Believe it if you want about the Challenge

[TheSilasSonRising]

or don’t believe it.

I just called the GTAA to ask some questions about the “Football Recruiting Challenge.”

First of all, the 2 young people I talked to in 2 separate offices were extremely polite, well spoken, as helpful as I believe they possibly could be. Do not have a single issue with either of them. I thank them both then and now for their attitude and attempt to help.

I first talked to the office responsible for athletic donations, as I understand it to be for years and years and years.

They “did not know anything about the Football Recruiting Challenge”. I was furnished with the phone number of the football recruiting office..

I called them and the person there said they only knew about it via seeing the same email I had received.

I very seriously have to wonder if this is any longer worth it, if this is a brilliant plan by the Hill to actually kill GT Sports, what Todd was really hired to do and what kind of real goals he has for the GTAA as manipulated by the Hill.

I can not blame Todd I suppose. He is under the thumb of Peterson, a bunch of self entitled taxpayer paid sports hating professors, and heck, maybe even a GT Hating BoR that wants GT totally out of athletics. Never thought I would actually believe any of this is possible, but honest to Heaven, I do now.

I am very frustrated right now.

Emails have been sent to Todd that are not answered.

We called today to try to get some questions answered that, hopefully, might have enabled a way for us to do more than just give some money by today’s “deadline” as I understand it to be

It is, almost, as if they want fans to care less.

I am not the biggest CPJ fan, but my God, what it must be like (despite a nice paycheck) for him to go work in an environment cultivated by a guy like Peterson in charge.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

or don’t believe it.

I just called the GTAA to ask some questions about the “Football Recruiting Challenge.”

First of all, the 2 young people I talked to in 2 separate offices were extremely polite, well spoken, as helpful as I believe they possibly could be. Do not have a single issue with either of them. I thank them both then and now for their attitude and attempt to help.

I first talked to the office responsible for athletic donations, as I understand it to be for years and years and years.

They “did not know anything about the Football Recruiting Challenge”. I was furnished with the phone number of the football recruiting office..

I called them and the person there said they only knew about it via seeing the same email I had received.

I very seriously have to wonder if this is any longer worth it, if this is a brilliant plan by the Hill to actually kill GT Sports, what Todd was really hired to do and what kind of real goals he has for the GTAA As manipulated by the Hill.

I can not blame Todd I suppose. He is under the thumb of Peterson, a bunch of self entitled taxpayer paid sports hating professors, and heck, maybe even a GT Hating BoR that wants GT totally out of athletics. Never thought I would actually believe any of this is possible, but honest to Heaven, I do now.

I am very frustrated right now.

Emails have been sent to Todd that are not answered.

We called today to try to get some questions answered that, hopefully, might have enabled a way for us to do more than just give some money by today’s “deadline” as I understand it to be.

If you are a Tech grad, then when you email TStan, it would be best if you introduced yourself up front, giving your graduation year, degree, status as a donor and ticket holder. I put all that at the top of an email I sent to him last year, and he responded less than 8 hours later and actually took action on what I mentioned within 24 hours. I think if you are not an alum/donor/ticket holder, or are and don't specify it, then your email won't get past his secretary.
That being said, it IS strange that nobody you spoke to knew anything about the Football Challenge.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I just listened to today's ToddCast. We are at $185k out of the $200k goal.
https://247sports.com/player/lamarius-benson-45572559

Sounds to me like everything is humming along. While finding someone within the GTAA who is unaware of this challenge seems odd, the 'young people' you refer to might be student volunteers, admin people hired through a staffing agency, an admin from another sport. I don't know if you caught someone covering the phones while someone else was getting some food...I have no idea. I find your experience not ideal, but this is not a program designed to go out to the entire world. This was a small pilot effort (pilot is my word) designed to see if you give a passionate subset of fans a specific list of wants which equates to dollars, will they spend money. YES. This program has exceeded their expectations.

There is a much larger effort in process as I understand it, which seems to be a multi-year high dollar effort for the GTAA.

I have emailed Todd probably 3-4 times and he has always responded. 1 time it took him over a week to respond. That doesn't bother me one bit, because the stuff on his plate is probably a mile long and responding to little old me doesn't matter. I have emailed Paul Johnson and Josh Pastner a few times, and they have always responded as well. But they are not like 'work' emails where someone should respond in a few hours. Give it a few days and see what happens. And keep your patience. The higher level GTAA guys I've spoken to know there are problems with their processes, efforts, branding, and more and they are working on it.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

If you are a Tech grad, then when you email TStan, it would be best if you introduced yourself up front, giving your graduation year, degree, status as a donor and ticket holder. I put all that at the top of an email I sent to him last year, and he responded less than 8 hours later and actually took action on what I mentioned within 24 hours. I think if you are not an alum/donor/ticket holder, or are and don't specify it, then your email won't get past his secretary.
That being said, it IS strange that nobody you spoke to knew anything about the Football Challenge.

We first gave money / goods / services starting in 1968. Have given continually to A-T since inception. His gatekeeper should be able to figure it out.

To the real issue, Supersize, this is the problem. It is no longer Strange for GT and the GTAA to act this way.

It WOULD be strange at ugag, cu, ut, ua, au, fsu, and Heaven knows how many other schools to act this way, even with just common non elitist, sidewalk fans buying a single season ticket.

I, as I said, see this as the new norm at GT. I hate it, it scares me, I fear for the future, I cringe when I think about it, it makes me lose hope and I lay the blame at the man in charge - Peterson.

And the worst part is this may be exactly as he wants it. I don’t know

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

We first gave money / goods / services starting in 1968. Have given continually to A-T since inception. His gatekeeper should be able to figure it out.

To the real issue, Supersize, this is the problem. It is no longer Strange for GT and the GTAA to act this way.

It WOULD be strange at ugag, cu, ut, ua, au, fsu, and Heaven knows how many other schools to act this way, even with just common non elitist, sidewalk fans buying a single season ticket.

I, as I said, see this as the new norm at GT. I hate it, it scares me, I fear for the future, I cringe when I think about it, it makes me lose hope and I lay the blame at the man in charge - Peterson.

And the worst part is this may be exactly as he wants it. I don’t know

His gatekeeper should be able to figure it out.

SHOULD is the operative word there. It is true that his "gatekeeper" SHOULD be able to figure it out, but that doesn't mean that he or she takes the time to do so. And that is why whenever I attempt to contact anyone at Tech I first introduce myself. It is best not to assume anything when it comes to the Tech AA. They have never been fan-oriented, dating way back to the 50s, if not earlier.

 

[33jacket]

Once u guys realize and admit to yourself the school purposely protects and structures itself around a superiorly successful roll call, and does everything to divert, diminish, not help, and minimize athletic donations by propping roll call as the only way you then will understand and anticipate these bizarre scenarios.

Iiwii.

U need a real bullish balsy AD to change it. We dont have one. Last one was rice.

 

[gtie73]

I normally just read and don't post but this chain bothers me. I am a GT grad and a long term Alex Thorpe donor. Everyone I know and interact with at the Alexander Thorpe fund and ticket office is aware of this "pilot". Football staff has requested adding 4 more staff (non field) to their present 4 positions who would aid and expand our recruiting base. Seems like every other AA group we compete with has this structure funded. As noted in the reply above there are longer term plans to increase revenue ( ACC t v network is one) as shared by Todd I this webcast. Short term ( paying off past contracts is one issue) GTAA is in a money bind. A GTAA donor in N Y is the person who will contribute at 50% match up to $200 K ( $400K total FROM GTAA DONORS. ) . There are milestones to meet ( such as the $200K by the Febr signing period this coming week. Though an alumn ( happy we have these people) started this exercise to see if the GT people making comments regarding our need to be more competitive ( in this case FB) would back it up with money, GT A A agreed EVERYONE who contributes to the GTAA recruiting fund is given credit toward their A A point total. We've always been able to allocate donations to a sport via the normal GTAA web site contribution page. My first contribution is listed in my summary GTAA giving sheet. I'm giving another contribution today. Hope this helps.

 

[takethepoints]

I commented before on the "silent phase –> public phase" structure of these kinds of funding efforts. It really isn't that unusual for people who you would think would be on board to be clueless about a silent campaign; I used to run into that pretty commonly among our staff and alums when we did this kind of thing. Looks like a much more splashy public phase is now being readied. That fits too; you get the initial funding and then you a) go to the less likely contributors and ask them to get on the bandwagon and b) go to the big donors, show them the enthusiast response in the first round ("And all we did was send out a single e-mail!"), and tell them that, if they put up the money, the match will be there. (I tried to work Field of Dreams into that, but it didn't sing.)

To the Son Rising: I wouldn't be too bent out of shape about communications at this stage. If the big splash comes along and you get the same lackadaisical response, then we have something to worry about.

 

[Jacket in Dairyland]

I too, understand the " Silas " frustration. Many organizations , not just GTAA , don't recognize the fact that potentially EVERY interaction with a fan, or contributor , i.e. CUSTOMER , needs to be responded to with the objective of efficiently and cheerfully helping them. Don't send them away with a terse " I have no idea what you are talking about, call this number ". They have made an attempt to reach the organization, who knows what that might lead to. Lord knows , the GTAA , needs to treat every caller as a " potential " fan, contributor , lifelong alumni or million dollar donor. GTAA should have everyone at the place prepared to properly respond to calls of this nature. It could have been easily anticipated, IMHO. When I have called the Packers organization, they don't know me from Adam , and they have no need to try to sell me tickets ( they are sold out for the next 20 years, I think) , but I am treated as part of the" family" , whether I actually am or not. If the first person doesn't know the answer, they take my name and number and call me back promptly .
In case the GTAA hasn't noticed , we are in a competition to attract fans, supporters and donors, and we haven't been doing that great. Every fumbled call is a missed opportunity.

 

[iceeater1969]

I give. AA gtaa
I text.
No reply.
Will try again.
Go JACKETS

 

[TechCubed]

Silas,

I have spoken to Jeff Keisler in A-T at multiple events this past year, and he's been very responsive every time I've emailed him. You should reach out to him at [email protected], and I'm sure you'll get the information you need.

 

[LibertyTurns]

I very seriously have to wonder if this is any longer worth it, if this is a brilliant plan by the Hill to actually kill GT Sports, what Todd was really hired to do and what kind of real goals he has for the GTAA as manipulated by the Hill.

I can not blame Todd I suppose. He is under the thumb of Peterson, a bunch of self entitled taxpayer paid sports hating professors, and heck, maybe even a GT Hating BoR that wants GT totally out of athletics. Never thought I would actually believe any of this is possible, but honest to Heaven, I do now.

I’m with you Silas. I sure hope Todd has the gonads to turn the tide. Peterson does his best to have some outward perception that he supports athletics more than his predecessors, but the elements of support outside of showing up for some events seems to paint a completely different picture.

 

[Vespidae]

My two cents ...

First, it isn’t u usual for frontline employees to be unaware of specific initiatives. This one has all the earmarks of a “silent” campaign, so ... relax.

Second, everyone talks about UCF’s season this year. Guess who the AD was to put this together? One Todd Stansbury.

Tech is not a land grant school a la Bama, UGA and others. It is an Institute with its own challenges raising money. If you don’t understand this, you’ll always be frustrated.

Overall, we have successful alumni who support the GT brand. I’m proud to be a Yellow Jacket and delighted to see doing anything to support our school and teams.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

Silas,

I have spoken to Jeff Keisler in A-T at multiple events this past year, and he's been very responsive every time I've emailed him. You should reach out to him at [email protected], and I'm sure you'll get the information you need.

Thank you for that.

 

[gtpi]

maybe we can start a challenge at ugag.

'who can eat the most tide pods before a game'' challenge

 

[alagold]

Silas,
I too was frustrated when I first tried to give to the Recruiting fund and found the Website so confusing, I gave up and sent TStan an email.I didn't get a response from that.But I did later after I took the time to understand how the website worked .I gave some $ and later got a call from a guy in "Fan Experience" (I believe) Mrktg who wanted to push season tickets.He was aware of the Recruiting fund and that it was a "limited" effort to certain GT folks through social media mainly.
btw-I don't quite get your strong connection between Peterson and a low-level person's knowledge in the AA.Looks to me TStan should be blamed if anyone on this particular problem although I'm not sure either how committed Peterson is to athletics.

 

[Vespidae]

... although I'm not sure either how committed Peterson is to athletics.

I can tell you. Zero.

GT athletics is less than 500 students. Peterson spends enough time on it to make sure he’s not embarrassed by it. Otherwise, zero.

 

[Tech93]

I donate every year to the AT fund, but have known for years that as long as Peterson is president it is going to be an uphill battle for GT athletics.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

Regardless I suppose of all of the above -

Does anyone know the status of the Challenge?

Think we will know on NSD?