Ok, you guys asked for this.
• Focus more on the team's real problem: the defense. Why everybody here is so focused on an O that is averaging 34 points a game is beyond me. We are playing an offense that maximizes the return from the football players we can actually get into Tech. What we need is a better D and we seem to be on the road to that. Why people don't see that is beyond me.
• Well … actually, it isn't. You folks are focusing on the offense because you'd like to get rid of Coach and it's his signature part of the game. And, so near as I can see, hire a coach who is good with the press, knows how to glad-hand donors and fans, is a "good recruiter", lets his assistants run the team, and has a rep as a "player's coach".
We have already done just that in recent memory. His name was Bill Lewis. You would think that would be lesson enough. There is simply no connection at all between a coach's mannerisms and the product you see on the field.
• The only thing that has been mentioned here that would make a huge difference is, of course, a loosening of admission standards. That is an institutional decision and, believe me, has very little to do with what football fans want out of the program. Frankly, I think they've gone about as far as we can expect by the new degree programs and I expect we'll see more of those. Tech is not going back to the admission standards it had when O'Leary was here (and he always complained about those). So the answer is the one I gave above: we need a program that maximizes what we can get out of the players we can get into the institution. Imho, that is exactly what we have.
• Can we get some realism into the conversation about expectations here? We have one of the most spoiled fan bases in the universe. We haven't had a really bad season in eons. Instead of looking at that as a success - and many schools around the country would willingly trade programs with us - we get all whiny about not winning 9 games a year. We aren't going to win 9 games a year consistently; shoot Auburn hasn't done that recently; you can check. We have been very close to doing it (2011 was a play or two away), but winning 9 - 11 games is a crap shoot even if you are willing to cut the kinds of corners you see at Bammer or - watch this space - Ole Miss. Tech isn't and won't be. The present coaching regime has had good years and the occasional great year. I'll take that.
Now, less this be called an acceptance of mediocrity, let's be clear: the program at UVA is mediocre, the program at Mississippi State is mediocre, the program at Minnesota is mediocre. Our program isn't. We can always hope for better, but I've seen some mediocre Tech football in the 30 years I've been going to games at Grant Field. What we field today is consistently much better in comparison.
Here endeth the lesson.
ps: I hadn't heard about John Davis and his son. That is not acceptable and I can see why he is upset. Recruiting is a nasty, unethical business and the worse aspect of modern big college football, imho. I expected better of our staff.
