Here are my thoughts, rambling though they may be:
With all due respect to those who claim "we are close" or "the main problem has been xxx or yyyy", it's much simpler than that. Like it or not, our program is struggling. I don't think calling it a nightmare is wrong at all. Just think about the following question: when was the last time we were ranked in the top 25? I'm not talking about the best of the best and the top 10....but just the top 25. With Ross we won a national championship. With Lewis we sucked. With O'Leary, we were a consistent top 25 team and finished in the top 10 a few times. With Gailey, it was a pendulum. Sometimes in the top 25, sometimes we sucked. With Johnson, the first 2 years were nice, but after that, we sniffed the top 25 a few times early in the season, only to lose once we started playing stronger teams.
No matter the reason why we lose, the fact is we just are not very good when we play FCS teams. BYU beat us two years in a row! WTF? MTSU blew us out at home. WTF? We lost bowl games to Utah and Air Force? WTF?
Our redshirt sophomore starting QB, who had 2 years of eligibility left and took 95% of the snaps just transferred because he didn't like the offense. A guy who was uninjured, by the way. Name me one other time that has happened because I certainly cannot think of it ever happening. So yeah, I think nightmare isn't that much of a stretch.
So the question of this thread is, what do we do? How do we fix it?
Well, 3 things require fixing, in my opinion....coaching, the relationship between coaching & the Hill, and fans.
COACHING
1. There is talk...quite frankly a LOT of talk in recent days...among some of the bigger dollar guys about what it would take to get rid of Paul. Those guys seem to be split about half and half, but the question was recently floated....what would happen if Paul was offered next year's buyout figure this year? Could we survive the season by letting Ted Roof take over as head coach on a "prove you can earn it" basis? One guy even went so far as to put out feelers and seems to believe that Friedgen would be more than willing to come back and serve as OC for Ted if that happens.
Likelihood of it happening: 10% (interesting though because I would have said 0% last week...certainly trending towards at least a possibility now)
2. Those same guys are saying that anything less than winning the Coastal next year is unacceptable. Anything less and Johnson is gone.
3. When that happens, I would personally like to see us bring in a young and dynamic head coach whose forte is a true spread offense. Go recruit some WR's and another couple of RB's and go from there. It will take 2 - 3 years to really be successful because I think one of the biggest issues we have now is the size of the OL we recruited. We need some beef on the lines to be able to contend with the UGA's, Miami's and Clemson's consistently.
RELATIONSHIP WITH THE HILL
Honestly, I'm not sure how much can be done here as long as Bud is the president. Hopefully, the new coach will be a very forceful personality type like an O'Leary, who will be able to use his bully pulpit as the very "visible in the public eye" head coach to influence Bud into making decisions that are more athletic friendly. My own observations of the man are that I think he's an idiot.
Why else would you willingly sign over media rights to the ACC in exchange for nothing until the year 2020? I understand the whole "we want the ACC to succeed & stay together" thing, but any business exec who made such a move hamstringing his company would be fired and it would be with good reason. He is a yes man that caves into pressure from whomever is the most forceful in the room. Unfortunately for us, that happens to John Swofford and/or the academic side of the house right now....depending on which set of negotiations we're talking about at the moment.
Likelihood of happening: <0% at the moment
FAN EXPERIENCE
1) I honestly think CPJ might take a buyout at next year's rate (in other words - $5.25 mill instead of the $7.768 of this year). If I'm the AD, I would have an "unofficial" representative of GT ask if this is possible.
Likelihood of happening: < 10%
2) Have current & past NFL players from GT make advertisements for the school....Calvin Johnson, Demaryius Thomas, John Davis, Pat Swilling, Vance Walker, Stephen Hill, Morgan Burnett, etc. I'd play short versions of them during basketball games as the advertisements, but most importantly they'd play on the Jumbotron for recruits as they come on OV's.
Likelihood of happening: 10% (makes too damn much sense so they won't do it)
3) Open up spring & fall practices again for fans. It isn't like we're fooling anyone with what we run anyway. At least, maybe we can get some fan support going again.
Likelihood of happening: 1%
4) Throw a major big deal at signing day. Allow all the coaches to answer questions. Send out emails to season ticket holders about the event 2 weeks ahead of time and letting them know the schedule. Again, try to get some fan support going
Likelihood of happening: 0%
5) Invite all former GT lettermen and players to come to a special "reunion" reception. Have the AD and the coaches meet with those guys, listen to their ideas on what can be done to help GT and how they can be helpful in future endeavors. GT has such a rich history & tradition that is just sitting there and not being used that it is criminal. Make it an invitation only event for the first hour, then invite all season ticket holders to come and take part in a dinner where current players awards are given out in front of the lettermen. How cool do you think it would be for a player to be awarded an Iron Man trophy by Calvin Johnson for the receivers or John Davis for the linemen? In front of a couple of hundred adoring fans (who each paid $50 a plate to come attend the event)? And make it an annual event that grows every year. What a way to increase fan support.
Likelihood of happening: 5%
By the way, like him or not, Danny Hall does this every year for GT baseball and uses it as a fundraiser for the program. They have a hell of a silent auction with some incredible sports memorabilia available.
Anyway, given time I could think of more. But these would be a nice start towards changing the way things are working on the Flats.
