PERSPECTIVE; ATL, 404, etc.

Lexjacket

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Kennesaw
The last 2+ seasons have certainly been disappointing for Georgia Tech and their fans. But, as I was considering what in the world is going on, and if it will ever turn around, some things came to mind, I have been a Georgia Tech fan since 1961 (that would be 60 years). So I've seen a lot of coaches and a lot of ups and downs. My mind went back to the Bobby Ross tenure at Tech. There are some parallels to these first years of CGC. %This is the record of Coach Ross at Tech.....
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (Atlantic Coast Conference) (1987–1991)
1987Georgia Tech2–90–68th
1988Georgia Tech3–80–78th
1989Georgia Tech7–44–3T–4th
1990Georgia Tech11–0–16–0–11stW Florida Citrus12
1991Georgia Tech8–55–22ndW Aloha
The first 2 years were awful and Ross's 3rd year started with 3 straight losses, but you could begin to see some glimmers of light. I was at the 4th game with Maryland. Maryland was leading at half-time, but in the second half Tech stormed back (they did not look like the same team), the light finally came on and they beat Maryland 28-24. The students tore down the goal posts and celebrated into the night. Tech never looked back except for one hiccup at Duke (Steve Spurrier the evil genius at work). They beat Georgia at BDS and the next year were undefeated and had a National Championship. If CGC can do something like that Tech gear, 404 gear, ATL gear, will be sold everywhere and there will be lines at all the Waffle Houses. I saw it happen in 1990. There is no substitute for WINNING, there is no marketing like WINNING, there is no better recruiting tool like WINNING, there is only one way to fill BDS ......WINNING!!!
 

bobongo

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We can look back and see when bad times turned to good, when we emerged from the wilderness into the light.
Unfortunately, that's no guarantee we'll see that magic return for an encore performance, but it does give us hope.

"there is only one way to fill BDS ......WINNING!!!" - absolutely.
 

LibertyTurns

Banned
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6,216
If only we had a couple more years to understand what Ross’ expected average team would perform at. Was 7-4, 8-5 sort of the normal range with an occasional great season? Or could Ross have potentially developed us into a powerhouse.

The 90’s leading into the early 2000’s was full of opportunity. The mutts were weak, we could have garnered more GT support across Georgia. The mutts old time worn out coach retired, they hired a couple of dunces- Goof and Done in, and move along the Rev. GT was ripe to take them, hired a disaster in the unmentionable, got a good one but he left and we bet on Chan who crapped the bed. The rest is history.
 

bke1984

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If only we had a couple more years to understand what Ross’ expected average team would perform at. Was 7-4, 8-5 sort of the normal range with an occasional great season? Or could Ross have potentially developed us into a powerhouse.

The 90’s leading into the early 2000’s was full of opportunity. The mutts were weak, we could have garnered more GT support across Georgia. The mutts old time worn out coach retired, they hired a couple of dunces- Goof and Done in, and move along the Rev. GT was ripe to take them, hired a disaster in the unmentionable, got a good one but he left and we bet on Chan who crapped the bed. The rest is history.
This is a very interesting view of what was going on during that time and what potential was there 😊. I’m not sure I agree with it. If you take a look back 100+ years you will see a very obvious trend in college athletics that was not going to suddenly change in the 1990’s.
 

dressedcheeseside

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The last 2+ seasons have certainly been disappointing for Georgia Tech and their fans. But, as I was considering what in the world is going on, and if it will ever turn around, some things came to mind, I have been a Georgia Tech fan since 1961 (that would be 60 years). So I've seen a lot of coaches and a lot of ups and downs. My mind went back to the Bobby Ross tenure at Tech. There are some parallels to these first years of CGC. %This is the record of Coach Ross at Tech.....
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (Atlantic Coast Conference) (1987–1991)
1987Georgia Tech2–90–68th
1988Georgia Tech3–80–78th
1989Georgia Tech7–44–3T–4th
1990Georgia Tech11–0–16–0–11stW Florida Citrus12
1991Georgia Tech8–55–22ndW Aloha
The first 2 years were awful and Ross's 3rd year started with 3 straight losses, but you could begin to see some glimmers of light. I was at the 4th game with Maryland. Maryland was leading at half-time, but in the second half Tech stormed back (they did not look like the same team), the light finally came on and they beat Maryland 28-24. The students tore down the goal posts and celebrated into the night. Tech never looked back except for one hiccup at Duke (Steve Spurrier the evil genius at work). They beat Georgia at BDS and the next year were undefeated and had a National Championship. If CGC can do something like that Tech gear, 404 gear, ATL gear, will be sold everywhere and there will be lines at all the Waffle Houses. I saw it happen in 1990. There is no substitute for WINNING, there is no marketing like WINNING, there is no better recruiting tool like WINNING, there is only one way to fill BDS ......WINNING!!!
Great post. And all that time, all those 60 years, did we ever have a football friendly hill? That seems like the place where success starts. Then it trickles down from there. We need it good, actually great, AD and a great head coach with a great staff. Georgia Tech would need all of that to be back in the national conversation.
 

bobongo

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This is a very interesting view of what was going on during that time and what potential was there 😊. I’m not sure I agree with it. If you take a look back 100+ years you will see a very obvious trend in college athletics that was not going to suddenly change in the 1990’s.
We did beat them 3 in a row, but it could easily have been 5. Could have won in '97 but for a kickoff out of bounds and a holding call, and had the better team in 2001.
But then again, we were lucky to benefit from Jasper Thanks in '99, and '98 could have gone the other way.
 

GTNavyNuke

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Past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

There are examples of coaches who turned things around (Ross) and those who shall not be named.

There is hope and it starts today for football. Baseball plays next two Saturdays, hope and history there. :)
 

jayparr

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newnan
What cost us soo much was dave brainless and that woman in the athletic academics ! they really set us back until Paul came in with that triple option that a lot of coaches didn't know how to defend! Then bud foster figured it out and told other teams coaches how to!
 

slugboy

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Staff member
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What cost us soo much was dave brainless and that woman in the athletic academics ! they really set us back until Paul came in with that triple option that a lot of coaches didn't know how to defend! Then bud foster figured it out and told other teams coaches how to!
The NCAA rules committee and their changes did us more harm than Bud Foster.
 

jgtengineer

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I don’t think we could have talked Ross out of pro coaching.
Handing the reins to Fridge to stay here would have been an awesome move
Fridge mgiht have stayed if we had named him or o'leary had a anothe rjob one year earlier it was gogin to be hard to keep him from Maryland HC.
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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I like Ross but did he ever stay any where over 5 years , if he did I can't think of it.
Why does that matter? I grew up a Maryland as my dad attended there so I grew up on the ACC. Ross is absolutely a wonderful coach and wonderful man. If you read thru his bio every move he made was a positive move and the typical career progression. Any of us would have made similar decisions.

- Assistant college coach at small schools
- Citadel head coach for 5 seasons
- NFL assistant coach for 4 seasons at KC
- Maryland Head coach for 5 seasons (3 ACC titles)
- GT Head Coach for 5 seasons (1 Natty)
- NFL Head Coach for 5 seasons at SD (1 Super Bowl app)
- NFL Head Coach for 4 seasons at Detroit (given total team control and more money)
- Head Coach of Army for 3 seasons

To me that is an awesome career by a smart and humble football man. They guy won everywhere although Detroit was a struggle, but who hasn’t struggled at Detroit. I give him props for taking on that challenge.
 

Lexjacket

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
659
Location
Kennesaw
Bill Curry's Record at Tech....

Head coaching record[edit]​


YearTeamOverallConferenceStandingBowl/playoffsCoaches#AP°
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (NCAA Division I-A independent) (1980–1982)
1980Georgia Tech1–9–1
1981Georgia Tech1–10
1982Georgia Tech6–5
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (Atlantic Coast Conference) (1983–1986)
1983Georgia Tech3–83–23rd
1984Georgia Tech6–4–12–2–15th
1985Georgia Tech9–2–15–12ndW All-American1819
1986Georgia Tech5–5–13–34th
Georgia Tech:31–43–413–8–1
 
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