Braine knew about Hewitt from his days as an assistant at Villanova. Braine followed Hewitt's career and Hewitt started to blossom at Siena heading his own program. Hewitt career trajectory was shooting straight up, and Braine mentioned that Hewitt was hot name among college circles the time. His success catapaulted him to the top of the list when Cremins stepped down. It was just a matter of how Hewitt would adjust to the highest level of college basketball (the ACC) at the time, but the early recruiting returns from Hewitt, and his ability to take a team with Tony Akins and Alvin Jones to the NCAAT his first season at GT was a good indicator that Braine followed Hewitt all those years for a good reason.

IMO, his loyalty to Hewitt (perpetual 7 year contract), and extending Gailey ended up coming back to haunt future ADs. This is where you can say Braine had to make the best decision for GT at the time, and without worrying about how it would affect his successors.

Radakovich:

Regardless of the financial bind we were in with Gailey and Hewitt's buyouts, I don't think anyone would argue DRad could have done better than Brian Gregory. I think it's VERY fair to say that was a botched and uninspiring hiring. I'm not sure Radakovich was in tuned with basketball as much as he was with football. In the end, he was an SEC guy that lived for giant stadiums and the oblong ball not the round ball.

The CPJ hire was a great hire. At the time, it was said CPJ and GT were the perfect marriage given the circumstances. Despite the divisiveness the flex option offense would create among our fans, no one can argue 3 ACC Championship Games, 2 Orange bowls (1 win), 1 ACC championship, and multiple Coastal Division championships. Personally, it was one of the best times as I had as a GT football fan. CPJ is literally a Hall of Fame coach, and GT will be a big chapter in his career.

People also forget Radakovich spearheaded the process to get a B1G invite for GT. That means something, and could have changed the entire history of our sports programs. I'm pretty certain Radakovich saw the revenue projections of the B1G and wanted us to join. How else are you going to entice a program to leave the ACC? Maryland must have seen the revenues as well and was happy to swallow the buyout to jump ship. Of course, we all now know GT decision makers above Radakovich turned down the B1G. I've heard it was a major factor why Radakovich took the Clemson job. With that decision, Radakovich knew GT was not serious about the business of GT sports.

Bobinski:

F$ck that guy. Probably one of the worst hiring decisions ever made for GT sports. He had one foot out the door the minute he stepped into the door. The Bobinski tenure probably took years off of CPJ's coaching career...he literally said he wanted to step down years earlier.

Todd Stansbury:

This one is interesting. Prodigal son who came home with great fanfare, made some really good non revenue hires, but ultimately failed due to his football hire and the "walled garden" of loyalist he put around him. No need to rehash the Collins decision, we all know how that turned out, and it's been dissected ad nauseum over the last 6 months. I remember when CPJ stepped down, I said that Stansbury was in uncharted territory. His AD career was void of ever hiring a football coach for the schools he was at. Ultimately, his first HC for football ended up being his only HC hire in his AD career. GT history probably will not look fondly on Stansbury.

Batt:

I think the big thing so far from Batt is the synergy between the GTAA and GT the Institute. I can't ever remember when the school and the GTAA were ever this aligned. Part of that has to do with Cabrera. We'll see how this all turns out. TWO major hires within months. Ultimately, those hires will define him. I for one think both coaches are solid hires...but we'll see...

This is a good summary but I will add a few things.

Drad didn't just leave for Clemson on his own. He was asked to leave after the NCAA fiasco where his people harassed the dumb NCAA investigator and turned a few minor violations into a major. Unprecedented and utterly dumb. Drad is the builder of things. When GT had all of the major stuff built, he went to Clemson to build lots of things then Miami, who has few things built and is ready to build. He only cares about football and makes that obvious.

MBoob hated GT and its alumni. Unfortunately, a large donor with a big mouth wanted a basketball-first AD. Well, here he was. MBoob had a basketball background and a finance background. He was the perfect guy to fix hoops and balance the checkbook. Unfortunately, he was a terrible cultural fit, hated the culture, hated the alumni, and left a steaming pile behind him.

I have no insight into Stansbury. The only thing positive he did was to encourage Johnson to stay in place a couple of extra years. I don't know of any other accomplishments.

I have met Batt and I think he is the right guy. He seems like he understands there are challenges but has no patience for the lame, whiny alumni who claim we are small and poor. GT is neither small nor poor.

 

[dtm1997]

Fair point, and yet the others were still somehow worse

That depends on if GT football or hoops is your favorite sport. To me, LazyAD is the #1 worst AD of the past couple of decades and it's demonstrable.

 

[Connell62]

That depends on if GT football or hoops is your favorite sport. To me, LazyAD is the #1 worst AD of the past couple of decades and it's demonstrable.

Tell us how you really feel! LOL

 

[LargeFO]

Well, he's the biggest contributor to our hoops program being ****ty for so long, so **** LazyAD. He's a full on piece of ****.

I totally get this feeling.

It's a tough ranking for me because I feel like all 4 of them were super flawed in multiple ways.

Gun to my head I'd probably say worst to least crappy:

Bobo
Stans
Brain
Rad

But I totally get the Rad frustrations. Being least crappy is basically a participation medal. LOL

 

[Roswellgoldmember]

The CPJ hire was a great hire. At the time, it was said CPJ and GT were the perfect marriage given the circumstances. Despite the divisiveness the flex option offense would create among our fans, no one can argue 3 ACC Championship Games, 2 Orange bowls (1 win), 1 ACC championship, and multiple Coastal Division championships. Personally, it was one of the best times as I had as a GT football fan. CPJ is literally a Hall of Fame coach, and GT will be a big chapter in his career.

Great analysis. I think the 10% - 20% of the fan base that absolutely hated that offense did their very best to ruin it for everyone and in a lot of ways succeeded. Along with what Gailey could of done had he continued, I think a huge what if for me is what would of happened if we had really gotten behind Johnson, gave him money for a top tier defensive staff and recruiting budget with analyst, etc..

 

[dtm1997]

I totally get this feeling.

It's a tough ranking for me because I feel like all 4 of them were super flawed in multiple ways.

Gun to my head I'd probably say worst to least crappy:

Bobo
Stans
Brain
Rad

But I totally get the Rad frustrations. Being least crappy is basically a participation medal. LOL

Respectfully, seems like a list made on an overall basis or for the football forum.

For basketball, LazyAD was the worst.

 

[LargeFO]

Respectfully, seems like a list made on an overall basis or for the football forum.

For basketball, LazyAD was the worst.

Yea that's fair.