ramblin_man
Jolly Good Fellow
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2004
- Messages
- 1,576
Mark Bradley
- Gailey makes Ball a scapegoat
- The BCS blows it again
- Tech's 'D' stands offended
- All business, no hype for Jackets
- Vick seems uneasy on the throne
The word is …
Weak.
It’s the weak attempt of a damaged coach to lay the blame for two crushing defeats on Reggie Ball.
Yes, Ball was wretched against Georgia and Wake Forest, and yes, he’s unpopular with both the media and the masses. But who kept putting Ball on the field these past four seasons to numbingly diminishing returns? Who claimed after the Georgia game that Ball was irreplaceable?
The time to change quarterbacks isn’t now that this season of promise has fizzled. The time to change quarterbacks was when Ball was ailing so conspicuously at Clemson two months ago. The time to change quarterbacks was after Ball’s infamous fourth-down throwaway against Georgia two years ago, and indeed Gailey said going into the 2004 Champs Sports Bowl that the position would be open in spring practice. But Ball was named the MVP in Orlando, and the status quo held. And two years later, here we are again.
Few four-year starters in the history of football have progressed as little as Ball. But Gailey has had the equivalent of a presidential term to make more of his quarterback and couldn’t do it, nor could he recruit someone to supplant him. There were times when it seemed Gailey and play-caller Patrick Nix were almost scared of Ball — scared to criticize him, scared to correct him, scared to ask him to throw anything but a 40-yard heave (heaven forbid that Tech’s tight end ever catch a pass) down the sideline. Was this coaching or enabling?
The belief here is that these past two games have hurt Gailey as much as the 51-7 loss to Georgia did in his first season. (Ball had nothing to do with that one.) That 2002 game led many in the Tech community to believe Gailey didn’t know his business; these past two have turned any would-be converts into full-blown skeptics. Even Jason Hill of Conyers, who has been quoted in this space as a Gailey advocate, said Monday: “You build a program by sticking by a coach, and I think the direction of the program is up. … [But] there’s no excuse for losing the last two games, and the ultimate accountability lies with the head coach.”
Dan Howington, who lettered at linebacker for Tech in 1980 and ‘81 and who lives in Greensboro, Ga., wrote in an e-mail: “A group of old Tech ballplayers made the trip from Atlanta for the [ACC title] game in hope the coaches had learned something from the miserable offensive game plan used in the loss to Georgia. We almost canceled the trip after that loss but held out hope the coaches would finally see what even the most casual football fan has seen for years now. No such luck. And don’t blame Reggie Ball; he just tries his best to run the plays he’s given. He has been asked to execute plays he cannot consistently execute. Who is ultimately at fault for that stubbornness?”
The possibility of seeing Ball benched will play well with Tech fans who have wearied of the quarterback’s diffuse passing and diffident attitude. Here’s Ken Wheeler of Cave Spring via e-mail: “Most of us will stay home if Reggie plays [in the Gator Bowl]. A definite answer of, ‘Yes, Taylor [Bennett] will start,’ would boost ticket sales.”
There is, however, a bigger issue than selling tickets. If you’re loyal to a guy, you’re loyal to the last dance — not the penultimate one. Gailey could argue that the Gator is really the first game of next season, and therefore he needs to assess Bennett. By that bit of reasoning, Joe Anoai and KaMichael Hall and Kenny Scott would likewise need to sit against West Virginia because they’re exiting seniors. (Calvin Johnson, too, because he’s surely gone.)
For better or worse, Ball is still the same player he was two weeks ago, two years ago. Only now his coach is apparently wondering whether the guy who has started 49 games should get a 50th. If Ball doesn’t start on New Year’s Day, it won’t be because he has gotten worse overnight. It will be because the coach whom Ball helped earn a fat new contract suddenly has need of a scapegoat."
