Our AD needs to take PR101....

goldmember

goldmember

Damn Good Rat
Joined
Aug 20, 2002
Messages
1,423
Here are just a few examples of the PR blunders by our beloved AD:

1.) GT published not 1 but 2 erroneous bios in the wake of the O'Leary debacle. This led to the resignation of our DC and SID. Who knows what effect this had on recruiting last year.

2.) Braine publically tells MM that he is a serious candidate for the HC job and interviews him AFTER a handshake deal with Gailey is finalized. Braine then indicates in the Gailey press conferece that the decison was made before Christmas. He plays the semantics game (a game that he is very fond of)and says that no contract had been signed so he didn't feel he was dishonest with Mac.

2.) On a pregame radio interview Braine said we can only recruit 9 players from the top 50 in GA and 5 have commited elsewhere. Why limit his group to the top 50. We obviously recruited many more than 9 players from the top 50 and several more from the state. How does DB (in October no less) know how many players that we will recruit from GA and how does he know who the top 50 is. Increadably stupid and inflamatory statement.

3.) On another pregame interview Braine states emphatically that the academic standars HAVE NOT CHANGED. He even brings Clough on the air for confirmation.

4.)On a 790 interview, Braine states that the 950 rule is in fact a guidline that Gailey had initiated. Does he think that we are stupid? Did he lie when he said there was no such standard 2 months earlier? I am sure when Gailey took over the first thing he said was 'I really need to implement an arbitrary SAT 'guideline' that will reduce the overall recruiting pool to 10 - 20 percent of the available players and ensure that I have no chance of long term success'

5.) Braine states on a b-ball pregame interview (maybe he should just stop doing pregame interviews)that GT fans will be happy with 7 win seasons because of the 'Disadvantages' at GT. Why all of this talk now, we heard nothing like this when O'Leary was the coach. Is this any way to try and sell 12,000 extra seats? Braine had to send out the 'endorsement' letter after last years 7 win effort, what is he trying to accomplish?

Here's to some credibility, honesty, integrety, and sanity from our AA in the following year. I think we at least deserve that much.
 
I agree. PR is one thing the AA doesn't do well as a whole. They certainly have made many of their problems worse by not mananging their public image very well.
 
gmember,
This is the type of thing Braine needs to see in front of him. I encourage you to format your post appropiately in letter form and send it to him. He is correct concerning the disappointment of last season including uga and svb, but the concerns amongst fans and supporters go beyond that. Your specific examples point to the "big" concern...good post.

And, by the way, seven wins does not make me happy. Nor, I would suggest, does it make the majority of GT fans happy.
 
Holy MACkeral, this is scary. Great post. This Braine is like watching the movie "JFK"... "Its an enigma wrapped up in a question"
 
Our opinions about the mismanagement of the AA need to be voiced to Clough. Otherwise, Braine will simply cut Gailey loose to save his neck when the time has run out and we will go through this all over again.
 
Goldmember.. please "package" your post and send it to Clough... all you have done is stated the facts, and very well I might add...
 
I can't really disagree with your statements. All of which are legit. However, I think you have to give Braine a lot of credit for how our facilities have expanded. He's also been our AD through some very rough periods, 1 in replacing our longtime BBAll coach, which I think he did a good job of, and 2 having OLeary get up and go to Notre Dame. Braine did everything he could do to keep GOL. For as much as Homer Rice did for Tech, I think our facilities would not be near what they are today with him still at the helm, and we probably would have a guy like Ted Roof as our head football coach.

I think the positives with Braine outweigh some of the negative things. i really don't have a problem with all of his skirting the issues in your above comments of his. My big problem with him was that stupid arse letter he sent out.
 
Originally posted by BarrelORum:
I can't really disagree with your statements. All of which are legit. However, I think you have to give Braine a lot of credit for how our facilities have expanded. He's also been our AD through some very rough periods, 1 in replacing our longtime BBAll coach, which I think he did a good job of, and 2 having OLeary get up and go to Notre Dame. Braine did everything he could do to keep GOL. For as much as Homer Rice did for Tech, I think our facilities would not be near what they are today with him still at the helm, and we probably would have a guy like Ted Roof as our head football coach.

I think the positives with Braine outweigh some of the negative things. i really don't have a problem with all of his skirting the issues in your above comments of his. My big problem with him was that stupid arse letter he sent out.
Click to expand...
<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">You are correct in that Braine has done some great things for GT. He has never done well in the PR game, remember the UGA game to the GA Dome and the don't tailgate until 3 hours before kickoff letter? I had always defended him in the past. When he crossed the line IMO was when he started making deceitful comments to the fans/alumni, especially about something as important as significantly raising academic standards. Gailey has always denied the new standards as well, it is hard to know what/who to believe, which is unacceptable to me.
 
Braine's problem is his inability to tell the truth. His true character came out in the Bobby Cremins episode and the disgraceful way he handled it. First, I will say Bobby needed to go about three years before he did. Braine pushed the issue, interviewed candidates during the season in the Edge Center right in front of Bobby without him even knowing his job was in trouble. The thing is Bobby would have stepped down gracefully at the end of that season anyway for the good of Tech. His assistants begged him to stay, but he insisted on doing the right thing.

I will not even go into Braine's inability to enforce buyout clauses.
 
I am not going to argue over whether my comments are BS or not, but Bobby quit before the season was over and then coached the final games. Do you really think DB waited until after the season to start his coaching search? Would he force Bobby to resign without having anybody in mind for the job?

Look we can agree to disagree on DB. I don't like the guy, from the way he does business to the way he handles some PR in the press. All I was doing was agreeing with the original poster.
 
Braine will be judged by how the teams perform on the field and on the court. Hewitt seemed like a good hire at the time and has done well, but he's still building the program and it's not "there" yet. Chan also seemed like a good hire at the time. Time will tell if he pans out.

I agree that from a PR standpoint, Braine has been somewhat less than outstanding.

But it's the key hires in FB and BB that will determine the success or failure of Braine.
 
wrecked, no offense, but that is one of the dumber things I've heard.

Any half decent AD is going to start looking for a coach IMMEDIATELY once a coach says he is going to resign. IF he didn't the alumni would fry him. Waiting for ANY reason is just plain stupid.

You have no evidence he interviewed coaches right in front of Cremins. In fact I can guarantee that didn't happen. Did you know that Cremins actually HELPED Braine on his search? Braine went ont he road to interview EVERY candidate!!! Including Hewitt who came to him recommended by BC. Your statements are garbage and unfounded.

Now I can understand you not liking Braine's PR abilities, but your argument on the way he handled the Cremins thing is complete garbage and has nothing to do with his PR. Frankly, you either have a selective memory or are just making BS up to further your own argument.

Braine's gotten us a new state of the art baseball facility, new traning rooms, top of the line equipment that rivals most big time programs, a new weight room, and the biggest stadium addition we've had in decades. No other prior AD has done so much in such a short period of time. I hope you remember that.

I'll agree that he needs to work on his PR but if you even think the guy hasn't done anything for Tech and should be fired, you are a moron.
 
Life under a microscope has to be nerve-
drinking.gif
racking
 
Look if you don't want to believe my "garbage", then don't. But I believe my source close to the BB program. If Bobby wasn't forced to resign, why did he get a settlement package to go out without a lawsuit? He would not need one if he was resigning on his own. Did Cremins recommend Self, Petersen, Carlismo and Calipari for the job as well as Hewitt? My use of the words in front should not be taken literally as Bobby had no idea some of those people were being interviewed. Finally why would I make this up? Do you think as a Tech fan I want to dislike my AD?

I will say this, there is a man of class down there and his name is Paul Hewitt. When they name the court after Bobby, Coach Hewitt will be the reason why, not Dave Braine.
 
Wrecked your sources are full of it. I'll go on DB's record which speaks for itself.

As for BC, he wasn't forced to resign by DB. Half the alumni and student body at the time were screaming for Cremins to leave.

Do you honestly think DB, a new AD of 3 years at the time could forcefully make BC, the coach who built Tech basketabll of the last 20 years resign? Give me a break. BC would probably laugh in Dave's face. The fact of the matter was the alumni were putting pressure on BC to leave.
 
Wrecked, that is a serious accusation you make, and I believe it to be incorrect. There's no evidence that supports that. If I remember correctly, Bobby had already said he was stepping aside or had already stepped aside before Braine started interviewing candidates. I have NEVER heard ANYTHING that was to the contrary or certainly the way you say it was. Our coaching search, the interview with Hewitt, and his hiring were done long after the season was done

I remember hearing Braine talk about how difficult of a situation it was, and I also remember several people giving Braine kudos for handling the situation the way he did. BC was a loved guy and there's no way Braine could get thru that scenario without some flack by the cremins faithful. It's hard to replace an icon. Especially one that the alumni were completely divided over.

Anyway, I think your comments on Braine are BS. Unless you'd like to elaborate on them.
 
Goldmemeber - I wouldn't call you a "negative poster," but for those that want to paint a picture that is less-than-rosey once in a while... that is exactly how to do it. That was a well thought out and well constructed picture of your feelings about Coach Braine's PR abilities. Your opinions are well founded in factual information and I really can't disagree with the point you made. Nice post, I haven't really thought about it much, but the PR obviously needs to be addressed based on what I've read here. As others have stated, putting this in letter form and sending it to President Clough should net you a good response and will assure you that you're being heard. If you do send a similar letter, I would love for you to post the jist of the response. Thanks.
 
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