Give it some time.

[dodd_54]

I've never posted before, but I've watched Tech play a lot of football and some of the negative posting on here today caused me to register and give my two cents.

Under Coach Dodd, in the late 50's and early 60's we never won more than seven games. Coach Carson won more than seven games once. Coach Rodgers won more than seven games twice. (Coach Fulcher was between Carson and Rodgers and he won seven games one year, but was only here two). Coach Curry won more than seven games once. Coach Ross had a good three year run. Coach Lewis couldn't get the job done. Coach O'Leary had a good run. The point is this: we haven't exactly been a national power in the last fifty years, but we've had a few good runs and we've gone to some bowl games.

Would you folks have fired Coach Dodd during the last eight to ten years when he was our Coach? He put up some seasons very similar to Coach Gailey. Maybe Coach Gailey isn't perfect, but I think he's as good as any coach we've had here since Coach Dodd. He's a good man and fine representative of our school. For those reasons, you people ought to be a little more respectful to him. It's disgaceful to come on here and see Tech Fans fighting and name calling. If you were a recruit, and you saw the posts on this board, would you want to come to Tech? Grow up people and give Coach Gailey a little time.

 

[buzzybee]

This has nothing to do with CG being a good man-he is a great man and I wish he could succeed, but being a great man doesn't cut it in college football. I thought Bill Lewis was, and still is, a good man but he couldn't win enough and neither can CG.I want him to succeed but he can't it appears. Until yesterday I was a supporter of CG but I am no longer.

 

[RamblinPeck]

While I completely understand where you are coming from, and respect that you've seen a lot more white and gold in your time than I have, I have to disagree.

Would I have fired Dodd? No. Why? Well, when a man shows that he can be very good, and then has some bad years he gets a lot more leadway than a man who has never proved he can be the man. For example, look at Peterno, a lot of people were saying it was time for him to retire, but the PSU faithful were still right behind him all the way.

I believe that Gailey is a good man, just like the majority of people... I mean how many people are really "bad" when you look at the facts? I also believe he is incredibly stubborn, goes back on his word (OC/HC at same time quotes have been rehashed a thousand times).

I do not think that Tech is a stubborn old man who is set in his ways and refused to change (that'd be your Harvards/Yales/etc), Tech is a dynamic place that does whatever it takes to win, and win big, whether in the classroom, on the field, or in the marketplace. Football is hurting the academics of the school because believe it or not, the smart kids who are going to do something with their lives generally like sports. People don't want to put on a losing hat if they dont have to, and sadley theres other options for kids (even in state) than at Tech. I don't want future alumns to be people who have no interest outside the world of math... that ain't Tech. We aren't MIT, and I'd damn proud of that, we're real people who get the job done... and right now, one of our own isn't.

He's here for a while, thats decided, but people don't have to be happy about it. Would you rather them not vent on a board and instead not show up on gamedays at all? This with us or agianst us attitude needs to move along, there can be problems within a system (Gailey) that overall is a good one (GT football and its players), to not recognize that is very falwed logic.

I apologize to the old guard alumni, but theres a lot of us youngins who want more, and we're going to do everything we can to make it happen, whether that means financially or not.

 

[GT65_UGA89]

As I have stated on here before, I was not a fan of the initial hiring of CG, yet I have supported him throughout his four-year tenure at GT. CG has posted four consecutive seven-win seasons. GT in the last six years (two of those years under the watch of GO'L) has averaged 7.5 wins-per-year. That tops any decade since I have been around (1965).

That being said, there have been some great wins under CG, but for every peak there has been a valley to extinguish any positive feelings I have for the job the man is doing. I have simply had enough of the inconsistent play that has defined the CG era at GT.

The Emerald Bowl ranks right up there with the 51-7 debacle in Athens and IMO, is worse than the 41-17 loss to Duke. As I have also stated before, I believe the program has reached it's peak under HCCG and I fear a backslide from 7 wins per season to 4-5-6 wins because I have no faith in the man as a football coach, particularly his desire to be his own OC.

He has signed a five-year extension to continue to man the helm of leader of the GT football program. He's a nice man ...that's all well and good, but I don't want him coaching at GT for five more seasons.

 

[herBee]

Dodd .. My preacher is a good man but not a good football coach
Dodd was both so why not look for a reasonble facsimile

 

[GoldZ]

Good post dodd, but tell us when you saw a Tech team quit on Dodd. We are now at THREE and counting. Agree with ya on Chan's merits, but the quit factor is troublesome.

As for comparisons sake, please don't compare CCG to Bobby Ross.

 

[bizzybee]

Time? LOL!! What about poor recruiting? If we give him more time, recruiting will not only be poor, as it is this year, but NONEXISTENT!! This is becoming a desperate situation. We have lost scholarships, yet he cannot even recruit the lower number. I have never seen a serious fb program be so content with so many embarrassing performances and inadequate recruiting. It says a lot about the President, AD, and the whole darn GTAA! How sick is that?

 

[pocket_watch]

Dodd, I can certainly respect that you are still a Gailey fan. Based on what you wrote, I infer that you are in his corner only because of his "good man" features.

I happen to think you are right about his character, but I don't think he is a leader of young men. I believe that a team is the reflection of its coach.
Frankly, I have punched Chan Gailey's ticket in my mind for many reasons, but the absolute intolerable reason for me is that I have never seen a Ga. Tech football team quit before Chan Gailey became head coach. The throwing in of the towel yesterday was the final straw for me, and as you know that was not the first time.

One more thing about nice guys: In my life I have met way too many nice guys that won't fight. They will keep turning a cheek until they break their own neck. That personality trait isn't so good if you are a football coach in a competitive league.
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Gailey had understood that football is a violently aggressive game. If he had understood this maybe he would have hired hard line assistants that could have gotten this message across to young men.
As it is, I don't think his Ga. Tech teams have had one ounce of fear/ football respect for this nice man.

Just one note about the OLeary/Friedgen days: Do you remember the fear of going to the sideline the players spoke about? That was respect. They certainly weren't perfect, but they did instill the desire to do things the way they taught it, and to win.

There are plenty of things to do in this world for good, nice men. Running a football program apparrantly isn't one of them.

 

[gtyellowjackets]

My $.02: I've been watching GT football for 30-35 years and was a non-rev, scholarship SA at Tech in the 1980's.

The tumultuous period in GT athletics, from the late 1960's to the mid 1980's, really shouldn't be considered in today's evaluation GT athletics. The last 15 or maybe 20 years are a valid indicator of where GT athletics stand. During this period we have won BIG in all GT sports. Clearly we have been able to put the pieces together during those times and we seek to do it again. The Dodd through Curry periods (Curry was just trying to turn the thing around)just aren't a good measure for what GT is capable in today's NCAA, IMO.

In the last 16 years our football record includes a National champioship. A 10 win season. 9 straight bowls. 7 or more wins in 10 of those seasons.

I know GT can win big. Almost everything is in place to do so. We need and OC, ST coach. We need some more flexiblity from the hill regarding courses (not wholesale sellout majors like Sports Studies). And a QB. If CG cannot come through on those things in the coming year then I won't be able to support him any longer.

 

[albanyjacket]

I respect your desire to have a good and decent man like Chan Gailey continue as football coach but frankly he does not have a clue. You mention Coach Dodd. Surely you are aware he let two assistant go in the late 1940s because the game had passed them by. You must also be aware that when the game changed in the early 1960s Dodd was flexible enough to abandon his beloved T formation for the flip flop I. Perhaps you will recall that even in his very last year Coach Dodd was willing to exchange the 5 man front Tech had used for years for a 4-4. The point is Coach Dodd from first to last showed an ability to adapt and willingness to let go of the reins enough to allow assitants to do their jobs. Coach Gailey is stubbon and paranoid to put it mildly. This situation will only get worse not better. Recruiting has been poor and the last of O'Leary's recruits will leave gaping holes on defense. Admittedly, a new coach will have a major overhaul ahead of him but as Jeremey Foley said when he got rid of the coach of Florida in midseason before hiring Urban Meyer "If you have to do something unpleasant it is best to go ahead and get it over with because waiting will not make it easier."