A One of a Kind Coach and Human

[GEETEELEE]

I was in school from 71 to 76. I had classes with several of those players. Pepper was the best coach after Dodd until Ross arrived.

I have heard the stories about Pepper and the supporters. I have never understood why they turned on him given everything he accomplished as a player. Dodd and his teammates should have stood up for Pepper.

The image of a Tech Man was as important as win/loss record to that generation of influential supporters/alumni. Pepper didn’t act like a proper Tech Man. He also recruited black players; that didn’t sit well with some…[heavysouthernaccent]”we can lose football games with white boys.”[/heavysouthernaccent]

Contrast that with Curry; Bill won only 2 games his first 2 years, 6 the 3rd year, then slipped back to 3 wins…but he projected the correct image and got all the time he needed to learn the job.

Dodd was incompetent as AD, but he was of the era when good coaches retired they were given the AD job as a reward. But during his tenure the role changed to a very critical business management job. Bobby Cremins and Homer Rice literally saved GT athletics.

 

[yellowbritchies]

Pepper, the coach and his offense was one of the best reasons to see the games. His offense would put 500-600 yds. per game, but the "D" was always lacking. It was fun to watch! On his Sunday show, if he got beat , he would always say " well we lost yesterday, but the sun will come up tomorrow". One last thing, he never wore socks , but the Tech fans always mail him some every week and he would laugh and say, please don't send me more socks!

 

[Yooperbuzz]

Pepper never got the support from the alumni that he was supposed to get. They were supposed to massively upgrade the athletic facilities but the money never arrived. Why?
The old $$ alumni didn't like Pepper. The students, like me, loved him but the alumni? I talked with one prominent alum about Pepper and his comment was, "I didn't like him when I went to class with him and I don't like him now." Also he wasn't a "True Tech Man". Why? Because among other things he got his hair permed. I mean BFD. Who cares. The old $$ alumni did at that time.
If the old $$ alumni were not so stuck up at the time and had come through with the support that Pepper had been promised when he came to Tech from UCLA, he would have been our coach for a much longer time and we would have won a lot more games.