Tech assistant coach Mike Pelton’s recruiting strategy

[Skeptic]

It certainly be interesting to me to have a rough idea of how much smaller the "smaller pool to fish" actually is. Maybe that work has been done and I am simply unaware, but if not you would think that the coaches already have a rough idea of what % of D1 prospects typically would fit TECH's requirements. If, for example, only ~20% of the state of Georgia's prospects typically would meet TECH's requirements then it really puts an exclamation mark to the need to cast a wider net.

Getting lost in the smaller pool theory is the even smaller one that so many are willingly in denial of: how many of the smaller pool fitting GT requirements have any desire to take the GT curriculum? As hard as it may be for a technical type to accept that not everybody cares about what they care about it's nonetheless true that it has limited appeal. That mathematics thingy, you know. I know of one NC State graduate, civil engineering, who spent a year in Iraq disarming IEDs, worked a year, then bolted and is now an FBI agent in Memphis. (Didn't want to "spend my life answering 3 a.m. calls that a traffic light doesn't work.") A few years ago I tried to at least interest a local LB prospect in GT because he had the grades and core. He bolted before he started screaming. Just as well as he is senior at Lehigh, playing football for fun, with foreign service in his future. All I am saying is that lots of students can qualify ... if that was their desire. That should not be assumed.

 

[33jacket]

I did not know people who went to Tech were trained to say, "blah, blah, blah."

I would hope that having professors on the athletic board would not be a joke. It does not have to hold Tech back, if you get the right professors. But it also insures that Tech does not start down the slippery slope of factory-worship.

Comparisons with Alabama only get us so far. Alabama has 32 people directly related to the coaching staff and 89 people giving direct or indirect support. These are all people with offices and phones. This does not count student support.

Tech can do no wrong right?

no matter how you cut it when your athletic board is primarily professors its an issue and a slant to the school. If its half I am still not happy but at least its just half. There are no professors at tech that give a flip about the well being of the AA. you know it and I do. Unless something has drastically changed

 

[g0lftime]

At GT the academic department staff still controls the operation of the school. At a lot of big D1 schools, the athletic departments have a significant amount of control over the operation of school. Who makes the most money on campus, COACHES, not the presidents, department heads, or deans. The university services the athletic department and not the other way around. I have watched UNC being run by their athletic department for years here in Chapel Hill. I am not sure it has gotten much better but they probably have tempered the AFAM program. It also happened at NC State during the Valvano years when he was both athletic director and head coach and had a very cooperative president at the time. Who really runs Univ. of Alabama, Auburn, Univ of Tenn? What just happened at Baylor? Enrollment and donations have been found to be influenced by athletic achievements so universities follow the money and have become big businesses.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

There are no professors at tech that give a flip about the well being of the AA. you know it and I do.

I certainly remember that in the past. Wonder why I am leery of having professors at the school who do not make academics their number one concern? See #gOLftime comments above.

O.K., I am guilty. Deep down I want Tech to be MIT during the week and Alabama on Saturday and I would rather see the school struggle to be Alabama than struggle to be MIT. But, yeah, I am a baby boomer who wants it all.

 

[ClydeBrick]

What's the policy on using students as volunteers to help with the football staff? Obviously they can't make contact with the recruits, but they can help with the marketing, digital editing of promotional materials..., etc.

.... This does not count student support.

Student support? You mean like this:
(probably NSFW)

youtube.com/watch?v=KudwS5U9ouA&t=146

 

[iceeater1969]

I certainly remember that in the past. Wonder why I am leery of having professors at the school who do not make academics their number one concern? See #gOLftime comments above.

O.K., I am guilty. Deep down I want Tech to be MIT during the week and Alabama on Saturday and I would rather see the school struggle to be Alabama than struggle to be MIT. But, yeah, I am a baby boomer who wants it all.

We are a long way from being either as we are unique.

What we accomplish in BOTH arenas exemplify the " helluva" in our fight song.

I feel we are doing fine academically but are down a tad athletically.

 

[PBR549]

all it has to do with is lack of institutional IMO

look at our athletics board 3/4 are professors. THAT IS A F--IN JOKE AND A TRAGEDY

Lord have mercy we agree. It has to start at the top though. As far as being MIT during the week and Alabama on Saturday that's our whole problem. We love it when we win 11 but win 3 and it's fire the coaches. We either have to learn to embrace the situation or we have to change to a more athletic friendly hill.

 

[Skeptic]

... Deep down I want Tech to be MIT during the week and Alabama on Saturday and I would rather see the school struggle to be Alabama than struggle to be MIT. ...

A avery good line I will steal some day.

 

[Eastman]

Getting lost in the smaller pool theory is the even smaller one that so many are willingly in denial of: how many of the smaller pool fitting GT requirements have any desire to take the GT curriculum? As hard as it may be for a technical type to accept that not everybody cares about what they care about it's nonetheless true that it has limited appeal. That mathematics thingy, you know. I know of one NC State graduate, civil engineering, who spent a year in Iraq disarming IEDs, worked a year, then bolted and is now an FBI agent in Memphis. (Didn't want to "spend my life answering 3 a.m. calls that a traffic light doesn't work.") A few years ago I tried to at least interest a local LB prospect in GT because he had the grades and core. He bolted before he started screaming. Just as well as he is senior at Lehigh, playing football for fun, with foreign service in his future. All I am saying is that lots of students can qualify ... if that was their desire. That should not be assumed.

So true. As someone who didn't go to Tech I am surprised when some people on the board seem to think that most prospects should both want a TECH degree and accurately appraise the value of it. To select a school where you know that 1) your football commitment will require countless hours of extra-curricula, work and at the same time 2) your academic requirements will far exceed that of many schools, is not something every kid wants.

Many 4 and 5 star recruits who have been local athletic legends and taught for years that "you can be anything you want to be" really believe that with their natural ability, if they bust their butt, they can quite possibly play in the NFL. I would think that in the mind of many kids, playing D1 football is in itself difficult enough without adding the academic rigors required by TECH.

For example my daughter dates a bright guy who loves football and hopes to play in the NFL. His back-up plan is to coach. In his mind, the TECH degree confers little if any additional value.

 

[AE 87]

So true. As someone who didn't go to Tech I am surprised when some people on the board seem to think that most prospects should both want a TECH degree and accurately appraise the value of it. To select a school where you know that 1) your football commitment will require countless hours of extra-curricula, work and at the same time 2) your academic requirements will far exceed that of many schools, is not something every kid wants.

Many 4 and 5 star recruits who have been local athletic legends and taught for years that "you can be anything you want to be" really believe that with their natural ability, if they bust their butt, they can quite possibly play in the NFL. I would think that in the mind of many kids, playing D1 football is in itself difficult enough without adding the academic rigors required by TECH.

For example my daughter dates a bright guy who loves football and hopes to play in the NFL. His back-up plan is to coach. In his mind, the TECH degree confers little if any additional value.

I suspect your daughter could do better. ... I agree with your point though.

 

[33jacket]

I certainly remember that in the past. Wonder why I am leery of having professors at the school who do not make academics their number one concern? See #gOLftime comments above.

O.K., I am guilty. Deep down I want Tech to be MIT during the week and Alabama on Saturday and I would rather see the school struggle to be Alabama than struggle to be MIT. But, yeah, I am a baby boomer who wants it all.

Look i get. And i want to be a billionaire too. But reality is reality and not having so many professors on our board isnt asking much. It gives up nothing other than common sense. Which at tech more and more i am involved with out administrators behind closed doors i wonder if we have some at times

 

[dressedcheeseside]

For example my daughter dates a bright guy who loves football and hopes to play in the NFL. His back-up plan is to coach. In his mind, the TECH degree confers little if any additional value.

Doesn't sound too bright to me.

 

[5277hike]

Doesn't sound too bright to me.

I try to ignore a lot of the comments on here, but this one struck a nerve. Am I less bright because after 26 years working as an engineer, moving up to management, earning a 6 figure income in the 1990s, that I now choose to teach high school mathematics and coach at less than half the salary? The extra time I have working a 40 hr/wk job has allowed me to give back with volunteer work and to devote more time to family than I could previously. After accepting the Lord, marrying my wife, and graduating from Tech, I think it was one of the brighter moves I've made!

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I try to ignore a lot of the comments on here, but this one struck a nerve. Am I less bright because after 26 years working as an engineer, moving up to management, earning a 6 figure income in the 1990s, that I now choose to teach high school mathematics and coach at less than half the salary? The extra time I have working a 40 hr/wk job has allowed me to give back with volunteer work and to devote more time to family than I could previously. After accepting the Lord, marrying my wife, and graduating from Tech, I think it was one of the brighter moves I've made!

I don't know what you thought I meant, but it wasn't that.

 

[5277hike]

I don't know what you thought I meant, but it wasn't that.

Apology offered then. Guess I'm just too thin skinned.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Apology offered then. Guess I'm just too thin skinned.

And that, my friends, is how you avoid internet miss communication before it escalates.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Apology offered then. Guess I'm just too thin skinned.

No worries, I'm GT grad who teaches science. I know there are very few, if any, nobler pursuits.

 

[Eastman]

Doesn't sound too bright to me.

Hopefully you are just being sarcastic and not trying to exemplify the point I was trying to make. There are tons of great kids with exactly the same aspiration and coaching is a great profession with a powerful impact on young people.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Not to speak for @dressedcheeseside, but I took the "not too bright" comment in reference to the " TECH degree confer[ing]s little if any additional value" rather than about being a coach/teacher. Just my interpretation.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Not to speak for @dressedcheeseside, but I took the "not too bright" comment in reference to the " TECH degree confer[ing]s little if any additional value" rather than about being a coach/teacher. Just my interpretation.

That was how I took it too but I was trying to stay out it.