I can see all this I truly can. I know the struggles with the AD. We are certainly behind. However, when I compartmentalize this to just football I still do not like what I see.
Let’s start with recruiting, we have the following class rankings compared with Duke, Pitt, UNC, UVA and VT:
GT Duke Pitt UNC UVA VT
2003 38 86 47 18 11 27
2004 48 67 42 28 37 34
2005 70 55 46 49 17 20
2006 62 51 16 26 77 31
2007 15 77 21 10 28 26
2008 51 67 20 30 56 18
2009 41 54 43 12 33 25
2010 43 73 31 23 74 28
2011 43 63 62 18 23 35
2012 53 62 43 41 25 21
2013 70 71 32 28 29 21
2014 54 61 44 30 33 28
2015 44 52 46 28 50 29
2016 60 33 30 32 63 42
2017 48 47 37 29 58 26
2018 53 62 46 20 60 24
So over 16 years here are my observations as compared to some other "like" programs:
GT - AVG ranking of 50. About what I expected. Over the first 8 years our average ranking was 46. Over the last 8 years it's 53. If you take out the obvious outlier year of 2007, the first 8 years is 51 vs. 53 over the last 8 years. If I am to believe the ongoing thought that we have fallen further behind in recruiting staff and thus recruiting, then I look to the data and the numbers simply to do not prove that out. We have stayed almost exactly where have been over 16 years. Our worst class in recent history is 70. We also had a 70th ranked class in 2005. We have only recruiting sub 50 in 7 of the last 16 years, the two most recent classes in 2015 and 2017 which is kinda surprising given our records over those years. Further, based on the "sabatoge" and severe money slide compared to other "like" programs I would expect the average classes of the other programs analyzed to result in improved classes in recent years vs. past years. So let's look at the data. Let's start in 2009. PJ's first full recruiting class. That's 10 years. Over the first 5 years GT had an average class of 50 (again, not surprising). Over the last 5 years we have had an average class of 52. Duke had 65 vs 51; Pitt had 42 vs. 41; UNC had 24 vs 28; VT had 26 vs. 30. Some surprising results here, namely Duke. Duke has improved its recruiting by 14 spots in the last 5 years. Pitt has stayed exactly the same, similar to GT. UNC has slid 4 spots, same as VT.
Duke - pretty consistent. In the Mid-60's in terms of classes. Had some decent classes sprinkled in there, namely 2016 with a 33 rank. Duke out-recruited GT in 2005, 2006, 2016 and 2017. So Chan got out-recurited by Duke twice and PJ has been out-recruited twice.
Pitt - Very consistently in the low 40's. They had some top 25 classes in the mid to late 2000's which surprised me a bit. But over PJ's tenure very much low 40's. Hasn't changed much.
UNC - Surprising to see them ranked so highly year over year.
UVA - Probably the biggest wasters of talent of the teams listed. My god. If any fanbase has a right to be pissed off it's them. Particularly over the first half of the analysis. The second half they are around 53, same as GT essentially.
VT - Right there with UNC. Mid-20's. Sliding back a bit over the most recent years.
So, in short, I'm not sure that I'm buying the lack of recruiting staff. I don't think we have been any worse off that we have been in the last 15 years. Detractors may want us to think that, but the data doesn't bear it out. We have stayed remarkably consistent even when compared to other programs we like to think we are better than. GT has regressed a very small margin. VT and UNC have regressed by a larger margin.
GT has new locker rooms and an indoor practice facility. So, it's not like we haven't done anything. In fact, the IPF was put in under Bobinski's watch.
Let's look now at the team. The last 3 years, our brand of football is competitive, but blowing late leads and inability to close games on the road. Most of this is attributed to untimely fumbles and bad defense down the stretch and putrid special teams. Lack of a passing game in the two minute situations. There have also been lapses in coaching decisions. Most recently, deciding to kick to a kid on USF 3 times knowing the kid was burning the special teams unit and it resulting in back to back TD's. Fake punt very early on in the PITT game likely costing us the game. We have miscommunications on the OLine. Bad tackling on defense. Not making adjustments on defense. I mean, this is coaching guys. I don't know any other way to put it. The lack of money in the programs isn't causing fumbles, special teams TD's, OL miscommunications, etc. This is all stuff the coaches have control over. It's fundamental, clean football and we aren't playing it. The kids on the team are smart. They go to GT. It's not like they are unteachable.
So, look this over objectively and tell me how we are so different after Bobinski's "sabotage" scheme. Am I supposed to believe that, or do I look to the coaches. The data tells me to look to the coaches for the recent failures. What does it tell you?
