A very disturbing read today...

1

1gtfan

Flats Noob
Joined
Nov 26, 2007
Messages
929
In an interview with the Atlanta Business Chronicle just yesterday

Dr. Clough Pres. of Gt was quoted as saying " That he spoke to Drad on Sunday and that if people think it is tough to get athletes in GT now that it is soon going to be even harder"

Can someone try and link this?

Is Clough trying to kill Football at GT?

Long time lurker and 1st time poster....

I felt this needed to be put out for fans to see....

As a longtime GT fan, this disturbs me.

Thoughts?
 
I coudn't find your quote but i did find this one - although not quite as damning as yours but still disturbing:

"Another challenge, he's going to have to work within the academic environment," said Clough, himself a specialist in seismic engineering. "It's not as easy as it looks. And its going to get harder, I promise you."
Click to expand...
You have to take this stuff with a grain of salt. Clough is in many way a politician.
 
I don't have the link Joltin Jacket had a thread somewhere below with it. He didn't say that, he said that the quality of students coming to GT overall is going to be getting better and better and the challenge for GT student athletes to keep up would become more challenging.
 
I believe this is the quote to which you refer:

Clough also said he's hoping for a candidate who could deal better with academia -- someone who could help student athletes compete with engineering or computer science students with 1,400 SAT scores. He added that as high as the bar is now, the bar to get into Georgia Tech will be raised even further.
Click to expand...

Clough also said this about our next coach:

Georgia Tech's next football coach will have to have more qualifications than just a mastery of Xs and Os.

Qualifications will also include marketing, public relations, branding and most importantly, the ability to enthuse Georgia Tech's small but influential alumni base, President G. Wayne Clough said in an interview today.
Click to expand...

More tidbits from the ABC:

Traditionally, Clough said, a successful football coach had to be good at just football. But Georgia Tech has changed substantially over the years, and now has a bigger focus on innovation, commercialization and entrepreneurship. And as the university has gained additional sports -- especially women's sports that don't drive significant revenue -- Clough says he needs a coach who can make up for that shortfall.

When Clough was named president in 1994, the athletics budget was $13 million. Now, it's $50 million.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Essobee...I may have misquoted a little..

My bad, But, to me that is very disturbing..The bar being raised even further? WOW...Must be the board of regents that are loaded down with Dogs pushing this? Maybe Im off base, but it seems like another step to severely handicapping our football program.
 
" When Clough was named president in 1994, the athletics budget was $13 million. Now, it's $50 million."

this is suprising and something I did not know about Clough
 
Clough is blowing smoke. Dan has been working hard to try and get the athletics and academics to blend well, he is doing a good job with that. The new coach will be fine in the regard with getting athletes into the school.
 
goldmember said:
I coudn't find your quote but i did find this one - although not quite as damning as yours but still disturbing:

You have to take this stuff with a grain of salt. Clough is in many way a politician.
Click to expand...

It is almost as Clough had an attitude with that statement :I promise you"
 
Demjackets..I've been reading your posts for

sometime now and feel you are usually very accurate. I'm hoping you are in this case, because when I read Clough, that got me depressed...
 
Entrance into college as a whole, be it Georgia Tech or any other academic institute of higher learning, continues to get tougher with each passing year.

My daughter will be attending college in three years and GT is certainly on her list. She has had the highest gpa in her class for three years now --juggles cheerleading with what seems like more homework in a week than I did in a quarter. I'm amazed at the amount of work kids have to do today and how preparation for college seemingly starts in their freshman year of high school.

So with more and more well-prepared applicants in the selection pool, I can see where Dr. Clough is coming from, both in terms of regular students and a student athletes.
 
Understand, but Clough is like a lot of alumni, he wants to think its tougher at Tech, recruiting restrictions have never been as tough as some have made it out to be to I guess make themselves feel better about our lack of top classes. Its hogwash.

Mainly every school will have standards increasing in the next few years due to the NCAA. Tech's will raise with everyone else.
 
Clough's quotes are contradictory.

I talked to Petit way back when and he told me that back in the good ole days, football paid for everything. This was 1981 or so.

So now, Clough seems to be recognizing the fact that football can fork over a lot of money for the more capital intensive type of investment needed to turn Tech into the type of University Clough envisions.

Then out of the other side of his mouth he says we are going to make it harder for the football program to succeed in what we desperately need them to be good at by arbitrarily raising the bar.

I'm with demjackets. Clough may have said those things but it may have been to suit some other purpose. He wasn't exactly talking to ESPN when he said it.

Clough knows who his sugar daddy is. dRad.

And its far, far beyond about freakin' time the Hill and the GTAA were both reading out of the same playbook.
 
Re: Thanks Essobee...I may have misquoted a little..

1gtfan said:
My bad, But, to me that is very disturbing..The bar being raised even further? WOW...Must be the board of regents that are loaded down with Dogs pushing this? Maybe Im off base, but it seems like another step to severely handicapping our football program.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry too much about the bar being raised. The "big jump" has already been achieved and Tech is getting some good student athletes. We just need to get a lot more and to get them out as well as get them in.

Worry instead about those universities that are in the early stages of improving their academics. They have some very hard ground to plow and "I pity the fool..."
 
goldmember said:
I coudn't find your quote but i did find this one - although not quite as damning as yours but still disturbing:

You have to take this stuff with a grain of salt. Clough is in many way a politician.
Click to expand...

Clough is a politician, plain and simple.
 
TechinItEasy said:
" When Clough was named president in 1994, the athletics budget was $13 million. Now, it's $50 million."
\
Click to expand...

When you think about the improvement in athletic facilities it's even more impressive. Additionally, the new buildings, dorms, better ratio, smaller class sizes, etc also have to be attractive to prospective students including recruits.

Yes, I do think Clough hung the moon and those questioning GT's commitment to athletics under him should look at the $$$ that has gone to athletics and the change in philosophy that was marked by hiring DRad and firing Chan Gailey today. If we were still under Dave Braine Gailey would still be coach today.

It would be enlightening to see what portions of the current capital campaign will support athletics/degree programs/building etc. Clapper--do you have that sort of info?
 
and word on the street seems to be, don't be surprised if money to Roll Call goes down, and money to Tech Fund goes up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top