Stansbury and Collins Dismissed

[orientalnc]

The way social media is in today's sports world, it was inevitable the firing would be leaked. Once the Monday meeting was announced the "I going to step outside for a moment" phone calls were ringing on everyone's phone who could spell GT. This will be a rough few days around the Edge Center, then the players will refocus on Pitt. A couple weeks from now this will all be behind us and Key will be doing a good job or be the focus of our ire.

 

[kalld12]

It's become painfully obvious that you revel in being a keyboard warrior showing no mercy/sympathy for others. You may think you sound tough, but most people would use a different turn of phrase to describe you. Caring for the emotional well being of players who sacrifice themselves for the viewing pleasure of fans is not weakness, it is kindness. You could use an infusion, as you seem lacking in basic human decency.

Thank you, that guy adds nothing to this board.

 

[slugboy]

Whether or not you think Collins’ firing should have been much more humiliating for him, or that we should have handled it with more finesse, I hope we can agree that the players and their families aren’t robots and shouldn’t be expected to be robots. The players wrap their passions around playing football and they treat their coaches like an uncle or a grandpa (I did).

Maybe Collins didn’t take his firing well, behaved badly, and there was nothing Cabrera and company could do about that. (Maybe he did handle it well and the school was harsh—I don’t know). However, the student athletes and their families got a bad experience in the process, and the school’s relationship with them was damaged. When you do that, you work to fix it. You apologize, even if it was Collins’ fault.

This isn’t about Collins. It’s about the School being able to treat people with dignity.

 

[85Escape]

You reap what you sow in this world, after all.

LOL. Is that so?

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

A few beers at Taco Mac, and I agree with SOWEGA. This season was the last for CGC. Abysmal performance let to an early demise. The "family" knew it was coming. You can complain about the timing, but the "family" knew what was coming.

They aren't complaining that CGC was fired, but rather how it was handled. Them having to find out on social media and not being allowed to say goodbye hurt a lot of them. Whether you agree or not is immaterial.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

How else, exactly was it SUPPOSED to be handled other than "You are fired for sucking"? Is this the Hallmark Channel or something? Or is it D1 FOOTBALL program with expectations that an incompetent coach can't handle?

What handling would the players have preferred?

I don't know, maybe call a team meeting and address them and let them know what's happening before they have to go read about it all over twitter in snide posts from boorish fans demeaning everything they've been working for. You know, the professional and courteous way to do something rather than treat the people who will be most impacted, the players, out to dry on on this one...

 

[Vespidae]

I don't know, maybe call a team meeting and address them and let them know what's happening before they have to go read about it all over twitter in snide posts from boorish fans demeaning everything they've been working for. You know, the professional and courteous way to do something rather than treat the people who will be most impacted, the players, out to dry on on this one...

There are coaches who, once sacked, try to recruit their former players. Ed Ogeron is a good example. And for Collins, all it would take is ... "I love every single one of you guys. You are my family and we've been through a lot. And I'm moving on. If ever I can do anything for you, or help you land in a place that makes you the elite player we all know you can be ... my email is [email protected]."

I'm sure that's what they were trying to prevent. Every executive position I know concludes at the moment you are told. You don't get to address the employees after that.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

There are coaches who, once sacked, try to recruit their former players. Ed Ogeron is a good example. And for Collins, all it would take is ... "I love every single one of you guys. You are my family and we've been through a lot. And I'm moving on. If ever I can do anything for you, or help you land in a place that makes you the elite player we all know you can be ... my email is [email protected]."

I'm sure that's what they were trying to prevent. Every executive position I know concludes at the moment you are told. You don't get to address the employees after that.

You can brief the coach on what they can't say and have staff in the room that can shut it down if it pops up.

 

[Vespidae]

You can brief the coach on what they can't say and have staff in the room that can shut it down if it pops up.

You can. But in 40 years, I have never seen it. When you are done, you're done.

 

[TechBurn]

When I was downsized, along with my whole division, we were not allowed to contact our customers,,,some that we called on for 20 years, effective immediately. Didn’t seem right, but I understand the thinking behind it. A simple goodbye would seem appropriate .

 

[RonJohn]

I don't know, maybe call a team meeting and address them and let them know what's happening before they have to go read about it all over twitter in snide posts from boorish fans demeaning everything they've been working for. You know, the professional and courteous way to do something rather than treat the people who will be most impacted, the players, out to dry on on this one...

I think this is more of a problem with old systems and new realities of how the media operates. It might have been possible to sit down with Collins and Stansbury before the trustees voted. They could have then talked to the team before the trustees voted. However, it would not have been official at that point, and Cabrera could have been surprised that the board disagreed with him. How would that have looked if the media announced that they were officially fired and then announced that it was only singly-official and that at the double-official meeting they weren't fired.

The trustees have rules about hiring/firing certain positions. The trustees have rules about who has to be available and when and how they can call special meetings. I don't know who Ken's source was, nor what the detail of the information he received was. However, under the current rules, anybody in the media could have found out that a special meeting had been called. Most would have speculated that Collins was going to be fired at the special meeting. Some would have put information on Twitter that Collins was being fired simply based on that publicly available information alone. In a 24 hour news cycle you could have scheduled the meeting and conduct the meeting before it really became public. In the Twitter news cycle, you can't.

If they had waited until the 10/13 normally scheduled meeting, there would have been speculation about whether it would happen or not. Maybe that is part of the reason that, according to rumor, they were planning to make these changes at that previously scheduled meeting.

I don't think it was malicious. I don't think it was an inept group of people acting in stupid ways. I think it happened the way it did because the rules and procedures that have to be followed have not been updated for the Twitter news cycle. They probably should modify things to prevent a similar instance in the future. However, had they made such rule changes in the last couple of weeks, that would have been public, and that would have led to similar media storms. It appears to me that the only ways to have prevented this are to: Not fire them, to wait until the regularly scheduled meeting, or to not follow the rules and bylaws of the BoT.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I think this is more of a problem with old systems and new realities of how the media operates. It might have been possible to sit down with Collins and Stansbury before the trustees voted. They could have then talked to the team before the trustees voted. However, it would not have been official at that point, and Cabrera could have been surprised that the board disagreed with him. How would that have looked if the media announced that they were officially fired and then announced that it was only singly-official and that at the double-official meeting they weren't fired.

The trustees have rules about hiring/firing certain positions. The trustees have rules about who has to be available and when and how they can call special meetings. I don't know who Ken's source was, nor what the detail of the information he received was. However, under the current rules, anybody in the media could have found out that a special meeting had been called. Most would have speculated that Collins was going to be fired at the special meeting. Some would have put information on Twitter that Collins was being fired simply based on that publicly available information alone. In a 24 hour news cycle you could have scheduled the meeting and conduct the meeting before it really became public. In the Twitter news cycle, you can't.

If they had waited until the 10/13 normally scheduled meeting, there would have been speculation about whether it would happen or not. Maybe that is part of the reason that, according to rumor, they were planning to make these changes at that previously scheduled meeting.

I don't think it was malicious. I don't think it was an inept group of people acting in stupid ways. I think it happened the way it did because the rules and procedures that have to be followed have not been updated for the Twitter news cycle. They probably should modify things to prevent a similar instance in the future. However, had they made such rule changes in the last couple of weeks, that would have been public, and that would have led to similar media storms. It appears to me that the only ways to have prevented this are to: Not fire them, to wait until the regularly scheduled meeting, or to not follow the rules and bylaws of the BoT.

Agreed, I don't think it was malicious. I do think that it shows how entrenched we are in our thinking. With zoom/teams, there is absolutely no reason an ad hoc meeting couldn't have been convened over the weekend to prevent this. Also, some of the reports are saying that Cabrera fired both PRIOR to meeting with the BoT.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Also, I have less heartburn about CGC not getting to say goodbye than I do about the way the news was leaked to the team.

 

[FolkHall]

Whether or not you think Collins’ firing should have been much more humiliating for him, or that we should have handled it with more finesse, I hope we can agree that the players and their families aren’t robots and shouldn’t be expected to be robots. The players wrap their passions around playing football and they treat their coaches like an uncle or a grandpa (I did).

Maybe Collins didn’t take his firing well, behaved badly, and there was nothing Cabrera and company could do about that. (Maybe he did handle it well and the school was harsh—I don’t know). However, the student athletes and their families got a bad experience in the process, and the school’s relationship with them was damaged. When you do that, you work to fix it. You apologize, even if it was Collins’ fault.

This isn’t about Collins. It’s about the School being able to treat people with dignity.

If the way he acted after the Pitt game towards their coach is any indication, the firing probably didn't go civilly.

 

[GTLorenzo]

Also, I have less heartburn about CGC not getting to say goodbye than I do about the way the news was leaked to the team.

Based on the timing, I presume that they were both fired before the board meeting. If that is the case, Cabrera should have met with both of them and then had a team meeting to let the team know. Agreed that they could’ve had the board meeting online on Sunday and let both Collins and Stansberry know Sunday night. Then they could’ve told the team Sunday night as well. Not exactly sure why they waited until Monday morning. That part doesn’t really make sense.

 

[Vespidae]

Agreed, I don't think it was malicious. I do think that it shows how entrenched we are in our thinking. With zoom/teams, there is absolutely no reason an ad hoc meeting couldn't have been convened over the weekend to prevent this. Also, some of the reports are saying that Cabrera fired both PRIOR to meeting with the BoT.

My understanding is that Cabrera was planned to be traveling and they would conclude it on the 13th. It needed to be done, but not yet a crisis. The decision on timing changed after the UCF game.

 

[bke1984]

Them having to find out on social media and not being allowed to say goodbye hurt a lot of them

It's not like Geoff has been banished from Atlanta. I'm certain there are plenty of opportunities for players that were close with him to get closure outside of the professional setting. I don't think it's as big of a deal as some are making it out to be. As many have already stated it is more of an exception than a rule for someone to be let go and then be allowed to walk the office saying goodbye to their peers, employees, etc.

Now - the team should have been told on Sunday, but even in that scenario it's unlikely they wouldn't have found out ahead of time.

 

[Vespidae]

Based on the timing, I presume that they were both fired before the board meeting. If that is the case, Cabrera should have met with both of them and then had a team meeting to let the team know. Agreed that they could’ve had the board meeting online on Sunday and let both Collins and Stansberry know Sunday night. Then they could’ve told the team Sunday night as well. Not exactly sure why they waited until Monday morning. That part doesn’t really make sense.

There are all sorts of issues that have to be sorted out. You need to alert the press office, HR, legal, etc. I'm sure Cabrera knew he was going to give them the axe and waited until Monday to get all the necessary support people alerted and on task. Then, you inform the employees. The BoT meeting was necessary to approve any funding or changes to the financial condition. I believe under the GTAA by-laws, Cabrera has the authority to hire and fire without a board vote. (I could be wrong, but that's the usual thing.)

 

[g0lftime]

Agreed, I don't think it was malicious. I do think that it shows how entrenched we are in our thinking. With zoom/teams, there is absolutely no reason an ad hoc meeting couldn't have been convened over the weekend to prevent this. Also, some of the reports are saying that Cabrera fired both PRIOR to meeting with the BoT.

BOT surely was talking by phone, zoom, or email prior to any final decision. You don't actually need face to face meetings anymore . The actual dismissal needed to be face to face.

 

[Vespidae]

BOT surely was talking by phone, zoom, or email prior to any final decision. You don't actually need face to face meetings anymore . The actual dismissal needed to be face to face.

I doubt it. The BoT had probably already made its decision at a previous meeting. Collins has had sold his house. So things were already in motion at some level. The entire BoT doesn't have to be involved, just to vote. So it was probably Cabrera talking to just one or two other BoT members empowered to advise the President. You do need the BoT to approve the payout and any restructuring of it.