Lugginbill

forensicbuzz

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Can anyone give me a brief explanation of what happened after the 1990 season that led to such a dark period?
Ross left for San Diego Chargers and took O'Leary and Fridgen with him. A midling coach from East Carolina, with 1 good season, was hired. He subsequently brought in a transfer QB from a JC in California and created a QB controversy and major division in the locker room. He brought back O'Leary as his DC, but was fired midway through the 1994 after starting 1-7. He is the coach "not to be named." It took O'Leary 3 years to recover from that disaster.
 

kg01

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Ross left for San Diego Chargers and took O'Leary and Fridgen with him. A midling coach from East Carolina, with 1 good season, was hired. He subsequently brought in a transfer QB from a JC in California and created a QB controversy and major division in the locker room. He brought back O'Leary as his DC, but was fired midway through the 1994 after starting 1-7. He is the coach "not to be named." It took O'Leary 3 years to recover from that disaster.

To this I'd add that the QB that was passed over in favor of Luginbill had been ranked (I know, I know 'crooting rankings) as the #1 QB in the nation as a recruit.

Per pretty strong rumors (Ryan Stewart talked about it on the radio several times and remains a staunch Lugin-hater), the QB controversy created a racial divide in the lockerroom which further exacerbated the issues with hiring Lewis in the first place.
 

forensicbuzz

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To this I'd add that the QB that was passed over in favor of Luginbill had been ranked (I know, I know 'crooting rankings) as the #1 QB in the nation as a recruit.

Per pretty strong rumors (Ryan Stewart talked about it on the radio several times and remains a staunch Lugin-hater), the QB controversy created a racial divide in the lockerroom which further exacerbated the issues with hiring Lewis in the first place.
Donnie Davis is still one of my favorite players from GT for the way he personally handled the whole situation. The racial division in the locker room didn't become well known until much later.

I still remember being pissed when Lugginbill started over Davis when we opened with Preseason #1 Arizona. He proceeded to blow the game.
 

kg01

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Donnie Davis is still one of my favorite players from GT for the way he personally handled the whole situation. The racial division in the locker room didn't become well known until much later.

I still remember being pissed when Lugginbill started over Davis when we opened with Preseason #1 Arizona. He proceeded to blow the game.

I knew nothing about recruiting back then but I knew Davis was supposed to be a big deal. When I saw how inept the QB was in that game I though surely they'll put Davis in now, right? Right? Wrong. The rest is painful history.

I worked for a shoe retailer part-time to get a little extra moola while in school. The manager said he hired a guy named Donnie Davis years earlier not realizing it was that Donnie Davis. It made me mad all over again that the guy wasn't in the league somewhere. The guy was probably lying to me but I'm still mad about it. I don't care.
 

Dustman

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I think Kim King orchestrated GOLs return as the DC and at the time he was one of the highest paid DCs in the country. Davis had been converted to a WR but O'Leary moved him back to QB for the '95 season.
 

alaguy

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I may be missing something but I always though Luggie was fair to us and ok overall. I don't blame TL for what happened after Ross left.

I only remember him as the guy Lewis made starting QB after transferring in.At times looked decent.As far as I know he did as well as he could given the circumstances. BUT--I'm sure he doesn't remember it fondly since he went out with Lewis...
 

Oldgoldandwhite

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In all fairness, Luginbill was not the culprit. He had no idea what he was stepping into. B####L@@@ deserves all the blame. A UGA friend told me it was a bad deal on the day we hired him. He knew him personally when Lewis was a dog.
 

dressedcheeseside

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In all fairness, Luginbill was not the culprit. He had no idea what he was stepping into. B####L@@@ deserves all the blame. A UGA friend told me it was a bad deal on the day we hired him. He knew him personally when Lewis was a dog.
I don't blame Lugginbill one bit for being a lousy qb if he was one. Frankly, I don't remember or care to. What bothers me is his seemingly purposeful avoidance of sounding the least bit connected to GT. It's like GT is the plague and he'll catch it if he says anything good about it/us. I can understand wanting to appear impartial and objective as a national media mouth breather, but he takes that and goes 3 steps in the other direction, imo.
 

4NatlChmps

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I don't blame Lugginbill one bit for being a lousy qb if he was one. Frankly, I don't remember or care to. What bothers me is his seemingly purposeful avoidance of sounding the least bit connected to GT. It's like GT is the plague and he'll catch it if he says anything good about it/us. I can understand wanting to appear impartial and objective as a national media mouth breather, but he takes that and goes 3 steps in the other direction, imo.
F lugginblow and what he/his micro managing dad did to GT. while we're at it, as for Bosh - fk that guy too (along with Hewitt) both Worthless to GT and hurt us in long run.....while you're upset with me throw in Stephon Marbury (ie. "Ga Tech Univeristeeee"). None are real Tech men and you all know it.....just vagabond short termers.
 

wesleyd21

Georgia Tech Fan
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Lugenbill probably caught a lot of flack from the students/frat members back in the day for completely sh***ing the bed on National Television repeatedly.

Now he gets to do it as a career choice.
 

Whiskey_Clear

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I'll pile on. Posted this before but it applies here too. One of my buddies attended Tech at the time and had a class with luginbill. Said Luginbill was a total primadona Qb jock. As an example, Luginbill would lay down in class, with his head in his girlfriends lap, while the professor was giving lecture. I'm a bit amazed any Tech prof would allow this but have no doubt it's true. The story was relayed back when it was happening.
 

Andrew

Georgia Tech Fan
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When O'Leary was made HC, Lugginbill came into his office and basically told him the he had been promised a pass heavy offense when he came to Tech. O'Leary told him that they were going to run the ball and stop the run, that was the key to success. Lugginbill transferred.
 
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Ross left for San Diego Chargers and took O'Leary and Fridgen with him. A midling coach from East Carolina, with 1 good season, was hired. He subsequently brought in a transfer QB from a JC in California and created a QB controversy and major division in the locker room. He brought back O'Leary as his DC, but was fired midway through the 1994 after starting 1-7. He is the coach "not to be named." It took O'Leary 3 years to recover from that disaster.
As has been the case several times over the years, the leadership of the GTAA coupled with influential boosters, provided poor decision making. The middling coach from ECU had been successful because of the OC at ECU, but who knew that at the time? Lewis was also a former Georgia player, and in hindsight was the exact definition of "career assistant".
 
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