Recruiting issue raised by a past Auburn football athelete

swarmer

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
699
Town-wise, you're a big fish in a small pond at Auburn or Tuscaloosa.

But football-wise, you've a much better chance to be BMOC starring at Tech and getting all the kudos that come from standing out and maybe turning things around here than just being a replaceable cog on a team that will probably be top-10 with or without you at Auburn or Tuscaloosa. So, seems to me it can work both ways.

Nobody at Tech cares about football. Students don't even go to games, tailgate, much less travel and follow the team.
 

7979

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
299
Location
Nashville
MY first post here..so be gentle..

My teammates and I used to talk all the time about "Why GT?
Most of us had offers from multiple D-I schools...so why did any of us choose GT?

It wasn't being in ATL...scary place if you wandered one block off-campus back then........it certainly wasn't the girls (Tech had about 100 on campus in '73...) ... we took very real calculus and physics and lots of guys struggled (and by "lots" I mean 100%...) ....worst facilities in all of college football... I believe we lost one game each year in 70's because visitors came out of that embarrassingly bad visitor's locker room so pissed off that they kicked our first qtr ***....was under old AA, three shower heads and two toilets.... our own locker room was under east stands.... had 7 foot ceilings.....weight room was one Universal with broken left hand hold...Frankly, it's amazing we beat anybody..

So...why?.... because it is Georgia Tech... and if you don't get THAT, then move along...it is the Citadels/Furmans right along with the 1990 natty champs, 2008 UGa in Athens, et al that define us...crushing disappointment is a fact of life for a Tech man..... but the highs are so nose-bleed stratospheric, oh my goodness.....Stop this internal bickering right this damn second...I'm not happy with Geoff right now but, kiss-my-***, HE WANTS TO BE HERE!!He loves GT... Nobody, I mean NOBODY, chooses GT....and if you don't understand, I can't help you.... remember, it's a Yellow Jacket thing.... THWG....
 

GTFLETCH

Banned
Messages
2,639
MY first post here..so be gentle..

My teammates and I used to talk all the time about "Why GT?
Most of us had offers from multiple D-I schools...so why did any of us choose GT?

It wasn't being in ATL...scary place if you wandered one block off-campus back then........it certainly wasn't the girls (Tech had about 100 on campus in '73...) ... we took very real calculus and physics and lots of guys struggled (and by "lots" I mean 100%...) ....worst facilities in all of college football... I believe we lost one game each year in 70's because visitors came out of that embarrassingly bad visitor's locker room so pissed off that they kicked our first qtr ***....was under old AA, three shower heads and two toilets.... our own locker room was under east stands.... had 7 foot ceilings.....weight room was one Universal with broken left hand hold...Frankly, it's amazing we beat anybody..

So...why?.... because it is Georgia Tech... and if you don't get THAT, then move along...it is the Citadels/Furmans right along with the 1990 natty champs, 2008 UGa in Athens, et al that define us...crushing disappointment is a fact of life for a Tech man..... but the highs are so nose-bleed stratospheric, oh my goodness.....Stop this internal bickering right this damn second...I'm not happy with Geoff right now but, kiss-my-***, HE WANTS TO BE HERE!!He loves GT... Nobody, I mean NOBODY, chooses GT....and if you don't understand, I can't help you.... remember, it's a Yellow Jacket thing.... THWG....
Spot On!
 

takethepoints

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,880
I think what it comes down to is what I used to call the "Ithaca Effect'. I've posted about this before.

I had a student transfer in to my college from Ithaca College. As it happened, I had visited the place with my son when he was looking for a school. (Ithaca and Cornell in one visit!) It was.a pretty nice school and, while we were and are pretty good, it had a better rep then my old college did. So when he came by to say he wanted to major in political science, I asked him why he came to us. "I hated Ithaca." he said. "Oh, come on." I replied, "It's a pretty good school and seemed inviting when we visited it." "No, no," he replied, "I liked the school. I hated Ithaca."

Some young men are going to like Atlanta. Others are going to think it's an urban hellhole. You can talk to them about this, but convincing them is another story. Our recruiting staff seems to succeed more often then not when a prospect visits Tech, but I'm guessing that this is because they have identified the recruits we can sell to very carefully before hand. Now that we are after the same young men that everyone else is, doing that is going to become both more difficult and more expensive. Let's hope Collins gets more help then Paul did. He's gong to need it.
 

jacket_fan

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
756
Location
Milton, Georgia
MY first post here..so be gentle..

My teammates and I used to talk all the time about "Why GT?
Most of us had offers from multiple D-I schools...so why did any of us choose GT?

It wasn't being in ATL...scary place if you wandered one block off-campus back then........it certainly wasn't the girls (Tech had about 100 on campus in '73...) ... we took very real calculus and physics and lots of guys struggled (and by "lots" I mean 100%...) ....worst facilities in all of college football... I believe we lost one game each year in 70's because visitors came out of that embarrassingly bad visitor's locker room so pissed off that they kicked our first qtr ***....was under old AA, three shower heads and two toilets.... our own locker room was under east stands.... had 7 foot ceilings.....weight room was one Universal with broken left hand hold...Frankly, it's amazing we beat anybody..

So...why?.... because it is Georgia Tech... and if you don't get THAT, then move along...it is the Citadels/Furmans right along with the 1990 natty champs, 2008 UGa in Athens, et al that define us...crushing disappointment is a fact of life for a Tech man..... but the highs are so nose-bleed stratospheric, oh my goodness.....Stop this internal bickering right this damn second...I'm not happy with Geoff right now but, kiss-my-***, HE WANTS TO BE HERE!!He loves GT... Nobody, I mean NOBODY, chooses GT....and if you don't understand, I can't help you.... remember, it's a Yellow Jacket thing.... THWG....

Listen to what 7979 is saying. The football facilities in the 70s were an embarrassing joke. Working out in the winter outside! Yikes.

I am sure there are recruits that would never consider a downtown campus. Maybe, this staff can change some of these kids mind.

However, the CGC staff is stressing more than just Atlanta in recruiting. Tech has lots to sell than just location.
 

grandpa jacket

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
609
I work with a past Auburn football athelete who was recruiting by GT. He had an intresting recruiting perspective to add.

He started off by saying the GT college campus is in Atlanta. I interupted and said, "wait a minute, the slums are gone and hookers no longer walk the streets next to Tech. Infact our campus has really transformed over the last 15 years". He said, wait listen to me. GT is not in a small football town. When you go out, you are not the big man on campus. You don't go to bars where people buy you drinks and practicly worship you. He said GT was missing the star vibe you get at a small town college. I never thought about that aspect. Bright lights in Atlanta, but what you want to be is a bright star in a dark sky?

He also said that I was being too harsh in my acusation that other schools are quick to gray, blue, and DQ kids. That most honor thier scholorships and few are run off. I have no personal data, but I can't figure how the factoies get thier recruiting numbers above 25 every year.

I thought this was intresting infomration I have not heard before and how the big ATL may be a negative over a positive. Not every kid wants to be a star, but I bet most like the attention.
There is a lot of truth to this post, big city teams traditionally do not win big. Crime is an element against us.
 

Techster

Helluva Engineer
Messages
17,716
I work with a past Auburn football athelete who was recruiting by GT. He had an intresting recruiting perspective to add.

He started off by saying the GT college campus is in Atlanta. I interupted and said, "wait a minute, the slums are gone and hookers no longer walk the streets next to Tech. Infact our campus has really transformed over the last 15 years". He said, wait listen to me. GT is not in a small football town. When you go out, you are not the big man on campus. You don't go to bars where people buy you drinks and practicly worship you. He said GT was missing the star vibe you get at a small town college. I never thought about that aspect. Bright lights in Atlanta, but what you want to be is a bright star in a dark sky?

He also said that I was being too harsh in my acusation that other schools are quick to gray, blue, and DQ kids. That most honor thier scholorships and few are run off. I have no personal data, but I can't figure how the factoies get thier recruiting numbers above 25 every year.

I thought this was intresting infomration I have not heard before and how the big ATL may be a negative over a positive. Not every kid wants to be a star, but I bet most like the attention.

I can tell you from experience that GT athletes are treated like stars. I've been to clubs and bars in Midtown when GT athletes come in and our guys are given star treatment....except a lot of times they are hanging out with world renowned music artists, pro athletes, and hollywood actors. GT doesn't advertise that for obvious reasons, but GT athletes that come here definitely get their ego stroked. If anything, I can see why some parents might be worried about the temptations of the city of Atlanta. That's not even mentioning how our SAs are treated when they go to on campus parties.

BTW, if some of you don't believe the above, all you need to do is follow the instagrams of some of our SAs.
 

RonJohn

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,491
Isn't summer hot as hell in Palo Alto?

The average high temperature (monthly) never gets above 79. The average low (monthly) gets down to 38 in December.

In Atlanta, the average high is above 80 from May to September. The average low is below 38 from December to February.

That isn't to say that there aren't hot days or cold days in Palo Alto, but the temperature is much milder there than here.
 

senoiajacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,054
Which was true 60 years ago. Tech recruits best when it recruits locally.
Boys high! That vibe is gone. But, not to say a new one can be created. I agree with you that we “should” have a built in advantage with many of the local recruits who want to play in front of their homies. We see that we the local transfers coming back in both f’ball & hoops.
 

Jacketsfan99

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
39
As students mature their tastes change and they start to appreciate the culture offered by a city - this could be a ‘selling point ‘
 

bikeseat

GT Athlete
Messages
284
From the current players and a few from the past 5yrs, yes that VIP treatment is no longer there. We were a fixture in the surrounding clubs and the gentleman club that former GTFB owned.

Very true. All the Gailey guys told us how they used to get love all over town. Maybe it had to do with Buckhead dying in the early 2000s? Who knows
 

Longestday

Helluva Engineer
Featured Member
Messages
2,856
Does the coach have any impact on how the students are "treated" around town or is it all booster related?
 
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