Always Wondered Why Dodd Did Not Coach One More Year …

I read he didn‘t think the 1966 team was going to be very good before the season (4 or 5 wins) then he won nine straight. Probably thought that was a good way to go out.
 
ronricks said:
I read he didn‘t think the 1966 team was going to be very good before the season (4 or 5 wins) then he won nine straight. Probably thought that was a good way to go out.
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My understanding was he felt his overall health was suffering, and yes, after 1966 it was a good season to leave on. The football landscape he built on wasn’t the same any more
 
donsue said:
My understanding was he felt his overall health was suffering, and yes, after 1966 it was a good season to leave on. The football landscape he built on wasn’t the same any more
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Did he have Carson in mind as his successor before he retired?
 
donsue said:
I think so. DeepSnap could shed more light o. It
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One more question, how did our facilities get behind so quickly in the sixties and seventies. We should have been one of the better funded programs in the country through the fifties and sixties.
 
donsue said:
I think so. DeepSnap could shed more light o. It
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Dodd reportedly preferred someone other than Carson.... would have to dig into Dodd's Luck or one of the other source books for who - prob the usual suspects - maybe Doug Dickey? IIRC Dodd had offered the job to Dickey, Dickey accepted, but by the time Dodd got back to Atlanta, Harrison had hired Carson. Harrison then told Dodd to call Dickey and tell him the deal was off.

Carson was the Anti-Dodd. Complete opposites in every way.

And it wasn't as if Dodd showed up at Carson's practices.... he was usually at the Bitsy Grant Tennis Center. The only times we'd see Dodd was the pre-game pep talk for Tennessee - Dodd had as strong a dislike for his alma mater as he did for Georgie.

As for King & Snow, read King's book re: his thoughts, very restrained & professional, about Carson. Lenny blew out a knee or broke a leg - there was a picture in the AJC showing Lenny being carried off - against Miami in '67 and was never the same again. Carson hated Miami for doing what he considered an intentionally foul deed in a 7-49 blowout down in the old Orange Bowl.

Facilities were basically neglected - the idea of a facilities arms race then was generally restricted to who had a Jock Dorm & who didn't. It was our advantage we didn't - there was always someone down the hall taking the same class who understood/took better notes from our profs & could explain it at oh-dark-thirty better than the prof at 8AM TuThSa W3-6.
 
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DeepSnap said:
Dodd reportedly preferred someone other than Carson.... would have to dig into Dodd's Luck or one of the other source books for who (prob the usual suspects - maybe Doug Dickey? IIRC Dodd had offered the job to Dickey, Dickey accepted, but by the time Dodd got back to Atlanta, Harrison had hired Carson. Harrison then told Dodd to call Dickey and tell him the deal was off.

Carson was the Anti-Dodd. Complete opposites in every way.

And it wasn't as if Dodd showed up at Carson's practices.... he was usually at the Bitsy Grant Tennis Center. The only times we'd see Dodd was the pre-game pep talk for Tennessee - Dodd had as strong a dislike for his alma mater as he did for Georgie.

As for King & Snow, read King's book re: his thoughts, very restrained & professional, about Carson. Lenny blew out a knee or broke a leg - there was a picture in the AJC showing Lenny being carried off - against Miami in '67 and was never the same again. Carson hated Miami for doing whatly Snowwast he considered an intentionally foul deed in a 7-49 blowout down in the old Orange Bowl.

Facilities were basically neglected - the idea of a facilities arms race then was generally restricted to who had a Jock Dorm & who didn't. It was our advantage we didn't - there was always someone down the hall taking the same class who understood/took better notes from our profs & could explain it at oh-dark-thirty better than the prof at 8AM TuThSa W3-6.
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If I remember correctly, Snow was hurt returning a kick.
 
DeepSnap said:
Dodd reportedly preferred someone other than Carson.... would have to dig into Dodd's Luck or one of the other source books for who - prob the usual suspects - maybe Doug Dickey? IIRC Dodd had offered the job to Dickey, Dickey accepted, but by the time Dodd got back to Atlanta, Harrison had hired Carson. Harrison then told Dodd to call Dickey and tell him the deal was off.

Carson was the Anti-Dodd. Complete opposites in every way.

And it wasn't as if Dodd showed up at Carson's practices.... he was usually at the Bitsy Grant Tennis Center. The only times we'd see Dodd was the pre-game pep talk for Tennessee - Dodd had as strong a dislike for his alma mater as he did for Georgie.

As for King & Snow, read King's book re: his thoughts, very restrained & professional, about Carson. Lenny blew out a knee or broke a leg - there was a picture in the AJC showing Lenny being carried off - against Miami in '67 and was never the same again. Carson hated Miami for doing what he considered an intentionally foul deed in a 7-49 blowout down in the old Orange Bowl.

Facilities were basically neglected - the idea of a facilities arms race then was generally restricted to who had a Jock Dorm & who didn't. It was our advantage we didn't - there was always someone down the hall taking the same class who understood/took better notes from our profs & could explain it at oh-dark-thirty better than the prof at 8AM TuThSa W3-6.
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I heard the same things. In Kim’s book, he talks about how all of a sudden things were completely different with Carson, and a number of guys didn’t react to it well.
 
Wasn't Dodd AD during the years when the facilities were neglected? or did he just not have the support for any of it?
 
GoldenIsle said:
with Kim King and Lenny Snow returning. We probably would have won at least 3 more games including that close game with UGA and would have gone bowling.
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In his autobiography, Coach Dodd said it came down to two things: One was that the 1966 team far exceeded his own modest expectations...even going so far as to say they got more out of their ability than just about any other team he coached. In spite of having King, Snow, Baynam, Giles Smith, and Jim Breland an All American center, there were serious issues with depth especially along both lines. Secondly, he just felt like for him personally it was "time". Many people faced with a decision to retire or not often come to a realization that the moment has come. They can't explain it or describe but they know it. Can't say I blame him but I do blame him for having been a far better football coach than he was an athletic director.
 
BrentwoodJacket said:
It is amazing how many bad AD's and Presidents we have had and the damage they have inflicted on our athletic programs.
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Disturbing trend isn't it? However, this has happened to any number of schools including the factories. Clemson went through an entire decade of mediocre coaches following Frank Howard. Tennessee has endured a "lost decade" following the retirement of Phillip Fulmer. Miami and UNC have managed to squander more talent with poor coaches than any other teams in the ACC. The former AD at Florida once likened hiring football coaches to a monkey throwing darts at a dart board...sometimes you hit the bullseye as with Spurrier and Urban but sometimes you end up with Champ, Ron Zook, and Mullen. IIWII
 
GT 1950 said:
Disturbing trend isn't it? However, this has happened to any number of schools including the factories. Clemson went through an entire decade of mediocre coaches following Frank Howard. Tennessee has endured a "lost decade" following the retirement of Phillip Fulmer. Miami and UNC have managed to squander more talent with poor coaches than any other teams in the ACC. The former AD at Florida once likened hiring football coaches to a monkey throwing darts at a dart board...sometimes you hit the bullseye as with Spurrier and Urban but sometimes you end up with Champ, Ron Zook, and Mullen. IIWII
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The difference is some schools have the money to buy more darts and the money to maximize the coach's chance at success.
 
BrentwoodJacket said:
The difference is some schools have the money to buy more darts and the money to maximize the coach's chance at success.
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You can buy more monkeys and/or give them more darts but they’re still trying to hit the same board. They just miss faster and more often.

Word to the wise: find a better monkey
 
BrentwoodJacket said:
One more question, how did our facilities get behind so quickly in the sixties and seventies. We should have been one of the better funded programs in the country through the fifties and sixties.
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One of the things I've read here is the problem with Tech after the Dodd era was the arrival of pro sports. Now instead of spending money on GT sports you can go to 81 MLB games or go see your former hero's in the NFL. Add to that the relatively small student population that Tech has always had, maybe GT didn't lose their top 5% of donors but certainly it impacted the middle 50%. Georgie probably was impacted somewhat too, but not as significantly because of their much larger local alumni base. And if you consider, Georgie was pretty bad in the late 80's and until Richt arrived in 2001. They just hired the right coach at a time where UT plateaued and bama was a screw-up and winning fired up their fanbase. Tech leaving the SEC didn't help but I'm not sure we have 1990 if Tech was in the SEC. And as someone who became a fan in 1990 I dread to think where I might be otherwise.

I was watching a clip of the blocked kick win over FSU the other day, if I recall Tech was having a pretty bad season, yet that stadium was sold out and looked mostly GT fans. That game wasn't that long ago. There is room for Tech athletics to succeed in this market but you have to win and I have no confidence in the current coach to do so.
 
Liberty said:
You can buy more monkeys and/or give them more darts but they’re still trying to hit the same board. They just miss faster and more often.

Word to the wise: find a better monkey
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Well Tennessee was trying their best. They were going through monkeys like me going through a bag of peanuts at Grant Field.
 
GT 1950 said:
Disturbing trend isn't it? However, this has happened to any number of schools including the factories. Clemson went through an entire decade of mediocre coaches following Frank Howard. Tennessee has endured a "lost decade" following the retirement of Phillip Fulmer. Miami and UNC have managed to squander more talent with poor coaches than any other teams in the ACC. The former AD at Florida once likened hiring football coaches to a monkey throwing darts at a dart board...sometimes you hit the bullseye as with Spurrier and Urban but sometimes you end up with Champ, Ron Zook, and Mullen. IIWII
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I get the feeling that Florida wants to be an elite academic school and that they have pulled back a bit from normal SEC ways. I thought Mullen was a very good coach but something got in his way. UGA is up right now but the rest of the East is average.
 
midatlantech said:
I get the feeling that Florida wants to be an elite academic school and that they have pulled back a bit from normal SEC ways. I thought Mullen was a very good coach but something got in his way. UGA is up right now but the rest of the East is average.
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It is said that except for Vanderbilt, Florida is the best academic school in the SEC which is like being the tallest midget in the room but that is what they claim. No matter, the Gators are a football factory, just not on the same level as Alabama, LSU, and UGA.
 
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