Why Did Georgia Tech Football Leave the SEC?

[GTFLETCH]

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

Mainly stoopidity.

 

[boger2337]

Do we think the leaving of the SEC also killed some of the... "tradition" that GT had with Alumni. That the SEC actually does hold some serious weight just in the name.

The ultimate question is... if we stayed in the SEC would we ultimately end up like Vandy? Maybe somewhere in the middle like Miss State, Ole Miss, Missouri? Or would we be a blue blood and be more of a Florida, Bama, uga, auburn?

I tend to think we would be somewhat in the middle with peaks of success, but academics at one point would of taken its toll.

The money would of been nice though!

 

[Bennett]

SEC can eat ****. I’m glad we’re out. We aren’t like those schools in any way except for geographical location. Onward and upward

 

[kg01]

I just like how, even after all these years ... nah, all these decades, we still have more SEC titles than half their current members.

It "just means more", huh?

Suckers.

 

[Skeptic]

Pretty funny. In that "interesting if true" category. But more to the point, I think Dodd had visions of being Notre Dame; he was furious that Bryant was holding what amounted to mass tryouts before sending dozens of players home too late to get another offer, and that the SEC stood mute to clear violations, and maybe as importantly, he never got past -- as many of us didn't -- that Chick Graning mugging that almost killed him and ended his career while Bryant, though obviously in a difficult spot, backed his linebacker and denied an intentional shot though film showed clearly an elbow to the face of a helpless punt returner. It didn't help that said LB ran off the field celebrating to a sideline giving him what amounted to a standing ovation. And of course there was the sudden and unexpected space exploration program that refocused GT's mission and in all fairness made it impossible to compete in the SEC going forward. Leaving the SEC was mistake no. 1. Going independent was mistake no. 2. (Tech did the impossible: spilled the milk twice.)

 

[Deleted member 2897]

SEC can eat ****. I’m glad we’re out. We aren’t like those schools in any way except for geographical location. Onward and upward

If you go look up the quality of their schools, there's Vanderbilt, and then the rest of them are just about pure crap. If you look at the ACC, we have a few SEC-lite schools academically speaking, but otherwise most of the conference has very well regarded schools. Just imagine being Vanderbilt right now - what would be the fun in that - week in and week out having to bathe yourself in filth. I'd much rather be in a conference that excels in both academics and athletics.

 

[GTFLETCH]

Some Good Reads:

Fifty years ago, Georgia Tech left the SEC
https://www.ajc.com/sports/fifty-years-ago-georgia-tech-left-the-sec/07w1mrefY4QgzlmzzSXr9O/

Looking back at Tech, Tulane’s decision to leave SEC
https://www.ajc.com/sports/college/...ne-decision-leave-sec/lr37CxxIUKSY4G38mEO9zJ/

Georgia Tech erred when it left the SEC
https://www.macon.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/bobby-pope/article30145833.html

Why Georgia Tech left the SEC
https://orangeandbluevictorious.wee...ng-sec-football/why-georgia-tech-left-the-sec

Georgia Tech Leaves the SEC
http://cecilbuffington.com/catalog_40.html

LORAN SMITH: Georgia Tech not the same since leaving SEC
https://www.onlineathens.com/sports/20191126/loran-smith-georgia-tech-not-same-since-leaving-sec

 

[GTFLETCH]

Do we think the leaving of the SEC also killed some of the... "tradition" that GT had with Alumni. That the SEC actually does hold some serious weight just in the name.

The ultimate question is... if we stayed in the SEC would we ultimately end up like Vandy? Maybe somewhere in the middle like Miss State, Ole Miss, Missouri? Or would we be a blue blood and be more of a Florida, Bama, uga, auburn?

I tend to think we would be somewhat in the middle with peaks of success, but academics at one point would of taken its toll.

The money would of been nice though!

We would be considered like Auburn, Florida, Georgia

 

[grandpa jacket]

We would be considered like Auburn, Florida, Georgia

I think that is a stretch, we are not exactly lightning it up in the ACC.

 

[GTFLETCH]

I think that is a stretch, we are not exactly lightning it up in the ACC.

Well if we never left the SEC, we would have been a player at the table and would have received all the $$$ at the same time as everyone else.. We could have an 80K seat stadium...I mean think of all the energy it took to create the Metro Conf..and then to join the ACC who was looked worse then the BIG East and had poor TV dollars to prove it. Had we stayed in the SEC we could have been building facilities.

The ACC today was not the same ACC in the eighties and nineties. Since the new ACC has come out Only Clemson(7), VT(6), and FSU(5) have more ACC Championship game appearances to our 4. So yea while we have not had the FSU & Clemson national success, Georgia Tech has yet to see that since they withdrew from the SEC in 1964. But being the Fourth best program in your Conf is nothing to laugh at either. It will be interesting to see if Coach Collins can break past the 7/8 game standard at Georgia Tech and take us to National Success. I sure hope so.

 

[boger2337]

I think that is a stretch, we are not exactly lightning it up in the ACC.

I think that is in large part leaving the SEC. Take the current team now? No. We wouldn't fair well in the SEC. But I will say we would if never had a Paul Johnson era, and we may of had 2-3 more national championships if we had stayed in the SEC.

 

[jacketup]

Pretty funny. In that "interesting if true" category. But more to the point, I think Dodd had visions of being Notre Dame; he was furious that Bryant was holding what amounted to mass tryouts before sending dozens of players home too late to get another offer, and that the SEC stood mute to clear violations, and maybe as importantly, he never got past -- as many of us didn't -- that Chick Graning mugging that almost killed him and ended his career while Bryant, though obviously in a difficult spot, backed his linebacker and denied an intentional shot though film showed clearly an elbow to the face of a helpless punt returner. It didn't help that said LB ran off the field celebrating to a sideline giving him what amounted to a standing ovation. And of course there was the sudden and unexpected space exploration program that refocused GT's mission and in all fairness made it impossible to compete in the SEC going forward. Leaving the SEC was mistake no. 1. Going independent was mistake no. 2. (Tech did the impossible: spilled the milk twice.)

Everything you say is true, plus pro sports came to ATL and pulled money away from Tech. On top of that, Dodd was unwilling to solicit money from his relationships aka GT alumni. By 1970 our facilities were putrid. All of these things led to the decline.

After leaving the SEC I'm not sure that there were alternatives in the mid 60's other than going independent. We still played our biggest SEC rivals for awhile, Tennessee, Auburn and the other place.

 

[boger2337]

Everything you say is true, plus pro sports came to ATL and pulled money away from Tech. On top of that, Dodd was unwilling to solicit money from his relationships aka GT alumni. By 1970 our facilities were putrid. All of these things led to the decline.

After leaving the SEC I'm not sure that there were alternatives in the mid 60's other than going independent. We still played our biggest SEC rivals for awhile, Tennessee, Auburn and the other place.

So... Dodd was basically against the very principles that are drivers in today's football programs. He was a good coach and good man, but dang did he SCREW us long term.

 

[Skeptic]

, Auburn and the other place.

Clever, clever.

 

[DvilleJacket]

Kids could've stayed in Atlanta and still played in the all mighty SEC. We would have more money for sure. Imagine what CGC and his masterminds could do if we had SEC on our stuff!

 

[jayparr]

Pretty funny. In that "interesting if true" category. But more to the point, I think Dodd had visions of being Notre Dame; he was furious that Bryant was holding what amounted to mass tryouts before sending dozens of players home too late to get another offer, and that the SEC stood mute to clear violations, and maybe as importantly, he never got past -- as many of us didn't -- that Chick Graning mugging that almost killed him and ended his career while Bryant, though obviously in a difficult spot, backed his linebacker and denied an intentional shot though film showed clearly an elbow to the face of a helpless punt returner. It didn't help that said LB ran off the field celebrating to a sideline giving him what amounted to a standing ovation. And of course there was the sudden and unexpected space exploration program that refocused GT's mission and in all fairness made it impossible to compete in the SEC going forward. Leaving the SEC was mistake no. 1. Going independent was mistake no. 2. (Tech did the impossible: spilled the milk twice.)

Right on!

 

[first&ten]

If you go look up the quality of their schools, there's Vanderbilt, and then the rest of them are just about pure crap. If you look at the ACC, we have a few SEC-lite schools academically speaking, but otherwise most of the conference has very well regarded schools. Just imagine being Vanderbilt right now - what would be the fun in that - week in and week out having to bathe yourself in filth. I'd much rather be in a conference that excels in both academics and athletics.

Agreed.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

I think that is a stretch, we are not exactly lightning it up in the ACC.

I dont think one can look at it that way.

We lost untold millions of $ for decades by leaving due to perception, lost ticket sales, decline of facilities, horrible loss in size of recruiting pool that had nothing to do with academics, loss of public goodwill in the state, put in bad position publicity wise.

How we would have done for the decades before joining the ACC (which we wouldn't have ended up doing) have zero to do with the battle we face being better in the ACC now.

 

[TechCubed]

IMO, there have been three seismic shifts in college football in the last 50 years:

1) Integration in the 60s and 70s
2) APR in 2003
3) TV money over last decade

With history unchanged, all three of these crossroads left Georgia Tech with a lesser ability to compete then the prior era (though impact of #1 was for relatively short period of time).

With history changed (staying the SEC), only #3 turns out differently. Most recent difference in conference distribution was approximately $14 million per year. Let's conservatively say that GT would have gotten an additional $50 million over the last decade. Would that mean better facilities, resources, etc? Probably. Would that mean more success/wins? Hard to say. Everyone else is getting that money too, so doesn't automatically equate to a competitive advantage.

I think the big variable is if staying in the SEC would have impacted the actions of the academic side. If the answer is no, then we're probably looking at a program similar to Vanderbilt.

My personal opinion is that it was the right move for the right reasons, though the steady slide from the departure from SEC to Homer Rice's arrival was demoralizing. The success of 1990 probably does not happen in the SEC. I also think the pride we have in the character of student-athletes isn't at the same level (which matters to some, including me).