Whisenhunt to Bama

GTJohn70

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
21
Location
FL
Have to wait and see how it works out. What is he a special assistant for? At the worst, he has a good teacher if he is willing to learn. If so, his future could take a turn for the better which I hope happens. Would love to see him as a successful NCAA head coach somewhere.
 

Augusta_Jacket

Moderator
Staff member
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8,099
Location
Augusta, Georgia
You can hire guys who can recruit. He took a team to a super bowl. He can coach.

I tend to agree with this. I've seen it said many times that hiring a great recruiter who can't coach well (Dabo is a great example) works as long as his staff can coach so I don't know why the opposite wouldn't work as well.

That being said, I'm not a huge fan of the idea of him as head coach at GT...
 

99jacket

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
105
Location
South Georgia
I'm not a believer in Pro coaches being head coaches at college level, but looks to me like pro coaches being OC and DC, or assts works well and let the college guys run the program , recruit etc. It seem to work well in Athens.
We have a good reference for your point at GT going from O’Leary to Gailey. The Gailey years were by no means a bad era but when compared to the O’Leary years there was definitely some nuance missing that made a difference in maximizing our talent and resources.
 

leatherneckjacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,078
Location
Atlanta, GA
We have a good reference for your point at GT going from O’Leary to Gailey. The Gailey years were by no means a bad era but when compared to the O’Leary years there was definitely some nuance missing that made a difference in maximizing our talent and resources.
Yet, Gailey was excellent at identifying and developing talent at every position but QB. He had many two star recruits make it to the NFL. His inability to maximize talent was more due to loyalty to one assistant coach and had nothing to do with him coming from the NFL. That and Flunkgate, our school misreporting academic progress, and losing our top four running backs in one season.
 

stinger 1957

Helluva Engineer
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1,475
Yet, Gailey was excellent at identifying and developing talent at every position but QB. He had many two star recruits make it to the NFL. His inability to maximize talent was more due to loyalty to one assistant coach and had nothing to do with him coming from the NFL. That and Flunkgate, our school misreporting academic progress, and losing our top four running backs in one season.
One of the best at talent evaluation according to some connected with the pros.
I've talked with college players that said they did not like it in the pros, was not fun in their opinion, it's all business. I mention this because it seems to me this may be the mind set that makes it hard for pro coaches to do well as head coaches in college. They treat the players very differently in each of them. I would be interested what Marco C. might have to say on the subject, he's worked and played under both.
 

Heisman's Ghost

Helluva Engineer
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Albany Georgia
We have a good reference for your point at GT going from O’Leary to Gailey. The Gailey years were by no means a bad era but when compared to the O’Leary years there was definitely some nuance missing that made a difference in maximizing our talent and resources.
To my untrained eye, the biggest difference was that O'Leary had Ralph and Joe Ham and some very good offensive lines. Gailey's teams seemed to always have good defenses and special teams. It was like watching a pro team in many ways. I used to complain about Coach Gailey...until recently.
 

forensicbuzz

21st Century Throwback Dad
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8,851
Location
North Shore, Chicago
To my untrained eye, the biggest difference was that O'Leary had Ralph and Joe Ham and some very good offensive lines. Gailey's teams seemed to always have good defenses and special teams. It was like watching a pro team in many ways. I used to complain about Coach Gailey...until recently.
I aways thought that if Gailey got out of his own way on offense, we could have had some top-caliber teams back then. He could spot the talent, he just thought he'd win with defense and field position, like the Pros. At least that's what I remember it seeming like back then.
 

bke1984

Helluva Engineer
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3,447
I aways thought that if Gailey got out of his own way on offense, we could have had some top-caliber teams back then. He could spot the talent, he just thought he'd win with defense and field position, like the Pros. At least that's what I remember it seeming like back then.
That’s exactly right. How you could have a college player the caliber of Calvin Johnson and not have one of the best offenses around is beyond comprehension. But man his defenses were flat out nasty.
 

MWBATL

Helluva Engineer
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6,534
Y'all don't think the offensive style contributed to the defensive effectiveness?
Under Gailey, we had NO offensive style. He did try to run an NFL offense. It was ALL about taking NO chances, playing it safe, who cares if you're predictable...just don't turn the ball over. He totally relied on defense to win, and our offense gave them NO help that I can recall (by and large).
 
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