Definition of a winner

[Tshirt Man]

I was asked to define a winning program and it got me thinking. Is going to a bowl every year good enough or do we fire the coach if he doesn't win a title every other year?

Obviously we all want to be undefeated
national champions every year but what are your realistic expectations for Tech football.

 

[18in32]

I was asked to define a winning program and it got me thinking. Is going to a bowl every year good enough or do we fire the coach if he doesn't win a title every other year?

Obviously we all want to be undefeated
national champions every year but what are your realistic expectations for Tech football.

Expectations have always simply been this: “Always getting better“. Trend line needs to be up. That’s the only goal for 100+ programs in the country. There’s maybe five which are already consistent Top 5 programs — and all it takes is losing the right coach, a few sanctions, etc., to lose it. Then you start climbing back up again.

 

[CiraldoForever]

I checked on Top 10 powerhouse consistently. I will never expect less of Tech than what I see Clemson and Georgia doing. I don't know if we'll achieve that expectation, and I know we won't do it soon. We last did it in the 1950's under Coach Dodd. But, I don't think Tech should have lower expectations than Clemson and Georgia. Who would have thought Clemson would ever be in the position it's in? That's one thing I admire about Collins. He does have the highest expectations for Tech. I hope he can even them.

 

[JJacket]

 

[Tampa Jacket]

I would be interested to see how our athletic budget compares to the average program that is finished in the top 25 over 90% of the time in the past 10 years.

 

[JoeCakeEater]

I’d like to be a perennial Top 25 team.

 

[GT76]

I voted for top 25 but beating the dwags on a somewhat consistent basis is part of the equation. It really goes a long way towards having a successful season.

 

[gtrower]

Based on our division, conference, and funding bracket:

Average 7+ wins
Bowl every year
Double digit win season every 3-4 years

Average 4+ ACC wins
Compete for Coastal every year
Win Coastal every 3-4 years
Win the conference every 8 years

Start the season ranked 50% of the time
Finish the season ranked 50% of the time
Top 15 every 3-4 years

.500+ against uga

uga looks unreasonable right now only because their program is basically at it’s all-time peak. But expecting less than half is already conceding defeat.

 

[TechRush]

Tech can be a consistent top 25 team. They'll never be Clemson or UGA level unless those schools start a downward slide. I really think they need a niche to succeed. I don't see Tech ever winning it all unless it is a lightening in a bottle scenario and not with the current staff. We will never out recruit UGA or Clemson, sorry.

 

[JoeCakeEater]

Tech can be a consistent top 25 team. They'll never be Clemson or UGA level unless those schools start a downward slide. I really think they need a niche to succeed. I don't see Tech ever winning it all unless it is a lightening in a bottle scenario and not with the current staff. We will never out recruit UGA or Clemson, sorry.

It’s been the same 8 or so teams “winning it all” over the last 20+ years. It’s not just a Tech issue. There are haves and have nots in CFB.

As far as Tech... need to get to where we’re top half of the ACC, then can focus on being a Top 25 program, then we’ll just have to see what’s possible from there... long way to go before we meet any of those goals.

 

[smokey_wasp]

Top 25 most years with occasional 10 plus wins. The O'Leary years, essentially.

 

[andrew]

I expect us to constantly be in contention for top 25 and get 10+ wins occasionally. But looking at our budget versus other schools', as well as our fanbase versus other schools', I don't think it's realistic to expect to finish in the top 25 every year. We're basically playing with a hand tied behind our backs.

Funny thing is I was apoplectic when Dave Braine said something similar around fifteen years ago. And back then we were certainly pulling enough talent not just to be top 25 every year, but to compete for conference titles every year. We just underperformed as a team on the field.

So what changed? Am I just more aware of the gap between us and other schools; did that gap grown larger over the past fifteen years; or did my spirit just get beaten down over the past five years?

 

[vapspwi]

I’ll probably take some flak for this, but my minimum threshold is “go to a bowl every year” (and win around half of them). We did the first part of that for a long time, despite facing some adverse conditions (coaching changes, academic losses). We did the second part early on in that streak (our bowl win percentage used to be tops in the nation and a point of pride) but lost our way.

The bar for making a bowl has lowered, but it still means (almost always) that you’re .500 or better. Doing that on a consistent basis is rare, hence the elite company we were in with that streak - if it was easy, every factory school would do it. There’s no reason in our division and conference (other than the fact that we’re stuck with two rivals currently at their all-time high water mark) that we can’t be .500 or better every year.

That gives us a foundation to build on to get into the top 25 regularly (a la ‘98 to ‘00), and to occasionally have the stars align for us (a la ‘90 or ‘14). But I think it’s unrealistic to believe that we can be a perennial top 25 team (maybe top 35), let alone top 10. To say that we can do it if Clemson and U[sic]GA can is to fail to recognize how academics, athletics, and finances have changed since the glory days of Dodd.

JRjr

 

[JoeCakeEater]

Truth is we may need to 100% turn over the roster from the CPJ years before we’re hitting any of these goals. I was hoping it wouldn’t take that long, but we just are deficient in too many positions and lack any level of depth except at a few positions. Unfortunately there’s a mix of opinions on whether the coaching will be good enough once we have the right players in here.

 

[vapspwi]

So what changed? Am I just more aware of the gap between us and other schools; did that gap grown larger over the past fifteen years; or did my spirit just get beaten down over the past five years?

At the time, I thought Braine was right, but it was a stupid thing to say publicly. Now he’s more right than he was then.

I think the gap has definitely grown. It’s taken all we have to hold our ground with regard to facilities, staff budgets, etc. We’re hindered in our recruiting by the kind of school we are (and despite adding some less technical majors, Tech seems to have gotten more elite and elitist than in the 80s, when you could still get in as a reasonably smart kid with some mechanical aptitude - now you have to be an a particular type of high level “white collar” student, not a “blue collar” person with decent grades). The high level programs might as well be playing in a different league.

JRjr

 

[gtchief]

Truth is we may need to 100% turn over the roster from the CPJ years before we’re hitting any of these goals. I was hoping it wouldn’t take that long, but we just are deficient in too many positions and lack any level of depth except at a few positions. Unfortunately there’s a mix of opinions on whether the coaching will be good enough once we have the right players in here.

The silver lining is that at least we're not paying top dollar for assistant coaching while the personnel is still a huge puzzle (save for CBK I guess)

 

[midatlantech]

There should be another category: Play competitively against all competition. If we can belong against every and anyone, good things will happen. We will generally go to a bowl every year, we will occasionally be in the Top 15 and once in a blue moon, we'll be right near the top.

 

[BrentwoodJacket]

At the time, I thought Braine was right, but it was a stupid thing to say publicly. Now he’s more right than he was then.

I think the gap has definitely grown. It’s taken all we have to hold our ground with regard to facilities, staff budgets, etc. We’re hindered in our recruiting by the kind of school we are (and despite adding some less technical majors, Tech seems to have gotten more elite and elitist than in the 80s, when you could still get in as a reasonably smart kid with some mechanical aptitude - now you have to be an a particular type of high level “white collar” student, not a “blue collar” person with decent grades). The high level programs might as well be playing in a different league.

JRjr

Why has this happened? This is the reason we struggle to maintain the fan base and the funding levels.

 

[vapspwi]

Why has this happened? This is the reason we struggle to maintain the fan base and the funding levels.

Which part? I think the mission and focus of Tech has changed, driven by a changing world (plenty of Clemsons and Auburns and Southern Polys to turn out “blue collar” engineers and techs) and changing definitions for what an elite research university is. (And that’s fair - the mission of the school comes first, rather than having the tail (athletics) wagging the dog.)

The side effect is that we have a lot of super nerds (many from other parts of the country) and foreign students that are ignorant if not hostile to sports and football culture. They never engage as a student (despite occasional attempts at outreach from GTAA), they graduate and move to another state or country for their job, and they never give football another thought. The fact that we have, with rare exception, been a slightly above average team for most of the last 30 years means that we really don’t demand their attention. If they know anything about football, it’s the unavoidable SEC stuff.

(Side anecdote - I work with a young guy at Tech who went to an academic school in California that didn’t have a football team. He says that out there, Tech is only known for academics and he didn’t even know we had a football team, despite knowing who Megatron is from the NFL.)

JRjr

 

[GTFLETCH]

Based on Georgia Tech History post Bobby Dodd....a winner would be avg 7 wins a season and make a bowl every year with a run at the ACC Title/NY6/CFP and Top #10 ranking every three to 4 years.. ( See Paul Johnson era)