Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego…um…er…Tashard Choice? (TX?)

[ThatGuy]

While I’m sad to lose CTC, I’ll go on record as saying this is the right move for him right now. Earlier this year I found myself thinking, “what will happen to Coach Choice when (inevitably) the music stops on the CGC era?” Of almost all the coaches on staff, he’s the one I’d want to see advance. And amidst this leadership, advancement is not likely to happen. He’s not ready to be an HC, and possibly not an OC yet - and if we advanced him to that position right now, it would be a losing proposition for all of us.

Getting out of Dodge just makes sense, and it puts him in a better position to come back one day than had he stayed (and I hope he will).

As I now turn my attention to the situation we’re in, a bigger unsettled issue occurs to me: where is the soul of the program now? When we lost Derrick Moore to USCe, one of the thoughts batted around was that there wasn’t room for both him and CTC in the same locker room. That seems reasonable. Coach Choice is still the sledgehammer guy he always was, and it shows. He fires up recruits, RBs, and the entire team.

With his departure for USCw, we lose a great recruiter and RB coach, sure. But we also lose part of that support that gets the team fired up. Who steps up to take on the mantle of the soul of the program? That’s been an integral part of GT football since Derrick Moore arrived. Who’s the next man up for that, if anyone?

 

[cthenrys]

Recruiting is better under Collins, but not by alot and not by anywhere close to enough to make up for huge deficits in other parts of the program.

Here are his first 4 recruiting classes from 247Sports
2019 - 50 (this is the changeover year so not really on Collins)
2020 - 27
2021 - 48
2022 - 37 (currently)

The previous regime's classes tended to be in the 40's and 50's.

I expect recruiting for 2023 is going to be tough given the last 3 years on the field. Have to see significant improvement in W/L or recruiting will simply dry up.

But but but. Transfers aren’t reflected in the rankings. All we heard before the year started…. CGCs two business card skills coming in were DC success and recruiting. One has been a disaster and has gotten worse and the other has been better but not good enough to overcome his lack of coaching ability - and his shoddy performance has damaged the latter as well.

We all know how it ends.

 

[RamblinRed]

Collins had it going on the recruiting side. If he won 6 this year we might be celebrating one of the best classes ever. Next year will be tough without choice and we could use a fast start to the season.

He was having a good year (at its highest it was at 22/23 - 247 and Rivals), but he was going to have to finish strong in order to hold a Top 25 ranking as GT was able to jump out early with commitments.

The program desperately needed to win 6 games this year, as this is about the time that it becomes much more difficult to sell your 'vision' rather than the actual results. I suspect 2023 recruiting will start out more slowly and only pick up if the team can win some games. When you are 3 years in and you haven't beaten a P5 team with a winning record, that is an issue.

As to Choice's decision - there was really no decision to make here. Even a 'down' USC is a better job than GT. That is considered a Top 10 coaching school from an attractiveness standpoint (location, resources, history). Heck, who would you rather work for - Geoff Collins or Lincoln Riley. I wish him all the best and hope he kills it out in LA.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Recruiting is better under Collins, but not by alot and not by anywhere close to enough to make up for huge deficits in other parts of the program.

Here are his first 4 recruiting classes from 247Sports
2019 - 50 (this is the changeover year so not really on Collins)
2020 - 27
2021 - 48
2022 - 37 (currently)

The previous regime's classes tended to be in the 40's and 50's.

I expect recruiting for 2023 is going to be tough given the last 3 years on the field. Have to see significant improvement in W/L or recruiting will simply dry up.

This is a situation where statistics mask the truth. I'm very surprised YOU laid out this weak basis for your opinion. Our recruiting has been significantly better. Class rankings have a lot of moving parts that aren't necessarily apparent when you just look at the number. How many recruits were in the class? What type of players made up the class (i.e. was there a kicker in the class)? We're HS kids passed over to bring in transfers that the staff think are more able to produce?

 

[4shotB]

Heck, who would you rather work for - Geoff Collins or Lincoln Riley.

Not enough data to answer now. Answer these questions first - which one is paying me $600k and which is paying me $250k? Then I can answer your question.

Honestly, I never needed to like or get along all that well with my boss. I just needed to be paid well and left alone.

 

[stech81]

Why does everyone worry about recruiting it's a crapshoot. You are looking at high school kids that most the time play against kids that will never play higher than high school. No one really knows how good a recruiting class is till they have been here 3 years. Oh you have the so called recruiting services that will tell you but all they are doing is selling prescriptions to get your money. After this year go back and see how many and who we signed in 2020 and see how many players are still here and than you will know in the 2020 class was going. Point blank you have to coach the players up which is something we really need to work on a Tech.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Why does everyone worry about recruiting it's a crapshoot. You are looking at high school kids that most the time play against kids that will never play higher than high school. No one really knows how good a recruiting class is till they have been here 3 years. Oh you have the so called recruiting services that will tell you but all they are doing is selling prescriptions to get your money. After this year go back and see how many and who we signed in 2020 and see how many players are still here and than you will know in the 2020 class was going. Point blank you have to coach the players up which is something we really need to work on a Tech.

I know some will argue with you and show the “success rate” of 2 star vs 3 star vs 4 star etc but I think you are dead on the money in one respect. All recruiting rankings tell us is the predicted level of success at the next level. If a higher rated class does not produce on field results then the rankings failed in their attempt to predict success -regardless of the reasons for that failure.

 

[bobongo]

That’s my hope too. Coach choice learns the offense and he comes back as our head coach someday.

For all anyone knows, this could end up being a great thing for Tech. Choice leaves but gains valuable experience and returns triumphant some sunny day as our HC.
You never know how something is going to work out.

 

[Adadu]

For all anyone knows, this could end up being a great thing for Tech. Choice leaves but gains valuable experience and returns triumphant some sunny day as our HC.
You never know how something is going to work out.

I think that based on how the Collins debacle has turned out, we need to open up our horizons. Yes, Choice is a great recruiter and has a lot of passion but none of us have any idea how he will pan out as a head coach or even an OC for that matter. The last thing we should be looking at is "does coach x have ties to Tech" when we start looking for whoever will follow Collins and beyond. This strategy from the AA/boosters has clearly not worked, and we were much better off when hiring PJ who had general ties to Georgia/the south and a proven track record of winning.

 

[Buzztheirazz]

I think that based on how the Collins debacle has turned out, we need to open up our horizons. Yes, Choice is a great recruiter and has a lot of passion but none of us have any idea how he will pan out as a head coach or even an OC for that matter. The last thing we should be looking at is "does coach x have ties to Tech" when we start looking for whoever will follow Collins and beyond. This strategy from the AA/boosters has clearly not worked, and we were much better off when hiring PJ who had general ties to Georgia/the south and a proven track record of winning.

Finally. Everyone anointing Choice as the HC in waiting of about 15 years is ridiculous. Let’s see if he can be a decent OC first. Oh wait…he hasn’t even started that yet.

 

[jgtengineer]

Finally. Everyone anointing Choice as the HC in waiting of about 15 years is ridiculous. Let’s see if he can be a decent OC first. Oh wait…he hasn’t even started that yet.

Dabo went from WR coach to HC. If you are goign the Dabo route.. the HC doens't have to ever have been a cooardinator.

 

[JacketOff]

Finally. Everyone anointing Choice as the HC in waiting of about 15 years is ridiculous. Let’s see if he can be a decent OC first. Oh wait…he hasn’t even started that yet.

Literally no one is saying Choice is the HC in waiting

 

[a5ehren]

Dabo went from WR coach to HC. If you are goign the Dabo route.. the HC doens't have to ever have been a cooardinator.

Helps if you can pay $4M+ for coordinators. We, um, can't.

 

[bobongo]

I think that based on how the Collins debacle has turned out, we need to open up our horizons. Yes, Choice is a great recruiter and has a lot of passion but none of us have any idea how he will pan out as a head coach or even an OC for that matter. The last thing we should be looking at is "does coach x have ties to Tech" when we start looking for whoever will follow Collins and beyond. This strategy from the AA/boosters has clearly not worked, and we were much better off when hiring PJ who had general ties to Georgia/the south and a proven track record of winning.

Oh, I agree completely. I didn't mean to suggest that we should only be looking for a Tech man. I was just commenting on how seeming bad things can turn out good. But that having been said, a competent and qualified "Tech man" might be more drawn to an opening here. I want the best coach possible, Tech man or not.

 

[jgtengineer]

Helps if you can pay $4M+ for coordinators. We, um, can't.

im not sure they started that way

 

[JacketOff]

Dabo went from WR coach to HC. If you are goign the Dabo route.. the HC doens't have to ever have been a cooardinator.

They don’t have to be a coordinator, but almost everyone who becomes a head coach was a coordinator at some point in their career. Btw, Dabo was promoted to OC in 2008 and then became the interim HC when they fired Bowden. So even he had some experience as a coordinator.

It’s basically requirement to have coordinator experience because there’s so much more responsibility involved with being a coordinator than a position coach. And if you’ve never been given the responsibility of a coordinator before, it’s logical to think you’ll struggle with the responsibility of being a HC

 

[LongforDodd]

Dabo went from WR coach to HC. If you are goign the Dabo route.. the HC doens't have to ever have been a cooardinator.

And sometimes the HC doesn't ever have to have played college football.

 

[iceeater1969]

As you say, we are dealing with opinions here. Mine is that people who are his age follow the money and/or move in the interests of furthering their careers. People who follow their hearts instead of their brains are on the backside of their careers, have raised their kids and payed off the mortgages and have set themselves up for retirement and have little to no financial motivation when selecting jobs.

ETA - no doubt our current state of affairs play into things. If we were going into the playoffs in year 3 I am relatively sure we could have found a way to match USC's offer. But we may be dealing with a buyout soon.

A ??? If we were going to the playoffs in year 3, then we would have money to... .???

B How bout if we had looked very good in some tough games and we were in the case for the coastal? I think thats what you meant.

I think we all would have been pretty amazed with B.

I think we know if ""A"" we could not out bid the competition. For the whole staff.

I intend to follow Choice on social media and send him a. "" thank you and see you back soon i hope "gift.

 

[LawTalkin Jacket]

Mike Tomlin was DC for one season and that team went 6-10

 

[00Burdell]

No offense to anybody but why does anyone think Choice would ever come back here?

He left and he's never coming back.