let me just say it one more time

[toe meets leather]

for those of you mcwhorter fans, it is unfair to use the fridge as a comparison with regard to tenure as a assistant coach. the physical appearance of the fridge was a detriment or ralph would have had a head job sooner.

 

[flatjacket]

I don't think there is anything wrong with the Fridge's appearance. Is that the criteria for Tech to hire coaches. You would think that they would have learned their lesson with Lewis and Curry about that.
Tech screwed up big time when they could have had the Fridge as coach and wouldn't give him the time of day.

 

[ncjacket]

FatJacket, talk about totally missing a point. He was trying to say that the Fridge, unlike Mac, would have been a head coach SOMEWHERE much sooner if not for his appearance. In this day of worrying about how a coach looks at TV, etc., the Fridge just didn't fit the mold. There was no connection between that and how Tech chooses coaches.

BTW just when could we have had the Fridge as HC? Do you mean instead of Lewis or instead of O'Leary? I'm not sure either Ralph or George were considered by Homer when Ross left. I guess we could have hired him instead of O'Leary.

 

[beeware]

Tech has had a recent history of not promoting from within. When Bobby Ross left, we had both George O'leary AND Ralph Friedgen on staff and didn't promote either one of them because the grass is always greener on the other side and the other candidate looked better in a three piece suit. We all know how well that worked out.

This time we had a 30 year veteran assistant head coach on staff that was immediately named interim head coach that led us to a magnificent victory in the Seattle Bowl against a top 10 BCS Stanford Cardinal. He was ready to immediately take over the reigns at TECH and build on what O'leary had gotten started....NOT tear it down and start over.

He is known as one of the best o-line coaches and recruiters in the entire country....and his positive leadership and 30 years of college coaching were ready to hit the ground running. His leadership ability was so obvious during the trying aftermath of Coach O'leary leaving that even a blind person could see it.

We had been to five consecutive bowls....we had finished in the top 25 for 5 consecutive years....only 5 teams in the entire country can say that.

Not promoting Mac and not keeping a great staff and espcially a great recruiting staff and not building on Coach O'leary's success, will go down as the biggest mistake in TECH history. Dave Braine's folly. It was not necessary. But we will all pay for it....we already are.

 

[flatjacket]

Good one NCJ. You got me. I will say that BeeWare's post said what I was really thinking. I have got to quit posting and working at the same time. Hard to do both decently. My feeble point (although erroneous) was that I don't think Tech would have given Fridge any serious consideration because of his whatever. And that is sad.
I did however support the McWhorter choice for coach at the time. Would he have done any better? I don't think he could have done any worse. I hope Chan will do well, I really do. But, I don't think he is a head coach.
Does any of that make any sense now? You were correct, the Fridge wasn't available at the time of a HC vacancy. Too bad. But even if he was, I seriously doubt that he would have been considered.

 

[Y Jacket]

Regarding Friedgen, I am pretty sure GT made an official inquiry to Ralph and he stated he was now happy at MD. My hazy memory says it was even part of the rational for him getting a pretty nice raise - good performance and concern as schools like GT came calling. I for one would have loved to have had him back on the flats. Beyond all of the hype about offensive genius I think he is just flat out a winner. I personally think it was this "winner mentality" we most missed last year.

Regarding Mac, as others have said about Chan I am sure he is a very good person. However, for every internal hire like Miami made (can't remember his name right now) there are more mistakes like Torbush (UNC) who are hired because they supposedly can keep the momentum going, have the recruiting contacts, etc.

Not to say Mac is a good or bad coach, but to think he is automatically or without a doubt the best choice because he was here and liked or did a good job at Seattle is equally as dangerous as always looking outside.

 

[ncjacket]

I do think that the Fridge would have gotten serious consideration and probably would have gotten the job if the timing had been different. As far at Mac, I just don't see all the fuss to be honest. Beeware keeps talking about how he is one of the best line coaches in the country, etc., etc., etc. I will agree that he has coached at plenty of schools so may be one of the best known line coaches, but I don't know how to define best. I do know that he isn't coaching the line at TX. Don't know what that means either. FWIW, I would be a Mac supporter if he had been chosen. Now I'm a Gailey supporter. I actually kind of liked Charlie Taffe ( or however you say his name).

 

[71YellowJacket]

Toe,

Where you’re referring to my earlier post on another thread about RF not getting a HC offer until Merryland?

Now who is ever going to know if his looks entered into the equation. I think he is irresistible. Apparently, so did the folks at Merryland (at least after the first year).

I'm not an advocate of O'L, RF, or Mac for Tech's HC job but I liked them all and hope they all do well. My earlier point was only on the difficulty of selecting the really good ones from those that are good only on paper.

There is just so much room at the top of the pyramid and many who wish to sit there. Judging who is truly deserving is a very, very difficult task, unless you go on looks-Ralph's the winner!!

 

[goldmember]

Originally posted by toe meets leather:
the physical appearance of the fridge was a detriment or ralph would have had a head job sooner.

<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">That is certaintly not the case with McWhorter. I am not embarassed to say that coach McWhorter is a good looking guy.