Stansbury and Collins Dismissed

[gte447f]

It's not like Geoff has been banished from Atlanta.

Isn’t the new mayor a GT alum? Maybe we can make this happen!

 

[RonJohn]

Also, some of the reports are saying that Cabrera fired both PRIOR to meeting with the BoT.

I was driving back from Orlando yesterday afternoon, so I wasn't able to keep up to the minute with all of the reports. However, from what rumors and speculation that I read last night:

• Board meeting was scheduled for Monday afternoon.
• Board meeting was scheduled for Monday morning at 11:30.
• The 11:30 meeting wasn't a board meeting, it was a meeting with that athletic department employees to inform them of the changes.
• The coach was treated poorly and forced to go directly to his car and leave the facility.
• A large number of players are upset about how poorly GT treated the coach and treats them.

I wasn't there and don't know what happened. They had a board meeting, I assume but I don't know what time it took place. I don't know if the athletic association employees had a meeting or what time that meeting was. I assume the players had a meeting, but I don't know. A university person took over the athletic association, and escorting a fired employee from the building is exactly how it works in corporate and academia.

I don't see that much to really be upset about. I don't think the issue is that the university did anything really wrong. I would say if anyone did anything wrong, it was Ken for breaking the story before they had a chance to meet with the players. But I don't think that he was wrong either. It is just a fact of life today that you can't control information.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

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.

I think the real issue I have is that the way this was handled doesn't indicate that the welfare of our student athletes is our biggest priority, which is not what we preach. Instead, we treated this like a business decision only and spent so much time getting all our legal and HR ducks in a row that we simply forgot that there are 100+ football players and their families who were extremely invested in CGC reading all the social media posts without so much as a heads up from our Institution. I have no problems with CGC being fired. I have no problems with TStan being fired. It should have been done first thing Sunday and then a meeting should have been called to inform the team before letting the word leak out to the press. Right now we have a bunch of football players who think that GT is more concerned with the negative image associated with losing football games than how they feel. That's not taking care of your people. Hopefully Key and the staff are making this right today.

 

[LongforDodd]

… no one seems to know how this actually went down.

This… more than anything else at this point.

 

[RonJohn]

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.)

The BoT bylaws state that the BoT has to approve all hiring and contracts for AD, Head Football Coach, Men's Basketball Coach, and Women's Basketball Coach. The president nor the AD may do those alone. It doesn't speficically discuss firing, but it seems reasonable that with the contract amounts involved they would have to act.

 

[Vespidae]

I think the real issue I have is that the way this was handled doesn't indicate that the welfare of our student athletes is our biggest priority, which is not what we preach. Instead, we treated this like a business decision only and spent so much time getting all our legal and HR ducks in a row that we simply forgot that there are 100+ football players and their families who were extremely invested in CGC reading all the social media posts without so much as a heads up from our Institution. I have no problems with CGC being fired. I have no problems with TStan being fired. It should have been done first thing Sunday and then a meeting should have been called to inform the team before letting the word leak out to the press. Right now we have a bunch of football players who think that GT is more concerned with the negative image associated with losing football games than how they feel. That's not taking care of your people. Hopefully Key and the staff are making this right today.

Meeting with the team is the interim coach's responsibility and the other pieces are what they are. As to responding to social media, there's no point. It happens far too quickly and what can you can say until the decision is final?

Make the decision. Inform the appropriate support functions. Tell the affected employees. Meet with the board. Approve the interim coach. Manage the downstream activities.

I think it unfolded pretty typically.

 

[GTLorenzo]

I think the real issue I have is that the way this was handled doesn't indicate that the welfare of our student athletes is our biggest priority, which is not what we preach. Instead, we treated this like a business decision only and spent so much time getting all our legal and HR ducks in a row that we simply forgot that there are 100+ football players and their families who were extremely invested in CGC reading all the social media posts without so much as a heads up from our Institution. I have no problems with CGC being fired. I have no problems with TStan being fired. It should have been done first thing Sunday and then a meeting should have been called to inform the team before letting the word leak out to the press. Right now we have a bunch of football players who think that GT is more concerned with the negative image associated with losing football games than how they feel. That's not taking care of your people. Hopefully Key and the staff are making this right today.

Agreed. Should have been done Sunday AM. No other staff around, just call both of them in and do it. Then have a team meeting. You can do a roll call vote of the BOT on Saturday after the game. After Ole Miss, we all knew this was happening. No real reason to wait until Monday. But, that's Georgia Tech. We can do that....

 

[Vespidae]

The BoT bylaws state that the BoT has to approve all hiring and contracts for AD, Head Football Coach, Men's Basketball Coach, and Women's Basketball Coach. The president nor the AD may do those alone. It doesn't speficically discuss firing, but it seems reasonable that with the contract amounts involved they would have to act.

I don't disagree. But that doesn't mean the BoT has to be involved in every single discussion of the issue. There is usually one lead person (other than the Chair) who organizes the information and advises .. the BoT will then vote as a formality.

 

[BCJacket]

Before told he was fired, Geoff Collins came to work Monday morning

While his firing had been reported Sunday, former Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins showed up to work Monday morning to lead preparations for the Yellow Jackets’ upcoming game against Pittsburgh.

www.ajc.com

Sugiura confirming that Collins had not been officially told and showed up for work Monday morning despite the news having leaked, leading to "confusion, uncertainty and perhaps aggravation among staff and players."

 

[Vespidae]

Agreed. Should have been done Sunday AM. No other staff around, just call both of them in and do it. Then have a team meeting. You can do a roll call vote of the BOT on Saturday after the game. After Ole Miss, we all knew this was happening. No real reason to wait until Monday. But, that's Georgia Tech. We can do that....

I disagree. You are going to inform the team BEFORE you inform the press office? The players will light up social media with their displeasure and no response from the Institute? No, that's not a good look. And no legal opinion or finance opinion before any changes to a contract? That's malfeasance.

There are a LOT of moving parts. It is not as easy as it seems.

 

[Ramble1885]

Before told he was fired, Geoff Collins came to work Monday morning

While his firing had been reported Sunday, former Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins showed up to work Monday morning to lead preparations for the Yellow Jackets’ upcoming game against Pittsburgh.

www.ajc.com

Sugiura confirming that Collins had not been officially told and showed up for work Monday morning despite the news having leaked, leading to "confusion, uncertainty and perhaps aggravation among staff and players."

oh lord.

 

[GTLorenzo]

I disagree. You are going to inform the team BEFORE you inform the press office? The players will light up social media with their displeasure and no response from the Institute? No, that's not a good look. And no legal opinion or finance opinion before any changes to a contract? That's malfeasance.

There are a LOT of moving parts. It is not as easy as it seems.

No, not saying that. Have all of your ducks in a row first, but don't let this drag to Monday. Have the press release and all of that HR stuff ready, but do it on Sunday without all of the other AT/AA staff there. This is basically a crisis situation and you had to know this was going to happen. Have everything lined up and then fire them and release the statement basically at the same time you meet with the team. Sounds like it was handled pretty poorly overall.

 

[Vespidae]

oh lord.

Lemme get this straight. BEFORE he was told he was fired, he showed up for work? Why wouldn't he?

It was RUMORED he was to be fired on Sunday because the BoT meeting was advanced.

 

[Vespidae]

No, not saying that. Have all of your ducks in a row first, but don't let this drag to Monday. Have the press release and all of that HR stuff ready, but do it on Sunday without all of the other AT/AA staff there. This is basically a crisis situation and you had to know this was going to happen. Have everything lined up and then fire them and release the statement basically at the same time you meet with the team. Sounds like it was handled pretty poorly overall.

I can't judge. At least in the organizations I have worked for, there is a defined process of who, what and when. It seems like it went pretty much according to plan.

FWIW, the first person to know is usually the facilities guy (pretty low level). Because he has to secure the offices. I learned that and always appreciated the fact I could find out what was going on by asking those guys. They always knew first.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

Before told he was fired, Geoff Collins came to work Monday morning

While his firing had been reported Sunday, former Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins showed up to work Monday morning to lead preparations for the Yellow Jackets’ upcoming game against Pittsburgh.

www.ajc.com

Sugiura confirming that Collins had not been officially told and showed up for work Monday morning despite the news having leaked, leading to "confusion, uncertainty and perhaps aggravation among staff and players."

I am not sure why we are reading so much into this. Until he is officially notified, of course Collins is going to assume that he is still the coach and should continue his preparation for the next game. Until we get approval of the firing and the buyout from the BoT, of course the admin is going to wait to notify Collins he has been fired. There is an order of operations that must occur. They occurred in that sequence. Unfortunately, Ken scooped the process by suggesting that Collins had been fired before it was official. It happens and not much you can do about it.

Having said that, I do think they could have allowed Collins to address the team prior to walking him out the door. Yes, some people are immediately escorted out of the door after they are fired, but it does not happen to everyone and it does not happen all the time. For the players, they could have let Collins said his goodbyes.

 

[CuseJacket]

 

[tmhunter52]

Dabo was the AHC when he went interim.

Allowing the firing to fester for a full day while the players were getting news on social media from leaks within the GTAA. Cabrera should have handled this Sunday night and they should also have let CGC speak to the players to say goodbye. It's a bad look all around for us and I don't think we've seen the final ramifications from it yet.

The players - heck, EVERYONE - knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when. Collins has said or intimated that he loves his players in virtually every press conference he has had. Nobody really doubts that. Maybe the Administration had details and matters, like dismissing both the HC and the AD, that took longer to unravel and arrange than normal and could not get resolutions until Monday. Maybe they realized that they needed to get on with this, without niceties and theatrics, as quickly as possible, since there is another game in a few says, another opportunity for these aspiring professionals to demonstrate their worth to future employers. These players are grown men, they are now semi-professional with NIL. In light of Collins’s reported decorum when he left tech the last time, maybe Tech officials were concerned about giving Collins another platform and opportunity to spin his firing and trash the Institute for his own elite failures and ineptitude in making the greatest transition in the history of college football. Will there be fallout from the firing? Undoubtedly, yes, but there will be fallout whether the Admin waited a day or two and whether the players got a personal farewell address from Collins.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I disagree. You are going to inform the team BEFORE you inform the press office? The players will light up social media with their displeasure and no response from the Institute? No, that's not a good look. And no legal opinion or finance opinion before any changes to a contract? That's malfeasance.

There are a LOT of moving parts. It is not as easy as it seems.

You could do it simultaneously. Gather the team, have them in a room, let the press office do their thing while you talk to the team.

We keep finding ways to justify the crapshow that unfolded.

 

[Vespidae]

The players - heck, EVERYONE - knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when. Collins has said or intimated that he loves his players in virtually every press conference he has had. Nobody really doubts that. Maybe the Administration had details and matters, like dismissing both the HC and the AD, that took longer to unravel and arrange than normal and could not get resolutions until Monday. Maybe they realized that they needed to get on with this, without niceties and theatrics, as quickly as possible, since there is another game in a few says, another opportunity for these aspiring professionals to demonstrate their worth to future employers. These players are grown men, they are now semi-professional with NIL. In light of Collins’s reported decorum when he left tech the last time, maybe Tech officials were concerned about giving Collins another platform and opportunity to spin his firing and trash the Institute for his own elite failures and ineptitude in making the greatest transition in the history of college football. Will there be fallout from the firing? Undoubtedly, yes, but there will be fallout whether the Admin waited a day or two and whether the players got a personal farewell address from Collins.

Look, I have a half dozen Auburn players in my classes. They ALL know Harsin to get canned. There is no surprise going on.

 

[RonJohn]

You could do it simultaneously. Gather the team, have them in a room, let the press office do their thing while you talk to the team.

We keep finding ways to justify the crapshow that unfolded.

Do we actually know how things occurred?