What would you like to see President Cabrera implement to raise our athletic excellence?

Augusta_Jacket

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
8,095
Location
Augusta, Georgia
In Cabrera's remarks he referred to a $2B fund raising goal and said some would go to Athletics.
  • What was he referring to?
  • Is it a change in policy?


"Philanthropy also will support faculty chairs and professorships, research facilities, intercollegiate athletics, campus enhancements, new global partnerships, and local programs that focus on science education in Atlanta high schools and in school districts around the state." (emphasis mine)
 

motynes

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
240
Location
Ocean Springs, Mississippi
Posting due to his comments today.

Couple of starting points for me.

1. Structured fundraising for athletics
2. Demand a growth plan from the new AD
3. Public pushing for majors and new sports (soccer and lax)
This is the one thing that we could change that would certainly change the trajectory of every single GT sport. If we could just have 1 or 2 majors that were doable for the vast majority of HS high level recruits (I typed elite and simply had to delete it and use a different word). We will never be able to recruit with the current curriculum. It is the product you sell, not the person who is selling it. If you are selling a product that a person wants, you will sell it. If you are selling a product they don’t want, You will not no matter how good of a sell’s man you are. Recruits want to go pro. They don’t want anything getting in the way of that. Hard academics get in the way of the or, at the very least, do not help in that goal and are….hard. No way to effectively, repeatable sell that product to that person. Example, I am a lawyer. NO WAY would I have gone to TECH knowing that I wanted to go to law school. It presents too many challenges to get into law school. The reason I went to Tech is because I thought I wanted to be an engineer (CE ‘02). Luckily my decent grades and very good LSAT score got me in to law school. Now, if I had the goal of law school from the beginning I would have gotten a degree in criminal justice at OM. I was an athletic tutor while in law school at OM. I tutor anything math and criminal justice. The testing in the CJ was basically 10 words on one side of the page and 10 definitions on the other side of the page and they would draw lines to the definition that matched the word. Most football players were getting a degree in criminal justice. I can remember 1 athlete that I was tutoring in calculus 2. He was a football player on scholarship who didn’t really play. He was using his scholarship to get an engineering degree. I also tutored a wide receiver who played in the NFL for over 10 years. He was taking pre-algebra and really just cared about passing it (He got an A). He, like most high level recruits, Had no interest in challenging academics.
 

FolkHall

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
56
Kenny Powers GIF
 

Vespidae

Helluva Engineer
Messages
5,326
Location
Auburn, AL
The Interim AD said that the athletic department is doing to look into different ideas for raising revenue. I am interested in what they can come up with. However, I am not going to relax myself and wait for other people to fix the issue.
When I was a young engineer, we used to call in on the old phone line modems to use Georgia Tech's structural software to analyze piping systems. Licensing that to engineering organizations was a great source of revenue for GTRI back then.

Tech is an innovation organization. I would look for opportunities to develop new materials, measurement devices, etc ... and license them to other schools and in turn, generate funds for our own. We have to find a way to generate sustainable recurring revenues without doing what everyone else is doing.
 

85Escape

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,450
There are several majors (history, communications, etc.) in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, the bigger issue is the year of Calculus.
We should create a math track that looks like calculus, but is way easier. Maybe "Calculus: A Philosophy" or "Calculus: Integrating Sports, Education and Parties"
 

chriscarter

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
49
There are many issues that our football program faces. When is the last time we had more fans in our stadium than opposition did? Make games free if need be to select donors or demographics? 99% of young GA athletes grow up dwag fans. Maybe free tix to boys and girls club members or any other group that can increase our future fan base.

1. Fill the stadium with OUR fans
2. More community outreach and projects. Making a bigger impact in the community could land nil deals.
3. Academic requirements.... Other great education institutions don't require above ncaa requirements for athletes.
4. Invite major technology investors to be a part of the program. Turn them into fans. Could you imagine having an Elon Musk as an NIL? He wouldn't but others may? Rivian is building plants in state? Maybe tix to them?
 

leatherneckjacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,078
Location
Atlanta, GA
It was mentioned that athletics would be part of the upcoming $2B university campaign. He needs to clearly articulate what portion is specifically for athletics, as well as make sure the funds are allocated towards cutting our long term debt by at least half as well as endow every scholarship and coaching position.
 

LargeFO

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,417
There are many issues that our football program faces. When is the last time we had more fans in our stadium than opposition did? Make games free if need be to select donors or demographics? 99% of young GA athletes grow up dwag fans. Maybe free tix to boys and girls club members or any other group that can increase our future fan base.

1. Fill the stadium with OUR fans
2. More community outreach and projects. Making a bigger impact in the community could land nil deals.
3. Academic requirements.... Other great education institutions don't require above ncaa requirements for athletes.
4. Invite major technology investors to be a part of the program. Turn them into fans. Could you imagine having an Elon Musk as an NIL? He wouldn't but others may? Rivian is building plants in state? Maybe tix to them?

We definitely need to do better, but nobody besides the dawgs and maybe Clemson ever has close or more fans than us at BDS.
 

chriscarter

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
49
Ole Miss was close a couple of weeks ago. Miami when they are hot and FSU can pack fans in there as well.
I was at the game and feel like Ole miss had more fans but it may have been they were just louder?

How do recruits react to going to BDS and see opposing fans drowning out GT fans?
 

billga99

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
821
Correct - list is not shared. But the roll call requests sure do make great use of football game day pictures don’t they?

I’ve met alumni that believe their roll call donations benefit sports.
I talked to a female GT Grad neighbor who said she wished GT would forget athletics. Her belief is GT should realize they are a STEM school and just concentrate on academics. She was completely surprised when I told her virtually all of the money spent on athletics is walled off and did not benefit from general funds. She is in her 50s. My point is a very high pct of our alumni shares this type of view which definitely hurts our athletic funding and interest.
 

Augusta_Jacket

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
8,095
Location
Augusta, Georgia
I was at the game and feel like Ole miss had more fans but it may have been they were just louder?

How do recruits react to going to BDS and see opposing fans drowning out GT fans?

I sit in the upper north, and the upper north was predominantly Ole Miss fans. Looking around from there, it was easily 40-50% OM fans in the stadium.

Caveat: Had GT fans actually shown up, it would probably have been about 25-30% OM fans in the house.
 

LargeFO

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,417
Ole Miss was close a couple of weeks ago. Miami when they are hot and FSU can pack fans in there as well.

Fair on Ole Miss. Was really thinking teams we play fairly often. FSU definitely brings a solid amount. I've been to almost all the Miami BDS games and never been remotely impressed with their turnouts.
 

DavidStandingBear

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
311
Location
McKinney TX
We have billions in endowment. Breaking off 30 million to jump start the program would be a start. Then pay it back when we are selling out games and joining a new conference. But now I’ll be told how that’s impossible because of …….. nothing. Where there is a will there is always a way.
Endowments have been given for a stated purpose, little is discretionary
 
Top