Personally, I'm not a Chan supporter. I dog-cuss him all the time to my friends (Tech fans and non-Tech fans alike). After the other night, I wanted his butt canned. But now that I reflect, this is just not the time to do it. He deserves our support for another year.
First of all, we have to realize what we have coming back next year. The nucleus of our team can compete with anyone, folks. Our problem this year has been 1 position. That 1 position has cost us probably 3 games. Chan has assembled a team that I think can go 8-3 or 9-2 next year. We have a defense that plays hard and kicks butt (usually). We have an offense that sucks. But we've had injuries at running back and our QB position has been atrocious. But we'll be better on offense next year. The reason I say that with confidence is that we can't be much worse.
We've got 2 redshirts that will compete in the spring and either Reggie will get much better or he won't play. It's that simple.
Now, take a look around the college football world. Florida made a knee-jerk reaction just because their little perfect Spurrier world has ended. They over-reacted to a bad loss in Starkville and now they might be scraping around to find something decent. Notre Dame didn't give Ty Willingham much of a chance either. Schools that run their coaches out of town after 3 years usually get burned. Yea, we did it with B*** L****, but 1-10 is different than 6-5. The 2 programs I mentioned are rolling the dice. They don't know who's willing to come to their program and how good that coach will be. I don't want Tech to be in that position in a month.
If we fired Gailey now, next year's veteran team would have to learn new systems...and next year's coaching staff would have to start re-establishing recruiting contacts in the state. Chan is recruiting better than when he started here. He's brought a defensive toughness to this program that we lacked under O'Leary. You can say that's because of Tenuta, but so what. Tenuta was hired by Gailey.
The ONE thing Chan has not done is find a QB that TAKES CARE OF THE BALL. We've had 3 years of train wreck after train wreck at that position. If we simply limit turnovers and stupid errors, we'll start winning more of these tough games. Our QB doesn't have to be Joe Montana. Hell, I'd settle for John Dewberry. Give me that and a few healthy running backs, and I think we can help our defense win some footbal games.
If we fire Gailey, we'll be rolling the dice on an unknown. In that situation, the odds are against a program like Tech finding the next John Heisman. We shouldn't do that with all the talent we have returning. We should give Gailey the next season to let his veterans return, and to fix the remaining problems he has.
If we're stuck again at 6-5 after next year, I'll probably be all for firing his butt. But right now, I'm gonna be patient.
That's my opinion.
One more point, I want to add: The last time we had a gut-wrenching loss to Georgia actually ended up being a turning point for our program (1997). I think this loss will lead us to work hard and become a better football team. That bunch played their guts out the other night and was 1 play away from beating a top 10 team in their own stadium. Next year, if we're in that situation, I think we'll get the job done.
First of all, we have to realize what we have coming back next year. The nucleus of our team can compete with anyone, folks. Our problem this year has been 1 position. That 1 position has cost us probably 3 games. Chan has assembled a team that I think can go 8-3 or 9-2 next year. We have a defense that plays hard and kicks butt (usually). We have an offense that sucks. But we've had injuries at running back and our QB position has been atrocious. But we'll be better on offense next year. The reason I say that with confidence is that we can't be much worse.
We've got 2 redshirts that will compete in the spring and either Reggie will get much better or he won't play. It's that simple.
Now, take a look around the college football world. Florida made a knee-jerk reaction just because their little perfect Spurrier world has ended. They over-reacted to a bad loss in Starkville and now they might be scraping around to find something decent. Notre Dame didn't give Ty Willingham much of a chance either. Schools that run their coaches out of town after 3 years usually get burned. Yea, we did it with B*** L****, but 1-10 is different than 6-5. The 2 programs I mentioned are rolling the dice. They don't know who's willing to come to their program and how good that coach will be. I don't want Tech to be in that position in a month.
If we fired Gailey now, next year's veteran team would have to learn new systems...and next year's coaching staff would have to start re-establishing recruiting contacts in the state. Chan is recruiting better than when he started here. He's brought a defensive toughness to this program that we lacked under O'Leary. You can say that's because of Tenuta, but so what. Tenuta was hired by Gailey.
The ONE thing Chan has not done is find a QB that TAKES CARE OF THE BALL. We've had 3 years of train wreck after train wreck at that position. If we simply limit turnovers and stupid errors, we'll start winning more of these tough games. Our QB doesn't have to be Joe Montana. Hell, I'd settle for John Dewberry. Give me that and a few healthy running backs, and I think we can help our defense win some footbal games.
If we fire Gailey, we'll be rolling the dice on an unknown. In that situation, the odds are against a program like Tech finding the next John Heisman. We shouldn't do that with all the talent we have returning. We should give Gailey the next season to let his veterans return, and to fix the remaining problems he has.
If we're stuck again at 6-5 after next year, I'll probably be all for firing his butt. But right now, I'm gonna be patient.
That's my opinion.
One more point, I want to add: The last time we had a gut-wrenching loss to Georgia actually ended up being a turning point for our program (1997). I think this loss will lead us to work hard and become a better football team. That bunch played their guts out the other night and was 1 play away from beating a top 10 team in their own stadium. Next year, if we're in that situation, I think we'll get the job done.
