A hypothesis regarding the limitations placed on the improvement of GT Football by the fanbase

[ciegetanks]

Before anyone gets angry, this is not me in anyway disrespecting or criticizing the fans or blaming us for the program's failure. I am merely pointing out a tempermental quirk unique to our fan base that I belive changes the dynamic of the decisions the AA can make.

Simply put we are engineers, we require proof before investment. Other schools that are not as saturated with had empirical study and unchangable design patameters can more easily generate large fan donations through sentiment and nostalgia than we can.

When you tell big factory schools that are bought in to football that if they give a big check once all their football woes will disappear those fans believe it. When you tell working class, non-college grad fans it's important to come to games even during a bad year, they believe it.

When you tell an Engineer any of these things we say "show me some proof". Essentially a large portion of our fan base will only "buy in" and provide the money and attendance needed to elevate this football program when they feel it will be worth it. And really are there any of us Alumni (with engineering degrees) who don't have this attitude towards most things in our lives?

 

[Diseqc]

 

[gtfan1147]

I, for one, would rather not eat öööö and have to like the taste of it, especially when the people in charge refused to talk to the fans at all until the Tuesday of the last game of the season.

 

[ToHellwithUGA]

I’m Geoff Collins and myself and my skinny jeans approve this thread

 

[LegendaryGT]

Real talk, prove we are smart.

 

[ciegetanks]

At The Ohio State, LSU, even Tennessee, VT, WVU, and South Carolina it is easier to sell the fans on the idea of fundraising to get rid of bad coaches and generate attendance/excitement in off years. These things stabilize programs.

At Tech becausecwe are empirical Engineers we do not invest in football financially or with attendance if we have reason to doubt the value of that investment.

Point in case: Bobby Dodd was 90% red Saturday because no Tech fan thought we had a chance. If the roles were reversed Samford stadium would still be 90% red because Georgia fans would think just being there would be worth it on the of chance the dwags won.

 

[gtfan1147]

At The Ohio State, LSU, even Tennessee, VT, WVU, and South Carolina it is easier to sell the fans on the idea of fundraising to get rid of bad coaches and generate attendance/excitement in off years. These things stabilize programs.

At Tech becausecwe are empirical Engineers we do not invest in football financially or with attendance if we have reason to doubt the value of that investment.

Point in case: Bobby Dodd was 90% red Saturday because no Tech fan thought we had a chance. If the roles were reversed Samford stadium would still be 90% red because Georgia fans would think just being there would be worth it on the of chance the dwags won.

It was not because people thought there wasn’t a chance. I’ve been to a lot of Tech games where the team had no chance that day. But you at least felt okay about everything and hoped the people in charge knew what they were doing and cared about the fans. This is clearly not the case under Geoff Collins.

 

[ciegetanks]

I, for one, would rather not eat öööö and have to like the taste of it, especially when the people in charge refused to talk to the fans at all until the Tuesday of the last game of the season.

My point exactly. I agree with you. Dawg fans bitched, whined, moaned and complained about Richt his last few years just like we're doing...

But they kept paying 10 grand for season tickets.

 

[MeatWrench]

Before anyone gets angry, this is not me in anyway disrespecting or criticizing the fans or blaming us for the program's failure. I am merely pointing out a tempermental quirk unique to our fan base that I belive changes the dynamic of the decisions the AA can make.

Simply put we are engineers, we require proof before investment. Other schools that are not as saturated with had empirical study and unchangable design patameters can more easily generate large fan donations through sentiment and nostalgia than we can.

When you tell big factory schools that are bought in to football that if they give a big check once all their football woes will disappear those fans believe it. When you tell working class, non-college grad fans it's important to come to games even during a bad year, they believe it.

When you tell an Engineer any of these things we say "show me some proof". Essentially a large portion of our fan base will only "buy in" and provide the money and attendance needed to elevate this football program when they feel it will be worth it. And really are there any of us Alumni (with engineering degrees) who don't have this attitude towards most things in our lives?

What a load of elitist bullshit. “We’re just too gosh darn smart to support our football program with all our 80king what from being so gosh darn smart and all.”

 

[PressManCoverage]

At The Ohio State, LSU, even Tennessee, VT, WVU, and South Carolina it is easier to sell the fans on the idea of fundraising to get rid of bad coaches and generate attendance/excitement in off years. These things stabilize programs.

At Tech because we are empirical Engineers we do not invest in football financially or with attendance if we have reason to doubt the value of that investment.

The value should be in seeing our Alma Mater and or favorite Team compete in P5 CFB, we should be entertained by P5 CFB.

I enjoy seeing great plays from great players on both Teams, of course I hope that GT wins them all, but seeing P5 CFB is better than anything else I enjoy doing in the fall.

Everything in life doesn't come down to a hard rigid formula.

 

[PressManCoverage]

My point exactly. I agree with you. Dawg fans bitched, whined, moaned and complained about Richt his last few years just like we're doing...

But they kept paying 10 grand for season tickets.

Richt avgd. 10 - 3 over 15 years.

If a GT coach did that we'd build multiple monuments and rename multiple things after a Coach that did that

 

[ThomsonJacket]

Just win and compete for championships, everything else will fall in line.

 

[aeromech]

At The Ohio State, LSU, even Tennessee, VT, WVU, and South Carolina it is easier to sell the fans on the idea of fundraising to get rid of bad coaches and generate attendance/excitement in off years. These things stabilize programs.

At Tech becausecwe are empirical Engineers we do not invest in football financially or with attendance if we have reason to doubt the value of that investment.

Point in case: Bobby Dodd was 90% red Saturday because no Tech fan thought we had a chance. If the roles were reversed Samford stadium would still be 90% red because Georgia fans would think just being there would be worth it on the of chance the dwags won.

No it wouldn't. If UGA had three 3-9 seasons in a row with an AD claiming that the HC was his guy, Samford would have no more 50% attendance. Look at what happened Jim Donnan's first year in 1996, UGA went into the game a lowly 4-6 and could not sell out. If they go on a long losing streak people will stop going. Your basic premise has some merit; but not to this extreme.

 

[rapier7]

OP is an exercise in motivated reasoning. The football program sucks, but at least we, the intelligent, rational, analytical fans and alumni of the noble institute know when to cut bait on a losing season and to be skeptical about future promises.

Look, I'm a fairly unsentimental fan. And, like most people, I can realize that the vast majority of people aren't going to pony up good money to experience a lousy product. And that's exactly what the CGC era has been. Lousy. ööööing. Product.

But the problems that we have are the problems that any struggling Power 5 program without a large fanbase has. The era of COVID has magnified our issues, because it gives people an excuse not to go to spend their Saturdays watching a lousy product. We aren't special.

 

[ciegetanks]

What a load of elitist bullshit. “We’re just too gosh darn smart to support our football program with all our 80king what from being so gosh darn smart and all.”

I in no ways meant to convey an attitude of elitism. In fact this more of a crticism of our collective engineering Autism.

I know that the AA isn't going to get anything from me anytime soon. I know that if Clown Shoes miraculously wins 6+ games next year I'm still not coming back.

Why? Because I need to see sustained success to warrant my investment in time and energy. Is that because I'm a stuck up dweeb? No it's becase I've got two kids under 4 and mother in law on Hospice living in my house. I just don't have the time to put into the Football program. I'm not driving my ass to North Ave if I think we're going to get pounded by Western Carolina.

I also think any mild success must be balanced against the last three years of utter humiliation. One data point isn't a trend.

 

[covingtonjacket]

I in no ways meant to convey an attitude of elitism. In fact this more of a crticism of our collective engineering Autism.

I know that the AA isn't going to get anything from me anytime soon. I know that if Clown Shoes miraculously wins 6+ games next year I'm still not coming back.

Why? Because I need to see sustained success to warrant my investment in time and energy. Is that because I'm a stuck up dweeb? No it's becase I've got two kids under 4 and mother in law on Hospice living in my house. I just don't have the time to put into the Football program. I'm not driving my ass to North Ave if I think we're going to get pounded by Western Carolina.

I also think any mild success must be balanced against the last three years of utter humiliation. One data point isn't a trend.

Seems like a collective action problem that SEC schools solved through stupidity and tribe mentality. One of the silver linings for their fans is that schools with more committed (even if irrationally so) fans are probably more likely to win, all things being equal.

 

[GT flunkout]

At The Ohio State, LSU, even Tennessee, VT, WVU, and South Carolina it is easier to sell the fans on the idea of fundraising to get rid of bad coaches and generate attendance/excitement in off years. These things stabilize programs.

At Tech becausecwe are empirical Engineers we do not invest in football financially or with attendance if we have reason to doubt the value of that investment.

Point in case: Bobby Dodd was 90% red Saturday because no Tech fan thought we had a chance. If the roles were reversed Samford stadium would still be 90% red because Georgia fans would think just being there would be worth it on the of chance the dwags won.

Stop blaming fans for three straight three win pathetic seasons. If the roles were reversed it might not be as bad but it would still be pretty ööööing bad.
What happened at the Georgia game was not the fans fault. Stop it.

Stop pretending this is a Georgia Tech problem. This is a Geoff Collins Todd Stansbury problem. Start acting like you are a fan of a proud program that has a lot of wins.