Where the Program stands

takethepoints

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We won't go back to the TO. There's no political or financial support for it now. The whole premise of the change was to run an offense that prepared players for the NFL. That's what doomed Malzahn at Auburn and I just don't see a return under the current rules and status of CFB today.
This is roughly the same, imho, of saying that there is no constituency for winning. If I may:

• Tech is now after the same players as everyone else and "preparing for the NFL" is, I agree, at the bottom of that choice. Problem = we recruited good talent that went to the NFL just this year - Mason,Thomas, Swilling, Howard, Carpenter - using the TO. The league is famous for signing talent, not numbers. We had our share who got a chance; indeed, about the same as we see now, though that may change in future. And we won consistently with these players.

• There is a vast pool of high school talent out there that we tap into less consistently now, again imho. When Paul's teams had senior day, the theme for the players was usually to thank him for "goofing me a chance". The spread option was almost uniquely suited to exploit players with absolutely lights out high school careers - Wright, Godhigh(!), Zenon, Peeples, Shaq Mason - who didn't get a nod from schools looking to "prepare players for the NFL. And we won consistently with those players.

I agree that we will not bring back the spread option - though I, for one, would be glad if we did - but we need to start thinking about coaches with O schemes that will let us win with the players we can get into Tech and keep there and quit thinking about "preparing players for the NFL". We won consistently that way in the recent past. If we do that and, of course, win, we'll get our share of NFL players.
 

TooTall

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I am sure you are probably right. But my point remains the same. If players spend more time worried about NIL $ than practicing, playing and perfecting their skills ... they won't ultimately be happy with the results. Let's see what Sims says ...
Just like all those pro athletes who do commercials yet still find time for practice and games. Capitalism rewards the successful and if we loose the athletes won't see many NIL opportunities. If we win and win and win, the $$$$ will roll in.
Oh and yes, swarmtheatl.com will go live Wednesday according to ajc reporting.

( Sent from AJC News )
 

JacketFan137

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Just like all those pro athletes who do commercials yet still find time for practice and games. Capitalism rewards the successful and if we loose the athletes won't see many NIL opportunities. If we win and win and win, the $$$$ will roll in.
Oh and yes, swarmtheatl.com will go live Wednesday according to ajc reporting.

( Sent from AJC News )
if anything football yields itself well for athletes to seek opportunities. you are only given limited practice days and hours so they do have time.
 

Vespidae

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t you w. B we y y
This is roughly the same, imho, of saying that there is no constituency for winning. If I may:

• Tech is now after the same players as everyone else and "preparing for the NFL" is, I agree, at the bottom of that choice. Problem = we recruited good talent that went to the NFL just this year - Mason,Thomas, Swilling, Howard, Carpenter - using the TO. The league is famous for signing talent, not numbers. We had our share who got a chance; indeed, about the same as we see now, though that may change in future. And we won consistently with these players.

• There is a vast pool of high school talent out there that we tap into less consistently now, again imho. When Paul's teams had senior day, the theme for the players was usually to thank him for "goofing me a chance". The spread option was almost uniquely suited to exploit players with absolutely lights out high school careers - Wright, Godhigh(!), Zenon, Peeples, Shaq Mason - who didn't get a nod from schools looking to "prepare players for the NFL. And we won consistently with those players.

I agree that we will not bring back the spread option - though I, for one, would be glad if we did - but we need to start thinking about coaches with O schemes that will let us win with the players we can get into Tech and keep there and quit thinking about "preparing players for the NFL". We won consistently that way in the recent past. If we do that and, of course, win, we'll get our share of NFL players.
You make an excellent point. But this is Todd+Geoff's strategy .... offer a pipeline to the NFL and/or a Tech degree. It is going to work? Probably not. It just isn't conceivable to a rational human being that Tech can take on the factories and win at this game with the resources we have. Tech is now neither a factory nor a specialized scheme. We are in the middle ... which is often called The Ditch.
 

Vespidae

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Just like all those pro athletes who do commercials yet still find time for practice and games. Capitalism rewards the successful and if we loose the athletes won't see many NIL opportunities. If we win and win and win, the $$$$ will roll in.
Oh and yes, swarmtheatl.com will go live Wednesday according to ajc reporting.

( Sent from AJC News )
The only problem with your justification is we don't have professional athletes. We have student athletes. They are supposed to be in class or studying. So they have to divide their time even more to include money-making schemes. And when NIL takes precedence over the other two ... it's not a pretty outcome. Which has been the point I'm making and have been making.
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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The only problem with your justification is we don't have professional athletes. We have student athletes. They are supposed to be in class or studying. So they have to divide their time even more to include money-making schemes. And when NIL takes precedence over the other two ... it's not a pretty outcome. Which has been the point I'm making and have been making.
Listen, we are waaay past the time of arguing about “we have true student athletes and not professionals”. That is such hogwash. Dennis Scott was a professional the minute he stepped foot on campus. So was Kenny and Marbury and many many others. That was back when we won games. I was in many classes with Dennis and Kenny. Good dudes, but GT didn’t recruit them to be student athletes. The problem GT has had is that those type of players now check us off the list from the jump so we get to use the “student athlete” excuse. I bet if we signed 4 five stars and started winning again no one would ever bring up the “student athlete” myth again. No one brought it up when we went to Final Fours. GT is no different than any other school. We just make poor decisions most of the time which causes us to lose. Was Gibbs a “student athlete” while here and now a “professional” because he moved a hundred miles west?
 

Vespidae

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Listen, we are waaay past the time of arguing about “we have true student athletes and not professionals”. That is such hogwash. Dennis Scott was a professional the minute he stepped foot on campus. So was Kenny and Marbury and many many others. That was back when we won games. I was in many classes with Dennis and Kenny. Good dudes, but GT didn’t recruit them to be student athletes. The problem GT has had is that those type of players now check us off the list from the jump so we get to use the “student athlete” excuse. I bet if we signed 4 five stars and started winning again no one would ever bring up the “student athlete” myth again. No one brought it up when we went to Final Fours. GT is no different than any other school. We just make poor decisions most of the time which causes us to lose. Was Gibbs a “student athlete” while here and now a “professional” because he moved a hundred miles west?
Well then, we’re done. The Hill doesn’t support winning at all costs and never has.
 

forensicbuzz

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They take the classes. They took the classes. When I was a freshman, Bobby brought the basketball team over for an introduction outside the music listening room on the 2nd floor of the student center (don't know what it is now). There was some Q&A with the students and Bobby made a quip, "make no mistake about it, these guys are all management majors." They went to class and passed for the most part. After Dalrymple, The Tower wouldn't let anyone in that didn't have a chance at making it through. Apparently, he couldn't read coming into Tech. Don't know if that is true, but it was a story I heard from the mouth of a Tech Admin. I also heard no one tried at school harder than he did.
 

Northeast Stinger

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They take the classes. They took the classes. When I was a freshman, Bobby brought the basketball team over for an introduction outside the music listening room on the 2nd floor of the student center (don't know what it is now). There was some Q&A with the students and Bobby made a quip, "make no mistake about it, these guys are all management majors." They went to class and passed for the most part. After Dalrymple, The Tower wouldn't let anyone in that didn't have a chance at making it through. Apparently, he couldn't read coming into Tech. Don't know if that is true, but it was a story I heard from the mouth of a Tech Admin. I also heard no one tried at school harder than he did.
And this is the point, in my opinion. Even Harvard allows some students in who are not top of their class out of high school. There is no disgrace in giving people a chance to have a quality education. Hell, that’s the American way. What I contend is different about Tech and Harvard from some other colleges I could name is that you actually have to do the work to be able to stay in school and he eligible to play sports.
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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And this is the point, in my opinion. Even Harvard allows some students in who are not top of their class out of high school. There is no disgrace in giving people a chance to have a quality education. Hell, that’s the American way. What I contend is different about Tech and Harvard from some other colleges I could name is that you actually have to do the work to be able to stay in school and he eligible to play sports.
This is exactly what every school says. This isn’t the 50’s or 60’s anymore. It’s all just noise and excuses. The smartest thing I did at GT was become friends with a few athletes. They had the best word and “scenarios” for every prof. It definitely helped me “study” better. It’s all a farce about money. The only problem we GT fans have right now is that the high end players don’t want to come here because we are perceived as a losing program. It’s not because they are scared of the academics. You have to work real hard these days to flunk out. Hire the right coach and win some games and we’ll get some players. There are a lot of good ball players out there. But since the current admin doesn’t care we will continue to flounder like 80% of the other P5 programs do.
 

JacketFan137

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This is exactly what every school says. This isn’t the 50’s or 60’s anymore. It’s all just noise and excuses. The smartest thing I did at GT was become friends with a few athletes. They had the best word and “scenarios” for every prof. It definitely helped me “study” better. It’s all a farce about money. The only problem we GT fans have right now is that the high end players don’t want to come here because we are perceived as a losing program. It’s not because they are scared of the academics. You have to work real hard these days to flunk out. Hire the right coach and win some games and we’ll get some players. There are a lot of good ball players out there. But since the current admin doesn’t care we will continue to flounder like 80% of the other P5 programs do.
i really just don’t buy this at all. academics is a hurdle for us and it’s been that way for literally every coach that’s not unique to collins. while class is easier for athletes doesn’t mean it’s easier than bama/uga/whoever. even then you can bet your bottom dollar literally every coach recruiting against us is whispering about how hard tech is and how they can come have fun at whatever SEC school they’re being recruited by. we have the reputation as a tough school and it’s always gonna be seen that way.

paul johnson had to work to get the academic requirements a little looser because he knew it was a constraint that made his job more difficult. to deny that is just ignorant
 

augustabuzz

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They take the classes. They took the classes. When I was a freshman, Bobby brought the basketball team over for an introduction outside the music listening room on the 2nd floor of the student center (don't know what it is now). There was some Q&A with the students and Bobby made a quip, "make no mistake about it, these guys are all management majors." They went to class and passed for the most part. After Dalrymple, The Tower wouldn't let anyone in that didn't have a chance at making it through. Apparently, he couldn't read coming into Tech. Don't know if that is true, but it was a story I heard from the mouth of a Tech Admin. I also heard no one tried at school harder than he did.
So, did Tech violate the ADA by not accommodating a student with a learning disability?
 

yeti92

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So, Tech is now accepting kids with LD?
Tech has accepted kids with learning disabilities for a while. I knew several guys during my time that would take tests separately from the rest of their classmates and usually got like 2x as long to take it and some "assistance" while doing so. I think they just had doctor's notes saying they had ADHD or something, no significant/noticeable disability, but I know there was a guy I had several classes with that had a very pronounced disability who did the same.
 

Northeast Stinger

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This is exactly what every school says. This isn’t the 50’s or 60’s anymore. It’s all just noise and excuses. The smartest thing I did at GT was become friends with a few athletes. They had the best word and “scenarios” for every prof. It definitely helped me “study” better. It’s all a farce about money. The only problem we GT fans have right now is that the high end players don’t want to come here because we are perceived as a losing program. It’s not because they are scared of the academics. You have to work real hard these days to flunk out. Hire the right coach and win some games and we’ll get some players. There are a lot of good ball players out there. But since the current admin doesn’t care we will continue to flounder like 80% of the other P5 programs do.
I taught in college much later than in the 50’s and 60’s so you are way off on your time line. If you are telling me now that Tech and other top academic schools are now a piece of cake for anybody then that is news to me and very surprising to me.
 

Vespidae

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This is exactly what every school says. This isn’t the 50’s or 60’s anymore. It’s all just noise and excuses. The smartest thing I did at GT was become friends with a few athletes. They had the best word and “scenarios” for every prof. It definitely helped me “study” better. It’s all a farce about money. The only problem we GT fans have right now is that the high end players don’t want to come here because we are perceived as a losing program. It’s not because they are scared of the academics. You have to work real hard these days to flunk out. Hire the right coach and win some games and we’ll get some players. There are a lot of good ball players out there. But since the current admin doesn’t care we will continue to flounder like 80% of the other P5 programs do.
I don't know about this.

I was Greek at Tech at we had a great "word" file. Preparing for exams was good because we had 400 copies of tests each year for every class to help us prepare. The worst thing you could do was register for a class with a prof who had no history. And guess what? It's the same today. Students STILL select classes and professors with a known track record and teaching philosophy.

As to the losing program, I don't think that's the reason. I've opined on this before because I have a lot of Auburn athletes in my classes and I ask them if they would have ever considered Tech. The short answer is NO. Not because GT is a loser or whatever, but ... we aren't relevant to them. Not being in the SEC is a problem (for this region) and for many, they want to play against other SEC teams or at least, teams with lots of their friends. We used to have that. There used to be an a Wreck Tech parade and all that, but it's all gone. New rivalries have formed and sights are being set on Oklahoma and Texas. The best, most diplomatic way I can say it is, we just aren't relevant to most of the athletes. I suppose with NIL we could BUY them ... if we had the money, but we don't.

As a 44 year Tech fan ... in the words of Pogo ... "We have me the enemy, and he is us."
 

SOWEGA Jacket

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I don't know about this.

I was Greek at Tech at we had a great "word" file. Preparing for exams was good because we had 400 copies of tests each year for every class to help us prepare. The worst thing you could do was register for a class with a prof who had no history. And guess what? It's the same today. Students STILL select classes and professors with a known track record and teaching philosophy.

As to the losing program, I don't think that's the reason. I've opined on this before because I have a lot of Auburn athletes in my classes and I ask them if they would have ever considered Tech. The short answer is NO. Not because GT is a loser or whatever, but ... we aren't relevant to them. Not being in the SEC is a problem (for this region) and for many, they want to play against other SEC teams or at least, teams with lots of their friends. We used to have that. There used to be an a Wreck Tech parade and all that, but it's all gone. New rivalries have formed and sights are being set on Oklahoma and Texas. The best, most diplomatic way I can say it is, we just aren't relevant to most of the athletes. I suppose with NIL we could BUY them ... if we had the money, but we don't.

As a 44 year Tech fan ... in the words of Pogo ... "We have me the enemy, and he is us."
We agree basically. I was also in a frat and we had a good word as well. But what the athletes had was I guess like all the frats combined. I have a son at GT right now and he was expecting it to be way harder. They also told us and showed us the numbers regarding enrollment retainment. GT rarely drops students anymore so the old mantra of looking left and right is long gone.

We agree that high level players don’t consider us. Most high school players of today grew up only knowing Paul Johnson and the option. Unfortunately, those future players in elementary school only know the dumpster fire.

The enemy is definitely us. I just laugh every time some GT fan lays our failures at the “school is hard” excuse. It wasn’t too hard for Gibbs and many other studs. What’s hard is getting waxed every weekend.
 

Vespidae

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We agree basically. I was also in a frat and we had a good word as well. But what the athletes had was I guess like all the frats combined. I have a son at GT right now and he was expecting it to be way harder. They also told us and showed us the numbers regarding enrollment retainment. GT rarely drops students anymore so the old mantra of looking left and right is long gone.

We agree that high level players don’t consider us. Most high school players of today grew up only knowing Paul Johnson and the option. Unfortunately, those future players in elementary school only know the dumpster fire.

The enemy is definitely us. I just laugh every time some GT fan lays our failures at the “school is hard” excuse. It wasn’t too hard for Gibbs and many other studs. What’s hard is getting waxed every weekend.
I was an global executive and the mantra was, “Define the operating model, and manage to the model.” Rinse, repeat.

Losers change their operating model. It costs a lot of time, energy and resources to change every 4-5 years.

Toyota is Toyota because they DON’T change the operating model. They adapt it. But Toyota runs the same basic business today they did 70 years ago.

Football? Tech, like most programs, changes its model with every new coaching hire. Start from scratch every seven years. Experience tells me, we will never be successful doing that. We don’t have the resources to squander seven years in the desert.

But we do it anyway. Decade after decade.
 
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