We need to jump ship

Heisman's Ghost

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When it came to Tech, Atlanta and Coach Dodd, was he ever happy about anything?
Nope. What really got under Coach Vaught's skin was losing one of the Morris' boys, can't remember which who was one of the very best high school players to come out of Mississippi in a long time back in the 1950s to Dodd. To be fair, he was not too crazy about the Bear or General Neyland at Tennessee either.
 

Heisman's Ghost

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i don’t think we really need to go back and honestly at this point that’s even worse than abandoning it in the first place

maybe a different coach with some more variations to paul’s offense would have been a good idea but honestly a change really had to happen.

we were 24-25 our last 4 seasons under paul and didn’t make a bowl game 2/4. at that point it makes more sense to try SOMETHING rather than just waste away in the doldrums of 6-6 football. 3 win seasons is obviously a step back, and collins is almost without a doubt not the guy but we’d pretty much stalled out as a program and nothing indicated any change was coming so the money was gonna dry up fast. the transition i think got people somewhat interested again, but now the on field results have brought us right back to where we were
I get what you are saying but this is not the "SOMETHING" you had in mind.
 

augustabuzz

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Nope. What really got under Coach Vaught's skin was losing one of the Morris' boys, can't remember which who was one of the very best high school players to come out of Mississippi in a long time back in the 1950s to Dodd. To be fair, he was not too crazy about the Bear or General Neyland at Tennessee either.
This is true! Dodd used to cherry pick Mississippi every year.
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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Fans who think GT would have continued to be a strong FB program just because it stayed in the SEC are likely mistaken. The more likely outcome is GT becomes the Atlanta version of Vandy.

The schools that perform most consistently in all the conferences are state schools in large population states with large alumni bases and large walk-up bases (and not in large metro areas)

As soon as Atlanta became a professional sports town GT was going to be cooked. It is almost impossible to be in a major city and have a really strong college football program. USC is the closest to doing that, but even they struggle more now than they used to.

From a money standpoint not moving to the B10 if there was truly an offer on the table was a mistake. I'm not sure how much better of a program GT would have been, but it would have alot more money. Recruiting likely would have changed with a much larger focus on the midwest.

The research consortium you may be thinking of is the AAU (Association of American Universities) every B10 school except Nebraska is part of it. ACC Schools including GT, UNC, Pitt, UVA, and Duke are all part of the AAU.

From a culture standpoint the B10 is the only other conference besides the ACC that GT fits into at all. GT does not fit into the SEC in terms of school size, academic reputation, etc.

SEC would have no desire to bring GT into the conference as GT brings nothing to them that they don't already have. Multiple Universities in the SEC would vote no to admit GT.

As others have mentioned the GoR likely freezes GT into the ACC until the mid-2030's.
The other issue is that if you want to change conferences you have to be attractive to other conferences (just like if you want to hire a strong HC you have to be an attractive option to strong HC's).
This idea that we are tied to the ACC for 14 years is just ludicrous. In 14 years the ACC may not even exist. Y’all just buy the company line that woe is me at GT. The absolute second the SEC asks any ACC to come over this conference is toast. I doubt the SEC will even exist in 14 years. It will be much bigger and they’ll change the name. But please keep telling me how we’ll never have a playoff system and the NL will never have the DH.
 

alagold

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This idea that we are tied to the ACC for 14 years is just ludicrous. In 14 years the ACC may not even exist. Y’all just buy the company line that woe is me at GT. The absolute second the SEC asks any ACC to come over this conference is toast. I doubt the SEC will even exist in 14 years. It will be much bigger and they’ll change the name. But please keep telling me how we’ll never have a playoff system and the NL will never have the DH.
Yep, I agree. At the rate we are going we will (1) wither away as the ACC goes down -maybe in bball also or (2) go to 2nd level conference like App State or Liberty.
 

slugboy

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This idea that we are tied to the ACC for 14 years is just ludicrous. In 14 years the ACC may not even exist. Y’all just buy the company line that woe is me at GT. The absolute second the SEC asks any ACC to come over this conference is toast. I doubt the SEC will even exist in 14 years. It will be much bigger and they’ll change the name. But please keep telling me how we’ll never have a playoff system and the NL will never have the DH.
If the SEC goes to Miami and says “here’s a bunch of cash—join us”, maybe Miami goes. Then when Alabama plays at Miami, the ACC owns those broadcast rights. And so on through 2035. The ACC will own the video broadcast rights wherever Miami or any other current ACC members go.
If you’re the SEC, why would you give Miami a pile of money every year when you get no additional content? ESPN won’t raise the payout to the SEC for games the SEC doesn’t own. The SEC revenue won’t go up.
Ironically, the ACC would get broadcast rights for games like Miami-LSU and Miami-TENN. the ACC network could be more valuable, and Miami wouldn’t get a dime of that.
All the ACC needs to do is keep 10 members, and they don’t even need to be current members.
 

CEB

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If the SEC goes to Miami and says “here’s a bunch of cash—join us”, maybe Miami goes. Then when Alabama plays at Miami, the ACC owns those broadcast rights. And so on through 2035. The ACC will own the video broadcast rights wherever Miami or any other current ACC members go.
If you’re the SEC, why would you give Miami a pile of money every year when you get no additional content? ESPN won’t raise the payout to the SEC for games the SEC doesn’t own. The SEC revenue won’t go up.
Ironically, the ACC would get broadcast rights for games like Miami-LSU and Miami-TENN. the ACC network could be more valuable, and Miami wouldn’t get a dime of that.
All the ACC needs to do is keep 10 members, and they don’t even need to be current members.

But what if we really really really really really REALLY want that not to be the case? Then can we go?
 

slugboy

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But what if we really really really really really REALLY want that not to be the case? Then can we go?
You “just” need a lawyer and a judge to blow up the contract, and have that hold through appeals, and to not lose your shirt while this winds back and forth through courts.
And that hasn’t happened yet through any of the other cases where a university left a conference. But, hey, someone’s gotta be first!
If a school in the ACC had the lawyers to pull that off, it would be Duke, or maybe UNC, but football is the program that is driving all this, and Duke doesn’t have THAT.

Sure—we can do it, though. We just need to tap into that great bench of lawyers we have. ;)
 

bobongo

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But what if we really really really really really REALLY want that not to be the case? Then can we go?
I'm no lawyer (although I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express) but from what I glean we can do anything we like as long as we pay the price, but we're broke as it is and no one's going to loan us the money to pay it. No conference would touch us, but we could, theoretically, go independent tomorrow. Then the ACC would sue us for the $50 million buyout and get all of our media proceeds for the next fourteen years, if we were still playing football. We'd be in a financial hole we'd never recover from and if we were still playing football or ever did again, it would be in Division III.

Or we can wake up from that nightmare and just stay in the ACC.
 

slugboy

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I'm no lawyer (although I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express) but from what I glean we can do anything we like as long as we pay the price, but we're broke as it is and no one's going to loan us the money to pay it. No conference would touch us, but we could, theoretically, go independent tomorrow. Then the ACC would sue us for the $50 million buyout and get all of our media proceeds for the next fourteen years, if we were still playing football. We'd be in a financial hole we'd never recover from and if we were still playing football or ever did again, it would be in Division III.

Or we can wake up from that nightmare and just stay in the ACC.
The way I understand it, there’s no buyout anymore like there was when Maryland left. Instead, the ACC owns the video broadcast rights.
So, you can leave, but the INCOME stays with the ACC. And you lose the payout from the video broadcast rights.
And that income is more like $32 million per year for the 13 or so years left in the deal.
The money has been going up each year--it might not forever, but it has been.
A key difference is that the ACC won't sue you for the money--the ACC starts with the money and you have to sue them for the money, and the contract terms are on their side. The schools have next to no leverage.
 

GSOJacket

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Nope. What really got under Coach Vaught's skin was losing one of the Morris' boys, can't remember which who was one of the very best high school players to come out of Mississippi in a long time back in the 1950s to Dodd. To be fair, he was not too crazy about the Bear or General Neyland at Tennessee either.
That was George Morris from Vicksburg, I believe. Dodd felt he was the best of all the players he coached. (Larry, the other Morris, was from Decatur.)
 

CEB

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You “just” need a lawyer and a judge to blow up the contract, and have that hold through appeals, and to not lose your shirt while this winds back and forth through courts.
And that hasn’t happened yet through any of the other cases where a university left a conference. But, hey, someone’s gotta be first!
If a school in the ACC had the lawyers to pull that off, it would be Duke, or maybe UNC, but football is the program that is driving all this, and Duke doesn’t have THAT.

Sure—we can do it, though. We just need to tap into that great bench of lawyers we have. ;)

So you’re saying there’s a chance?!?
 

bobongo

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The way I understand it, there’s no buyout anymore like there was when Maryland left. Instead, the ACC owns the video broadcast rights.
So, you can leave, but the INCOME stays with the ACC. And you lose the payout from the video broadcast rights.
And that income is more like $32 million per year for the 13 or so years left in the deal.
The money has been going up each year--it might not forever, but it has been.
A key difference is that the ACC won't sue you for the money--the ACC starts with the money and you have to sue them for the money, and the contract terms are on their side. The schools have next to no leverage.
Even worse. Bottom line is we're stuck hard and not going anywhere. Period.

I used to make fun of Maryland, but as it turns out they got off light. All it cost them was $31 million:

 

DavidStandingBear

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Plz remind me of the advantage of being in the sec or big 10, so we can go 0-12? And not play teams that fill our stadium? I do think we should help form an academic conference during these quakes.
 

SteamWhistle

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Plz remind me of the advantage of being in the sec or big 10, so we can go 0-12? And not play teams that fill our stadium? I do think we should help form an academic conference during these quakes.
Be honest do you think the causal Tech fan has a higher chance of showing up if we play Kentucky or Florida compared to Duke or Virginia? You join the SEC or Big10 for the money and chance to grow the program rather then excepting mediocrity and trying to punch above your weight in the ACC. The same (0-12) argument could be made for how disappointing our basketball has been last 10 years for having to play in the ACC.
 

Heisman's Ghost

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That was George Morris from Vicksburg, I believe. Dodd felt he was the best of all the players he coached. (Larry, the other Morris, was from Decatur.)
He probably was but Dodd had something like 21 All Americans of one kind or another so it is hard to say. Lothridge finished second in the Heisman balloting his senior year and there was the "young left hander" Kim King. Anyway, Vaught had plenty of reasons to hate Tech, not that it ever did him any good.
 

JacketFan137

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Be honest do you think the causal Tech fan has a higher chance of showing up if we play Kentucky or Florida compared to Duke or Virginia? You join the SEC or Big10 for the money and chance to grow the program rather then excepting mediocrity and trying to punch above your weight in the ACC. The same (0-12) argument could be made for how disappointing our basketball has been last 10 years for having to play in the ACC.
i’m seeing a range of numbers reported for SEC and ACC money distributed, but from what it looks like SEC schools got $55 mil this year and ACC got ~$35 mil. those numbers will continue to grow further and further apart.

an extra 20 mil a year for us while we’ve always been against so much debt and had razor thin budgets would be huge. our current staff would be like the lowest paid group in the SEC now. we don’t have our team filled with analysts and we have some awful facilities relative to the factories. that would all get resolved very soon after joining the SEC.

it’s just a pipe dream for now though
 

GTBlaze

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Flame me all you want, at Tech men/women you should look unbiased at the data. We are going to get killed in payouts. IMO our leadership should be actively seeking a move to the B1G. We should get UVA, UNC, Duke, and whoever else they want and make it happen. If not, we go solo and give the B1G a foothold in the heart of the SEC.

Full stop It would secure our future, being in the ACC is shaky ground. We are only going to be pushed futher and further behind. I think in the end, there will be the SEC and B1G.
Why would another conference want a team that only wins 3 games / season in football?
 

JacketFan137

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Why would another conference want a team that only wins 3 games / season in football?
that’s not gonna be that way forever. big 10 we offer a little bit in terms of geography. we also have to remember sports outside of football exist.

maryland and mizzou have largely been mediocre the last 20 years and they moved to greener pastures in that time frame
 
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