It starts with us

chris975d

chris975d

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
903
iceeater1969 said:
The other half of the problem is we are seen as smart but elitist by the average fan. We seem to take pride in having so few average fans

Can we afford to not have average fans .
In your area are u creating a positive impression for gt.

As a minimum wear your gt hat and actively recruit. alabama fans to make us there favorite no pro team .

At level above walking around join a high school football booster club and always wesr your hat and be positive. Give time to the point the coach thinks highly of u. Soon get known by other coaches as that positive guy in the gt hat.
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I touched on this somewhat in another thread. We are seen as elitist by the average fan, largely in part due to the culture of Tech. Tech doesn’t admit a lot, as our curriculum isn’t the most inviting to the average person/student. And then we as an institution try to weed out as many of those that do meet admission standards as we can. That results in a relatively small and elitist group, and the “average person” can be kind of put off by that or not able to relate. So as you said, we need to try to be the best ambassadors of GT to those people as we can be. And I’ll admit, as a group (myself included), often times we aren’t. But I personally have been trying to do better in that regard.
 
TooTall

TooTall

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,286
Location
Vidalia
techfan#14 said:
So I do not post much especially on a subject like this... but I am what you would call a "side walk or average fan". However I am a die hard fanatic in the truest sense. I have no link to Tech (did not attend) beyond my grandfather who attended but was never what I would call a fan. I came into my fandom at age 10 (now 35) and never looked back and never will. I have a fervor for the school and athletics that I can barely explain myself. I live a little more than 2 hours away but make sure to attend 3 or 4 games a year and buy tech attire consistently. Now I do not donate and not afraid to share that fact. I may 1 day but cannot right now. My point to all this is to share my "outsiders" viewpoint on what I see on gsmeday. It really upsets me when i see empty seats in our stadium especially when I look at the club Level seats. It aggirvates me to no end. I would kill for those seats but they rarely look full like other parts of the stadium. I know the club Level gives access to other things but those seats being empty looks bad. I do not claim to have answers to attendance but if you call yourself a fan and you live in Atlanta you have no excuse to not be in a seat on game day. I would be at every one if I could. Maybe people don't care like I do, and maybe I care too much. I agree with above posts if we want change in certain areas then we have to show up, be loud, care, and support the team.
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In no way am I criticizing you. If you shop on Amazon, look into this if you haven't already. You don't get the points or benefits that you would if you gave directly, but the GTAA still get $$$.

http://atfund.gatech.edu/methods-giving?_ga=2.100456606.1890854657.1568900955-537067847.1567609123

Amazon Smile
 
vamosjackets

vamosjackets

GT Athlete
Featured Member
Messages
2,150
SOWEGA Jacket said:
You’ve only touched on part of it. It doesn’t start with the fans. It starts with the school. GT fans are outnumbered because there simply aren’t enough of us because the school doesn’t care about creating fans. All GT has to do is up admissions for in state students and the stadium will fill up over the next 20 years. Instead, GT craps on GT families and in state students and then the few of us wonder why our numbers aren’t growing. Sidewalk fans are great but you build your base with local alumni.

This summer I brought my kids (high school juniors who wear GT gear every day) on official tours of GT and UGA on back to back days. The tours weren’t even comparable. GT’s group tour was so far below UGAs that it was hard for me to handle. I fully understand that academics trump athletics at GT and I concur. But, quite honestly, GT doesn’t have to go out of state to find quality applicants. They do it because it sounds good. Our high school had one graduate go to GT last year. 10 went to UGA. It’s obvious why these threads appear every few months.
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Strange, I heard the same thing about the GT tour/events for students. A couple of excellent students from our area went up there for a GT-organized tour. One came back and said, "I'm NOT going to GT. That was the worst, more unorganized event I've ever been a part of." And, the kid went up there thinking that he did want to go to GT.
 

buzzed

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
339
I’ve been to almost every home game, aside from a few when some ******* decided to have a fall wedding, since I was a student in the late 90’s. I’ve also travelled to bowl games, uga, FSU, Clemson, UNC. Aside from a few great seasons, being a GT fan has been one kick in the nuts after another. I understand that fan support is important, but I also understand why I see so many empty seats every Saturday. It’s difficult to justify showing up to every game when it seems like the Institute is not supporting football. I think the Institute missed a golden opportunity by not providing more support to CPJ. I like the new staff’s emphasis on recruiting and that they’re trying to take advantage of our being in the ATL, but given our overall recruiting challenges, I just don’t see us ever winning consistently by just out recruiting the competition. We’re going to need superior coaching, and I’m not seeing any evidence of that on the field so far. Several aspects of what happened with the Citadel reflect poor coaching, even when you set aside issues with the offensive transition. It was just one game, but what we have seen so far is consistent with the observations of Temple fans who don’t seem broken-hearted about losing this staff. I hope they prove me wrong and I’ll be at the games to cheer them on if they do.
 
gtstinger776

gtstinger776

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
565
buzzed said:
I’ve been to almost every home game, aside from a few when some ******* decided to have a fall wedding, since I was a student in the late 90’s. I’ve also travelled to bowl games, uga, FSU, Clemson, UNC. Aside from a few great seasons, being a GT fan has been one kick in the nuts after another. I understand that fan support is important, but I also understand why I see so many empty seats every Saturday. It’s difficult to justify showing up to every game when it seems like the Institute is not supporting football. I think the Institute missed a golden opportunity by not providing more support to CPJ. I like the new staff’s emphasis on recruiting and that they’re trying to take advantage of our being in the ATL, but given our overall recruiting challenges, I just don’t see us ever winning consistently by just out recruiting the competition. We’re going to need superior coaching, and I’m not seeing any evidence of that on the field so far. Several aspects of what happened with the Citadel reflect poor coaching, even when you set aside issues with the offensive transition. It was just one game, but what we have seen so far is consistent with the observations of Temple fans who don’t seem broken-hearted about losing this staff. I hope they prove me wrong and I’ll be at the games to cheer them on if they do.
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I hear you. Great point about the institute should’ve given more support to CPJ (and all other coaches for that matter). I think CPJ would’ve had more success with a bigger assistant coaching salary budget and recruiting back office.

The amount of investment and recruiting effort required to just be an 8 win program is substantially more than it was 10-15 years ago. I think nick saban to Bama and his 24-7 recruiting model is what really changed it. CFB has always lacked parity (compared to pro sports), but it’s become even more so when you have programs with armies of “non-field” staff churning film analysis and engaging with recruits 24/7.

We were middle of the pack in P5 infrastructure wise pre Nick Saban. I would guess we’re bottom quartile now. CPJ’s TO offense kept us afloat and gave us some cool seasons / wins. But, we knew those days had to come to an end. The cut blocking rule changes are making that offense less attractive and the player development under CPJ was worsening every year.
 
UpperNorth

UpperNorth

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
282
Sorry this is long, struck a chord.

1. Stop making excuses - I talk to tech fans who don’t attend games and man can they come up with dozens of reasons not to attend. How about support what you love, it takes a level of sacrifice.

2. Stop being elitist - Just stop. It’s a turnoff. I’m a sidewalk tech fan despite the fact that the elitist attitude of tech fans bothers me. If I were making a choice of what team to pull for now, it might not be Tech, bc of this attitude. Oh and by the way, UGA fans, especially the most obsessed ones in Athens (where I lived until recently) are extremely elitist as well and it was obnoxious to me. They especially find themselves superior academically to other SEC schools. But most of all many of their alumni consider themselves the perfect mix of smarts, personality, and class and carry themselves with an arrogance that is annoying. Let’s be better than UGA in this way. You were blessed to go to Tech and if you were raised in different circumstances you may not have achieved admission in the first place. Also for some of you, your children may not get into tech today or in the future so be thankful, be humble, and be respectful to others.

3. Learn to be above UGA. It’s not a good look how we handle our ‘UGA-complex.’ They have a better program, so-what, act like it isn’t the end of the world (harder than it sounds I know). Our insecurities are noticed by UGA fans and casual onlookers and it doesn’t exactly give being a tech fan a shining endorsement. On a side note, all of my tech fan friends think it’s silly that we yell ‘To Hell with Georgia’ when we play Virginia or anyone else, so we don’t do it. But guess what, I actually go to the Tech/UGA game in Athens and Atlanta and cheer and try to have class. So many tech fans are obsessed with THWG every day of their life but then sell their tix and let them take over our stadium. There’s something wrong there. I realize THWG is a tradition and really I’m fine with others doing it if you enjoy it, but I personally think that we don’t need to let that attitude go too far bc I think speaks more to our insecurities than anything else.

4. Recruit your tech friends - season tix are next to nothing compared with many schools. My group wasn’t getting season tickets until last year for various reasons. Tix were so cheap on the secondary market and we like sitting in the upper north where you can get tix to most games for less than $10. We decided that we needed to be more supportive so I literally reached out to every tech fan that I could think of spanning my entire life. Last year our group was 7, this year 11, and many others are interested in joining at some point down the line. I’m taking pride in getting tech fans that otherwise would be sitting at home in the stands. If we all did this then we would see a drastic increase in attendance.

5. Tailgate, have fun - gotta create a culture of fun and family. When the bad years hit, we should still enjoy coming to games and being with friends. It’s more than Ws and Ls
 
Vespidae

Vespidae

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,326
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Auburn, AL
SOWEGA Jacket said:
You’ve only touched on part of it. It doesn’t start with the fans. It starts with the school. GT fans are outnumbered because there simply aren’t enough of us because the school doesn’t care about creating fans. All GT has to do is up admissions for in state students and the stadium will fill up over the next 20 years. Instead, GT craps on GT families and in state students and then the few of us wonder why our numbers aren’t growing. Sidewalk fans are great but you build your base with local alumni.

This summer I brought my kids (high school juniors who wear GT gear every day) on official tours of GT and UGA on back to back days. The tours weren’t even comparable. GT’s group tour was so far below UGAs that it was hard for me to handle. I fully understand that academics trump athletics at GT and I concur. But, quite honestly, GT doesn’t have to go out of state to find quality applicants. They do it because it sounds good. Our high school had one graduate go to GT last year. 10 went to UGA. It’s obvious why these threads appear every few months.
Click to expand...

Sadly , this is the case. When I was at Tech, Tech was the only engineering school in the state and lots of kids from GA enrolled at Tech. Now, KSU, UGA, and others all offer engineering programs because Tech is tapped out and urban to boot. IMO, Tech should have built a Macon campus or Columbus and owned the engineering for the state. But, Tech's value to Georgia is no longer education ... it's research. And more and more kids are coming from China and Korea to fuel that.

Re game attendance, the two factors that drive stadium attendance are a) density of alumni within 5 miles of the school (and measure again at 10), b) whether the school is urban or rural, and finally, the attractiveness of the schedule. Tech is losing on all three fronts. This is why I maintain we should dump all FCS schools and play traditional rivals ... e.g., Auburn, Ole Miss, Tenn, Vandy, etc.
 

tmhunter52

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,449
ATL has so many Saturday activities competing for attention and attendance, just being a Tech fan is not enough to fill the stadium. Coming to the Tech game has to be (or become) a destination experience. Winning, of course, is part of the solution, but the AA might want to consult with successful ATL ventures (the Braves and the pro soccer teams come to mind) then REALLY develop a game day “experience” that will make being there that much more rewarding.

The current placement of vendors is chaotic and crowded. Relocate these to the green space in front of Britton Dining Hall and you’ll have room for more vendors, activities for kids, etc without the crush in the street.

Add more family-friendly touches in the stadium. How about a “cooling suite” where parents could take babies and toddlers who get out of sorts, too hot, need to be changed? Get Buzz up in the stands some? Toss the free t-shirts in the upper deck on occasion? If more single game tickets are sold in specific sections, tailor giveaways and in-game activities to those sections to encourage future season ticket purchases. How about activities designed for post game time to get people to hang around a while longer, instead of bolting to Marta or their cars?

Surely, an enlightened marketing strategist could come up with great ways to bring more people to the stadium and to enhance their “experience”. But, of course, winning games is pretty much a necessity, so the product on the field is critical to success...
 

684Bee

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,643
UpperNorth said:
Sorry this is long, struck a chord.

1. Stop making excuses - I talk to tech fans who don’t attend games and man can they come up with dozens of reasons not to attend. How about support what you love, it takes a level of sacrifice.

2. Stop being elitist - Just stop. It’s a turnoff. I’m a sidewalk tech fan despite the fact that the elitist attitude of tech fans bothers me. If I were making a choice of what team to pull for now, it might not be Tech, bc of this attitude. Oh and by the way, UGA fans, especially the most obsessed ones in Athens (where I lived until recently) are extremely elitist as well and it was obnoxious to me. They especially find themselves superior academically to other SEC schools. But most of all many of their alumni consider themselves the perfect mix of smarts, personality, and class and carry themselves with an arrogance that is annoying. Let’s be better than UGA in this way. You were blessed to go to Tech and if you were raised in different circumstances you may not have achieved admission in the first place. Also for some of you, your children may not get into tech today or in the future so be thankful, be humble, and be respectful to others.

3. Learn to be above UGA. It’s not a good look how we handle our ‘UGA-complex.’ They have a better program, so-what, act like it isn’t the end of the world (harder than it sounds I know). Our insecurities are noticed by UGA fans and casual onlookers and it doesn’t exactly give being a tech fan a shining endorsement. On a side note, all of my tech fan friends think it’s silly that we yell ‘To Hell with Georgia’ when we play Virginia or anyone else, so we don’t do it. But guess what, I actually go to the Tech/UGA game in Athens and Atlanta and cheer and try to have class. So many tech fans are obsessed with THWG every day of their life but then sell their tix and let them take over our stadium. There’s something wrong there. I realize THWG is a tradition and really I’m fine with others doing it if you enjoy it, but I personally think that we don’t need to let that attitude go too far bc I think speaks more to our insecurities than anything else.

4. Recruit your tech friends - season tix are next to nothing compared with many schools. My group wasn’t getting season tickets until last year for various reasons. Tix were so cheap on the secondary market and we like sitting in the upper north where you can get tix to most games for less than $10. We decided that we needed to be more supportive so I literally reached out to every tech fan that I could think of spanning my entire life. Last year our group was 7, this year 11, and many others are interested in joining at some point down the line. I’m taking pride in getting tech fans that otherwise would be sitting at home in the stands. If we all did this then we would see a drastic increase in attendance.

5. Tailgate, have fun - gotta create a culture of fun and family. When the bad years hit, we should still enjoy coming to games and being with friends. It’s more than Ws and Ls
Click to expand...

Love this. Great stuff.
 

684Bee

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,643
684Bee said:
Love this. Great stuff.
Click to expand...

There’s been some good suggestions in this thread, but they miss the point. It’s chicken and egg. I believe the funding and fan support needs to be stepped up in order to fuel these things y’all are mentioning. Can’t have a Bone’s ribeye on a McDonald’s hamburger budget.
 
chris975d

chris975d

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
903
tmhunter52 said:
ATL has so many Saturday activities competing for attention and attendance, just being a Tech fan is not enough to fill the stadium. Coming to the Tech game has to be (or become) a destination experience. Winning, of course, is part of the solution, but the AA might want to consult with successful ATL ventures (the Braves and the pro soccer teams come to mind) then REALLY develop a game day “experience” that will make being there that much more rewarding.

The current placement of vendors is chaotic and crowded. Relocate these to the green space in front of Britton Dining Hall and you’ll have room for more vendors, activities for kids, etc without the crush in the street.

Add more family-friendly touches in the stadium. How about a “cooling suite” where parents could take babies and toddlers who get out of sorts, too hot, need to be changed? Get Buzz up in the stands some? Toss the free t-shirts in the upper deck on occasion? If more single game tickets are sold in specific sections, tailor giveaways and in-game activities to those sections to encourage future season ticket purchases. How about activities designed for post game time to get people to hang around a while longer, instead of bolting to Marta or their cars?

Surely, an enlightened marketing strategist could come up with great ways to bring more people to the stadium and to enhance their “experience”. But, of course, winning games is pretty much a necessity, so the product on the field is critical to success...
Click to expand...

This is a great post. These are the types of ideas that Tech could pull from very easily to add to the game day experience.
 
TooTall

TooTall

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,286
Location
Vidalia
chris975d said:
Well who could we take ideas to? If they don’t see/hear them, will they ever know about them? Do we know if any of GTAA read these boards?
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https://ramblinwreck.com/staff-directory/

Look at the bios to make sure you contact the right person for your complaint and idea. (You turn off people by complaining without offering real world solutions).

I emailed Mr Taylor-Dixon about the water monsters after the USF game and got a response a day later, so it does work.

Never have gotten a response from ADTS so, go through his staff to get to him.

Just remember that our transition will take time. Have patience my little grasshoppers.
 
chris975d

chris975d

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
903
TooTall said:
https://ramblinwreck.com/staff-directory/

Look at the bios to make sure you contact the right person for your complaint and idea. (You turn off people by complaining without offering real world solutions).

I emailed Mr Taylor-Dixon about the water monsters after the USF game and got a response a day later, so it does work.

Never have gotten a response from ADTS so, go through his staff to get to him.

Just remember that our transition will take time. Have patience my little grasshoppers.
Click to expand...

I don’t complain without offering a solution. I operate a hospitality/customer service based business, and know that very well. In fact during a customer complaint/feedback situation, it’s one of the first things I ask... “how do we improve this/make this right for you?” With that you can pretty quickly identify the helpful complaints/criticism vs the people that are going to complain no matter what you do.
 
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