How do we fix this nightmare....

[56JacketDE]

Which game are you talking about

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Which game are you talking about

The MTSU loss.

 

[jason]

I hope for better offensive line play which should lead to a lot more production from our backs. But not all the blame goes to the line Vad was too slow running the option never really put presser on the end because by the time he got to that point the end had help. I believe Thomas will get back to putting pressure on the defense to commit to the QB or the pitch man. Plus every team knew by mid season Vad was not going to turn it up for any type of yardage.

 

[Animal02]

i enjoyed that one, i have a piece of the goalpost from the north end zone

That was the first game I had attended since graduating in '83. #2 favorite was Tech over ND at ND in 2007 - 33-3, and all time favorite is Tech over Alabama in Birmingham 24-21.......almost got arrested after that one.

 

[56JacketDE]

The MTSU loss.

I thought you talking about NMSU game. Yeah I just remember MTSU running it down out throats

I just want to win. Not be mediocre

 

[Buzzwax]

I would love to hear coherent thoughts on what you think we should do. I have some, but would love to hear yours if I may.

I don't have time to read through 8 pages to see if this was already mentioned. ....I've been following gt football since 74. Bill Curry's and Bobby Ross' early seasons along with bill lewis' s dumpster fire were 'nightmarish'.

I'm sorry but vad Lee was one player. Based on someone I know inside the program vad had all but made up his mind midseason!

Seeing how vad shied away from contact now makes sense. I see this as a great opportunity for the team to come together and get it's edge back!!!!!!!!

As a fan, I will continue to love my jackets! !

As far as solutions to our opportunities. .....support the TEAM!!

What is your solution?

 

[MWBATL]

I would love to hear coherent thoughts on what you think we should do. I have some, but would love to hear yours if I may.

Going back to JD's original post...the simple truth is most of us are too far removed from the program to understand where *exactly* the problems are. I think most of us feel we simply lack the a talent to compete with the big boys on our schedule, judging this by the fact that all recent coaches (Johnson, Gailey and to a certain extent O'Leary) all had trouble winning against major programs (Remember UGa was in a serious funk when we beat them three-in-a-row...it said much more about them than us at that time). All recent coaches pretty much seem to fall into the 7-5 rut. (O'Leary again was better, but he too had problems with big programs such as FSU)

if indeed we simply lack the players to effectively compete, then there are really only two explanations for that...the Coaching staff sucks at identifying and recruiting talent, and/or the coaching staff is fine, but The Hill has tied their hands. We don't have a clue which is true. It is possible that The Hill allows only a very limited number of exceptions, and the staff must choose which 3 kids to offer with "poor" test scores, and maybe your son was not one of those 3. You realize at this stage I am completely making things up, just suggesting possible explanations, since from afar, we fans just do not have a clue.

There have been murmuring amongst this who are closer to the program that The Hill has been the issue, with heavy restrictions on recruiting exceptions.

If it is indeed The Hill, then I am at a loss on what to do to move things. I suppose we could start a revolt amongst fans in terms of a letter writing campaign against the President and any other activities that might let The Hill know that (1) we know what they are up to; and (2) we don't like it at all. Beyond that, and voting with our dollars by not buying tickets or attending games (which throws the baby out with the bath water), I am stumped on how to solve it. Frankly, it would be the kiss of death for anyone currently employed in the AA to come out and say what is rally going on, but it sure would be helpful if SOMEONE who was close enough to know could speak out and tell us their view.

 

[56JacketDE]

Going back to JD's original post...the simple truth is most of us are too far and to a certain extent O'Leary) all had trouble winning against major programs (Remember UGa was in a serious funk when we beat them three-in-a-row...it said much more about them than us at that time). All recent coaches pretty much seem to fall into the 7-5 rut. (O'Leary again was better, but he too had problems with big programs such as FSU)
with "poor" test scores, and mayb
.

A serious funk! They had Seymour, stroud, bailey, olandis, etc

I love people that marginalize and minimize our wins over UGA. Maybe you should be the coach or find another team to root for. You and all the others offend me and my teammates when we hear this bs. There's only reason it's (3iar) only happened once since Dodd. It wasn't during ray goof either. The reason is we were better coached and wanted it more and found a way to win.

Fsu was a perennial top 5 team then and were much better than any team we play now! Much better.

Keep on hating!

 

[LibertyTurns]

Quite frankly I don't care what it takes to be those bastards and regardless of what the "GT Win Asterisk Crowd" says, a win over the Mutts is a great day in my book.

Thanks for being a part of the effort!

 

[Essobee]

Glad you're hear JD

I think we need to get a coach here who wants to be here a long time and someone who is a tech man

Not a problem, Nate. He's already here and he has head coaching experience at an academic school, plus he is originally from the Atlanta area. On the downside, we've had tech players who went on to become our head coaches. Bill Fulcher left after two years. Pepper Rogers was fired. Former local resident Bill Curry left in a flash to go coach in a neighboring state.

 

[gtdrew]

You know, a letter-writing campaign might be a logical course of action...

 

[alaguy]

I don't think anything can be done right now. The Boosters and Powers are aware of the situation and have either already decided their solution or will so soon. There is nothing we can do at this time. I suspect, CPJ will be here and coach next season. He is going to get paid for it whether he coaches next season or not, so most likely the solution is already set. Again, most likely the AD will let him coach with a new QB and see what happens next year. We might as well resign ourselves to follow the team with the quarterbacks we have and let the chips fall where they may next year.

Good call.About sums it up..

 

[BainbridgeJacket]

Not a problem, Nate. He's already here and he has head coaching experience at an academic school, plus he is originally from the Atlanta area. On the downside, we've had tech players who went on to become our head coaches. Bill Fulcher left after two years. Pepper Rogers was fired. Former local resident Bill Curry left in a flash to go coach in a neighboring state.

you do realize how miserably he failed at that, right? It hasn't even been determined he was a good hire for us at DC yet. Promotion for Roof is out of the question.

 

[daBuzz]

you do realize how miserably he failed at that, right? It hasn't even been determined he was a good hire for us at DC yet. Promotion for Roof is out of the question.

Well he did beat us one time.

 

[Essobee]

you do realize how miserably he failed at that, right? It hasn't even been determined he was a good hire for us at DC yet. Promotion for Roof is out of the question.

Right. Also recognize that Pepper had been a successful head coach before coming back to be subsequently fired.

My point, if any, is that the grass always seems greener on the other side. All this talk about Goose and Ken doesn't amount to squat. What we really need is some incredible luck, like we had back to back by getting Bobby Ross and Bobby Cremins, e.g.

We need the right person at the right time for the right environment. Kind of like the US when we got Reagan. Who would have thunk?

 

[croberts]

A serious funk! They had Seymour, stroud, bailey, olandis, etc

I love people that marginalize and minimize our wins over UGA. Maybe you should be the coach or find another team to root for. You and all the others offend me and my teammates when we hear this bs. There's only reason it's (3iar) only happened once since Dodd. It wasn't during ray goof either. The reason is we were better coached and wanted it more and found a way to win.

Fsu was a perennial top 5 team then and were much better than any team we play now! Much better.

Keep on hating!

i loved the 3 wins we all talk about every time we compare coaches but we always leave out the joe h fumble no call in athens, the sanks touchdown / fumble with no replay and the game with out starter Carter under center. Amazing how the games have grown greater with time. I have great respect for Oleary and staff but ball bounced his way in three straight games and only once since. Our offense under Johnson has not been the problem but if enough people say it is, does that make it so? Continue to improve recruiting process, add a new degree , bring in a special teams coach, get rid of a bad d coordinator, bring in a qb coach with new ideas - wait, sounds like a plan in progress.

 

[alaguy]

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.

Wow,rationality and some REAL ideas that might be doable.

 

[56JacketDE]

i loved the 3 wins we all talk about every time we compare coaches but we always leave out the joe h fumble no call in athens, the sanks touchdown / fumble with no replay and the game with out starter Carter under center. Amazing how the games have grown greater with time. I have great respect for Oleary and staff but ball bounced his way in three straight games and only once since. Our offense under Johnson has not been the problem but if enough people say it is, does that make it so? Continue to improve recruiting process, add a new degree , bring in a special teams coach, get rid of a bad d coordinator, bring in a qb coach with new ideas - wait, sounds like a plan in progress.

What about 97 phantom pass int call

Thanks for minimizing the wins also

 

[LibertyTurns]

i loved the 3 wins we all talk about every time we compare coaches but we always leave out the joe h fumble no call in athens, the sanks touchdown / fumble with no replay and the game with out starter Carter under center. Amazing how the games have grown greater with time. I have great respect for Oleary and staff but ball bounced his way in three straight games and only once since.

Wow, 3 lucky breaks in probably 40 years against the luckiest team in the history of college football. If I listed all the screw jobs on here it would be 25-1 at worst.

I watched those games and our team fought their butts off. To minimize their efforts is disrespectful at best and down right disgusting.

Mods, think you should consider a permanent branding (not a banning) for offending parties.

 

[CuseJacket]

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.

First time I've heard many of these ideas. A few certainly seem within the realm of possibility. Thanks for sharing!