Assessing the Impact of GT Presidents on GT Athletics

[forensicbuzz]

Bud Peterson is a kind man. Met him several times - really liked him. I just can’t say other presidents wouldn’t have accomplished more.

Much of what he did was an obvious extension of GT - data analytics curriculum, robotics research, etc. I can’t say it takes a lot of imagination to recognize the university’s opportunities there. But what gets me - we sat there and watched uga and other universities build their engineering program and let the legislators in the gold dome dictate what we can and can’t do as GTRI subsidizes the rest of the university system. That should piss off any GT alumni.

He played politics and lost. He took the behind-the-scene's approach with fighting the uga engineering program and got shut down. Again, I don't argue his effectiveness as a president, I just believe he did what he thought was appropriate to support GTAA.

 

[LibertyTurns]

Nor should they.

This is Georgia Tech’s President’s mandate. He’s to ensure all GT units are resourced to be successful, and that includes student athletes. Least he can do is not make it harder to be a student athlete than a regular student. You wouldn’t think this would be a bone of contention, but this is a GT board after all.

https://president.gatech.edu/about-office

 

[Gold1]

Nor should they.

Lol whatever

 

[gtpi]

FYI - This is a clean-up and offshoot from the Transfer Portal thread

how dare you. heh. offshoot and clean things up. thats unheard of

 

[RonJohn]

This is Georgia Tech’s President’s mandate. He’s to ensure all GT units are resourced to be successful, and that includes student athletes. Least he can do is not make it harder to be a student athlete than a regular student. You wouldn’t think this would be a bone of contention, but this is a GT board after all.

https://president.gatech.edu/about-office

What exactly did Peterson do that made it more difficult to be a student athlete than a regular student?

 

[Vespidae]

Bud Peterson is a kind man. Met him several times - really liked him. I just can’t say other presidents wouldn’t have accomplished more.

Much of what he did was an obvious extension of GT - data analytics curriculum, robotics research, etc. I can’t say it takes a lot of imagination to recognize the university’s opportunities there. But what gets me - we sat there and watched uga and other universities build their engineering program and let the legislators in the gold dome dictate what we can and can’t do as GTRI subsidizes the rest of the university system. That should piss off any GT alumni.

I agree with this. GT could easily have expanded its Savannah campus or built a satellite in Macon or Augusta. To my knowledge, that wasn’t even proposed. Missed opportunity that we will regret.

 

[takethepoints]

I met Bud Peterson. Nice enough guy. But he was paid to run GT and bring in research dollars. He talked of sports as the front door of the school but ... also said his only obligation to athletics was to hire the AD. Many of the successful things he did, especially development, were not done at the GTAA.

I don’t think he was destructive, like Petit. But he didn’t do much either.

Bingo. Sorry, BINGO!! Tech doesn't hire presidents because they are good for sports programs. Shoot, for that matter, nobody does. There are places (Bammer, for instance) where any incoming president had better be a sports supporter, but Tech is more like other places: you hire a president for what he can do for the school. That means hiring good faculty, drumming up research and construction dollars, keeping peace within the community, staying on the good side of the relevant government, and making nice to the press. College sports is a sideline to keep a subset of the alums happy and not much else.

 

[gtstinger776]

I agree with this. GT could easily have expanded its Savannah campus or built a satellite in Macon or Augusta. To my knowledge, that wasn’t even proposed. Missed opportunity that we will regret.

Agreed. Also expand its curriculum. Why not have more liberal arts programs without calc and CS reqs? You can’t major in STAC without those classes.


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[Vespidae]

Bingo. Sorry, BINGO!! Tech doesn't hire presidents because they are good for sports programs. Shoot, for that matter, nobody does. There are places (Bammer, for instance) where any incoming president had better be a sports supporter, but Tech is more like other places: you hire a president for what he can do for the school. That means hiring good faculty, drumming up research and construction dollars, keeping peace within the community, staying on the good side of the relevant government, and making nice to the press. College sports is a sideline to keep a subset of the alums happy and not much else.

You make a good point but studies show that winning sports programs are financially beneficial in terms of donations, legacy estate planning, tuition, applicants, etc.

If what you say was really felt to be true, Peterson should have resigned as President of the GTAA and let an influential alum hold the position. In his capacity, he could have greatly assisted in GTAA fundraising and removing barriers to development .. which he successfully did on the academic side.

 

[Vespidae]

The most supportive president for athletics at GT since Bobby Dodd was the most maligned. He gave Homer Rice whatever he needed.

That would be Joe Petit. He had no choice. After he floated the idea of ending sports, Kim King led a group of alumni to his office and said if he didn’t back off, they would petition for his ouster at Tech. He caved and hired Homer and spent the next five years hiding behind his desk.

 

[jacket_fan]

That would be Joe Petit. He had no choice. After he floated the idea of ending sports, Kim King led a group of alumni to his office and said if he didn’t back off, they would petition for his ouster at Tech. He caved and hired Homer and spent the next five years hiding behind his desk.

I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when Kim King and his posse stormed Petit's office.

 

[gthxxxx]

GT is a public higher institute of education and research beholden to the state government of GA and to a lesser extent the federal government of USA. Assessing the impact of GT presidents on GT athletics is fine and all, but maybe rein back on some of the fandom when trying to extrapolate outside those bounds.

 

[Vespidae]

GT is a public higher institute of education and research beholden to the state government of GA and to a lesser extent the federal government of USA. Assessing the impact of GT presidents on GT athletics is fine and all, but maybe rein back on some of the fandom when trying to extrapolate outside those bounds.

You make a fair point but ... the GTAA is a separate institution and the President of Georgia Tech is also the President of the GTAA. He can exercise considerable power in the business overview of the GTAA as well as fundraising. I would argue in this role, he did neither compared to what he did in his role as GT President.

 

[Bogey]

I never met Peterson. But I knew at the time that hiring Bobov would be a big mistake. That alone turned me against him. It was a stupid hire.

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[TheSilasSonRising]

What exactly did Peterson do that made it more difficult to be a student athlete than a regular student?

What did he do that made it easier to be a S/A than a regular student is the appropriate question.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Just reading the tea leaves, but it seems someone has told the Hill to back off.

 

[forensicbuzz]

This is Georgia Tech’s President’s mandate. He’s to ensure all GT units are resourced to be successful, and that includes student athletes. Least he can do is not make it harder to be a student athlete than a regular student. You wouldn’t think this would be a bone of contention, but this is a GT board after all.

https://president.gatech.edu/about-office

Tell me how he made it harder to be a student-athlete.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

Bingo. Sorry, BINGO!! Tech doesn't hire presidents because they are good for sports programs. Shoot, for that matter, nobody does. There are places (Bammer, for instance) where any incoming president had better be a sports supporter, but Tech is more like other places: you hire a president for what he can do for the school. That means hiring good faculty, drumming up research and construction dollars, keeping peace within the community, staying on the good side of the relevant government, and making nice to the press. College sports is a sideline to keep a subset of the alums happy and not much else.

Then he failed miserably on 2 counts.

As for athletics, if true as stated at the end of your post, then he should not have served as head of GTAA, he should explain why donations and applications go up when football and basketball do well in tournaments and bigger bowl games. And he and any GT employee should never be afforded free tickets and other benefits while attending said events.

 

[forensicbuzz]

That would be Joe Petit. He had no choice. After he floated the idea of ending sports, Kim King led a group of alumni to his office and said if he didn’t back off, they would petition for his ouster at Tech. He caved and hired Homer and spent the next five years hiding behind his desk.

And Crecine came in behind him and told Ross and Cremins "whatever you need to be successful, let me know." 3 years later we won the UPI Football Championship, went to the Final Four, and 4 years later played for the championship in the College World Series. My father-in-law was close with Pettit and he said he never understood the sports thing. Crecine got it. He leveraged the Olympic Games to build a world class swimming facility on campus and put Ma Tech on the world stage. For all of his foibles, he did a lot for GT (including the creation of the College of Liberal Arts).

 

[Vespidae]

And Crecine came in behind him and told Ross and Cremins "whatever you need to be successful, let me know." 3 years later we won the UPI Football Championship, went to the Final Four, and 4 years later played for the championship in the College World Series. My father-in-law was close with Pettit and he said he never understood the sports thing. Crecine got it. He leveraged the Olympic Games to build a world class swimming facility on campus and put Ma Tech on the world stage. For all of his foibles, he did a lot for GT (including the creation of the College of Liberal Arts).

And we are still cashing those dividends today. Alumni want to take pride in their school and they do that through their wallet. The 90s were a golden age for Tech sports.