Institutionalized Takes

Sean311

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Very interesting info/rumors from Bryce Koon:

- Ugag possibly interested in Nate McCollum
- Donors allegedly threatened to shorten funds if they did not hire Key.
- Guys coming back from the portal
 

Techster

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Very interesting info/rumors from Bryce Koon:

- Ugag possibly interested in Nate McCollum
- Donors allegedly threatened to shorten funds if they did not hire Key.
- Guys coming back from the portal


That's not new. It was reported by several sources.

Do you want to know why Cabrera emphasized Batt's ability to raise funds? Because he understands that a small group of donors have gotten their way inside the GTAA due to their $$$ influence for a long time now. Cabrera and Batt are working to dilute that kind of influence by broadening the donor base and working on other revenue streams that neutralizes the high level donor dependence.

We'll see how it all develops over the next few years.
 

Sarrick

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It makes me kinda wish we didn't have to replace our AD and head coach in the same year. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with Key, but it will be a a whole different scenario if we weren't forced to bend to the donors.
 

RonJohn

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It makes me kinda wish we didn't have to replace our AD and head coach in the same year. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with Key, but it will be a a whole different scenario if we weren't forced to bend to the donors.
I have a different take on it. I don't know what the discussions were. But, I have seen some speculation that donors were willing to donate more if Key was hired instead of threatening to stop donations if someone else was hired. At this point, the athletic association would need additional revenue to pay a new coach $5-6 million per year, plus raise the assistant coaches pool, plus increase recruiting, plus set up more NIL money. If @Techster is correct, then in a few years we might be in a position to raise money without the need to appeal to large donors individually. However, at this point we do need that.

If donors let it me known that they would provide more support for Key than they would for other candidates, people seem to think that is horrific. But, posters here were saying things like they would not donate more, nor get season tickets if Fritz was hired. People on here have stated that they are excited about the Key hire and have donated additional money to the AT Fund. We are acting exactly the same way we are criticizing the large donors for acting. The only difference is in the number of zeros.

IF donors were getting together and pushing influence, that is bad. However, is large donors simply decided to do more for a situation they are excited about, that is exactly the same as everybody else. Financially it is much better to have a stable base and the ability to build extra with excitement. A family who lives paycheck to paycheck is dependent on the whims of their landlord. A financially stable family probably owns their own home and can handle emergencies much better. Currently the GT athletic association is living paycheck to paycheck and has to do extraordinary things to simply pay the bills. Get into a good financial situation with revenue greater than expenses from multiple independent sources, and the athletic association will be less dependent on getting people excited in order to survive. Don't blame your landlord for your inability to pay rent, and don't blame the large donors for the athletic associations dependence on them.
 

85Escape

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We are acting exactly the same way we are criticizing the large donors for acting. The only difference is in the number of zeros.
This exactly! A simple thumbs-up wasn't enough to say how much I agree with this. I believe that is how it went down.

We heard somewhere that Key had already negotiated additional NIL money if he was hired. That's not donors holding the GTAA hostage, that's someone working their tails off to make themselves a better candidate. That's a donor saying that they'll put more of their money behind a hire because they believe in them so much.

There's zero wrong with that.
 

RamblinRed

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The difference in money level is important as is how it alters the process.

In a good situation, the hiring of a coach would be left to the AD and/or search committee. They would determine who would be the best candidate for the job is and then go to the 'big money' men and lay out who they believe is the best hire and why and then ask for the money to support the hire.

If it is the money men who basically say 'hire this coach' or we will withhold money, or not increase it - then they are effectively inserting themselves into the search process and they may simply be wrong.

The reason we hired Geoff Collins is because the big money guys at GT basically said this is who we want to hire and who we will open our pocketbooks for - but it was also the wrong hire.
No amount of money is going to matter if you make the wrong hire.

In places with more money it leads to situations like Auburn where they burn through coaches because certain alumni have to have a say in who is hired.
 

JacketFan137

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The reason we hired Geoff Collins is because the big money guys at GT basically said this is who we want to hire and who we will open our pocketbooks for - but it was also the wrong hire.
No amount of money is going to matter if you make the wrong hire.
collins was hired cause the original plan was whisenhunt and that was almost universally shot down by everyone. we had barely any money to spend and went bargain bin shopping to hire SOMEONE with any connection to tech since we had hardly any interest from outside and no money to entice someone to come in

from what guys have said i think that hire falls more on stansbury having no plan or pull rather than the boosters running the show.
 

Jerry the Jacket

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After watching several of Bryce Koon's videos, I have come to the conclusion that a lot of his information is made up and pure speculation. It is evident that he had a bias toward Jamey Chadwell being the next head coach at Tech. I think he and the others on the other site, had felt they had the inside scoop that Chadwell was going to get the job and they were just so excited about him and his innovative offense that they were crushed when it did not happen. Now he has come up with this big donor's screwed-that-up rationale to justify how he and his cohorts got it wrong.

I think something similar happened with the Willie Fritz scenario. I'm sure both were interviewed as part of the process and for whatever reason, a decision was made not to select them. That might have been their choice or Tech's choice. It really doesn't matter. It's water over the damn now. If you notice neither Chadwell or Fritz have surfaced as candidates for HC jobs anywhere else. Maybe there is a reason for that.

I understand that speculation is what drives these message boards and without it, life would be boring, but, I would caution folks to take a lot of this information for what it actually is, rumors, speculation and takes that just promote some people's personal agendas and bias.

Go Jackets!
 

JacketFan137

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After watching several of Bryce Koon's videos, I have come to the conclusion that a lot of his information is made up and pure speculation. It is evident that he had a bias toward Jamey Chadwell being the next head coach at Tech. I think he and the others on the other site, had felt they had the inside scoop that Chadwell was going to get the job and they were just so excited about him and his innovative offense that they were crushed when it did not happen. Now he has come up with this big donor's screwed-that-up rationale to justify how he and his cohorts got it wrong.

I think something similar happened with the Willie Fritz scenario. I'm sure both were interviewed as part of the process and for whatever reason, a decision was made not to select them. That might have been their choice or Tech's choice. It really doesn't matter. It's water over the damn now. If you notice neither Chadwell or Fritz have surfaced as candidates for HC jobs anywhere else. Maybe there is a reason for that.

I understand that speculation is what drives these message boards and without it, life would be boring, but, I would caution folks to take a lot of this information for what it actually is, rumors, speculation and takes that just promote some people's personal agendas and bias.

Go Jackets!
chadwell is being linked with liberty pretty heavily now. he’s not being linked with any major p5 schools. which is kinda funny that he was seen as such a can’t miss prospective coach with zero p5 leads right now
 

Vespidae

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That's not new. It was reported by several sources.

Do you want to know why Cabrera emphasized Batt's ability to raise funds? Because he understands that a small group of donors have gotten their way inside the GTAA due to their $$$ influence for a long time now. Cabrera and Batt are working to dilute that kind of influence by broadening the donor base and working on other revenue streams that neutralizes the high level donor dependence.

We'll see how it all develops over the next few years.
I think it's going to be very challenging.

The hiring of Hugh Freeze is an example. John Cohen, Auburn AD, was simply told by one influential booster "Hire Freeze". That's all it took. No search. It was two names and number one said no. Sexual misconduct? Intimidation? No problem. The guy beat Saban twice.

The reality is, almost every program is supported by a few large boosters. The only one I know that is not, is Notre Dame. All donations go to the General Fund and the University makes the decision where it goes.

One new challenge is NIL and bad outcomes. I am already aware of football players using NIL money to pay OTHER students to do their coursework. Imagine an NFL prospect who says to another student, "I'll pay you $10K to write my papers and do my assignments." Have 2 classes with him, and you're making $80K a year.

It's already happening.
 

Techster

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collins was hired cause the original plan was whisenhunt and that was almost universally shot down by everyone. we had barely any money to spend and went bargain bin shopping to hire SOMEONE with any connection to tech since we had hardly any interest from outside and no money to entice someone to come in

from what guys have said i think that hire falls more on stansbury having no plan or pull rather than the boosters running the show.

There's some revisionist history going on. Donors 100% pushed for Collins...but now the narrative has been changed to it was all Stansbury. Well, the problem with that is the same problem we have with Batt being able to hire anyone because donors were playing hardball. If donors didn't want Collins, there was no way Collins would have been hired.

Different donors push for different candidates. We just saw that during the last round. The group with the most money usually wins.
 

whitegoldsphinx

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chadwell is being linked with liberty pretty heavily now. he’s not being linked with any major p5 schools. which is kinda funny that he was seen as such a can’t miss prospective coach with zero p5 leads right now
Supposedly Chadwell would have been offered P5 jobs if he did not insist on bringing his entire staff. If Liberty hires him, we will see if he does in fact bring his entire staff.
 

Vespidae

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There's some revisionist history going on. Donors 100% pushed for Collins...but now the narrative has been changed to it was all Stansbury. Well, the problem with that is the same problem we have with Batt being able to hire anyone because donors were playing hardball. If donors didn't want Collins, there was no way Collins would have been hired.

Different donors push for different candidates. We just saw that during the last round. The group with the most money usually wins.
Yes but ... outside of Collins, there were no other candidates. Now, you can ask yourself if we COULD have pursued a number of candidates, but the reality is, no one really wanted the job.
 
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