\"Gailey Gets Mixed Ratings\"
Last modified Sun., August 07, 2005 - 12:17 AM
Originally created Sunday, August 7, 2005
Gailey Show gets mixed ratings
Despite fan criticism, Georgia Tech AD points to coach's academic record.
By ADAM VAN BRIMMER
Morris News Service
ATLANTA -- Georgia Tech's 2005 season is being billed by some as Chan Gailey's last stand.
Gailey has coached the Yellow Jackets to three solid, yet unspectacular seven-win seasons since succeeding George O'Leary in 2002, prompting debate about his future beyond the upcoming season.
Critics scream in newspapers, on Internet message boards and at alumni club meetings. They all harp on one point: being average every year isn't good enough.
Georgia Tech athletic director Dave Braine agrees on that point. He said as much last December, fueling the offseason rumblings.
But as the Yellow Jackets prepare to open the most anticipated season of Gailey's tenure, Braine wants the detractors to know he stands behind the coach -- and intends to give him a contract extension following the 2005 season.
Braine said he anticipates Gailey to be Tech's coach "next year and years past that."
"I'm a Chan Gailey fan," Braine said. "He's the right guy for the job. We would find it very hard to find somebody of his caliber to take his place. We really would."
Braine characterizes the Georgia Tech job as the third toughest head coaching post in the nation.
According to Braine, Army is No. 1, a job held ironically enough by the last Tech coach to win a national championship, Bobby Ross. Notre Dame is No. 2 because of the outlandish fan expectations at a school with stiff admissions standards.
Georgia Tech ranks right behind those two because of its curriculum, he said. While some schools with high admissions standards make exceptions for star student-athletes and guide them into degree programs and classes where they have a chance to succeed, Tech turns them away, he said.
"The first thing a prospective coach asks around here is, 'How many exceptions can I get?' Guess what? We don't have any here," Braine said. "It doesn't matter if a kid got a 1,000 or a 1,600 on the SAT. They have to take the same classes."
While Gailey's academic record isn't perfect -- 11 players have flunked out during his tenure, although more than half were O'Leary's recruits -- he has recruited players who are succeeding in the classroom, Braine said.
"He's been successful here. He has a winning record," Braine said. "Who is better out there right now who can come in here and do a better job than Chan Gailey?"
Many alumni not skewering Gailey on Internet message boards ask the same thing. They want more victories and better teams -- they remember the days of Bobby Dodd, Ross and O'Leary -- but they don't want a corrupt program or one in which players make regular appearances in police blotters.
Sam Tyson, a Georgia Tech alumnus who lives in Augusta, said the alumni he talks to value academic and NCAA integrity over success on the football field. Gailey's program meets those standards, he said.
"I think Gailey should be retained even if he only wins three games," Tyson said. "I won't like it, but he has done a credible job at a tough school that has a limited curriculum."
Others say Gailey must work to instill stronger discipline in the players when it comes to their off-the-field actions.
Daren Pietsch, an alumnus from Brunswick, is among them. He said continuity is critical for a successful program and Gailey should therefore be retained. But in light of this summer's arrest of cornerback Reuben Houston on drug trafficking charges and the flunking out of defensive end Travis Parker, Gailey should "tighten up the ship a little," Pietsch said.
"He needs to instill more discipline and respect in order to prevent players from flunking out and/or getting into trouble," he said. "I tend to think he treats them like adults and professionals, and sometimes they need to be treated like kids."
The least concerned person about Gailey's future at Georgia Tech is Gailey himself.
"You have to decide at some point in coaching, What is your priority? Is your priority to keep your job or is your priority to do what's right?" Gailey said. "We're trying to what's right by the program, what's right by the kids, what's right by the coaches. And then whatever happens, happens."
Last modified Sun., August 07, 2005 - 12:17 AM
Originally created Sunday, August 7, 2005
Gailey Show gets mixed ratings
Despite fan criticism, Georgia Tech AD points to coach's academic record.
By ADAM VAN BRIMMER
Morris News Service
ATLANTA -- Georgia Tech's 2005 season is being billed by some as Chan Gailey's last stand.
Gailey has coached the Yellow Jackets to three solid, yet unspectacular seven-win seasons since succeeding George O'Leary in 2002, prompting debate about his future beyond the upcoming season.
Critics scream in newspapers, on Internet message boards and at alumni club meetings. They all harp on one point: being average every year isn't good enough.
Georgia Tech athletic director Dave Braine agrees on that point. He said as much last December, fueling the offseason rumblings.
But as the Yellow Jackets prepare to open the most anticipated season of Gailey's tenure, Braine wants the detractors to know he stands behind the coach -- and intends to give him a contract extension following the 2005 season.
Braine said he anticipates Gailey to be Tech's coach "next year and years past that."
"I'm a Chan Gailey fan," Braine said. "He's the right guy for the job. We would find it very hard to find somebody of his caliber to take his place. We really would."
Braine characterizes the Georgia Tech job as the third toughest head coaching post in the nation.
According to Braine, Army is No. 1, a job held ironically enough by the last Tech coach to win a national championship, Bobby Ross. Notre Dame is No. 2 because of the outlandish fan expectations at a school with stiff admissions standards.
Georgia Tech ranks right behind those two because of its curriculum, he said. While some schools with high admissions standards make exceptions for star student-athletes and guide them into degree programs and classes where they have a chance to succeed, Tech turns them away, he said.
"The first thing a prospective coach asks around here is, 'How many exceptions can I get?' Guess what? We don't have any here," Braine said. "It doesn't matter if a kid got a 1,000 or a 1,600 on the SAT. They have to take the same classes."
While Gailey's academic record isn't perfect -- 11 players have flunked out during his tenure, although more than half were O'Leary's recruits -- he has recruited players who are succeeding in the classroom, Braine said.
"He's been successful here. He has a winning record," Braine said. "Who is better out there right now who can come in here and do a better job than Chan Gailey?"
Many alumni not skewering Gailey on Internet message boards ask the same thing. They want more victories and better teams -- they remember the days of Bobby Dodd, Ross and O'Leary -- but they don't want a corrupt program or one in which players make regular appearances in police blotters.
Sam Tyson, a Georgia Tech alumnus who lives in Augusta, said the alumni he talks to value academic and NCAA integrity over success on the football field. Gailey's program meets those standards, he said.
"I think Gailey should be retained even if he only wins three games," Tyson said. "I won't like it, but he has done a credible job at a tough school that has a limited curriculum."
Others say Gailey must work to instill stronger discipline in the players when it comes to their off-the-field actions.
Daren Pietsch, an alumnus from Brunswick, is among them. He said continuity is critical for a successful program and Gailey should therefore be retained. But in light of this summer's arrest of cornerback Reuben Houston on drug trafficking charges and the flunking out of defensive end Travis Parker, Gailey should "tighten up the ship a little," Pietsch said.
"He needs to instill more discipline and respect in order to prevent players from flunking out and/or getting into trouble," he said. "I tend to think he treats them like adults and professionals, and sometimes they need to be treated like kids."
The least concerned person about Gailey's future at Georgia Tech is Gailey himself.
"You have to decide at some point in coaching, What is your priority? Is your priority to keep your job or is your priority to do what's right?" Gailey said. "We're trying to what's right by the program, what's right by the kids, what's right by the coaches. And then whatever happens, happens."