Stansbury and Collins Dismissed

ibeattetris

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,604
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 think the problem isn't that Collins was fired, but that all of the players and Collins himself only found out via Ken on twitter. Collins was in the office today despite the whole world knowing he was fired, because it wasn't official. Regardless of whether Collins deserved to be fire, finding out from twitter would suck.
 

rfjeff9

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
445
I think the problem isn't that Collins was fired, but that all of the players and Collins himself only found out via Ken on twitter. Collins was in the office today despite the whole world knowing he was fired, because it wasn't official. Regardless of whether Collins deserved to be fire, finding out from twitter would suck.
Ok I will grant that. I took it more as a firing mid-season type issue.

Yeah finding out via Twitter is ****ty, Granted.
 

pittkesh99

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
45
If Neville is just another Gov't bureaucrat type looking at a bureaucratic operation I would not expect much, but we'll see. What's wrong at the AA I've seen all over GT, it's a culture there and has been for the last 30-40 years I've been told. I'm not expecting much out of this, may sound good but the proof will be in the pudding over some years of ups and downs. I truly, truly hope I'm wrong.
Fun fact, Neville is actually taking classes at GT, so he’s technically a student here 😉. But from what I’ve heard from people that have worked with him is he super competent at his job and super friendly…Doesn’t mean much but could be good to be a bridge to our next AD.
 

RonJohn

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,994
You can characterize it that way. I don't. There was a conscious decision not to do the deed on Sunday and let the team find out through social media knowing it had leaked. As a result, there are a lot of angry players and parents, some of whom are now considering leaving not simply because the coach was fired, but because of how it was handled, which flies directly in the face of the family environment we supposedly foster here at GT. Most of those parents/athletes knew this was coming, and had this been handled inhouse with them first, it wouldn't have caused the problems it has. We will see in the next few weeks, but don't be shocked if some big names hit the portal real soon.
Maybe somebody might leave actually because of the way this was handled, but I think there will be some big names in the portal soon for other reasons.

I don't have any issue with terminated employees being escorted out of the building, nor with them being prevented from interacting with other employees/students/etc. Having the information leaked a day before is an issue that they should look into. A days delay isn't an issue, especially since they have to give a days notice to schedule a trustee meeting. Letting reporters find out that a change will be made before meeting with the affected employees, the athletes, and the association employees is the part to me that isn't a good look.
 

MidtownJacket

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
4,862
I’ll wade in here because I think this is an important distinction. Escorting Collins out is fine and fair play - the leaking confirmations as early as 48 hours in advance and STILL having him show up to work today for meetings with the team (then doing the “escort to prevent bad actions walk”) despite knowing the outcome of the decision is what I personally take issue with.

If you aren’t letting him address the team, then don’t have him come in this morning. It was a bad look IMHO. Especially given the noise that rightfully existed external to the program. People feel like they’re in the foxhole with the team during times like these last few challenging years and allowing the process to linger like this is sloppy at best and self-sabotaging at worst. I get that the AD was on his way out too which may have caused some of the issue, but it’s still a bad look.

I am happy to hear about the interim AD hire being a guy from the Academic side as I believe it will open the Komodo to AC on how badly the internal machinations have been playing out inside the GTAA.
 

Techster

Helluva Engineer
Messages
18,235
I’ll wade in here because I think this is an important distinction. Escorting Collins out is fine and fair play - the leaking confirmations as early as 48 hours in advance and STILL having him show up to work today for meetings with the team (then doing the “escort to prevent bad actions walk”) despite knowing the outcome of the decision is what I personally take issue with.

If you aren’t letting him address the team, then don’t have him come in this morning. It was a bad look IMHO. Especially given the noise that rightfully existed external to the program. People feel like they’re in the foxhole with the team during times like these last few challenging years and allowing the process to linger like this is sloppy at best and self-sabotaging at worst. I get that the AD was on his way out too which may have caused some of the issue, but it’s still a bad look.

I am happy to hear about the interim AD hire being a guy from the Academic side as I believe it will open the Komodo to AC hoe badly the internal machinations have been playing out inside the GTAA.

Conspiracy theory: What if CGC was the one that leaked his firing? What if CGC was told not to come into work before the meeting, but he did anyways? :unsure:
 

jojatk

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,517
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.
I understand why/how the kids and the families would be upset. But by the same token I also understand the situation with social media and leaks. I can see the GT administration saying that they didn't want to see really well confirmed leaks on social media from the actual players and their families prior to the official notice. And that's a really slippery slope. Do I actually tell everyone involved before I'm ready to make it public and risk them running to the press and/or social media to post about it or do I just let the rumors fly around, unconfirmed, until feeling ready to make the official announcement? If it had been me I'd have told the players, families, and coaches including Collins and if they went to social media then so be it. I'd rather have it coming out unofficially THAT way than the way it has played out. But that's just me.
 

MidtownJacket

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
4,862
Conspiracy theory: What if CGC was the one that leaked his firing? What if CGC was told not to come into work before the meeting, but he did anyways? :unsure:
I’ll see your move and raise you this. 😉

At that point you don’t let him enter campus Monday. You revoke his badge after you tell him he is done and he leaks it, and that he won’t be allowed back on campus. Then you have his office cleaned out and delivered to him compliments of GT.

I just think it was an unforced error that only serves to further fan any potential flame of player angst about losing their head coach.

Right, wrong or indifferent he was the guy who gave each of the players here (not considering super seniors) their shot at D1 football at one of the premier academic schools in the world. No reason to make the break up harder, and yet we did. Through ignorance or intention is irrelevant in the near term. I just hope we fix it moving forward.
 

gt02

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
634
regardless of what we thought of him, we should all agree that this was poor form that this was leaked and Collins found out over social media. not really sure how there are GT fans that disagree with that.

re transfers, I don't want folks to transfer. But I do want a culture change. Some transfers may be necessary I suppose
 

jgtengineer

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,969
I’ll see your move and raise you this. 😉

At that point you don’t let him enter campus Monday. You revoke his badge after you tell him he is done and he leaks it, and that he won’t be allowed back on campus. Then you have his office cleaned out and delivered to him compliments of GT.

I just think it was an unforced error that only serves to further fan any potential flame of player angst about losing their head coach.

Right, wrong or indifferent he was the guy who gave each of the players here (not considering super seniors) their shot at D1 football at one of the premier academic schools in the world. No reason to make the break up harder, and yet we did. Through ignorance or intention is irrelevant in the near term. I just hope we fix it moving forward.

There isn't really much stopping him from slipping in with another coach. Hey man i forgot my card.
 

Northeast Stinger

Helluva Engineer
Messages
10,778
Conspiracy theory: What if CGC was the one that leaked his firing? What if CGC was told not to come into work before the meeting, but he did anyways? :unsure:
Anything is possible since no one seems to know how this actually went down. We may find out more eventually but it sounds like the chaos of the last four years was destined to have a dramatic ending no matter what.
 

wvGT11

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,283
Going to repeat what I said in one of the previous threads.
It should have never gotten to this point.

Most schools would have never signed Collins to a 7 year deal with the buyout clauses like we had (that's mostly on tstan)
Most schools would have let Collins go end of last season (but tstan doubled down)
Instead we chose to change the assistants.
Many including me were skeptical that that would fix the issues, but willing to watch and take a chance

Reality is, Collins should have been gone last year , and the fact that this had to go to the President of the Univ before another embarrassment is mostly the reason Tstan is gone
 

lv20gt

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,580
I don't know why so many of you are concerned about hurting Collins' little feelings over his termination. You reap what you sow in this world, after all.


Man talk about irony. Or lack of self awareness. Or both. Can't decide which.
 

GT33

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,179
You can characterize it that way. I don't. There was a conscious decision not to do the deed on Sunday and let the team find out through social media knowing it had leaked. As a result, there are a lot of angry players and parents, some of whom are now considering leaving not simply because the coach was fired, but because of how it was handled, which flies directly in the face of the family environment we supposedly foster here at GT. Most of those parents/athletes knew this was coming, and had this been handled inhouse with them first, it wouldn't have caused the problems it has. We will see in the next few weeks, but don't be shocked if some big names hit the portal real soon.
There's no good way to handling a firing. Some players & families are going to be really upset- they probably liked him, thought they got a good deal, treated fairly, liked the environment despite the record, etc. Others are happy, think they will now not get screwed & their lot in life will improve. Others are just nervous becuase of change. There's the unknown ahead.

We're going to change multiple times here now in 6 months. Interim staff, new AD, new coach, new staff members, you got existing staff trying not to lose their jobs or trying to find a soft landing spot. Players have to decide to ride it out or leave. There's the portal, NIL, etc and these guys are likely ill-equipped to manage their careers like that at such a young age. Lots of communication will be required & there's no trust.

Bottom line- GT did all this to them. Blame it on Stansbury or Cabrera or whoever, but it wasn't fair to them how this all happened and trust in GT will be fairly low until the new regime is in place. Our inaction the last 21 months had consequences & now we're facing them. It didn't have to be this way & that's on our leadership.
 

Northeast Stinger

Helluva Engineer
Messages
10,778
There's no good way to handling a firing. Some players & families are going to be really upset- they probably liked him, thought they got a good deal, treated fairly, liked the environment despite the record, etc. Others are happy, think they will now not get screwed & their lot in life will improve. Others are just nervous becuase of change. There's the unknown ahead.

We're going to change multiple times here now in 6 months. Interim staff, new AD, new coach, new staff members, you got existing staff trying not to lose their jobs or trying to find a soft landing spot. Players have to decide to ride it out or leave. There's the portal, NIL, etc and these guys are likely ill-equipped to manage their careers like that at such a young age. Lots of communication will be required & there's no trust.

Bottom line- GT did all this to them. Blame it on Stansbury or Cabrera or whoever, but it wasn't fair to them how this all happened and trust in GT will be fairly low until the new regime is in place. Our inaction the last 21 months had consequences & now we're facing them. It didn't have to be this way & that's on our leadership.
The analogy that comes to mind, horrible as it is, is lung cancer from smoking. The patient should have quit smoking years ago, now needs surgery to remove part of a lung. The cure will feel worse than the disease for quite a while but going through the pain now is the only way to get on the other side to a better place.

Do we blame TStan for hiring Collins? Do we blame Collins for being a charlatan who took us to the cleaners? Do we blame wealthy donors and influencers who insisted Collins was the one? Do we blame the president for not cutting out this cancer sooner? Do we blame Tech for having set this all in motion by not giving CPJ the support when he needed it? Do we blame Tech fans for being fickle, incessant complainers no matter what decision is made or who makes it?

Healing is going to take a while. Snarling and playing the what-if game is not going to get us through this any faster. Deep breaths.
 

Oldgoldandwhite

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,762
Conspiracy theory: What if CGC was the one that leaked his firing? What if CGC was told not to come into work before the meeting, but he did anyways? :unsure:
I’ll second your theory. I would have fired both in a private meeting immediately after the game and had them both escorted out. But actually, I would have fired them after the Georgia game last year.
 
Top