The Calculus argument is thin.
1) There are great HS student-athletes who are more than capable of passing calculus.
2) Not all majors at Tech require calculus.
- Analytical abilities are a fundamental strength of all Georgia Tech students. To help them develop those skills, Tech students are required to take differential calculus, integral calculus, and linear algebra. However, most liberal arts students have an alternative math option more closely aligned with their majors. With the help of their advisors, Ivan Allen students select one of these sequences. About half of IAC undergraduates take each path.
The solution here isn't to just add majors that don't have calculus. That's like saying, hey, let's just print money to solve the lack of money issues. As noted, it cannot be easily done. The added programs need to be vetted and approved and this takes years. We have to demonstrate a need for this sort of degree program, and the answer can't be, "We need a major, distinct from the current offerings, that we can park GT football SAs in so that we can compete on the field." That's not why a great school would add a major. Adding a major with this as your main motivation would disqualify you from being a great school. Someone posted that we should quit trying to be an Ivy League school. I hope that was in jest. Offering calculus in a majority of our degree programs as a requirement is not our attempt to be an Ivy League school. It's part of Tech's attempt to ensure that Tech graduates are technically equipped to design, engineer, build, and lead.
The GTPres must be a GT alum to be favorable to GT Football argument is even more thin.
1) We have only had one GT alum as GT President. He was a great president of the Institute. We have had other great presidents, of course. The football team has been great at various times over the years, regardless.
2) It is true that a school president unfriendly to the AD and athletic programs can be a huge issue, but I don't know of any proof that this is the case currently.
We are doing things that need to be done: facilities, increased coaching money, high level of student athlete academic help, etc.
Tech is a place where we need a certain amount (more than programs that are fully stocked) of luck/good fortune in games and in avoiding injuries in order for us to be in front of a good opportunity to upset better teams, play competitively with similar level teams, and not stumble in front of lesser teams. This is because we don't have a 100 stars on the sidelines at home games like Bama, Clemson, etc. do. It doesn't mean we can't also be great consistently. It means we have to be more efficient in recruiting the right SAs, keep them healthy, and not lose them to academics.
In my opinion, the biggest issues around getting the right Tech men/women here as student athletes is related to competing on recruiting. One of the biggest stumbling blocks is the unethical recruiting approaches of many top 25 football programs. Greyshirting, and for that matter, straight up lying to recruits is a giant issue, both of which affect other schools attempting to recruit the same players. Also an issue is outreach to the individuals most likely to want to play for Tech and earn a Tech degree; it isn't CPJ's sole responsibility. It's having a recruiting budget that allows us to really reach for these diamonds in the rough. Georgia Tech should be able to analytically find and appeal to these SAs.