Conjecture (long): The CG/BO\'B relationship is key...
... to our problems.
Don't have any inside info and not trying to start any rumors. Just a conjecture on my part, based on what I've seen and heard. Take it, leave it, or counter it.
Consider that BO'B called a heck of a game in the Seattle Bowl, when Mac probably delegated all or most of the calls to him. That looked like the old Friedgenious O: Good mix and unpredictable.
Consider that BO'B has struggled for words in radio interviews. In one, he said the current O was a hybrid between the Friedgen O and NFL plays CG has interjected.
Consider BO'B called the UMd game from the press box (not his preference) apparently at CG's "request." (I'd rather see a knowledgeable "spotter" in the box and the OC on the field interacting with the players.)
In all likelihood, BO'B is going to take the fall for these season's performance, unless things turn around dramatically. CG is not going to be asked to leave after one season (Da Braine takes great pride in how his selection of Coach H has worked out, and will not admit a mistake in selecting Coach G until it's obvious to all it's not working out), and I don't believe he's going to resign. He wants to succeed here, and doesn't want to end a successful career on a sour note. Does BO'B deserve the blame. I'm not so sure, since I don't know how much "direction" CG is giving him. BB on 680 seems to think CG is doing a lot of that. But it doesn't matter. He's no doubt brushing up his resume and looking around now. Here's hoping he finds a good job quickly.
Those of you who wish O'L were still here, consider the play calling last year with O'L/BO'B. Mostly 3 runs and a pass. Nothing to compare with the O'L/RF O. And consider the great runners like Clink and receivers who sat in the O'L doghouse after making one mistake.
Can CG succeed if given the opportunity to bring in his own OC? (not sure how hard his arm was twisted to keep BO'B, but that's the general conjecture). I'd say it's possible, but ONLY if he's had a wake-up call. I have the sense he had an unrealistic expectation of college football. Having been through some high-profile run-ins with high-paid pro-players and getting raked over the coals by the media, he looked forward to coming back to Georgia, coaching at a school which is not known as a "football factory" (so most fans don't expect a BCS bowl every year), and dealing with players who are highly motivated naturally and for the development of their careers. His delay in coming to Atlanta, while it could have been out of a sense of honor to his current employer (then in the playoffs) showed a lack of appreciation of the importance of getting on the job ASAP and getting involved in the recruiting process. Yes, he was flying back and forth, but that's not the same as being focused on one objective. Bet he'd be here 8 hrs the next day after accepting if he had it to do over.
College ball is not what it was the last time CG was associated with it at Troy State, for better or worse. It's no walk in the park in a ivy-covered building environment. For one thing, he's in the big leaques of college ball now: Div. 1. For another, college football is big business now, even at GT, where it's a multi-million $ non-profit business. While we fans who donate more than we can afford are not technically stock-holders, we are certainly the non-profit equivalent. We expect a return on our money, that return being a good W/L record. We don't pay a 6-7 figure salary for mediocrity. Even Tech fans expect a 65-70% win rate every year, and many of us believe Tech can be in the top 20 every year, in a BCS bowl every few years, and in the NC game every dozen years or so.
The days when it was OK for a college team to have a "rebuilding year" are long gone. With 85 scholarships and 25 recruits per year, there's no reason for it. The college football press is just as prying and judgmental as the pro press. (John Hollis, the GT beat writer for AJC, gave GT coaching a D for the MD game, and rightly so, I'd say, since Fridge spoke after the game of specific adjustments made during the half, and CG said "We don't know what happened" with no specifics re. adjustments, and we didn't see any. A 6-3 game quickly turned into a rout.) If CG thought he'd "pretire" at GT, he should know by now he was mistaken. Student athletes, by and large, need a highly structured, almost military-like, environment; or the team will appear undisciplined and make lots of mistakes.
I really like CG as a person, from everything I've read about him and from my few direct interactions with him. He's a good Christain man. He means well. But, it's time for him to step back and reconsider his approach to college ball. I've always assumed he could be stern but fair, despite his soft, relaxed outward demeanor. He better be. He doesn't seem that fast on his feet in high-pressure game situations (case in point: the TO in the CU game when TB was running the O and kicking squad back and forth like squirrels about to be hit on the highway, and probably would have been very rushed to get a kick off). It may be advisable for him to delegate game decisions to his new OC. He also needs a strong motivator on the staff, such as UGAG had with Erk Russell when Vince Dooley - who was no KR - was HC. Hopefully his new OC will be such a guy.
CG is not leaving after this season. Just as in the real world in which most of us world, there are lower-level employees to be the scape-goats. But influential GT fans are watching him very closely, and if he doesn't have a very good recruiting class (critical after the small class last season) and if the team is not showing significant improvement next year, a VERY STRONG lobby for his ouster will grow and culminate into extreme pressure on Da Braine and Dr Clough after the UGAG game next November.
I'm hoping CG is successful. He reminds me of Coach Dodd (in demeanor, but certainly not in strategy - Dodd was a master strategist who said once to his assistants "Keep it close, Boys, and I'll figure out something" or words to that effect). He can be a good administrator, which is about 90% of a HC's job these days. But it will only happened if he's seen the light (or as O'L would say, the light bulb has come on) and he turns over a new leaf NOW!
I'm neither a FOCer (Friend of Chan), a FOO'L (Friend of O'Leary), nor an ABC (Anybody but Chan). Will have to coin an acronym for those of us who are putting CG on probation and expecting a turnaround before the GA game next year or else. (Believe me, we have ways to get him out if the majority feels it's the right thing for the program. We've done it before.) We're not going to let a problem situation drag on for as long as it did during the BL era, but we don't feel we have enough data to make a call with just 7 games under a HC's belt (as earlier posts indicate, some of our greatest coaches would have got the can early had we judged them on their first 7 games, or even their first 2 years).
[Dont' know if anyone has read all the way down to here, but I feel better for putting my words into type, anyway. It's therapeutic. I cut and pasted this from a post to the Hiver Insider forum at the Hive, which is still open, since many here are not subscribers.]
... to our problems.
Don't have any inside info and not trying to start any rumors. Just a conjecture on my part, based on what I've seen and heard. Take it, leave it, or counter it.
Consider that BO'B called a heck of a game in the Seattle Bowl, when Mac probably delegated all or most of the calls to him. That looked like the old Friedgenious O: Good mix and unpredictable.
Consider that BO'B has struggled for words in radio interviews. In one, he said the current O was a hybrid between the Friedgen O and NFL plays CG has interjected.
Consider BO'B called the UMd game from the press box (not his preference) apparently at CG's "request." (I'd rather see a knowledgeable "spotter" in the box and the OC on the field interacting with the players.)
In all likelihood, BO'B is going to take the fall for these season's performance, unless things turn around dramatically. CG is not going to be asked to leave after one season (Da Braine takes great pride in how his selection of Coach H has worked out, and will not admit a mistake in selecting Coach G until it's obvious to all it's not working out), and I don't believe he's going to resign. He wants to succeed here, and doesn't want to end a successful career on a sour note. Does BO'B deserve the blame. I'm not so sure, since I don't know how much "direction" CG is giving him. BB on 680 seems to think CG is doing a lot of that. But it doesn't matter. He's no doubt brushing up his resume and looking around now. Here's hoping he finds a good job quickly.
Those of you who wish O'L were still here, consider the play calling last year with O'L/BO'B. Mostly 3 runs and a pass. Nothing to compare with the O'L/RF O. And consider the great runners like Clink and receivers who sat in the O'L doghouse after making one mistake.
Can CG succeed if given the opportunity to bring in his own OC? (not sure how hard his arm was twisted to keep BO'B, but that's the general conjecture). I'd say it's possible, but ONLY if he's had a wake-up call. I have the sense he had an unrealistic expectation of college football. Having been through some high-profile run-ins with high-paid pro-players and getting raked over the coals by the media, he looked forward to coming back to Georgia, coaching at a school which is not known as a "football factory" (so most fans don't expect a BCS bowl every year), and dealing with players who are highly motivated naturally and for the development of their careers. His delay in coming to Atlanta, while it could have been out of a sense of honor to his current employer (then in the playoffs) showed a lack of appreciation of the importance of getting on the job ASAP and getting involved in the recruiting process. Yes, he was flying back and forth, but that's not the same as being focused on one objective. Bet he'd be here 8 hrs the next day after accepting if he had it to do over.
College ball is not what it was the last time CG was associated with it at Troy State, for better or worse. It's no walk in the park in a ivy-covered building environment. For one thing, he's in the big leaques of college ball now: Div. 1. For another, college football is big business now, even at GT, where it's a multi-million $ non-profit business. While we fans who donate more than we can afford are not technically stock-holders, we are certainly the non-profit equivalent. We expect a return on our money, that return being a good W/L record. We don't pay a 6-7 figure salary for mediocrity. Even Tech fans expect a 65-70% win rate every year, and many of us believe Tech can be in the top 20 every year, in a BCS bowl every few years, and in the NC game every dozen years or so.
The days when it was OK for a college team to have a "rebuilding year" are long gone. With 85 scholarships and 25 recruits per year, there's no reason for it. The college football press is just as prying and judgmental as the pro press. (John Hollis, the GT beat writer for AJC, gave GT coaching a D for the MD game, and rightly so, I'd say, since Fridge spoke after the game of specific adjustments made during the half, and CG said "We don't know what happened" with no specifics re. adjustments, and we didn't see any. A 6-3 game quickly turned into a rout.) If CG thought he'd "pretire" at GT, he should know by now he was mistaken. Student athletes, by and large, need a highly structured, almost military-like, environment; or the team will appear undisciplined and make lots of mistakes.
I really like CG as a person, from everything I've read about him and from my few direct interactions with him. He's a good Christain man. He means well. But, it's time for him to step back and reconsider his approach to college ball. I've always assumed he could be stern but fair, despite his soft, relaxed outward demeanor. He better be. He doesn't seem that fast on his feet in high-pressure game situations (case in point: the TO in the CU game when TB was running the O and kicking squad back and forth like squirrels about to be hit on the highway, and probably would have been very rushed to get a kick off). It may be advisable for him to delegate game decisions to his new OC. He also needs a strong motivator on the staff, such as UGAG had with Erk Russell when Vince Dooley - who was no KR - was HC. Hopefully his new OC will be such a guy.
CG is not leaving after this season. Just as in the real world in which most of us world, there are lower-level employees to be the scape-goats. But influential GT fans are watching him very closely, and if he doesn't have a very good recruiting class (critical after the small class last season) and if the team is not showing significant improvement next year, a VERY STRONG lobby for his ouster will grow and culminate into extreme pressure on Da Braine and Dr Clough after the UGAG game next November.
I'm hoping CG is successful. He reminds me of Coach Dodd (in demeanor, but certainly not in strategy - Dodd was a master strategist who said once to his assistants "Keep it close, Boys, and I'll figure out something" or words to that effect). He can be a good administrator, which is about 90% of a HC's job these days. But it will only happened if he's seen the light (or as O'L would say, the light bulb has come on) and he turns over a new leaf NOW!
I'm neither a FOCer (Friend of Chan), a FOO'L (Friend of O'Leary), nor an ABC (Anybody but Chan). Will have to coin an acronym for those of us who are putting CG on probation and expecting a turnaround before the GA game next year or else. (Believe me, we have ways to get him out if the majority feels it's the right thing for the program. We've done it before.) We're not going to let a problem situation drag on for as long as it did during the BL era, but we don't feel we have enough data to make a call with just 7 games under a HC's belt (as earlier posts indicate, some of our greatest coaches would have got the can early had we judged them on their first 7 games, or even their first 2 years).
[Dont' know if anyone has read all the way down to here, but I feel better for putting my words into type, anyway. It's therapeutic. I cut and pasted this from a post to the Hiver Insider forum at the Hive, which is still open, since many here are not subscribers.]
