regarding O'leary leaving GT

law_bee

law_bee

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https://stingtalk.com/board/threads/just-heard-braine-talk-about-oleary-nd-situation-and.17/

O'leary w/o fridge was a 4-4 in the acc coach. I remember being at the game when Clemson's QB (Danstler?) ran the qb sneak for about 300 yds on us (loss)

then I think the next game I was at Burns fumbles and Fridge's MD (our old OC) kick a 60+ fg to beat us and then I think that was the 3rd loss in row

O'leary was looking for a place to go and he found it just like Ross found the NFL. You can look at the quotes from Ross, O'leary, and Gailey on the difficulty recruiting at GT.

For those of us who were around during those times we have a different perspective and that is why we embraced CPJ. His gimmick offense gave us a fighting chance. We will know in a few years whether CGC was a mistake. Hopefully Monkin will be available if we decide to go back to the option.

GT playing and winning Orange Bowl is a top 5 memory ever for GT football in my lifetime. Actually the CPJ ugag wins are right there too.

time will tell all
 
I have always felt the criticism of O'Leary based on the only season he had after Ralph left was extremely overblown. Some people never meshed with O'Leary and used that 2001 season against him.

We went into 2001 ranked in the top 10 and on many dark horse MNC lists.

2001 had some breaks fall against us that we had go our way the previous year. Some might call it an excuse but 9/11 actually did put us off kilter, and Woody Dantzler absolutely took advantage of that after three weeks off.

Joe Burns running out of bounds instead of letting the clock run a couple games later cost us the win against Maryland and Friedgen, the eventual ACC champion.

My impression at the time is obviously different than yours. I don't think O'Leary would have gone anywhere except for Notre Dame. To me it's the height of revision to say he was shopping around and couldn't wait to get out of here because he left for his dream job. He had a lot invested in Georgia Tech. He wasn't wrong when he said wtte of GT wanted to be Harvard during the week and Florida State on the weekend. Some people thought he was complaining but he was speaking truth about the attitude of the Hill.

I don't share the perspective regarding "having a fighting chance". If anything O'Leary and Gailey clearly demonstrated that we were only a few pieces away. Even with the crippling restrictions of flunkgate, we were only the development of a few key skill players away. Not to say I didn't appreciate the good option years... but let's consider the entire body of work. Same for O'Leary.
 
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O'Leary would have never left GT except ND. Irish Catholic, dream job. Had he stayed, we would have won several ACC titles, during Gailey's era. He understood what it took at GT and how to work the hill!
 
faujacket said:
CPJ was better than O’Leary & Fridge, but anything seems better than currently.

CPJ was an amazing tenure. I salivate for three ACc title games, 3 wins in Athens, and two incredible orange bowls.
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While his accomplishments were remarkable, his offense was at best boring to watch when it worked, and just painful to watch most of his last 4 years when it did not. I'm glad to see the T.O. go!
 
BainbridgeJacket said:
So, why didn't we take him back after ND did their background check?
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Most likely reason because he did bad mouth GT after he left. Only time I really lost respect for O'Leary. I was a huge fan up to that point and I know he did receive a ton of support from most of the fan base. He should have known the lesson to never burn bridges.

It was also embarrassing to GT that he didn't actually have a college degree (I think) or had at least claimed some degree that wasn't true and lied about playing football. (I might have my facts slightly wrong, please correct me)

I expect it was a combination and also the college administration didn't care for him because of the academic stuff (not O'Leary's fault; the Admin was in the wrong).
 
BainbridgeJacket said:
So, why didn't we take him back after ND did their background check?
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Cause that’s a bad look. This wasn’t Cremins deciding he wanted to stay, O’Leary got caught lying. Can’t take him back after that. He had to go pro for a couple years to let it die down.
 
Looking forward to the "regarding CPJ leaving GT" episode.
 
Tampa Jacket said:
While his accomplishments were remarkable, his offense was at best boring to watch when it worked, and just painful to watch most of his last 4 years when it did not. I'm glad to see the T.O. go!
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Where I'll vehemently disagree with you is that CPJ's offense was boring when working. No. It was death by a thousand cuts for the other team. That, and all the motion and moving parts coming together to create perfectly-executed plays that led to 30-yard scores on the ground, made it a joy to watch.
 
law_bee said:
https://stingtalk.com/board/threads/just-heard-braine-talk-about-oleary-nd-situation-and.17/

O'leary w/o fridge was a 4-4 in the acc coach. I remember being at the game when Clemson's QB (Danstler?) ran the qb sneak for about 300 yds on us (loss)

then I think the next game I was at Burns fumbles and Fridge's MD (our old OC) kick a 60+ fg to beat us and then I think that was the 3rd loss in row

O'leary was looking for a place to go and he found it just like Ross found the NFL. You can look at the quotes from Ross, O'leary, and Gailey on the difficulty recruiting at GT.

For those of us who were around during those times we have a different perspective and that is why we embraced CPJ. His gimmick offense gave us a fighting chance. We will know in a few years whether CGC was a mistake. Hopefully Monkin will be available if we decide to go back to the option.

GT playing and winning Orange Bowl is a top 5 memory ever for GT football in my lifetime. Actually the CPJ ugag wins are right there too.

time will tell all
Click to expand...
Shut the hellp up already with the option bs!
 
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