Expectations for GT Football

4shotB

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I think part of it is the several decades of mostly feeling like you’ve been kicked in the nuts as a Tech fan. I would guess a lot of USC alums are from SC and stay there after graduation, whereas more of our alums are from elsewhere and more often leave GA after graduating. We’re a smaller school to start and then there’s the fact that there are other things to do in ATL. Also a relatively high percentage of Tech students just aren’t into football. We have to rely on sidewalk fans to make up the difference and they’re much more likely to be uga fans because of the whole winning games thing.

As a teacher at a private school, I have noticed that there are students who will be attending some of the larger state, mostly SEC schools as the third, 4th or 5th generation in their family to go there. They are born knowing where they are going to go to college and some (not all) of these kids have the potential to go to most any school. They have been to the football games at their parents' alma mater since they were infants. They go to football games with their families on weekends. It doesn't matter how good or how bad the team is doing....the FB games are large family social events. Several of these families own homes or property nearby these colleges that is used for football purposes only. These young men and women are somewhat indoctrinated into the cult(ure) of the respective schools.

With that being said, NONE of my GT buddies had family that went their prior. Nor did any of their kids attend GT. My oldest son got accepted and decided it wasn't his cup of tea after touring the campus during orientation. At the time, he was uncertain of his major. This was a kid who grew up attending games at BDS when I lived in Ga. and had season tix. My point is that GT, for whatever reason (difficult admissions and limited majors primarily) doesn't seem to have that kind of attachment and sentimental bond through generations that makes people show up and support schools like USCe, NCSU, Ole Miss, Kentucky, etc.
 

4shotB

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I was a student in the 60's and 70's and lived in Atlanta after graduation until 1989. Now 31 years in Wisconsin, and I still live or die on ( mostly ) Saturdays when my Jackets are playing. If CGC falls flat - which I pray he doesn't- I will always be a HUGE fan.

I 100% agree. I am a fan of Gt FB first and foremost. The man in charge in any given year gets my full support because he is the steward of something I have cared deeply about for most of the years I have been here on this big ball of dirt. When he leaves, no matter how or why, I will get get onboard with whoever will be next. I want CCG to be succesful primarily for selfish reasons. I don't know the man but if he is doing well, then so must my team. I don't get the ongoing comparisons that have raged between the last 3 or 4 coaches we have had - it wastes energy and serves no real purpose in my mind.
 

buzzed

Jolly Good Fellow
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339
As a teacher at a private school, I have noticed that there are students who will be attending some of the larger state, mostly SEC schools as the third, 4th or 5th generation in their family to go there. They are born knowing where they are going to go to college and some (not all) of these kids have the potential to go to most any school. They have been to the football games at their parents' alma mater since they were infants. They go to football games with their families on weekends. It doesn't matter how good or how bad the team is doing....the FB games are large family social events. Several of these families own homes or property nearby these colleges that is used for football purposes only. These young men and women are somewhat indoctrinated into the cult(ure) of the respective schools.

With that being said, NONE of my GT buddies had family that went their prior. Nor did any of their kids attend GT. My oldest son got accepted and decided it wasn't his cup of tea after touring the campus during orientation. At the time, he was uncertain of his major. This was a kid who grew up attending games at BDS when I lived in Ga. and had season tix. My point is that GT, for whatever reason (difficult admissions and limited majors primarily) doesn't seem to have that kind of attachment and sentimental bond through generations that makes people show up and support schools like USCe, NCSU, Ole Miss, Kentucky, etc.
Yup. I think the admissions issue has gotten worse with Tech’s academic reputation. Maybe 60 years ago there were more multi generational alums, but not any more. We have several disadvantages to maintaining something like that now. We do have the advantage of so much great high school football all around, and being in the ATL is a differentiator, but we would have to be consistently very good to maintain a full BDS and it’s been several decades since we’ve had sustained success.
 

JacketOff

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My point is that GT, for whatever reason (difficult admissions and limited majors primarily) doesn't seem to have that kind of attachment and sentimental bond through generations that makes people show up and support schools like USCe, NCSU, Ole Miss, Kentucky, etc.
I think the bulk of this is due to older alumni (no offense) who make GT seem like it was hell on earth. And while GT was almost certainly more strenuous back in the day, that mentality has trickled down to their kids, and their friends, and their friends’ kids. Is GT harder on average than most of the other large state schools in the southeast? Probably. But that mostly only holds true in engineering fields. The business school may be marginally more difficult to “get out” of than other similar programs, but it’s not in some other stratosphere. The overwhelming majority of business students at other southeast state schools could get by just fine at Scheller. Other schools have programs that are as competitive and highly touted as GT’s engineering, such as nursing, communications, or agricultural programs. But because GT is almost entirely a STEM based school, those tough programs at other schools don’t hurt the school’s entire reputation like it does at GT.

People grow up hearing about how hard GT is, how everyone there is a “nerd”, how there are no girls there, how living in Atlanta is dangerous, how there’s no time to party, how the football team sucks. When those are the pre-conceived notions someone has about a place for 18 years, it’s hard to break once they decide where they want to go to school.
 

herb

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I think the bulk of this is due to older alumni (no offense) who make GT seem like it was hell on earth. And while GT was almost certainly more strenuous back in the day, that mentality has trickled down to their kids, and their friends, and their friends’ kids. Is GT harder on average than most of the other large state schools in the southeast? Probably. But that mostly only holds true in engineering fields. The business school may be marginally more difficult to “get out” of than other similar programs, but it’s not in some other stratosphere. The overwhelming majority of business students at other southeast state schools could get by just fine at Scheller. Other schools have programs that are as competitive and highly touted as GT’s engineering, such as nursing, communications, or agricultural programs. But because GT is almost entirely a STEM based school, those tough programs at other schools don’t hurt the school’s entire reputation like it does at GT.

People grow up hearing about how hard GT is, how everyone there is a “nerd”, how there are no girls there, how living in Atlanta is dangerous, how there’s no time to party, how the football team sucks. When those are the pre-conceived notions someone has about a place for 18 years, it’s hard to break once they decide where they want to go to school.
it‘s all in the eye of the beholder. Probably 40% of my friends were at least second generation, as was I, and way more than half have a child or children there now, as do I.
 

cthenrys

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Highland Village, TX
As a teacher at a private school, I have noticed that there are students who will be attending some of the larger state, mostly SEC schools as the third, 4th or 5th generation in their family to go there. They are born knowing where they are going to go to college and some (not all) of these kids have the potential to go to most any school. They have been to the football games at their parents' alma mater since they were infants. They go to football games with their families on weekends. It doesn't matter how good or how bad the team is doing....the FB games are large family social events. Several of these families own homes or property nearby these colleges that is used for football purposes only. These young men and women are somewhat indoctrinated into the cult(ure) of the respective schools.

With that being said, NONE of my GT buddies had family that went their prior. Nor did any of their kids attend GT. My oldest son got accepted and decided it wasn't his cup of tea after touring the campus during orientation. At the time, he was uncertain of his major. This was a kid who grew up attending games at BDS when I lived in Ga. and had season tix. My point is that GT, for whatever reason (difficult admissions and limited majors primarily) doesn't seem to have that kind of attachment and sentimental bond through generations that makes people show up and support schools like USCe, NCSU, Ole Miss, Kentucky, etc.
I have two daughters who grew up going to BDS and are still Tech fans. They both were accepted to GT but chose to go elsewhere (Duke and U Florida). Neither wanted to be engineers in spite of my exhortations. I think the point is valid. Tech isn’t for everyone, and we’re relatively speaking a smallish school to begin with. I love GT sports and always enjoy when I wear GT gear all over the country / world and it’s recognized, but when you talk about putting 55k people in the stands or getting sidewalk fans, that’s a tall order. Playing (or trying to play) the same game as everyone else just seems like a spiral to mediocrity or worse
 

Heisman's Ghost

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I would guess the lack of results to this point is going to affect season ticket sales this year. If we don’t at least go to a bowl this year, I think we’ll really start to see fans and recruits losing faith in this staff.
Too early to give up on Coach Collins but he really needs some more wins. No matter what, he will be around for some time to come. We don't need to go the Auburn route.
 

Heisman's Ghost

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I would guess the lack of results to this point is going to affect season ticket sales this year. If we don’t at least go to a bowl this year, I think we’ll really start to see fans and recruits losing faith in this staff.
The lack of season ticket sales might be a phenomena that is seen in most of college football. My Florida friends tell me that the days of the Swamp being filled to overflow capacity are long gone. We will see if fans begin to "opt out" but I don't see them entering the "transfer portal" of allegiances.
 

1BearJACKET

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Instead of looking for a number of wins, I’d like to see the defense around top 50 in FEI or SP+ : I’d like them to look and play like a decent team defense. For the offensive, I’d like to see the line look solid across the front. I’d like to see the receivers involved and into the game.

I’d like to see us be middle of the ACC at least next year, and able to solidly beat Duke and Syracuse, and be at least even with most of the teams we play. I can understand having a hard time against Clemson, but we should give the rest of the conference a game.

You are brimming with confidence aren't you? What is wrong with being truthful about the number of wins you expect? I hope for six but really expect no more than four. Here's hoping to being pleasantly surprised.
 

jojatk

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You are brimming with confidence aren't you? What is wrong with being truthful about the number of wins you expect? I hope for six but really expect no more than four. Here's hoping to being pleasantly surprised.
I can't speak for @slugboy but I have no idea what to expect. That's just the truth. I want to see whether we have spring practice or not. I want to see whether the four younger transfers will get immediate eligibility. I'd like to know a little more about the recovery of Gibbs. Once I get a better idea of those things I might start zeroing in on what I expect and, like you, what I hope for. I think it's easier to say right now that I, too, hope for six. But I am not ready to say whether I think it's reasonable for me to expect that number or, again like you, expect less.
 

forensicbuzz

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Well, I sincerely disagree with your assessment. Experience wise you are correct. But in year 3 when your team is consistently plagued by penalties , especially false starts and other lack of concentration types. Your placekicking , including basic blocking for it , has shown little improvement. Game after game the team( players and coaches ) appears
unprepared and confused when teams throw a wrinkle in their scheme. When faced with 1 week prep time, we play horribly, with 2 weeks , or more we play much better. Have our young players gained that much more experience in 2 weeks ?? Seriously, it's coaching man ! And next year will tell the tale.I not asking for the ACC championship, I am to win 5 games a year, in year 3 of this rebuild. If we can't do that will the recruits and transfers- and coaches- CGC has assembled , then I think we will be in trouble. We will know in about 9-10 months.
None of that will have one bit of effect on recruiting. It will piss off the fans, but won't affect recruiting. Plus, I think you're exaggeration is preposterous. I'm no apologist for anyone, but too many Tech fans think they know more than they do. It's really sad and damaging to the program.

Confused? Unprepared? It's called being young in the program. My God! I really hate Tech fans sometimes. We're our own worst enemies.
 

WreckinGT

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I can't speak for @slugboy but I have no idea what to expect. That's just the truth. I want to see whether we have spring practice or not. I want to see whether the four younger transfers will get immediate eligibility. I'd like to know a little more about the recovery of Gibbs. Once I get a better idea of those things I might start zeroing in on what I expect and, like you, what I hope for. I think it's easier to say right now that I, too, hope for six. But I am not ready to say whether I think it's reasonable for me to expect that number or, again like you, expect less.
All transfers get immediate eligibility next year. The NCAA passed a blanket waiver for all sports.
 

Augusta_Jacket

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The business school may be marginally more difficult to “get out” of than other similar programs, but it’s not in some other stratosphere.

I see this said a lot, and it's not entirely true. uga is known for their business school, and yet our undergrad business school is higher rated than theirs. It's a top 50 school in the nation. And yet we call it our "easy" major...
 

JacketOff

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I see this said a lot, and it's not entirely true. uga is known for their business school, and yet our undergrad business school is higher rated than theirs. It's a top 50 school in the nation. And yet we call it our "easy" major...
higher rated doesn’t necessarily mean harder. Like I said, it’s not in another stratosphere. And UGA’s is just 6 spots behind GT in the U.S. News rankings. GT comes in at #27. Other notable schools are:
  • Stanford #1
  • Northwestern #3
  • Cal #7
  • UVA #11
  • Duke #12
  • Michigan #14
  • UCLA #16
  • USC #17
  • Texas #18
  • UNC #20
  • Washington #21
  • Indiana #23
  • Vandy #24
  • Florida #28
  • Minnesota #29
  • BYU #30
  • Notre Dame #31
  • UGA #33
  • Arizona State #35
  • Ohio State #37
  • Wisconsin #38
  • Pitt #39
  • Michigan State #40
  • Penn State #41
  • Alabama #42
  • Texas A&M #43
  • Maryland #44
  • Arizona #46
  • Tennessee #47
  • Boston College #48
  • Utah #51
  • NCSU #52
That’s 30 of the 65 P5 schools (+2 in BYU and Notre Dame) in the top ~50 of best business schools in the country. There’s 12 schools outside of GT in the top 52 that are in the ACC or SEC, and there’s 9 other schools that I would consider to be in the southeast on the list (UVA, Duke, UNC, Vandy, Florida, UGA, Alabama, Tennessee, NCSU). There’s 13 other P5 schools ahead of GT in the rankings (including BYU & ND that’s 1/5 of all power schools), 3 of them are ACC schools, and 4 are in the southeast.

Like I said, I’m sure Scheller is marginally harder to “get out” of than some other southern state schools, but it’s not like it’s aerospace engineering. Once again, the overwhelming majority of students at other southern state schools would manage Scheller as well as GT students. Scheller is basically on par with every other P5 business school in the country. It’s upper 1/3, but it’s not insane by any means. GT’s reputation for being ridiculously hard comes from its engineering majors. There are plenty of schools with renowned programs who don’t have the reputation of being fun killers like GT does. Michigan, Florida, and Stanford all come to mind. This is largely due to GT being also the entirely STEM based while the others are not.
 

jayparr

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Actually, it wasn't his fault, it was the fault of Compliance, which sits outside of the football program. There were several other programs that got hit hard for the same reason, including T&F and some others I can't remember now (maybe WBB?). Compliance reported to and was directed by the AD, so it was the responsibility and "fault" of the AD at the time. This was another of David Braine's goofs.
Plus there was lady(forgot her name) who was in charge of academics and she made some really awful decisions that really set us back a couple of years!!! She and brainless almost put us in a junk yard!!
 

IM79

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Plus there was lady(forgot her name) who was in charge of academics and she made some really awful decisions that really set us back a couple of years!!! She and brainless almost put us in a junk yard!!
Carol Moore maybe. I saw her name on daughters paperwork for the 2020 summer Oxford program that got screwed up by covid.
 
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