What Is The Worst Fan Criticism You Have Seen At Tech?

4shotB

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That's how it started, but it all started falling apart with he way Carson treated his players. He thought we were all as dumb as the players he'd had as an assistant at UNC and USC(e) or his Marines.

I remember a quote from Ross about coaching at GT vs. his former stops. He said at Maryland and other places, if he asked the players to run through a brick wall, they would do it. At Tech, he had to answer the question "why do we need to do that?' before the players would do it. Or WTTE. There may be a downside to coaching actual student-athletes from a purely coaching perspective.
 

rfjeff9

Jolly Good Fellow
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401
CGC has to know he lost that game for us. He HAS to know by now that his **** is getting old. He HAS to know how pissed the fan base is right now.

If he hasn‘t heard by now the rumblings of pissed offedness coming from across the nation….
 

DavidStandingBear

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Carson's main problem was that he followed a legend. The same thing happened to Ray Perkins following the Bear, Doug Dickey following Ray Graves at Florida, Ron Zook following Steve Spurrier at Florida, and whoever that poor soul was that followed Shug Jordan at Auburn. Never, never, never, be the guy to follow the legend, always, always, always, be the one to follow the poor sap fired after the legend.
And CGC followed a legend!
 

Dress2Jacket

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Carson was way too hard on the players.
Pepper was manic. Worked to beat Notre Dame, didn't keep his eye on the ball against lesser teams (see:tulane). Probably the only D1 Coach who wore a coke spoon on a chain around his neck. Just a different guy who wasn't gonna fit the conservative Tech mold and needed to win big or was gonna get "runt off" because of his antics.
Curry learned on the job. By the end of his tenure, he was a reasonably good coach.
Ross. Excellent coach. Different guy than Curry which "lost" a lot of Curry's players.
Lewis. Different guy than Ross. Lost all of Ross's players.
Gailey: Excellent coach. Hired a poor OC. Never found/developed a QB.
PJ: Excellent coach, didn't like or put enough focus on recruiting or winning hearts and minds outside the program.
CGC: Flashy guy. No indication that he or his coordinators are prepared for the positions they hold.
 

DavidStandingBear

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Carson was way too hard on the players.
Pepper was manic. Worked to beat Notre Dame, didn't keep his eye on the ball against lesser teams (see:tulane). Probably the only D1 Coach who wore a coke spoon on a chain around his neck. Just a different guy who wasn't gonna fit the conservative Tech mold and needed to win big or was gonna get "runt off" because of his antics.
Curry learned on the job. By the end of his tenure, he was a reasonably good coach.
Ross. Excellent coach. Different guy than Curry which "lost" a lot of Curry's players.
Lewis. Different guy than Ross. Lost all of Ross's players.
Gailey: Excellent coach. Hired a poor OC. Never found/developed a QB.
PJ: Excellent coach, didn't like or put enough focus on recruiting or winning hearts and minds outside the program.
CGC: Flashy guy. No indication that he or his coordinators are prepared for the positions they hold.
Flashy is a polite adjective
 

7979

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He should have stayed at UCLA—he’d probably have had a better career.

Lots of fans liked Pepper. He was mostly unpopular with the stodgy tweed jacket crowd.
"Lots of fans liked Pepper." Not as much as Pepper liked Pepper!
"He was mostly unpopular with the stodgy tweed jacket crowd." He was MOST unpopular among his players... and his assistants
I liked Pepper much more after I was done playing for him.
Lot of self-promotional BS Geoff does reminds me of Pepper...but I doubt Geoff wears a coke spoon on a chain around his neck..
 

7979

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Pepper was a bully.....did not lead, he drove players and his assistants out of fear for their jobs....
He was about 5'9" and 150 pounds..It was classic Napoleon complex...
But, when he had no control over you any longer, he became charming, "un bon garcon"
 

Northeast Stinger

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It's only different due to social media, as evidenced here in a 50 page thread that is dominated by about 8 posters, several of whom hated him before he walked in the door.
I’ve wondered about that. The difference now is that with social media you can always find a corner of the internet that agrees with you, so in that sense there is a greater diversity of opinion. Back in Carson’s day there were at most five sources of information about the program and when they all turned against him it amplified the judgment and became group consensus very quickly. Same thing happened with Rodgers.

On the other hand with social media a few determined sore heads can start a movement. The one thing that makes me think more is going on than that was the size of the crowd Saturday night. I was stunned by a crowd that was the smallest I’ve ever seen for a night game and the smallest for any first game of the season. After all the excitement on social media about the season starring I never would have predicted that. The Tech program is in deep pain right now.
 

a5ehren

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I remember a quote from Ross about coaching at GT vs. his former stops. He said at Maryland and other places, if he asked the players to run through a brick wall, they would do it. At Tech, he had to answer the question "why do we need to do that?' before the players would do it. Or WTTE. There may be a downside to coaching actual student-athletes from a purely coaching perspective.
Just FYI this story has been around in various forms since at least the American Revolution. Anyone who uses it is probably lying or trying to sell you something.
 

cthenrys

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I’ve wondered about that. The difference now is that with social media you can always find a corner of the internet that agrees with you, so in that sense there is a greater diversity of opinion. Back in Carson’s day there were at most five sources of information about the program and when they all turned against him it amplified the judgment and became group consensus very quickly. Same thing happened with Rodgers.

On the other hand with social media a few determined sore heads can start a movement. The one thing that makes me think more is going on than that was the size of the crowd Saturday night. I was stunned by a crowd that was the smallest I’ve ever seen for a night game and the smallest for any first game of the season. After all the excitement on social media about the season starring I never would have predicted that. The Tech program is in deep pain right now.
Yep. There’s something rotten in Denmark these days. Gonna move faster than we think (because the alternative is worse)
 

Heisman's Ghost

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In your mind how dissatisfied is the fan base with our current coach compared to past coaching situations?

I remember when Bud Carson followed Bobby Dodd at Tech. Some fans hated him from the get go. Criticisms were that his coaching style was too hard on players, he was not affable and the warm fuzzy Dodd was, and that he was a “yankee.”

Pepper Rodgers was considered a “Hollywood showboat” by his biggest critics and some fans just didn’t like anything about him.

Bill Lewis probably soured the fan base quicker than any coach in history for a variety of reasons.

Bobby Ross was booed from the stands, got hate mail and was almost run off in 1989.

We could name others and give more details but I am interested in whether the current criticism of Geoffrey Collins is the worst you have seen in your life time and how you think it compares in intensity to past coaching controversies. I am not just talking about relative popularity but the urgency for change as expressed by the fan base.
Your introduction led me to do some back of the envelope research to see which loss would APPEAR to my untutored mind at least to have been the worst of that coach's tenure on the Flats. Whether this one will be remembered as the worst for Coach Collins remains to be seen but here is how I break it down for his predecessors

Bobby Dodd (yes even him) it would have to have been the 1960 upset by Florida at Florida Field. Not only was he facing his former assistant Ray Graves in his first year as a Gator coach but his son Bobby Junior was the alternating quarterback for the Gators. Still regarded as one of the top ten most important victories in Florida history. Tech came into the game ranked 10th and lost 18 to 17. One of several heart wrenching losses that year.

Bud Carson Could have picked several but his last game was pretty bad. 1971 Peach Bowl loss to Ole Miss 41 to 18. Tech players did not want to be there and it showed.

Bill Fulcher Fulcher was only at Tech for two years due to personal reasons. He was well liked by players, fans, and the media. Did not have any really signature losses but in his first year he lost to Duke so I will go with that. Best remembered for beating a heavily favored Iowa State team in the Liberty Bowl.

Pepper. This is easy. It has to be the infamous "Rudy Game" at Notre Dame during the final moments of the 69 to 14 shell lacking. Devine deliberately ran the score up on the hapless Jackets. In typical Tech like fashion the team lost again the next week to a pretty bad Navy team and wonder of wonders followed that up with a win over a heavily favored Georgia team.

Bill Curry He had a bunch of bad losses which happens when you play Alabama, Florida, Auburn and Tennessee with marginal talent. The loss most remembered was not against any of those powerhouses but to Furman in 1983 as part of an 0-4 streak to start the season. Collins thinks he has problems but at least the roof doesn't leak like it did then.

Bobby Ross is fondly remembered for that miracle 1990 national championship team but he had a tough row to hoe in getting there. Among a number of bad losses was a 48 to 14 whipping at Duke that tumbled Tech into the cellar of the ACC that year. The Wallace Wade score board operator kept flashing "Welcome to the basement Techies" Just three years later Tech was a national champion. Funny how these things work sometimes.

Bill Lewis Lots of bad losses to choose from but people forget that his first year Tech started out well and had FSU on the ropes in the fourth quarter when Charlie Ward led the "Criminoles" back in a loss that was so devastating that Lewis never recovered. Tech led 26-14 in the fourth quarter

George O'Leary really did not have a "definitive loss" though he inflicted a few on opposing teams. Tech did suffer an upset late in 1999 as they were ranked #12 and lost to Wake Forest in Winston Salem. Naturally, the next week was the famous "Jasper Sanks" game with the exciting 51-48 overtime win. I don't think Donnan ever recovered from that one.

Chan being Chan was as colorless and blah in defeat as he was in victory for the most part but perhaps the worst loss was the ACC Championship game to Wake in what had to be the most boring championship game in ACC history. Wake won 9-6 in a game that rivaled watching grass grow for sheer excitement.

Paul Johnson had his share of gut wrenching losses but the one that stands out to me was the 2009 UGA game. We were favored and ranked #7 with a long 8 game winning streak. Georgia just flat beat us and an opportunity was squandered.

Collins can take solace in knowing that every Tech coach has suffered losses that derailed, embarrassed, confounded, and otherwise shattered hopes and dreams. It comes with the territory. IIWII
 
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tomknight

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556
I’ve wondered about that. The difference now is that with social media you can always find a corner of the internet that agrees with you, so in that sense there is a greater diversity of opinion. Back in Carson’s day there were at most five sources of information about the program and when they all turned against him it amplified the judgment and became group consensus very quickly. Same thing happened with Rodgers.

On the other hand with social media a few determined sore heads can start a movement. The one thing that makes me think more is going on than that was the size of the crowd Saturday night. I was stunned by a crowd that was the smallest I’ve ever seen for a night game and the smallest for any first game of the season. After all the excitement on social media about the season starring I never would have predicted that. The Tech program is in deep pain right now.
In a way, I think this happened to CPJ. He was struggling a little at the end, and the anti-CPJ crowd jumped in social media and amplified it, and it became a thing.

Now the anti-CGC crowd is trying to do the same thing.

So it goes I guess.

I don't feel sorry for coaches. They get paid a lot of money to accomplish certain things. Taking fan grief is on the list of tasks.

I don't much favor player criticism, as I think they are in a different situation.
 

Northeast Stinger

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In a way, I think this happened to CPJ. He was struggling a little at the end, and the anti-CPJ crowd jumped in social media and amplified it, and it became a thing.

Now the anti-CGC crowd is trying to do the same thing.

So it goes I guess.

I don't feel sorry for coaches. They get paid a lot of money to accomplish certain things. Taking fan grief is on the list of tasks.

I don't much favor player criticism, as I think they are in a different situation.
Yeah, with CPJ, the whole “recruiting” thing was not an issue until it became an issue. Social media certainly repeated over and over the talking points of our recruiting rivals. Something that might be a half-truth becomes the whole truth and the lens through which the entire program is viewed.

Right now the program is being seen through the social media lens of “results on the field.” Unfortunately in football that is kind of the ultimate prism for judging a program.
 

GT18YJ

Georgia Tech Fan
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Pepper. This is easy. It has to be the infamous "Rudy Game" at Notre Dame during the final moments of the 69 to 14 shell lacking. Devine deliberately ran the score up on the hapless Jackets. In typical Tech like fashion the team lost again the next week to a pretty bad Navy team and wonder of wonders followed that up with a win over a heavily favored Georgia team.
You are blending together 2 different games. The Rudy game was 1975 when we had the worst injury year since I've been watching Tech football. ('68 was close but was concentrated at the qb position and 2015 was similar but still not on the same scale). The '77 game was the shellacking in response to the '76 upset.
 
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