Question about a past coach?

TheSilasSonRising

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augustabuzz said:
Spurrier was a finalist along with Jerry Glanville. Bill Curry was the best in the interviews by the selection committee.
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Interesting. Were you on the committee, or know someone who was?

My impression was BC's biggest plus was he was a "Tech man". But no comparison as regards who was the better football person.

With his glib tongue I can see BC talking his way into it, but really set us back. 5 years with Spurrier would have been tons better than 7 with curry.
 
ClydeBrick

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jacketup said:
It amazes me that anyone has ill will towards Bill Curry.
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Agreed, however . . .

Only two things about Bill Curry rub me the wrong way:

1) When he left, he made a statement that he was leaving GT because he could win a MNC at Bammer (or STTE).

2) He took an interview during the 1990 UVa game and took credit for some of the players CBR had.

I thought that Bill Curry could have a job for life at GT, and in 1987, I could see him having a Braine-like thoughts about GT's football prospects. I get it, even Dodd agreed with the sentiment (about winning at Bammer), but as a Tech Man he should never had said that in an interview.

Three years later the folks at Bammer dissed him - he was never going to be loved there - and he leaves Bammer to go to Kentucky. Curry then shows up at a GT game (to pull for his son, a UVa player) and tries to share in the glory that the 1990 season was becoming - after his Braine-like statement.

I was super salty about Curry back in the day, but I have long since gotten over it. Others may not have been so forgiving. IMO, Rice and Curry are why there is still a FBS program at GT.


When I think of Bill Curry now, this is the image that comes to mind:
GT_Curry.jpg

35-18 Baby!
 

Wrecked

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First this is a great thread as I count myself a huge Pepper fan since he was the coach during my childhood. I loved the wishbone and I think I still have a Bucky Shamburger tearaway somewhere. Pepper was done wrong by Dodd as it was pointed out he didn't get the facilities he was promised. Pepper won a conference title at Kansas and went 9-2 in his last season at UCLA so he could coach and recruit. With facilities I think he would have gone step for step with Dooley for state supremacy. Also, look at the schedule he played. ND, UGA , Auburn, Duke and Tulane were annual opponents usually mixed in with Clemson, Tennessee, Florida and South Carolina. Truly great schedules.

A couple of things I think some posters are overlooking. Doug Weaver was the AD who fired Pepper (ironic as he was once Pepper's assistant at Kansas). Weaver left for Michigan State and that is when Homer arrived in 1980, however I believe Weaver hired Curry. Spurrier was an assistant on Pepper's last team and then went to Duke to be OC. He could have been hired. Actually we could have hired him twice since when Curry left after 1986 season we could have hired him from the Tampa Bay Bandits, but I have no problems with how the Ross hire turned out.
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

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Wrecked said:
First this is a great thread as I count myself a huge Pepper fan since he was the coach during my childhood. I loved the wishbone and I think I still have a Bucky Shamburger tearaway somewhere. Pepper was done wrong by Dodd as it was pointed out he didn't get the facilities he was promised. Pepper won a conference title at Kansas and went 9-2 in his last season at UCLA so he could coach and recruit. With facilities I think he would have gone step for step with Dooley for state supremacy. Also, look at the schedule he played. ND, UGA , Auburn, Duke and Tulane were annual opponents usually mixed in with Clemson, Tennessee, Florida and South Carolina. Truly great schedules.

A couple of things I think some posters are overlooking. Doug Weaver was the AD who fired Pepper (ironic as he was once Pepper's assistant at Kansas). Weaver left for Michigan State and that is when Homer arrived in 1980, however I believe Weaver hired Curry. Spurrier was an assistant on Pepper's last team and then went to Duke to be OC. He could have been hired. Actually we could have hired him twice since when Curry left after 1986 season we could have hired him from the Tampa Bay Bandits, but I have no problems with how the Ross hire turned out.
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Pretty sure that Spurrier left for Duke after the season before the one when Pepper was fired.
 

Oldgoldandwhite

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Essobee said:
Yep. Bobby was a great sideline coach...maybe the best in coaching. But he was simply not equipped to be an AD. And I agree with your comments about Bill Curry. The real story about Tech Athletics is Homer Rice. He was a college sports genius, although even the best make some mistakes along the way (B... L....).
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Story I heard was that O'Leary would have been the choice, but his abruptness rubbed a bunch of big donors the wrong way at the time. This was when Ross left, by the way.
 
Essobee

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Oldgoldandwhite said:
Story I heard was that O'Leary would have been the choice, but his abruptness rubbed a bunch of big donors the wrong way at the time. This was when Ross left, by the way.
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O'Leary's "abruptness" is what I liked most about him. He spoke at an alumni club meeting I attended right after he became head coach, and I will always remember when someone asked him if he was afraid of what the players might think (about something he said). He replied that he didn't worry about what the players might think, but they darn sure better worry about what he might think! George said it in all seriousness and we could easily tell he meant it. It was like music to our ears.
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

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TheSilasSonRising said:
Pepper was fired in 79 and Spurrier was the QB coach (maybe OC?). Steve applied for job, it went to BC.

BC was our HC in 80, and Steve was Duke OC starting in 80
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Yeah, you are right. I was confused a little, thinking about when Curry left Tech, and many of us would have liked to hire Spurrier back then, but he had already accepted the HC job at Duke. Plus, from what I have heard, because he was passed over by Tech the first time, he didn't hold Tech in high regard.
 
Whiskey_Clear

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Spurrier was a great coach. And would have been very successful at Tech if he had been hired. I just don't think he would have stayed long before jumping to greener pastures.
 
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