The dynamics of recruiting, a historical perspective

[dressedcheeseside]

CPJ's press relations is the least of our worries. He never throws his players under the bus and that is the most important press rule in the book.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

There's a difference between defending your team, which CPJ should without question 100% of the time do, and being antagonistic with the press. CPJ's relationship with the press is not a secret...in fact, ESPN announcers joked about how *****ly he is after our Orange Bowl win.

The irony is CPJ is REALLY funny, and personable when there are no microphones around. People who know him swear by him, and players love him. He's the CEO of our football program, so that means a large majority of the time recruits and their parents who have never met him will get to know him first through the press. Well, if you don't have a good relationship with the press, and all recruits read about is how difficult he is and watch him during games (let's be real, CPJ is intense during a game...to point it's frightening sometimes how he reacts to players) it could turn off some recruits before we get a chance to make contact. We've got enough hurdles to jump over when recruiting, this is easiest one to overcome.

I have heard lots of recordings of CPJ being humorous, self deprecating and personable.

On the other hand...

 

[Techster]

I have heard lots of recordings of CPJ being humorous, self deprecating and personable.

On the other hand...

View attachment 1611View attachment 1612View attachment 1613

When you win at the clip he is, people are willing to take it the crap he dishes out. When he went a few years without winning National Championships, his own fans got restless and some actually wanted him to leave. Don't worry, when he stops winning and recruiting at the clip he's currently at, the writers and alumni that have been taking his crap all these years will be the first one to put the pitch fork in him.

As they say...winning cures all, even intolerable behavior.

 

[Techster]

CPJ's press relations is the least of our worries. He never throws his players under the bus and that is the most important press rule in the book.

This isn't to put you on blast, Cheese because I know you don't mean anything bad by that statement. But your statement is pretty representative of the "local think" I was referring to earlier that a lot of our fans have. The whole, "Our players like him, he doesn't blame them, so who cares what the press thinks" is totally missing the point. CPJ is the CEO of our program, which means everything he says and does represents our program, and how people outside our program perceive it...especially when it comes to recruits. As I alluded to earlier, a lot of potential recruits first impression of CPJ will be from his press interviews and how he conducts himself on the sidelines Saturday. Some recruits may eliminate GT because they won't give CPJ the chance to interact with him to know the "real" CPJ...the guy that most of us enjoy listening to on his radio show. You can't say "The press ignores GT when it comes to being a smart school" (paraphrasing your earlier reply in this thread), and then say "Press relations is the least of our worries." Press relations is vital for all our athletics programs. We are not winning at a big enough clip to handle the press the way we have.

Let's face it. The millenial generation is a weird generation that expects to be treated with kid gloves. They get their feelings hurt at every slight...they even have "experts" who deal with this generation in the workforce. Seriously.

http://www.monarconsulting.com/consulting/resources/milennials/

http://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/millennialsurvey.html

When I was playing football, I was OK with my coaches yelling at me because I knew they had my best interest at heart and they were trying to get the best out of me. Players also knew if coaches weren't yelling at them, that's probably because they had no faith in them any longer and they weren't going to play. In this age of annointing 16-18 year old kids superstars before they prove themselves on this level, getting berated on national TV probably isn't something they want happen to them. We shouldn't cow tow to any recruit no matter how good he is, but we need to be cognizant that there are a lot of eyes on everything we do.

Bottom line for me when it comes to the press: They can be an asset or a liability for our program. I'd much rather them be an asset in helping us change the narrative of GT.

 

[Eastman]

This isn't to put you on blast, Cheese because I know you don't mean anything bad by that statement. But your statement is pretty representative of the "local think" I was referring to earlier that a lot of our fans have. The whole, "Our players like him, he doesn't blame them, so who cares what the press thinks" is totally missing the point. CPJ is the CEO of our program, which means everything he says and does represents our program, and how people outside our program perceive it...especially when it comes to recruits. As I alluded to earlier, a lot of potential recruits first impression of CPJ will be from his press interviews and how he conducts himself on the sidelines Saturday. Some recruits may eliminate GT because they won't give CPJ the chance to interact with him to know the "real" CPJ...the guy that most of us enjoy listening to on his radio show. You can't say "The press ignores GT when it comes to being a smart school" (paraphrasing your earlier reply in this thread), and then say "Press relations is the least of our worries." Press relations is vital for all our athletics programs. We are not winning at a big enough clip to handle the press the way we have.

Let's face it. The millenial generation is a weird generation that expects to be treated with kid gloves. They get their feelings hurt at every slight...they even have "experts" who deal with this generation in the workforce. Seriously.

http://www.monarconsulting.com/consulting/resources/milennials/

http://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/millennialsurvey.html

When I was playing football, I was OK with my coaches yelling at me because I knew they had my best interest at heart and they were trying to get the best out of me. Players also knew if coaches weren't yelling at them, that's probably because they had no faith in them any longer and they weren't going to play. In this age of annointing 16-18 year old kids superstars before they prove themselves on this level, getting berated on national TV probably isn't something they want happen to them. We shouldn't cow tow to any recruit no matter how good he is, but we need to be cognizant that there are a lot of eyes on everything we do.

Bottom line for me when it comes to the press: They can be an asset or a liability for our program. I'd much rather them be an asset in helping us change the narrative of GT.

Unfortunately you make some very good points. As best I can tell, CPJ and I have some similar personality traits such as being frank when asked about facts and enjoying friendly sarcastic banter (basically, a perfect personality ). Studies have shown that millennials as a whole are more narcissistic than earlier generations and some can struggle with that type of personality. For my for my first 20 years as a manager my friendly, joking sarcasm (that's how I see it) and "telling it like it is" was never a problem, but over the past 10 years I have had to be much more careful with what I say and how I say it. Reflecting this trend, current management courses typically teach that managers should begin with positive praise before sharing the areas that need improvement. While I don't think he could make that radical of the change, I do think that the program would benefit by him improving his interaction with the press .

 

[dressedcheeseside]

This isn't to put you on blast, Cheese because I know you don't mean anything bad by that statement. But your statement is pretty representative of the "local think" I was referring to earlier that a lot of our fans have. The whole, "Our players like him, he doesn't blame them, so who cares what the press thinks" is totally missing the point. CPJ is the CEO of our program, which means everything he says and does represents our program, and how people outside our program perceive it...especially when it comes to recruits. As I alluded to earlier, a lot of potential recruits first impression of CPJ will be from his press interviews and how he conducts himself on the sidelines Saturday. Some recruits may eliminate GT because they won't give CPJ the chance to interact with him to know the "real" CPJ...the guy that most of us enjoy listening to on his radio show. You can't say "The press ignores GT when it comes to being a smart school" (paraphrasing your earlier reply in this thread), and then say "Press relations is the least of our worries." Press relations is vital for all our athletics programs. We are not winning at a big enough clip to handle the press the way we have.

Let's face it. The millenial generation is a weird generation that expects to be treated with kid gloves. They get their feelings hurt at every slight...they even have "experts" who deal with this generation in the workforce. Seriously.

http://www.monarconsulting.com/consulting/resources/milennials/

http://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/millennialsurvey.html

When I was playing football, I was OK with my coaches yelling at me because I knew they had my best interest at heart and they were trying to get the best out of me. Players also knew if coaches weren't yelling at them, that's probably because they had no faith in them any longer and they weren't going to play. In this age of annointing 16-18 year old kids superstars before they prove themselves on this level, getting berated on national TV probably isn't something they want happen to them. We shouldn't cow tow to any recruit no matter how good he is, but we need to be cognizant that there are a lot of eyes on everything we do.

Bottom line for me when it comes to the press: They can be an asset or a liability for our program. I'd much rather them be an asset in helping us change the narrative of GT.

I agree, I just think it's way over blown. He's only bad with dwag homers and they will crap on us regardless. I guess he spouted of to Dimwitch once so I'll give you that, but I've never seen that with the mainline guys.

Also, he typically follows any snarky comments to dumb questions with thoughtful answers even if it's something he's said a thousand times.

It's an issue to be sure, not sure it's a major one.

 

[alagold]

I agree, I just think it's way over blown. He's only bad with dwag homers and they will crap on us regardless. I guess he spouted of to Dimwitch once so I'll give you that, but I've never seen that with the mainline guys.

Also, he typically follows any snarky comments to dumb questions with thoughtful answers even if it's something he's said a thousand times.

It's an issue to be sure, not sure it's a major one.

under normal times, it might not be an issue but when you are 3-9 ,the worse season in 20, EVERYTHING is important
like Dabo--at first he was silly and over-his -head, now that he is successful-he is darling and player-connecting

 

[WreckinGT]

There's a difference between defending your team, which CPJ should without question 100% of the time do, and being antagonistic with the press. CPJ's relationship with the press is not a secret...in fact, ESPN announcers joked about how *****ly he is after our Orange Bowl win.

The irony is CPJ is REALLY funny, and personable when there are no microphones around. People who know him swear by him, and players love him. He's the CEO of our football program, so that means a large majority of the time recruits and their parents who have never met him will get to know him first through the press. Well, if you don't have a good relationship with the press, and all recruits read about is how difficult he is and watch him during games (let's be real, CPJ is intense during a game...to point it's frightening sometimes how he reacts to players) it could turn off some recruits before we get a chance to make contact. We've got enough hurdles to jump over when recruiting, this is easiest one to overcome.

You have made some connection to a few CPJ moments that you didn't like to us losing recruits which may or may not have ever happened. I could just as easily argue that CPJ's fire and passion is appealing to recruits and that they would rather see that than a weak coach who is more concerned with making everyone happy than speaking his mind and defending his team. Who wants to see their coach play nice with a group of people who trashed him before the interview, ask him antagonistic questions during the interview, and are going to trash him after the interview? I say call those people out. Hold them accountable for the crap that they write and say. They aren't going to start praising GT if you roll over like a good boy. They will likely trash you even more. Your dream of a coach who is best friends with the media resulting in positive articles and a boost in recruiting has never happened and it never will. Ask Brian Gregory.

 

[Techster]

You have made some connection to a few CPJ moments that you didn't like to us losing recruits which may or may not have ever happened. I could just as easily argue that CPJ's fire and passion is appealing to recruits and that they would rather see that than a weak coach who is more concerned with making everyone happy than speaking his mind and defending his team. Who wants to see their coach play nice with a group of people who trashed him before the interview, ask him antagonistic questions during the interview, and are going to trash him after the interview? I say call those people out. Hold them accountable for the crap that they write and say. They aren't going to start praising GT if you roll over like a good boy. They will likely trash you even more. Your dream of a coach who is best friends with the media resulting in positive articles and a boost in recruiting has never happened and it never will. Ask Brian Gregory.

You obviously do not comprehend one word I wrote, and you are obviously just being a defensive GT fan. Re-read what I wrote.

 

[WreckinGT]

You obviously do not comprehend one word I wrote, and you are obviously just being a defensive GT fan. Re-read what I wrote.

I read and understood everything you wrote. I just think it is nonsense and I'm not sure that you can provide any evidence on this theory that you have that CPJ being snarky with the media is causing us to lose recruits.

 

[Techster]

I read and understood everything you wrote. I just think it is nonsense and I'm not sure that you can provide any evidence on this theory that you have that CPJ being snarky with the media is causing us to lose recruits.

Again, re-read what I wrote. That comment let's me know you just read what you wanted to read, got defensive about it, and discarded everything else.

 

[WreckinGT]

Again, re-read what I wrote. That comment let's me know you just read what you wanted to read, got defensive about it, and discarded everything else.

I read it again. It still says the same thing, and it is still nonsense.

 

[Eastman]

It's always easy to criticize the other person's position by hyperbolizing what they said. Techster's statement that the "Bottom line for me when it comes to the press: They can be an asset or a liability for our program. I'd much rather them be an asset in helping us change the narrative of GT" is hard for me to argue with. CPJ imho is a brilliant strategist on the field but could improve his strategy interacting with the press. I don't expect perfection but he, as with all of us, should seek to improve wherever he can. Regardless I'm a fan of CPJ and hope we kick Dabo's "nice" butt this year.

 

[WreckinGT]

It's always easy to criticize the other person's position by hyperbolizing what they said. Techster's statement that the "Bottom line for me when it comes to the press: They can be an asset or a liability for our program. I'd much rather them be an asset in helping us change the narrative of GT" is hard for me to argue with. CPJ imho is a brilliant strategist on the field but could improve his strategy interacting with the press. I don't expect perfection but he, as with all of us, should seek to improve wherever he can. Regardless I'm a fan of CPJ and hope we kick Dabo's "nice" butt this year.

I am not hyperbolizing anything. He said this:
"Well, if you don't have a good relationship with the press, and all recruits read about is how difficult he is and watch him during games (let's be real, CPJ is intense during a game...to point it's frightening sometimes how he reacts to players) it could turn off some recruits before we get a chance to make contact. We've got enough hurdles to jump over when recruiting, this is easiest one to overcome."

And this:
"Some recruits may eliminate GT because they won't give CPJ the chance to interact with him to know the "real" CPJ...the guy that most of us enjoy listening to on his radio show."

He is trying to make a connection between CPJs media interviews and on the field conduct that he didn't enjoy, and losing recruits which he has no evidence of. That is a reach that I don't personally agree with.

 

[Techster]

I am not hyperbolizing anything. He said this:
"Well, if you don't have a good relationship with the press, and all recruits read about is how difficult he is and watch him during games (let's be real, CPJ is intense during a game...to point it's frightening sometimes how he reacts to players) it could turn off some recruits before we get a chance to make contact. We've got enough hurdles to jump over when recruiting, this is easiest one to overcome."

And this:
"Some recruits may eliminate GT because they won't give CPJ the chance to interact with him to know the "real" CPJ...the guy that most of us enjoy listening to on his radio show."

He is trying to make a connection between CPJs media interviews and on the field conduct that he didn't enjoy, and losing recruits which he has no evidence of. That is a reach that I don't personally agree with.

That's where your disconnect is. You seem to think the only thing I'm intimating is CPJ's actions are affecting recruiting. Sure, it's ONE facet of it, but what I was conveying is CPJ's actions have larger repercussions for our program as a whole...and this was said over a few posts, so you might have missed it. The examples I gave in the press and what recruits see on TV/in the media were to just add color. It was the not the point itself, but all you seem latch onto is that is the only point. That's because you're interpreting as a GT fan, and not looking at the "big picture" of what any program needs (especially a program that struggles to catch the attention of sports fans in our own city), not just GT.

Anyhow, if you think all I was talking about was recruiting and being snarky with the media, you're more than welcome to wallow in your happiness with how things are being handled right now. Other posters seem to understand the broader point I was making. As for me, I'd rather GT not leave money on the table so easily when it comes to maximizing our opportunities to make GT look like a top tier program...because GT sure seems slow to understand opportunities when presented.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

That's where your disconnect is. You seem to think the only thing I'm intimating is CPJ's actions are affecting recruiting. Sure, it's ONE facet of it, but what I was conveying is CPJ's actions have larger repercussions for our program as a whole...and this was said over a few posts, so you might have missed it. The examples I gave in the press and what recruits see on TV/in the media were to just add color. It was the not the point itself, but all you seem latch onto is that is the only point. That's because you're interpreting as a GT fan, and not looking at the "big picture" of what any program needs (especially a program that struggles to catch the attention of sports fans in our own city), not just GT.

Anyhow, if you think all I was talking about was recruiting and being snarky with the media, you're more than welcome to wallow in your happiness with how things are being handled right now. Other posters seem to understand the broader point I was making. As for me, I'd rather GT not leave money on the table so easily when it comes to maximizing our opportunities to make GT look like a top tier program...because GT sure seems slow to understand opportunities when presented.

What you said but on a smaller scale than you project.

 

[LongforDodd]

So you see it as a problem that the person whose primary responsibilities are: curriculum, instruction, and research: concentrates his attentions on: curriculum, instruction, and research?

The story involving the Provost is that he was asked about giving us some "classroom help" to which he replied in the manner in which I paraphrased. Everyone of us recognizes the curriculum as a hurdle and most of us, me included, experience some form of dissonance over.

 

[Techster]

What you said but on a smaller scale than you project.

I like to project GT in terms of a grand scale, not smaller scale.

 

[LongforDodd]

They have a helluva crew team, however.

But that Charles River can be a nasty place. Perhaps that's what makes them great?

 

[Eastman]

I am not hyperbolizing anything. He said this:
"Well, if you don't have a good relationship with the press, and all recruits read about is how difficult he is and watch him during games (let's be real, CPJ is intense during a game...to point it's frightening sometimes how he reacts to players) it could turn off some recruits before we get a chance to make contact. We've got enough hurdles to jump over when recruiting, this is easiest one to overcome."

And this:
"GT because they won't give CPJ the chance to interact with him to know the "real" CPJ...the guy that most of us enjoy listening to on his radio show."

He is trying to make a connection between CPJs media interviews and on the field conduct that he didn't enjoy, and losing recruits which he has no evidence of. That is a reach that I don't personally agree with.

Even your selected quotes proves he qualifies the statements "it could turn off some recruits..." and "Some recruits may eliminate...". I don't recall that he claimed to have firm evidence of losing recruits, but shared a concern, apparently based on logical inference (not simply "conduct that he didn't enjoy") that it may occur. I share that concern and also hope it is wrong and that your position is correct.