Your choice for Head Coach

Who is your choice for Tech's next Head Coach?

  • Jamey Chadwell, Coastal Carolina

    Votes: 188 36.5%
  • Tyson Helton, WKU

    Votes: 5 1.0%
  • Mike Houston, ECU

    Votes: 2 0.4%
  • Charles Huff, Marshall

    Votes: 1 0.2%
  • Brent Key, Georgia Tech (IHC)

    Votes: 182 35.3%
  • Sean Lewis, Kent State

    Votes: 1 0.2%
  • Bill O’Brien, Alabama (OC)

    Votes: 21 4.1%
  • Deion Sanders, Jackson State

    Votes: 64 12.4%
  • Kane Wommack, South Alabama

    Votes: 1 0.2%
  • Other

    Votes: 50 9.7%

  • Total voters
    515
  • Poll closed .

GTG768B

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
137
It appears they know the coach has been chosen, but they want their candidate, and are trying to find a way get Key instead. If Batt is a good AD, he will go by the proven method of hiring the candidate with the best record to go along with his coaching.
They, like you, don't know jack about who the candidate is. Stop projecting.
 

slugboy

Moderator
Staff member
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10,743
They, like you, don't know jack about who the candidate is. Stop projecting.
I think there's some idea there that we hacked the poll so that the AA would have to hire Key (who is currently in second place). I really doubt the selection committee is looking at an unscientific poll on our site (who would make business decisions off of an unscientific poll?).
While I like to think I'm smart enough to hack this poll if I put my mind to it, I've neither hacked the poll nor given it much thought. I think those numbers are real

I Get It Yes GIF by Farmers Insurance ®
 

bigrabbit

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
236
Re: Chadwell being a cheap option - I posted earlier that adding up his contract base with incentives came to $2.2M. Most of his bonuses come from slam dunks like 6 wins, bowl game etc. I assume $2Mish at a non P5 school is pretty strong. We’ll offer more of course, but he’s already doing a lot better than the oft cited $900K base.

Agree with @slugboy, hope JBatt et al have something better to do than read our stuff:)
 

Randy Carson

Helluva Engineer
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Apex, NC
I have decided to stop putting in any effort and let my work got to complete crap. When confronted, I plan to blame CCG for my poor work performance since he is to blame for every bad thing related to Georgia Tech.
LNJ, I don't need to convince you (or any others clamoring for wholesale change). Y'all can decide for yourselves. But I love a challenge, so... ;)

If you're in charge of a manufacturing plant, you're gonna need resources to produce the product: raw materials, employees to run the machines, maintenance people, etc.

Now, suppose every time you want to have a meeting with the big boss to talk about the quality of the raw materials he's buying or the employees that are being hired, he ends up ignoring your input or he's too busy because he has a big meeting with the marketing department to talk about a new ad campaign. How long are you going to be able to produce a quality product? Sure, you're a "company man" - everyone can see that. But you're hamstrung by bad decisions at the top.

Now, let's suppose (and this is just a hypothetical) that you're not perfect, either. You make a bad recommendation on a staff change or get in a batch of bad material from a supplier you took a chance on. It's gonna happen to everyone now and then. If the plant is running well overall, you're going to be able to ride that out. But if the plant is struggling in a lot areas over a long stretch of time, things will deteriorate to the point that one more issue pushes you over the edge.

Here's the thing: none of us know what really what went behind closed doors the past four years, and it's a credit to the staff that we don't. You don't air out your dirty laundry in public. It just seems like there is enough evidence to suggest that the fish stunk from the head down. Which is why ADTS is gone, too. I voted for Chadwell, but I hate the fact that we may lose a really talented guy because we want to air out the stink.

I'll hang up now and listen to your answer off the air. 🙂
 

UgaBlows

Helluva Engineer
Messages
6,351
I don’t feel like it’s throwing in the towel, but it’s imo high risk to assume Chadwell’s prior success will translate to P5 and at a unique academic school like GT. Chadwell has been recruiting anyone he wants - 800 SAT/2.5 h.s. gpa, no problem. That will end quickly at GT. My kid is friends with a really smart player (solid grades at competitive h.s., good scores) who made like 11 on his first math test.

But if we hire Chadwell, I’ll cheer and support the team, hope for the best. My opinion is that we are one more failed moon shot, another stupid contract, repeat of the GC debacle, from having to rethink football.

Key is a safer choice to stabilize, work on repairing the balance sheet, and I think he could quickly make us relevant in the ACC.

Glad it’s not my decision, tough choice. No point in telling me I’m risk adverse - my career was mostly doing startups which worked out with me retiring at 50, I know all about risk.
I may be wrong but I believe that there plenty of academically eligible 3-4 star recruits out there these days, and The Hill has reportable gotten a little more lenient.
 

leatherneckjacket

Helluva Engineer
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LNJ, I don't need to convince you (or any others clamoring for wholesale change). Y'all can decide for yourselves. But I love a challenge, so... ;)

If you're in charge of a manufacturing plant, you're gonna need resources to produce the product: raw materials, employees to run the machines, maintenance people, etc.

Now, suppose every time you want to have a meeting with the big boss to talk about the quality of the raw materials he's buying or the employees that are being hired, he ends up ignoring your input or he's too busy because he has a big meeting with the marketing department to talk about a new ad campaign. How long are you going to be able to produce a quality product? Sure, you're a "company man" - everyone can see that. But you're hamstrung by bad decisions at the top.

Now, let's suppose (and this is just a hypothetical) that you're not perfect, either. You make a bad recommendation on a staff change or get in a batch of bad material from a supplier you took a chance on. It's gonna happen to everyone now and then. If the plant is running well overall, you're going to be able to ride that out. But if the plant is struggling in a lot areas over a long stretch of time, things will deteriorate to the point that one more issue pushes you over the edge.

Here's the thing: none of us know what really what went behind closed doors the past four years, and it's a credit to the staff that we don't. You don't air out your dirty laundry in public. It just seems like there is enough evidence to suggest that the fish stunk from the head down. Which is why ADTS is gone, too. I voted for Chadwell, but I hate the fact that we may lose a really talented guy because we want to air out the stink.

I'll hang up now and listen to your answer off the air. 🙂
I think this argument is tired and misses the point. No one is absolving Collins of blame. No one is even saying Collins is not mostly to blame. No one is saying that assistant coaches were not impacted by Collins interference or poor decision making. All of these things can be true, that the coaches were negatively impacted by Collins and he is mostly to blame, but that some coaches still did a poor job. Our offense has been putrid for four years now. The one constant on offense has been Key and his extremely poor offensive line. Every other position has seen some improvement or at least reasonable play, but not the OL. The defense has improved at every level, but not the OL. How is it the rest of the staff has been able to at least get some decent play out of their position group, but not Key.

I think people are willing to ignore what is clearly in front of them because they like the cut of Key's jib, that he is Tech man, he has the backing of the players, and he comports himself extremely well. I think Key will make a very good HC one day. If he is named full time head coach, he will have my unquestioning support. I do think there are better options like Chadwell, BOB, Mullen or Clark. I am also not going to lie to myself and say he is not at least partially responsible for how poorly his position group has been for the four years he has been coaching them just because I like him, he is a Tech man, and Collins was a really bad head coach.
 
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bigrabbit

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
236
I may be wrong but I believe that there plenty of academically eligible 3-4 star recruits out there these days, and The Hill has reportable gotten a little more lenient.
I agree, they’re definitely out there and we have smart players. But my guess is our version of leniency looks a little different from Coastal Carolina’s.
The last article I saw had our football players with the highest SATs of any P5 state college, but also the largest gap of any school between the average football player and the average student.
Based on data out there, our football players have better academic stats than the average non athlete student at Coastal Carolina.
You can’t push this so far before it’s unfair for a kid to work on football 35 hours/wk, sit in a room full of academic racehorses and somehow make grades.
My point is some coaches might be more prepared to deal with the nature of GT than others.
 

roadkill

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,080
I think there's some idea there that we hacked the poll so that the AA would have to hire Key (who is currently in second place). I really doubt the selection committee is looking at an unscientific poll on our site (who would make business decisions off of an unscientific poll?).
While I like to think I'm smart enough to hack this poll if I put my mind to it, I've neither hacked the poll nor given it much thought. I think those numbers are real

I Get It Yes GIF by Farmers Insurance ®
The cognitive dissonance with the hacking theory is thinking that we have a group of posters who would take the poll results to the AD and say, "Look we have a poll that shows Key in second place! This shows that you should hire him!"
 

Randy Carson

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I think this argument is tired and misses the point. No one is absolving Collins of blame. No one is even saying Collins is not mostly to blame. No one is saying that assistant coaches were not impacted by Collins interference or poor decision making. All of these things can be true, that the coaches were negatively impacted by Collins and he is mostly to blame, but that some coaches still did a poor job. Our offense has been putrid for four years now. The one constant on offense has been Key and his extremely poor offensive line. Every other position has seen some improvement or at least reasonable play, but not the OL. The defense has improved at every level, but not the OL. How is it the rest of the staff has been able to at least get some decent play out of their position group, but not Key.

I think people are willing to ignore what is clearly in front of them because they like the cut of Key's jib, that he is Tech man, he has the backing of the players, and he comports himself extremely well. I think Key will make a very good HC one day. If he is named full time head coach, he will have my unquestioning support. I do think there are better options like Chadwell, BOB, Mullen or Clark. I am also not going to lie to myself and say he is not at least partially responsible for how poorly his position group has been for the four years he has been coaching them just because I like him, he is a Tech man, and Collins was a really bad head coach.
I like a lot - maybe even all - of what you're saying. I would love to hear a reporter ask, "Coach, your OL has struggled badly over the past four years...can you tell us why that has been the case?"

Another poster pointed to Collins' preference for measurables, and that post made sense, IMO. It's possible that a 6'4", 300 lb guy simply can't play football, but he gets an offer anyway.

Anyhoo, I think JBatt's charter from PAC was to fix what was broken, and whoever has been hired may find it easier to clean house and start over.

If so, let's hope we see BK again in a few years. I think he could be a great asset down the line.
 

Techwood Relict

Helluva Engineer
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.I knew the guy would never last and I did what I could for the team and tried to keep the worst of the stink from sticking to me.
I used to say about my worst boss, he'd go out on the limb with you, but he'd always make sure he was the closest to the tree. He didn't last either, but it was rough while he was there.
 

RonJohn

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Messages
4,489
I like a lot - maybe even all - of what you're saying. I would love to hear a reporter ask, "Coach, your OL has struggled badly over the past four years...can you tell us why that has been the case?"
He was asked a question very similar to that one a few weeks ago. He answered something along the lines of: It is very difficult to gel as an OL unit when: Practices are conducted at 3/4 speed, Practices are never conducted in full pads with full effort, and the 1s never get an opportunity to compete against each other in practice. That communication and teamwork fall apart when the only time that full speed and effort are expected is during an actual game.
 

GTNavyNuke

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go find PVdad's post and read that, and see for yourself. somewhere around page 40 I think.

I did and its powerful. It maybe was after I asked the question; the question was more to stimulate discussion on the point.

I still think that whoever Batt picks is the best choice while Key is the best choice from my limited view.

And I think that as others have very insightfully said, the HC decision is not the biggest decision facing Batt but repairing our finances and reputation are more important. Key is very likely to do both.

Collins had a very good resume and reasonable record at Temple. But he wasn't GT. Collins was statistically the worst coach in over 100 years. So I am very risk adverse right now.
 

Blue&Gold1034

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
99
I cannot think of an interim coach who wanted the top job who agreed to be an assistant for the chosen guy. Especially when players and families were openly vocal in favor of the interim. That would be a VERY uncomfortable situation.
Dont know if someone already pointed this out but Luke Fickell is the only one I can think of. Extremely similar situation since both Fickell and Key played at the school they held the interim coach position for. Might be one of the reasons Fickell stayed when Meyer came in and could be a reason Key stays if someone else comes in and wants to retain him. I doubt it though.
 

stinger 1957

Helluva Engineer
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1,283
For those that might not know or have forgotten, George O'Leary came to GT as HC in 1994 and Ralph Frigden who had one of the best and most diverse offenses I've ever watched did not arrive as OC under GOL until 1997.
We just need to fix the money thing, number one priority for me over everything else-it is the foundation of doing what Dr. Cabrera said he wants to do with GT FB, certainly there are other ingredients needed, but some of those ingredients cannot be had with out the money.
IMO we can play "big boy" FB with out gimmicks @ GT, I have always thought it was very possible. I'm not saying that we don't hire someone with some uniqueness to their offense, but those things are always eventually caught up with and you have to go on to something else. We need to hire a HC that has the fundamentals that instill disciplined, hard nosed, sound principals and let him make those choices as needed. That will take some cash flow that create surpluses-thus the money thing is an absolute must.
 

awbuzz

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All true.

But you know what? I still like the idea that we could beat other teams without throwing/completing a single pass. Leading the nation in rushing yards. I mean, damn that was something to watch.

Not advocating that for today...but it was impressive. Good times.
Just wanted to add that I enjoyed going to ACC Championship games and to the Orange Bowl.
 

Randy Carson

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In the race for Head Coach, our poll shows that Deion continues to hold onto his supporters while JChadwell continues to lead the field. But IHC BKey has made a strong move after his upset win over #15 UNC and is now within striking distance of Chadwell.

Obviously, we're a divided nation, and the final result will come down to the all-important independent voters who are waiting to see what happens on Saturday.

Then we'll have to wait until all the votes are counted. Which may take a week or two.
 
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