Lance Thompson was the recruiting guhru for several years at Georgia Tech until he left to take on similar responsibilities for LSU. His absense is being felt - our allowing him to leave brings up a big question mark, since he was a 100% Tech Man that played on Coach Curry's teams. And why?
Lance Thompson understood the unending, unheraleded, twelve months a year task, and was greatly appreciated by insiders to the game of football. We, as fans, all enjoyed his work on Saturday afternoons - he located winners, he encouraged their commitment to a tremendous education, he convinced student athletes from all over this State, and throughout the country, to come to Atlanta and make a difference on behalf of the Georgia Tech tradition.
That's going to take a while to replace. Our reputation as a school is not a hinderance - it's an advantage! But the AD, David Braine, let Lance Thompson get away, so we have to rebuild and re-establish relationships with high school coaches that have their own opinions about our football program. Gailey can do that, he's a good ol' Georgia boy. And his assistant coaches know how to relate to HS coaches and their athletes.
The debacle with academics last spring did not help us one bit - especially when parents of high school student athletes are reading the papers and watching the news.
"Confidence" in a sound program is what any athlete, and every parent, want to see before signing an NCAA Grant in Aid.
Jim Stephens, #11, a well disciplined and very smart Tech Man, will correct that situation. Talk about an everyday, all day job - his infusion into the academic lives of our student athletes is a must if the program plans on being successful.
So we've suffered big losses in our administrative infrastructure due to poor managerial decision making. ***Notice**** Who's fixing these screw ups? We are, in loud fashion, and the AD has to comply, because his bad decisions have caused great damage to our program and our reputation.
Chan Gailey, with a qualified leader in the Athletic Director's position, will produce "more" winning seasons at Grant Field.
Be patient, be outspoken against what fails to represent the Georgia Tech tradition, be a determined Yellow Jacket. And don't cow down to political spin from the AD's Office.
Lance Thompson understood the unending, unheraleded, twelve months a year task, and was greatly appreciated by insiders to the game of football. We, as fans, all enjoyed his work on Saturday afternoons - he located winners, he encouraged their commitment to a tremendous education, he convinced student athletes from all over this State, and throughout the country, to come to Atlanta and make a difference on behalf of the Georgia Tech tradition.
That's going to take a while to replace. Our reputation as a school is not a hinderance - it's an advantage! But the AD, David Braine, let Lance Thompson get away, so we have to rebuild and re-establish relationships with high school coaches that have their own opinions about our football program. Gailey can do that, he's a good ol' Georgia boy. And his assistant coaches know how to relate to HS coaches and their athletes.
The debacle with academics last spring did not help us one bit - especially when parents of high school student athletes are reading the papers and watching the news.
"Confidence" in a sound program is what any athlete, and every parent, want to see before signing an NCAA Grant in Aid.
Jim Stephens, #11, a well disciplined and very smart Tech Man, will correct that situation. Talk about an everyday, all day job - his infusion into the academic lives of our student athletes is a must if the program plans on being successful.
So we've suffered big losses in our administrative infrastructure due to poor managerial decision making. ***Notice**** Who's fixing these screw ups? We are, in loud fashion, and the AD has to comply, because his bad decisions have caused great damage to our program and our reputation.
Chan Gailey, with a qualified leader in the Athletic Director's position, will produce "more" winning seasons at Grant Field.
Be patient, be outspoken against what fails to represent the Georgia Tech tradition, be a determined Yellow Jacket. And don't cow down to political spin from the AD's Office.
