What is Winning?

[LibertyTurns]

Now now now, don’t bring facts and history into the equation…..

We are, on average, a 7 win team. Some years more, some years less. The delta is either coaching / scheme or a run of great talent. The latter is not sustainable (and I would argue that the former isn’t either). In the end GT Football is / should be a fun diversion for a few months. The last two years have been frustrating and not too much fun, but I watched every game i could. Hoping this year is more fun than the last two.

Those that believe 9 wins each year is a real goal - I admire your optimism

I think I agree with @GT33 above. 6 of 11 years on average outside of Gomer’s tenure we’ve been good enough to win 9 games. Is it outrageous to think that CGC can’t get us to 8 of 11, 9 of 11? We’re getting a lot of 4 star recruits now. Believe it or not, we tend to have better records with higher caliber recruits. We’re calling this kind of optimism outrageous?

 

[stech81]

Well Nebraska got caught cheating and still only won 16 games the last 4 years. Damn if you can't cheat right don't

 

[Vespidae]

I think I agree with @GT33 above. 6 of 11 years on average outside of Gomer’s tenure we’ve been good enough to win 9 games. Is it outrageous to think that CGC can’t get us to 8 of 11, 9 of 11? We’re getting a lot of 4 star recruits now. Believe it or not, we tend to have better records with higher caliber recruits. We’re calling this kind of optimism outrageous?

It’s a positive step. But we aren’t in a vacuum. Others are recruiting as well. I haven’t run the numbers recently, but we probably aren’t in the Top 20 in terms of 5 star recruits over the last ten years. To be honest, probably Top 50.

To be competitive at the 9, 10 win season level ... we would need 4-5 5* a year. Who sees that as realistic? Not even TStan thinks this is realistic.

 

[yeti92]

To be competitive at the 9, 10 win season level ... we would need 4-5 5* a year. Who sees that as realistic? Not even TStan thinks this is realistic.

I don't think that is accurate, nobody recruits that many 5 stars but several teams generally stay above 9-10 wins a year.

 

[WreckinGT]

It’s a positive step. But we aren’t in a vacuum. Others are recruiting as well. I haven’t run the numbers recently, but we probably aren’t in the Top 20 in terms of 5 star recruits over the last ten years. To be honest, probably Top 50.

To be competitive at the 9, 10 win season level ... we would need 4-5 5* a year. Who sees that as realistic? Not even TStan thinks this is realistic.

We haven't recruited a 5 star in the last 10 years. We only have one in the history of the program and he wasn't a consensus 5 star. I don't know that we need quite that many to be that competitive but we do need more top 100 Gibbs level guys. There are lots of high 4 stars that are program changers as well. We will need to start getting more traction with those guys.

 

[85Escape]

I think that winning 9+ games should be the goal every year. There is a difference between setting a goal and consistently achieving it. I, for one, like to set almost unachievable goals while not beating myself up for not consistently achieving them.

But 9+ wins 4 out of 10 years? Yeah, I do think that is something we can do. Will it be easy? Nope. Might we only get 2 or 3 out of 10? Yep. I'd take that too. Better than 7 win seasons for six years straight. Here's a plan:
2022: 7 Wins (hard, but very doable if we count the bowl game. Just get to six baby.)
2023: 8 Wins (very doable with the talent we have)
2024: 11 Wins (All this young talent comes to bear as seniors.)
2025: 7 Wins (Still strong talent, but young QB)
2026: 9 Wins (UGA busted for cheating and Clemson leaves the conference)
2027: 9 Wins
2028: 7 Wins
2029: 8 Wins
2030: 10 Wins
2031: 7 Wins

I don't know, that doesn't look so unrealistic to me.

 

[Coloradojacket]

It’s a positive step. But we aren’t in a vacuum. Others are recruiting as well. I haven’t run the numbers recently, but we probably aren’t in the Top 20 in terms of 5 star recruits over the last ten years. To be honest, probably Top 50.

To be competitive at the 9, 10 win season level ... we would need 4-5 5* a year. Who sees that as realistic? Not even TStan thinks this is realistic.

And I will just keep saying it is partly recruiting but mostly coaching and right now for our staff we need to see vast improvement. Scheme to fit players.

 

[Scubapro]

And I will just keep saying it is partly recruiting but mostly coaching and right now for our staff we need to see vast improvement. Scheme to fit players.

This is an unpopular opinion these days. I happen to agree with it. Bill Lewis inherited tons on talent and we know how his tenure ended.
Don't get me wrong. I love getting highly touted recruits but the coaches need to put that talent in the best position to win.

 

[Coloradojacket]

This is an unpopular opinion these days. I happen to agree with it. Bill Lewis inherited tons on talent and we know how his tenure ended.
Don't get me wrong. I love getting highly touted recruits but the coaches need to put that talent in the best position to win.

All you need to do is look at two programs, that we are familiar with. Miami for years got top 10 recruiting classes, and never even sniffed a Coastal Championship. And look at Florida St. right now. an even worse story. And both of these teams have been loaded with talent.

 

[85Escape]

All you need to do is look at two programs, that we are familiar with. Miami for years got top 10 recruiting classes, and never even sniffed a Coastal Championship. And look at Florida St. right now. an even worse story. And both of these teams have been loaded with talent.

Yes! And...it's not just the X's and O's, nor just the Bobby and the Joes. It is also chemistry, buy-in, accountability and belief. I think CGC looks pretty darn good on the latter, at least from the outside. He also seems to be making strides on the recruiting element too. Now can we get the X's and the O's right for the players we have?

 

[Root4GT]

6 of the last 16 years not coached by a guy named Gailey we had a high enough win percentage to win 9 games, 37%.

3 other times we were within 1 win of winning a high enough percentage, that would have boosted that 9 win attainment to 56%.

You don't think that maybe, just maybe CGC has just enough in him to outperform other guys that were given nothing in the way of support? We have no chance of getting that 56% to maybe 75 or 80%? It's that big of stretch for you to believe that?

The competitive landscape in College Football has changed significantly since the O'Leary days. Money is a huge factor now. We are at the low end of the ACC in football generated revenue. Clemson and Georgia are basically in a different class than GT. It's highly unlikely we regularly win + games. Possible, of course but it's a very long climb.

 

[TooTall]

I have yet to hear a good answer as to why we cant raise the money to be on par with our rivals? Isn't 1 in 6 GT grads a millionaire? We were gonna complete AI2020 6 months ahead of schedule (before covid hit) and we still went over by almost $50,000,000 when it was all said and done. GTAA raised $170,000,000+ in 24 months. I think we can continue to raise money in the $60,000,000 a year easily. Question is.........do you donate to GTAA?? If not, then why not?? (If you do excellent! Throw in another $50 or $100 or $1,000 if you're able. A lot of small contributions add up to a large amount)

 

[cthenrys]

I have yet to hear a good answer as to why we cant raise the money to be on par with our rivals? Isn't 1 in 6 GT grads a millionaire? We were gonna complete AI2020 6 months ahead of schedule (before covid hit) and we still went over by almost $50,000,000 when it was all said and done. GTAA raised $170,000,000+ in 24 months. I think we can continue to raise money in the $60,000,000 a year easily. Question is.........do you donate to GTAA?? If not, then why not?? (If you do excellent! Throw in another $50 or $100 or $1,000 if you're able. A lot of small contributions add up to a large amount)

It‘s quantity, not quality…. Go read Schultz’ Athletic article.

 

[85Escape]

Go read Schultz’ Athletic article.

That was a good article, and Schultz has a good sports-reporting sense. Although I still don't like Schultz's swarmy know-it-all attitude about leading an enterprise. He is clearly clueless about the topic based on his comments. Oh well. I guess you go to journalism school because you can't do much else.

Anyway, I'm a huge TS fan. He's got it right, and gets how to operate strategically when you aren't in the dominant position. I don't think I'd have let them publish my whiteboards for all the world to see, however!

 

[cthenrys]

That was a good article, and Schultz has a good sports-reporting sense. Although I still don't like Schultz's swarmy know-it-all attitude about leading an enterprise. He is clearly clueless about the topic based on his comments. Oh well. I guess you go to journalism school because you can't do much else.

Anyway, I'm a huge TS fan. He's got it right, and gets how to operate strategically when you aren't in the dominant position. I don't think I'd have let them publish my whiteboards for all the world to see, however!

With you on Schultz. On his best day he’s really good. He has a lot of non-best days.

I thought the article was pretty fair and reasonable though. It does highlight what our real structural challenges are.

 

[TooTall]

It‘s quantity, not quality…. Go read Schultz’ Athletic article.

Link?

But many on here complain about the lack of money, not the number of folks giving. I think T Boone Pickens as 1 donor changed OSU on the national stage. So is it the total amount of money or total amount of folks giving $10?

 

[85Escape]

Link?

But many on here complain about the lack of money, not the number of folks giving. I think T Boone Pickens as 1 donor changed OSU on the national stage. So is it the total amount of money or total amount of folks giving $10?

I like TStan's approach of reaching out to the startup community on campus to make them feel a part of the athletic scene. It's a really smart long-term play as we tend to kick out a huge unicorn startup about once every ten years. If we could get them to give to the athletic side of things as well as the academic side it would bode well.

Here's the link, but I think it is behind a paywall.

Living in a tough neighborhood, Georgia Tech, Todd Stansbury have a plan to compete without elite resources

Stansbury, a former Georgia Tech linebacker, returned to his alma mater with the intention of focusing on morale and revenue issues.

theathletic.com