Funny you should say that. I thought about starting a thread in which I asked everyone to say how they felt about each Tech hire going back to Bud Carson -whether you felt excited, skeptical or indifferent. I looked back and realized there was no correlation between how I felt at the beginning of the hire and how the coach did. I was really excited about Rodgers and Curry, skeptical about Fulcher, Ross and Gailey, and indifferent about Carson, Lewis and O'Leary. For what it is worth I am indifferent to the current hire but, as a life long Tech fan, hopeful.
Maybe this
could be a new thread...
Pepper Rodgers - For me he was the face of Tech football in my formative years, at a time when I was just learning about the game and starting to play Pop Warner football... and ultimately dreaming of going to Tech and hopefully playing there one day. It was the time of Mean Joe Green and Roger Staubach over in the NFL, a really exciting time to be young and into football. I always enjoyed Coach Rodgers's football show the morning after the games. Remember, Tech football wasn't on TV much back then, so these highlights were really the only time you usually got to see them play. In many ways, this show helped me choose between being a Jacket vs. a Bulldog. I didn't remember the CPR hire. It would be another year before I started playing football and understood the game enough to even pay attention. His dismissal was devastating to this particular youngster.
Bill Curry - After the letdown of Coach Rodgers's firing, I still remember being happy with this hire. I was in the 7th grade and looking forward to going to high school the next year. That was in the dark days of UGA winning it all. At our high school, one of our coaches had played for UGA (another played for Tennessee), and our principal also had played for UGA. Worse, our mascot was the bulldog. They were always playing "Bulldog Bite" at pep rallies. Got a lot of hazing at football practice wearing my Tech jersey... Needless to say, that plus those 1-10 or 2-9 seasons really gave you some intestinal fortitude as a Tech fan. Throughout it all, I rooted for Coach Curry and the Jackets and felt really vindicated after the '84 whooping of the Bulldogs. No more "woof, woof!" from those Bulldog fans, at least for a little while!
Bobby Ross - I was somewhat underwhelmed by his hire and felt even worse about it after a couple seasons. I arrived at Tech at this time, and it wasn't the sort of thing that I dreamed about back in the mid '70s when I first became a Tech fan. But then there was the turnaround in '89... and then the championship in 1990. It wasn't till then that I started realizing what a great staff we had... The Jackets weren't flash back then; they just got it done.
Bill Lewis - Who?
George O'Leary - Was very happy one of Bobby Ross's staff had the chance to coach the team. This was another exciting period of watching Tech football, climbing back out of the cellar and watching JH and the Goose lead Tech over UGA three years in a row.
Chan Gailey - Completely underwhelmed and really disappointed with this hire. It felt like a mismatch from the very first press conference, like we'd simply chosen from the coaching leftovers. CCG also seemed to me more like a UGA homer than a Tech kind of man... reminded me a little of Jim Donnan. In retrospect, this was a more interesting period of football at the Flats than it appeared at the time. Yet, CCG never could seem to win the really important games, and he never beat Georgia.
Paul Johnson - Very happy with this hire, though not in a fist-pumping kind of way. I felt it was the right hire at the time and I felt good about things going forward. I liked him more and more as the first season went on, especially after beating UGA. I liked his gritty players, too. When it's all said and done, he'll probably be my favorite coach ever at the Flats.
Geoff Collins - Cautiously excited.
