J Batt Thread

andrew said:
The only way we get real grass back is if a mega donor both fully funds it (including a specified period of maintenance) and makes additional gifts for other stuff contingent on it happening.

Unfortunately I don't think we have any billionaires on stingtalk. Maybe gtphd, but his money is all tied up in watches.
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Under J's recent watch (no pun intended), that mega donor (or more specifically, that donor's AT rep) would have been told that a grass field was not going to be discussed until the higher needs (NIL, new AA building, etc.) were fully funded.
 
clapper said:
Under J's recent watch (no pun intended), that mega donor (or more specifically, that donor's AT rep) would have been told that a grass field was not going to be discussed until the higher needs (NIL, new AA building, etc.) were fully funded.
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I won't pretend to have inside info here, so it's very possible you are right.

But if a mega donor said, "I'll give you $20 million for NIL, new AA building, etc., but only if you also take an additional $10 million from me and use it to install and maintain a grass field for at least five years" I find it hard to believe he would've been told no.

Everything has a price, especially today in college football. It's just a matter of meeting it.
 
THWUGA said:
If we can keep getting J Batts as ADs for a few more years we'll be ok. The problem is when you're giving someone their first shot you're going to have some misses. The $2MM buyout (if true) should allow us to take someone with both pedigree and experience now.

But the "all-in on Tech" thing is an awful take. You get the best guy. You can't make inferior hiring decisions by prioritizing someone's love for Georgia Tech, and expect to build a strong athletic program in 2025. Thankfully Cabrera has shown he's too sharp for that.
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00Burdell said:
I don't think you understood what GoGATech was trying to say.

I'd be pretty surprised if anyone here didn't agree that J left things in better shape than what he inherited from his idiot predecessor.
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Not a very high bar considering the mess made by the former guys. I don’t think he really wanted to hire CBK. Fritz would have been Chan at best and Bill Lewis at worst. Basketball is still off the radar and no way our baseball team shouldn’t be a perennial top 15 team. Softball and WBB showing positive signs. Good job fundraising and increasing coaching salary pool, which definitely is important. I agree he did a good job all things considered but I’m not confusing him with Homer Rice. Good riddance.
 
clapper said:
The job wasn't too big for him. It was a stepping stone. Not long after he was hired I asked him whether he planned to stay here or move on when he had the chance. He told me that if he moved it was because he had done a great job here, someone recognized it, and GT would be in a better place. I can't argue with any of that, but a lot of it was the easy stuff that we all could accept. He was just hitting the wall now though at the point of finally getting push back inside and outside the AA walls. He was beginning to burn bridges with his decisions that were becoming harder to accept by donors and the key staff he couldn't replace with guys that looked and sounded like him.

It will be interesting to see how many of his polo shirt, khaki-wearing, close haircut guys follow him to MSU. If as many go as I expect, the new AD will have his hands full replacing a gutted staff.
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I like the guy, think he did a good job, certainly much better than we had in 2 decades of ADs. Not much competition there.

The bold part was what I was referring to when I said “job to big for him”. It’s easy to do the easy stuff, execute the initial mandate you were given when hired particularly given the widespread disdain for his predecessor. The tale of the tape comes when getting to phase II- results of initial actions taken dictate how much you’ll be able to keep changing. A more capable AD would have been able to keep churning. He saw the handwriting on the wall. It was show me the results and I’ll show you the money time. He chose the easy exit and reload at another place. Good career decision for him but it’s a window into his capability level. In my opinion he’s capped at good as far as being an AD goes, will never be outstanding or great. Most assuredly not the second coming of Homer Rice we all hoped for.
 
Y’all have some weird metrics of what constitutes success. I’m sure it probably comes from us all being Tech loyalists, but Batt, like most everyone else involved in college sports, is not loyal to any particular place like the fans are. That includes the vast majority coaches and players (especially in the NIL era). MSU offered more money. On that metric alone most people jump. I don’t get the belittling the job he did here. We should be happy that we are better off than when he got here and hoping the next guy gets us a step further.
 
Liberty said:
The tale of the tape comes when getting to phase II- results of initial actions taken dictate how much you’ll be able to keep changing. A more capable AD would have been able to keep churning. He saw the handwriting on the wall. It was show me the results and I’ll show you the money time. He chose the easy exit and reload at another place. Good career decision for him but it’s a window into his capability level.
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But he did show results and MSU did show him the money. I don't think the fact that he chose an extra million dollars a year guaranteed right now at MSU versus continuing to churn at Tech in hopes that we would match that offer at some point down the line is a reflection of his capability.

Ultimately, being an AD is his job, and people do jobs for money. He turned down other overtures to stay at Tech, but eventually someone offered him enough money that it didn't make sense to turn it down.

Saying that he will never be a great AD because he chose to double his salary is unrealistic in my opinion -- almost any AD, whether bad or good or great, would have taken that offer. Hell, most of the people who on this board, who love Tech as much as anyone, would have trouble saying no to such a huge pay increase elsewhere.
 
maybe tech really is a super insufferable place to work, and if you're not a super fan, you won't last long. which is why you have to give up some competency if you want someone who will stick around. trying to find someone competent who is also a super fan is catching lighting in a bottle. if i were hired for a job and every decision was veto'd, criticized, or questioned by mega donors, i'd peace out too.
 
savbandjacket said:
Y’all have some weird metrics of what constitutes success. I’m sure it probably comes from us all being Tech loyalists, but Batt, like most everyone else involved in college sports, is not loyal to any particular place like the fans are. That includes the vast majority coaches and players (especially in the NIL era). MSU offered more money. On that metric alone most people jump. I don’t get the belittling the job he did here. We should be happy that we are better off than when he got here and hoping the next guy gets us a step further.
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He was in a top position and with that comes scrutiny, evaluations, opinions of performance, etc.

He accomplished the following in his short tenure:
A. Hired Brent Key
* Got his second or third choice, so far working out good
B. Hired Damon Stoudamire, fired Pastner
* Jury’s out on this one. Risky move and so far not so hot.
C. 2024 broke fundraising record by 43%
* Gets an A+ for this one as long as 2025 is improved from that
D. $10M to move that game to the Benz
* Good for $$, bad for atmosphere
E. Retained Danny Hall until the end of this year, not quite ready to replace him(?)
* Hall retired in good fashion, no replacement 3 days later even though this was publicly announced 3 months ago is concerning.

The Edge Center was already underway before he arrived. Maybe I missed something? All told, yeah we were glad to get rid of Re-Todd but looking at the above it’s not like he was some second coming. He did a good job, the minimum expected for his position and level of compensation.
 
greenmachine said:
maybe tech really is a super insufferable place to work, and if you're not a super fan, you won't last long. which is why you have to give up some competency if you want someone who will stick around. trying to find someone competent who is also a super fan is catching lighting in a bottle. if i were hired for a job and every decision was veto'd, criticized, or questioned by mega donors, i'd peace out too.
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You need not just someone who is competent and a super fan, but also someone who is willing to work for a lot less money than he would get somewhere else

Tough combo to find. Borderline impossible, I'd say.
 
Liberty said:
He was in a top position and with that comes scrutiny, evaluations, opinions of performance, etc.

He accomplished the following in his short tenure:
A. Hired Brent Key
* Got his second or third choice, so far working out good
B. Hired Damon Stoudamire, fired Pastner
* Jury’s out on this one. Risky move and so far not so hot.
C. 2024 broke fundraising record by 43%
* Gets an A+ for this one as long as 2025 is improved from that
D. $10M to move that game to the Benz
* Good for $$, bad for atmosphere
E. Retained Danny Hall until the end of this year, not quite ready to replace him(?)
* Hall retired in good fashion, no replacement 3 days later even though this was publicly announced 3 months ago is concerning.

The Edge Center was already underway before he arrived. Maybe I missed something? All told, yeah we were glad to get rid of Re-Todd but looking at the above it’s not like he was some second coming. He did a good job, the minimum expected for his position and level of compensation.
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I don’t think he’s the second coming of Christ or anything like that. He’s certainly replaceable. But he did a good job here, particularly when viewed against the shit show that everyone other than D-Rad has done while AD.
 
Liberty said:
E. Retained Danny Hall until the end of this year, not quite ready to replace him(?)
* Hall retired in good fashion, no replacement 3 days later even though this was publicly announced 3 months ago is concerning.
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If Batt was still here, I think we would have already announced Ramsey taking over. I still believe that is eventually what will happen but just sort of in limbo right now. Unless we have been very stealthy and trying to do a quick AD hire, I think Ramsey will be announced soon. Can't fart around too long on that or we'll start losing value players.
 
What about Jeff Purinton? Was at Alabama for a long time in significant roles and did a good job as Arkansas St.'s AD
 
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