Athletic Director's Update

[Whiskey_Clear]

Lets be honest, the inability to recruit dopes is why GT is 1-3.

The game day atmosphere for the past 40 years has probably created a bigger hurdle to recruiting than our inferior facilities. A handful of awesome night games doesn’t counter balance our usual crappy crowds.

Tech fans don’t like to own it but we are a big part of the recruiting problem.

 

[Buzz*The*Plumber]

The game day atmosphere for the past 40 years has probably created a bigger hurdle to recruiting than our inferior facilities. A handful of awesome night games doesn’t counter balance our usual crappy crowds.

Tech fans don’t like to own it but we are a big part of the recruiting problem.

Past 40 years? You're exaggerating greatly, making things sound far worse than they have been.

We need dynamic personalities and people driven to bring Tech to consistent competiveness in leadership positions. People who refuse to hear all the excuses, or to be stopped by any hurdles. I think Tstan is one such person, but we need more. And of course, fan support is needed as part of the whole equation. Not saying we're in an ideal place right now. But there's certainly no reason to abandon hope.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Past 40 years? You're exaggerating greatly, making things sound far worse than they have been.

We need dynamic personalities and people driven to bring Tech to consistent competiveness in leadership positions. People who refuse to hear all the excuses, or to be stopped by any hurdles. I think Tstan is one such person, but we need more. And of course, fan support is needed as part of the whole equation. Not saying we're in an ideal place right now. But there's certainly no reason to abandon hope.

I’ve seen it with my own eyes for 40 years. We have only had few years during those 4 decades that our crowds haven’t sucked.

 

[Buzz*The*Plumber]

I’ve seen it with my own eyes for 40 years. We have only had few years during those 4 decades that our crowds haven’t sucked.

OK. Seen a lot with mine own eyes too. We've had many an electric, frenzied crowd just in the past decade. Every game? No.

 

[RonJohn]

Past 40 years? You're exaggerating greatly, making things sound far worse than they have been.

What year in the last 40 did we sell out every game? The closest, I believe was 1999. Within a couple of thousand per game of a sell out, but still not a sell out year. 1998 and 2000 were close, but each had games of 10,000 or more below capacity. The team was on a tear at the end of 1989, but didn't sell out every game in 1990. In 1991, the year after a NC, there were games more than 5,000 under capacity.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

I would like to throw this out to our fans. When I was young a lot of Uga fans and alumni wanted to see Dooley fired. In his first sixteen years he only had three seasons with more than ten wins. Then he caught lighting in a bootle and to me that was when Uga took off as a program that they have now. A lot of the Uga fans in my home town are in there 50’s and remember those years. That is all they talk about. I stay away from these people as much as I can. I for one would like to see coach stay to see if the defense gets better next year and if recruiting picks up.

That may have been frustration with poor performance in bowl games. In 1968, UGA was the SEC champs, absolutely destroyed us in Athens, had a boatload of All SEC and a couple of All Americans but when they played Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl they got their hat handed to them. It happened a couple of times in the 1970s too. The one saving grace for Coach Dooley was he pretty much owned us and he beat Florida regularly even when the Gators had more talent. One year, Florida entered the UGA game ranked number one for the first time in their history albeit for just one week. Kerwin Bell threw for over 400 yards passing but Georgia won on three long runs.

 

[Buzz*The*Plumber]

What year in the last 40 did we sell out every game? The closest, I believe was 1999. Within a couple of thousand per game of a sell out, but still not a sell out year. 1998 and 2000 were close, but each had games of 10,000 or more below capacity. The team was on a tear at the end of 1989, but didn't sell out every game in 1990. In 1991, the year after a NC, there were games more than 5,000 under capacity.

You don't have to sell out games to have an engaged and electric crowd.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

You don't have to sell out games to have an engaged and electric crowd.

Absolutely true. But our fan base can be its own worst enemy sometimes. There were GT fans actively booing our own players during the Clemson game. That's deplorable, and yet, here we are. If I am a recruit at a game and hear that, I'm not sure I want to come play here.

 

[MidtownJacket]

Absolutely true. But our fan base can be its own worst enemy sometimes. There were GT fans actively booing our own players during the Clemson game. That's deplorable, and yet, here we are. If I am a recruit at a game and hear that, I'm not sure I want to come play here.

I strongly dislike the behavior you're referencing. Wish our fanbase were better about self policing that nonsense.

 

[MikeJackets1967]

Absolutely true. But our fan base can be its own worst enemy sometimes. There were GT fans actively booing our own players during the Clemson game. That's deplorable, and yet, here we are. If I am a recruit at a game and hear that, I'm not sure I want to come play here.

That happens at most Universities when the team is playing really shytty. Most fans of college teams have done that before and GT's aren't the only ones.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

That happens at most Universities when the team is playing really shytty. Most fans of college teams have done that before and GT's aren't the only ones.

And that makes it better how? I don't care what other fanbases at other schools do. I care what we do. It's inexcusable.

 

[GT_05]

And that makes it better how? I don't care what other fanbases at other schools do. I care what we do. It's inexcusable.

I’ve had a few bad interactions with GT “fans” in the past few years. My wife said she is kind of surprised at the way some of these folks behave and she’s not really enjoying going to the games anymore. During the Clemson game, a guy behind us was tickling his kid and the kid was kicking my wife in the back every time he did. My wife told me that the guy’s wife told him to stop tickling the kid but he never did and my wife kept getting kicked. I was oblivious to what was going on because I was watching the game. Also, a guy in the same group repeatedly used a slur regarding the male cheerleader. Unfortunately, my wife didn’t tell me about the kicking until after the game because of the way I became unhinged on a group of GT fans in Dublin for their crappy behavior.


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[MikeJackets1967]

I’ve had a few bad interactions with GT “fans” in the past few years. My wife said she is kind of surprised at the way some of these folks behave and she’s not really enjoying going to the games anymore. During the Clemson game, a guy behind us was tickling his kid and the kid was kicking my wife in the back every time he did. My wife told me that the guy’s wife told him to stop tickling the kid but he never did and my wife kept getting kicked. I was oblivious to what was going on because I was watching the game. Also, a guy in the same group repeatedly used a slur regarding the male cheerleader. Unfortunately, my wife didn’t tell me about the kicking until after the game because of the way I became unhinged on a group of GT fans in Dublin for their crappy behavior.


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Wow that was awesome getting to see GT play in Dublin

 

[GT_05]

Wow that was awesome getting to see GT play in Dublin

Yes, it was very cool. I hope they do that again one day.


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[Lavoisier]

I think we had record season ticket sales/renewals after the 2014 season. Fans will show up if they expect a good team. Atlanta has a lot of stuff to do and fans can be busy. They don't want to show up unless the team is winning. It is kind of a cyclic thing, but if you win fans will show up and fans showing up is good for recruiting which means you win more etc etc.

We are in a major city and the average fans in the area aren't going to spend their Saturday watching bad football.

 

[THWG16]

After hearing Todd on 680 yesterday I have to say i'm not surprised with his comments about not adding majors or curbing the rigorous curriculum, but still very disappointed. I don't think they realize that adding a few majors and maybe not making athletes take as many calculus classes as others wouldn't tarnish the GT brand or image at all!! A degree is still a degree from GT, and if we want a good football team we need kids that have nfl aspirations! But oh well the powers that be don't seem to care, but us common fans are the ones who suffer.

 

[jacketup]

Have you looked at a current course catalog to see what calculus class (singular) liberal arts and business majors take at Tech? I betting the answer is no.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

After hearing Todd on 680 yesterday I have to say i'm not surprised with his comments about not adding majors or curbing the rigorous curriculum, but still very disappointed. I don't think they realize that adding a few majors and maybe not making athletes take as many calculus classes as others wouldn't tarnish the GT brand or image at all!! A degree is still a degree from GT, and if we want a good football team we need kids that have nfl aspirations! But oh well the powers that be don't seem to care, but us common fans are the ones who suffer.

I highly disagree.

Across the street from me is a guy who majored in Parks & Rec at Clemson (a popular major among athletes). He graduated in the spring...of 2017, and still doesn't have a job. According to his parents, they are very frustrated, as he plays video games all day. (I'm sure that's a bit of an exaggeration, but still.)

It DOES dilute the value of the education. If we start adding a few non-rigorous, non-important majors, we'll end up just like Stanford (who describes the way they treat their student-athletes as similar to how they treat special needs kids), or UNCheat (who changed who they are as a college to improve sports), and fill in the blank. Furthermore, its exactly the rigor which makes our students as successful as they are. The persistence, the grit - we get things done. There are tons of smart people at other colleges - the rigor we face at Georgia Tech is one of the things that helps graduate uniquely different people.

I'm all for expanding the curriculum into more STEM type majors (Sports Medicine or whatever) that also churn out highly regarded graduates. (BTW, check out our current suite of majors...its actually quite broad.)

Our brand is being one of the few colleges left that actually focuses on being a college. I don't want to end up like everyone else where we have a bunch of really good majors, and then there's a bunch of garbage over in one corner where some athletes sit. The only thing many of the Clemson players have in common with the general student population is that they both where Orange often.

I understand and get your sentiment, and I don't think anybody who feels that way is a bad person, or short sighted, or anything else. I'm just trying to give you my perspective on it. I hope this makes sense.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

I mean at least point you can either let that fact continue to anger and frustrate you, accept it as a fact and move on, or let it tarnish your fandom to the point where you need to find a new team.

I suggest you don’t choose the first one.

 

[Josh H]

I agree with Stansbury's comments. The one unique situation that Georgia Tech has is that we are the only Top 25 STEM school that participates in Power 5 football. We shouldn't shy away from that, we should embrace the unique situation. Do a better job of finding student athletes with NFL aspirations, but who want an extremely solid "Plan B" in case things don't work out.

Was it Charles Perkins who had a job lined up at Microsoft before he even graduated? Sell those stories more.