Where we might lose Coach Collins.

SOWEGA Jacket

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And I guess you weren't born back then. We left the Wishbone in 1976 for the veer and then in 1978 we ran multiple primarily from the I to show case ELI. When Kelley became the QB in 1978 we were throwing all over the place. Did we still run the triple, yes, like every other team in college football did until roughly 1990. Nebraska won the 1993 National Championship running power I and Triple. When Friedgen came back to Tech in 1996 he had us running triple again as well. See the Goose is loose play UGA 2000. The option is the hardest play to defend in all football.
I sort of agree to a point. If used effectively the option is deadly as the Goose is loose shows. But, that offense was so varied that when we finally ran it the defense had no shot. Unfortunately, the Goose play is nothing like what we’ve seen lately. Johnson‘s version was so one dimensional that no one was fooled which is why it morphed into a QB keeper offense. Friedgen could run offensive circles around our previous coach. Unfortunately, I’m worried that GT is again looking at an offense that isn’t varied at all. Sitting back in the shotgun all season and either handing it off 8 yards behind the LOS or pulling it and throwing into a 5-6 defender area down field doesn’t fool anybody either. You have to be varied to succeed. The defenses are too fast and too good to be a one trick pony.
 

Vespidae

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The notion of leaving Div 1 was not a very wide talked about notion.
It was absolutely talked about. President Petit was just developing the research program that we have now. He had zero interest in an athletics program. Kim King along with influential alumni demanded he commit to the athletics programs or they would petition for his removal at GT president.
 

augustabuzz

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It was absolutely talked about. President Petit was just developing the research program that we have now. He had zero interest in an athletics program. Kim King along with influential alumni demanded he commit to the athletics programs or they would petition for his removal at GT president.
Dr. Petit was not happy with a group of Tech. alums who wrote a letter to our recruits in 1978, telling them to not come to Tech. That was the source of consideration for dropping football.
 

Vespidae

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Dr. Petit was not happy with a group of Tech. alums who wrote a letter to our recruits in 1978, telling them to not come to Tech. That was the source of consideration for dropping football.
Fair enough. But Petit was not Mr Personality.

Funny. Thinking about this, reminds me of the old Naval Armory. We would have to jump out of the shower when the toilet flushed to avoid getting scalded. The athletic facilities were ... decrepit.
 

augustabuzz

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Fair enough. But Petit was not Mr Personality.

Funny. Thinking about this, reminds me of the old Naval Armory. We would have to jump out of the shower when the toilet flushed to avoid getting scalded. The athletic facilities were ... decrepit.
Decrepit! That's the word.
 

7979

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Fair enough. But Petit was not Mr Personality.

Funny. Thinking about this, reminds me of the old Naval Armory. We would have to jump out of the shower when the toilet flushed to avoid getting scalded. The athletic facilities were ... decrepit.
Football locker room under the East stands made the Naval Armory look like Trump Tower...worst facilities in college football....Visiting team dressed in the basement of old AA.....their locker room was so bad that visitors would be pissed off the entire first quarter...only an idiot would have signed with Tech during the seventies...oh...wait...never mind
 

forensicbuzz

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Since it is out there let's put some perspective into Tech football from 1978-1986. In 1978 we had a really good team that was filled with guys that could play. But as is always forgotten, we play a very difficult schedule. We won 7 games that year but lost to ranked Notre Dame, ranked UGA, and Purdue in the bowl. In 1979 we had lost a lot of players but as usual had a brutal schedule that included, Notre Dame, Florida, Alabama. we were 4-6-1.
1980 brings a coaching change but the schedule again is the hardest in the Nation. We still beat number 1 Notre Dame and 1981 brings hope knocking off Alabama in
My Father-in-law was a big wig in GTRI at the time and knew Pettit pretty well. He has told me that we were very close to downgrading football in 1980. I'll have to take his word for it because in 1980 I had no interest in Ga Tech.
 

Oakland

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I've often thought that the football stadium should bear the name Rice on it. Dodd was the tradition, but Rice kept us from becoming another University of Tampa.
 

g0lftime

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It was absolutely talked about. President Petit was just developing the research program that we have now. He had zero interest in an athletics program. Kim King along with influential alumni demanded he commit to the athletics programs or they would petition for his removal at GT president.
Petit wanted to increase the engineering graduate programs for more PhDs. We were viewed as a good undergrad program but very small graduate school. When I was in EE school they were only admitting 4 PhD candidates per year in the early 70's. He felt that was needed to elevate the status of the school. He could have cared less about athletics. He may have been responsible for selling WGST during his era.
 

IM79

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There is no doubt he didn't care about athletics. I believe WGST was sold around 76 or 77, for sure during his reign.
 

bobongo

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Dr. Petit was not happy with a group of Tech. alums who wrote a letter to our recruits in 1978, telling them to not come to Tech. That was the source of consideration for dropping football.
Tell me more...why did alums write a letter to recruits telling them not to come to Tech? And why was Dr. Petit unhappy with them, if he wanted to downgrade the football program?

Inquiring minds want to know...
 

GoldZ

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Tell me more...why did alums write a letter to recruits telling them not to come to Tech? And why was Dr. Petit unhappy with them, if he wanted to downgrade the football program?

Inquiring minds want to know...
Many of us wrote letters encouraging them to come and Petit wasn't happy with us either. augusta might have made a typo. What I can tell you again, is the topic of dropping D-1 football was real, and that Petit thought football was the outhouse vs the front porch of the Institute.

I've said many times, that if it wasn't for the relatively few exceptions we recruited and signed, Tech would have the football legacy of RICE (which would have suited Petit just fine).
 

augustabuzz

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Tell me more...why did alums write a letter to recruits telling them not to come to Tech? And why was Dr. Petit unhappy with them, if he wanted to downgrade the football program?

Inquiring minds want to know...
There is always a cadre that view Tech. football as their fiefdom and when they don't get their way they behave like petulant 4year olds. The letter was of course anonymously written and Dr. Pettit had had enough of their churlish behavior and the threat to end their obsession was born of their arrogance.
 

Adadu

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I know clickbaity title but wait for it, I've been doing a decent amount of thinking on this and I honestly think that our most likely competition for Collins's talent if and when he turns things around here (if his methods work I see us having a majorly hard time holding onto him) Isn't actually in the College world at all.

Thanks to the transfer portal college football is now getting a very strong taste of the concept of free agency and sub 4 year contract management where players can in truth take their talents elsewhere demanding a release and potentially be courted for a second round of recruiting. Collins has shown he is very adept in going after these free agents, just look at what we are bringing in. If he managed to get us to a 10 win team by year 4 (the optimistic view would be 10-4 or 12-2 with a loss or 2 in the regular season and a acc championship loss to a clemson or so but eh you get the point) That would show that as a rebuilder with a penchant for building in free agency and an eye for talent. I think we very well could lose him to something crazy like an assistant GM job in the NFL.

He is already extremely brand focused and ticks a lot of those boxes on what you need out of an NFL GM. I could easily see a team taking a chance on him and bringing him into their front office especially if they have an aging GM or have recently done a coaching/gm change.

Or its monday. I know im typically on the negative side of collin's debates. But that's not because I don't want to see success its usually because I also don't think success means ignoring what was successful before or tribalistic approaches. I actually do think if he managed something like this this is a very real threat most other schools wouldn't even have. Collins has shown in his career in the past that he's willing to step off the field into admin roles if it either advanced his career or presented a new challenge. Also it be hard to turn down the league.
I'm sorry but this is way beyond speculation, more like fan-fiction. College athletics and the NFL are about as different as trying to live on Earth vs Mars. This will not happen within the next decade with Collins, if it ever does.
 

jgtengineer

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I'm sorry but this is way beyond speculation, more like fan-fiction. College athletics and the NFL are about as different as trying to live on Earth vs Mars. This will not happen within the next decade with Collins, if it ever does.

They won't be for much longer, not with likeness contracts, free agency int eh form of the transfer portal and potential pay for play constantly being brought up.
 
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