HC Candidate/Rumors/Info Thread

[Gtech24]

I know people at tech due to going to the school and meeting people through clubs and events. I hear things from time to time and post them to give a sense of where things are.

Have you heard if the interviews have already taken place or will this happen after the regular season?

 

[Deleted member 6494]

Have you heard if the interviews have already taken place or will this happen after the regular season?

JAMEY CHADWELL

Jamey is the son of a football coach. He played football as a senior at Anderson County High School in Tennessee and graduated in 1995. He threw for 2,800 yards and named to the All State squad. Coach Cantrell described Jamey as one of the best quarterbacks the school ever had.

He received a scholarship at ETSU but broke his ankle entering his sophomore year and played sparingly the remainder of his time at ETSU. He became the uniting leader for the team; he claims this diversity caused him to see things differently and later helped him in his coaching profession.

Jamey was from the small town of Caryville in in Tennessee and his eventual wife grew up in Athens Tennessee. Solmaz Zarinna (age 3) and her family escaped from Iran in 1982 and moved to Athens Tennessee. She was raised Muslim but converted to Christianity in her HS Junior year.

Jamey and Solmaz met while both of them were attending The Fellowship of Christian Athletes at ETSU. She learned that some people can be hateful and mean if you are not of their race even though your thoughts are good. She often talked with Jamey about this after they were married; it had a profound influence on him and helped him to understand how some of his players might feel from their alienation. His heart is open to all races and assists him in understanding all of his players. They have three children.

Chadwell was named the AP Coach of the Year in 1988. The #2 candidate was Tom Allen of Indiana, the #3 candidate was Luke Fickell of Cincinnati, and the #4 candidate was Nick Saban of Alabama. The board has already shown his records as a Head Coach several times, so those will not be included here.

 

[yeti92]

JAMEY CHADWELL

Jamey is the son of a football coach. He played football as a senior at Anderson County High School in Tennessee and graduated in 1995. He threw for 2,800 yards and named to the All State squad. Coach Cantrell described Jamey as one of the best quarterbacks the school ever had.

He received a scholarship at ETSU but broke his ankle entering his sophomore year and played sparingly the remainder of his time at ETSU. He became the uniting leader for the team; he claims this diversity caused him to see things differently and later helped him in his coaching profession.

Jamey was from the small town of Caryville in in Tennessee and his eventual wife grew up in Athens Tennessee. Solmaz Zarinna (age 3) and her family escaped from Iran in 1982 and moved to Athens Tennessee. She was raised Muslim but converted to Christianity in her HS Junior year.

Jamey and Solmaz met while both of them were attending The Fellowship of Christian Athletes at ETSU. She learned that some people can be hateful and mean if you are not of their race even though your thoughts are good. She often talked with Jamey about this after they were married; it had a profound influence on him and helped him to understand how some of his players might feel from their alienation. His heart is open to all races and assists him in understanding all of his players. They have three children.

Chadwell was named the AP Coach of the Year in 1988. The #2 candidate was Tom Allen of Indiana, the #3 candidate was Luke Fickell of Cincinnati, and the #4 candidate was Nick Saban of Alabama. The board has already shown his records as a Head Coach several times, so those will not be included here.

AP coach of the year before he entered high school, how have we not signed this guy already!?

 

[Longestday]

So what are the expectations for this program?

O'Leary had 5 straight Top 25 AP poll finishes, and 3 straight wins over the Dwags. He then had a cup of bitter coffee at ND.

Gailey followed with 5 straight years of winning records against FBS opponents. In his 6th year he slipped to 6-6, and we fired him. He never beat the Dwags, but he never had a losing record against FBS teams and went to a bowl every year.

Then Paul Johnson comes in. He had 5 years of winning records against FBS opponents, but that's over 11 years. 6 of the 11 years he was .500 or worse. He beat the Dwags 3 times in 11 years. He left on his own terms.

Many posters refer to Johnson as the standard for a new coach. What are the expectations? Is it OK to only have a winning record against our FBS opponents only half the time? Have the expectations fallen that far from 2007 to 2022? Or is it that winning against the Dwags every 4 years or so is more important than having a consistent winning record against FBS teams? I can't figure out what the leaders of this program want the standard to be. They fired Gailey but kept Johnson. Over the last 15 years the standard declined. Where is it now? Will Cabrera change it? Is there enough money to change it?

All three coaches had good and bad.

O'Leary had a 0.63 record, 0.57 for Gailey, and 0.57 for CPJ. You can cut and dice all you like to tell your truth. CPJ had a horrible 3 and 9 year and broke the bowl record. But those good years were really fun. I flew from Texas to every home game in 2014!

A lot changed over those years in college football:
The implementation of API meant you could no longer just go to the school, but an athlete had to be on track for a degree.
GT also transitioned from a working engineering school to a "MIT" school. GT minimum SAT score is 1390 in 2022 but was 1000 in 1995.
The college arms race has changed and funding at GT has comparatively greatly negatively changed.
Bag men disappeared at GT

I hope I am wrong about the current difficultly level a GT coach faces. I hope we find a coach that can find athletes willing to play school at GT, coach at a high level, win at a high level, at our bargain prices.

 

[cpf2001]

Many posters refer to Johnson as the standard for a new coach. What are the expectations? Is it OK to only have a winning record against our FBS opponents only half the time? Have the expectations fallen that far from 2007 to 2022? Or is it that winning against the Dwags every 4 years or so is more important than having a consistent winning record against FBS teams? I can't figure out what the leaders of this program want the standard to be. They fired Gailey but kept Johnson. Over the last 15 years the standard declined. Where is it now? Will Cabrera change it? Is there enough money to change it?

I find it hard to believe anyone really thinks Gailey was held to or met a higher standard than Johnson. Even setting UGA aside, you have to reach to find stuff like "only record against FBS teams counts" to drop some of Johnson's wins, and then completely ignore things like the complete failure to ever develop a QB or throw away a conference championship to Wake Forest.

Peaking at 11 wins instead of 9 buys a lot. As do some more 8+ win seasons...

Gailey got six years, won 9 once, but still lost that Wake game even that year. Johnson in his first six won 8 once, 9 once, 11 once, and beat Clemson for a conference title. Clearly a more successful start to his tenure, and then he pulled off another 11 win and another 9 year season out of his next 3. When in his tenure would you have said "wow, this is no better than Gailey and pulled the trigger on firing him? There's not a six year period in Johnson's tenure at GT without one of those 11 win seasons, and yes, that buys A LOT of grace for the 3-9/5-6 years (I'm not even too concerned about the difference between 6-7 after losing a bowl vs 7-6 after winning one). Had he had another 4 years of mediocrity instead of retiring? Then we'd have a discussion, if he hadn't been fired at that point.

 

[cpf2001]

Are GT SAT scores up more than the average state school? I haven’t done a lot of research into this but I have seen headlines about the Texas and California systems seeing the same thing. Combo of kids prepping more/helicopter parents, students applying to more schools, and generally sorting more primarily by academics than historically, is my understanding.

 

[roadkill]

I find it hard to believe anyone really thinks Gailey was held to or met a higher standard than Johnson. Even setting UGA aside, you have to reach to find stuff like "only record against FBS teams counts" to drop some of Johnson's wins, and then completely ignore things like the complete failure to ever develop a QB or throw away a conference championship to Wake Forest.

Peaking at 11 wins instead of 9 buys a lot. As do some more 8+ win seasons...

Gailey got six years, won 9 once, but still lost that Wake game even that year. Johnson in his first six won 8 once, 9 once, 11 once, and beat Clemson for a conference title. Clearly a more successful start to his tenure, and then he pulled off another 11 win and another 9 year season out of his next 3. When in his tenure would you have said "wow, this is no better than Gailey and pulled the trigger on firing him? There's not a six year period in Johnson's tenure at GT without one of those 11 win seasons, and yes, that buys A LOT of grace for the 3-9/5-6 years (I'm not even too concerned about the difference between 6-7 after losing a bowl vs 7-6 after winning one). Had he had another 4 years of mediocrity instead of retiring? Then we'd have a discussion, if he hadn't been fired at that point.

Not to mention that beating UGA, which Gailey never did, buys a GT coach a lot of goodwill.

 

[ChristoGT]

Tech's SAT scores are now in the top 5% of all schools. Average a few years' back was something like 1490. When my daughter applied in 2016, score avg was 1433. It's crazy! Yes, when I went in 1983 the average SAT was 1090.

When my son was looking 3.5 years ago (harder time getting into Tech tho was on the "contingency plan" if had wanted it), he looked at basically all the other state schools except Tech and UGA. In general, SAT score mid-point was around 980 for Ga Southern, KSU, Ga College, and UNG (where he ended up at). Not much difference between them. At a 1240 SAT, he was in the top 10% at each of those schools but didn't budge the needle at Tech.

 

[Longestday]

Are GT SAT scores up more than the average state school? I haven’t done a lot of research into this but I have seen headlines about the Texas and California systems seeing the same thing. Combo of kids prepping more/helicopter parents, students applying to more schools, and generally sorting more primarily by academics than historically, is my understanding.

What I have found: the average SAT score has stayed in the 1000-1100 range from 1972 to current.

But a lot more people by percentage of population are going to college now....

 

[cpf2001]

I should’ve clarified average major state school. UCLA seems to be 1405 now, for instance. https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/colleges/UCLA-SAT-scores-GPA Texas lower at 1355. https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/colleges/UT-Austin-admission-requirements UGA a touch lower at 1325 https://www.prepscholar.com/sat/s/colleges/UGA-SAT-scores-GPA

So if those are less elevated compared to GT it certainly changes things but if GT had the same relative profile to them 20 years ago then it’s like running in place. (Running in place/zero sum game is how I’d characterize the college admissions arms race in general anyway, hah.)

 

[roadkill]

A few years ago there was an article citing comparisons between a school's football teams' ave SAT and that of the school's general student population. They also compared ave SAT across schools. Tech led in both categories - ave SAT of the team, and the greatest disparity between the team's ave and the general population.
I can see how both these things can be true. We can take exceptions and we do. But you still have to clear a higher bar.

 

[roadkill]

A few years ago there was an article citing comparisons between a school's football teams' ave SAT and that of the school's general student population. They also compared ave SAT across schools. Tech led in both categories - ave SAT of the team, and the greatest disparity between the team's ave and the general population.
I can see how both these things can be true. We can take exceptions and we do. But you still have to clear a higher bar.

Just to add - taking exceptions is an area where Cabrera might be able to have some influence. I heard that the number we take has tended to change depending on the mood of the administration.

 

[Deleted member 6494]

AP coach of the year before he entered high school, how have we not signed this guy already!?

Sorry, I misread the information; 1988 was when the AP Coach of the Year award was initiated.

Jamey was awarded the AP, Walter Camp, Sporting News, CBS Sports/247 Sports, Paul (Bear) Bryant Group of Five, Conference, Sunbelt, and Werner Ladder AFCA FBS Region 2 Coach of the Year. He was also nominated for several others. All of this was for the year 2020. That was a total of 8 Coach of the Year awards for 2020.

 

[Deleted member 6494]

Sorry, I misread the information; 1988 was when the AP Coach of the Year award was initiated.

Jamey was awarded the AP, Walter Camp, Sporting News, CBS Sports/247 Sports, Paul (Bear) Bryant Group of Five, Conference, Sunbelt, and Werner Ladder AFCA FBS Region 2 Coach of the Year. He was also nominated for several others. All of this was for the year 2020. That was a total of 8 Coach of the Year awards for 2020.

By the way, Chadwell came from a small town in Tennessee just like Bobby Dodd.

 

[Longestday]

By the way, Chadwell came from a small town in Tennessee just like Bobby Dodd.

No one can refute such correlating data, hire the man!

 

[Vespidae]

No one can refute such correlating data, hire the man!

Bobby Dodd isn't from Tennessee. He is from Galax, VA.

 

[Jim Prather]

What I have found: the average SAT score has stayed in the 1000-1100 range from 1972 to current.

But a lot more people by percentage of population are going to college now....

It has stayed extremely consistent, except for the fact that they re-normalized the SAT in 1990 which bumped the median score up about 100 points. Renormalized SAT

 

[Lotta Booze]

Bobby Dodd isn't from Tennessee. He is from Galax, VA.

Born in Galax, moved to TN when he was 12. Depends on how you want to parse where someone is "from"

 

[slugboy]

It has stayed extremely consistent, except for the fact that they re-normalized the SAT in 1990 which bumped the median score up about 100 points. Renormalized SAT

As far as median scores, they’re really up—the SAT scores and the grades. Alums who have had their children apply have seen their offspring with higher SATs and GPAs (even with grade inflation) and all A’s in AP courses get turned down.

The admissions office is focused more on student achievement vs. SAT scores now as a better predictor of student success.

As for the minimum, I think admissions is looking more at “can the student finish?” and looking at the courses they took and how they did. I think they’d be willing to completely ignore the SAT score, but there are flags in a student’s transcript they won’t ignore.

 

[Deleted member 6494]

Born in Galax, moved to TN when he was 12. Depends on how you want to parse where someone is "f