Our Behinds the Scenes Big Money Donors Are The Problem IMO

THWUGA

Dodd-Like except wouldn't have left the SEC
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Does our athletic program have *real* money guys, or guys who write 6 digit checks? Honest question.
 

18in32

Petard Hoister
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Does our athletic program have *real* money guys, or guys who write 6 digit checks? Honest question.
Of course – for the Edge Center renovation an anonymous donor gave a $10m matching gift. The Brocks gave $3.5m for the football practice center. The McCamishes gave $15m to redo AMC. (Obvs capital gifts are easier to raise than giving big dollars to a guy who's ruined the program, obvs.)

The amounts that our biggest donors give is well publicized by the AA as part of their efforts to encourage others to give, too. The AA is constantly sending out 'Philanthropy Updates' which highlight major gifts. They would be happy to put you on the mailing list I'm sure!
 

THWUGA

Dodd-Like except wouldn't have left the SEC
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Of course – for the Edge Center renovation an anonymous donor gave a $10m matching gift. The Brocks gave $3.5m for the football practice center. The McCamishes gave $15m to redo AMC. (Obvs capital gifts are easier to raise than giving big dollars to a guy who's ruined the program, obvs.)

The amounts that our biggest donors give is well publicized by the AA as part of their efforts to encourage others to give, too. The AA is constantly sending out 'Philanthropy Updates' which highlight major gifts. They would be happy to put you on the mailing list I'm sure!
I'm well aware of the capital donations many of which have come with the various matching/challenge commitment campaigns. I should have clarified I'm asking about the operational movers and shakers. I keep hearing about these guys calling shots, going to TStan, etc. etc. but it's all vague. I know some of the names, I've been in suites while some of them are courted, but I'm curious what GT really has going on behind the scenes, that's all. Is it real money?
 

covingtonjacket

Knowledge superspreader
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Dec 6, 2011
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I don't think our big money donors are the problem, at least any differently than at any other P5 school. I think our problem is lacking an IPTAY equivalent that give the AD breathing room on a yearly basis.
 

18in32

Petard Hoister
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I'm well aware of the capital donations many of which have come with the various matching/challenge commitment campaigns. I should have clarified I'm asking about the operational movers and shakers. I keep hearing about these guys calling shots, going to TStan, etc. etc. but it's all vague. I know some of the names, I've been in suites while some of them are courted, but I'm curious what GT really has going on behind the scenes, that's all. Is it real money?
Not sure what you mean. People who give $10m at a time will have their opinion seriously considered, don't know if that's the same as 'calling the shots.' The names are out there. They're the people that lead the campaigns, that serve on the boards, that have their names in the publications and on the plaques. A lot of these people show up to most of the events and are easily approached. There are of course others – mainly the people that aren't still active in business careers – that do things anonymously, but I think if you are seriously interested in researching the AA's source of funds, the information is pretty available.
 

clapper

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Jan 19, 2007
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6,346
Does our athletic program have *real* money guys, or guys who write 6 digit checks? Honest question.
44 living donors that have given $1MM+. About twenty of them are *real* money, but about half of those are focused on other sports. Of the football related ones, only 5-6 get really involved.
 

ThisIsAtlanta

Break In Case Of Emergency
Staff member
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61,115
You're making my argument for me.

I like to think of myself more as Paul. TIA is Jesus around here.

I withdraw my comments and express my gratitude for all you do for Tech. Peace –
I'm not Jesus. I'm Gandalf. The parallels are striking, though. Died, came back in white, saved the world... never thought about that before.
 

BainbridgeJacket

F*** Joe Biden
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44 living donors that have given $1MM+. About twenty of them are *real* money, but about half of those are focused on other sports. Of the football related ones, only 5-6 get really involved.
Define *real* in this context, please. I want to know if I know one of the 5-6 (probably not)
 

clapper

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Define *real* in this context, please. I want to know if I know one of the 5-6 (probably not)
Have the capability to fill multiple multi-million dollar requests. You would recognize many of the names. There a list at the A-T site.
 

samsgt02

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Apr 11, 2008
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I question our AD’s love for Tech. It’s been a few years but the AD’s Bobby Dodd box was crap. Just sheetrock, laminate counters, and a good view. If I was the AD at Tech that box would look like a Donald Trump wet dream, wall to wall gold with a little pizzas topping big pizzas bar. And I pay for it out of pocket.
 

PressManCoverage

Banhammer'd
Ban Hammer'd
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Press,
You have no friggin clue what is the facts and not the facts. You are making crap up.
Check out Gibbs blocking in the backfield. Come back and tell me why he is better or worse than our OL.
Mid
I understand that he is not as good at Blocking as Mason or Smith, that is something he has to improve on, but with a smallish Kamara-type RB you accept that trade-off to get his explosiveness on the field.

Meanwhile blocking is the #1 job for an OL, unlike Gibbs where blocking is a bonus.

I understand what you are trying to say here, I just think it is a bad comparison.
 

PressManCoverage

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Only in your mind. Peace out, Paul.
Quite simply Mr Clapper, at every other P5 College in the Deep South the major donors solidify the FB Program first and foremost and make "generally good" decisions behind the scenes to build up FB, then MBB , then everything else in the Athl Dept flows from there.

GT simply has not done that.

We cut Chan loose too quick, Chan had established Recruiting connections among GA HS Coaches and had 21 of 22 roster positions relatively strong (a rarity at GT), Chan was routinely Recruiting GA HS Talent that was among the Top5 at their position among in-State Recruits, Chan's only shortcoming was at QB.

Then we did what GT does, we went with CPJ without considering that when you are in a State with great HS Talent, they want to play in the NFL, so we hired a Coach that brought with him the perception that your NFL Chances would be hurt if you played at GT, he stayed for 11 years and literally shredded any Recruiting Relationships that GT FB had with Top Recruits and HS Coaches.

The net long term losses to the GT FB Program were way more damaging than the benefits we received from those 2 meaningless Orange Bowls.

We had a chance to jump to the B1G Ten, that doesn't even require an explanation, nuff said.

There are others, but you should get the gist, everyone can raise endowment money for this need or that need, but in the Deep South what separates the winners from the also rans is the behind the scenes decisions on how to run the FB Program, no one cares about welfare Sports having their scholarships endowed, don't believe me, start up a GT Golf msg board and see how many people sign up.

We're smarter than uga people , we need to be smart and cunning with how we run our FB Program, it makes no sense to be in Atl, Ga a Top4 place for HS FB and the Unofficial Official Capital of CFB in the United States and for GT to have this kind of FB Program.

100% of the other 64 P5 Colleges would love to be physically located where GT is located, but we simply don't take advantage of it, we make too many strategic mistakes.

Everyone thanks you for your contributions, no matter how small and no matter how big they are, all contributions are appreciated.
 

clapper

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Quite simply Mr Clapper, at every other P5 College in the Deep South the major donors solidify the FB Program first and foremost and make "generally good" decisions behind the scenes to build up FB, then MBB , then everything else in the Athl Dept flows from there.
You mean teams like F$U, Florida, Miami, USC(e), Tennessee, Vanderbilt, LSU, both Mississippi's, Auburn? Does Texas count as Deep South? Some have had success over the years, even a few championships, but most have been a mess for a while or longer, despite their excess of riches and donors. You can't point at Alabama, UGA(g) and Clemson and say the Deep South donors all have their öööö together. Most have them thrown significantly more money at their programs with less results and considerably more turmoil than we have had since Chan.

CCG, CPJ, GOL are gone. I'm sorry the last 25 years of your life were so miserable. Time to get over it and support your current team, regardless of the past or current condition, instead of crapping on everything - particularly the players and fans. What exactly have you done to improve the program? Bitching doesn't count.

FWIW, you very much should care that donors are supporting the 'welfare' sports. Every scholarship and coaching endowment that gets funded is one less athlete that the revenue generating sports have to support, which in turn increases the operating budget for the football and basketball.
 

PressManCoverage

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FWIW, you very much should care that donors are supporting the 'welfare' sports. Every scholarship and coaching endowment that gets funded is one less athlete that the revenue generating sports have to support, which in turn increases the operating budget for the football and basketball.
Why aren't we in the B1G Ten, could we use the extra $25 million or so?

Also, I understand the Stanford model where you endow the Non Revenue Sports, why are they non Revenue, what are we doing to try and make them self sufficient and break even

My point is that if you build FB & MBB the right way, the money from sellouts and Merch will more than justify the extra attention those sports get.

Maybe get you and your guys to commission a Market Research Firm to seek out HS FB and HS MBB Coaches and Players and ask them a series of questions about what they think about GT FB & MBB, then maybe we can get a real understanding of what the issues are.

The way we see GT & the GTAA isn't the way that the rest of the State of Ga sees us.

There's no reason we shouldn't have a better Athletic Dept sitting in Midtown Atlanta Georgia

I'm not anti endowment of nonRev Sports, I just think we should prioritize FB & MBB
 

clapper

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Why aren't we in the B1G Ten, could we use the extra $25 million or so?
Oh, let's go further. Why aren't we still in the SEC?

Also, I understand the Stanford model where you endow the Non Revenue Sports, why are they non Revenue, what are we doing to try and make them self sufficient and break even
Never going to happen. We should charge the grad students a fee, don't you think?

My point is that if you build FB & MBB the right way, the money from sellouts and Merch will more than justify the extra attention those sports get.
It doesn't require justification. They are expenses regardless. Still, we should always be maximizing the revenue sports. That starts with getting the right coachs and getting out from under the endless buyouts and probations.

Maybe get you and your guys to commission a Market Research Firm to seek out HS FB and HS MBB Coaches and Players and ask them a series of questions about what they think about GT FB & MBB, then maybe we can get a real understanding of what the issues are.

The way we see GT & the GTAA isn't the way that the rest of the State of Ga sees us.

There's no reason we shouldn't have a better Athletic Dept sitting in Midtown Atlanta Georgia
Do you know they aren't doing that? Just asking. It seems like a no brainer and the first thing CGC's staff should have done. If he's already changing the perception, based on recruiting, it sounds like it happened.

I'm not anti endowment of nonRev Sports, I just think we should prioritize FB & MBB
Here's the thing about that. The coaches need to be aligned with the AT Fund for that to happen. I hate giving you more CPJ-hate fodder, but he definitely was not. I don't see it from CGC either. It's taken CJP quite a while to get on that train. The non-revenue sports are lapping the field there. Tennis and Swimming have already endowed their coaches. Golf and baseball have the absolute best booster/donor programs. WBB used to be in that boat too, but they will catch up again, along with the others. That's not to say football and basketball aren't doing anything - the 2020 Initiative was very good for them - but they definitely need to get their öööö together.
 

Olgoldandwhie

Flats Noob
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Feb 11, 2019
Messages
788
No they are not... They told TStan he about 3/4 of the buyout secured...7M but the AD didn't want to fire Collins this year. But Collins has been told he better start winning in 2022 or he is out the door. Clown Collins also lobbied to keep Thacker. He didn't do that for Patenaude. He and the AD might be fired if they do not win 6 games next year.


The issue is Clown Collins doesn't hold players accountable...he has turned the flats into a circus and I am happy for Gibbs, he deserves better.

The issue is the Prez sided with the AD to keep Collins, not the Big Money Donors.... This öööö show will be cleaned up after next year.
I hope you’re right.
 

Womenandcookies

Jolly Good Fellow
Joined
Apr 11, 2008
Messages
1,696
Quite simply Mr Clapper, at every other P5 College in the Deep South the major donors solidify the FB Program first and foremost and make "generally good" decisions behind the scenes to build up FB, then MBB , then everything else in the Athl Dept flows from there.

GT simply has not done that.

We cut Chan loose too quick, Chan had established Recruiting connections among GA HS Coaches and had 21 of 22 roster positions relatively strong (a rarity at GT), Chan was routinely Recruiting GA HS Talent that was among the Top5 at their position among in-State Recruits, Chan's only shortcoming was at QB.

Then we did what GT does, we went with CPJ without considering that when you are in a State with great HS Talent, they want to play in the NFL, so we hired a Coach that brought with him the perception that your NFL Chances would be hurt if you played at GT, he stayed for 11 years and literally shredded any Recruiting Relationships that GT FB had with Top Recruits and HS Coaches.

The net long term losses to the GT FB Program were way more damaging than the benefits we received from those 2 meaningless Orange Bowls.

We had a chance to jump to the B1G Ten, that doesn't even require an explanation, nuff said.

There are others, but you should get the gist, everyone can raise endowment money for this need or that need, but in the Deep South what separates the winners from the also rans is the behind the scenes decisions on how to run the FB Program, no one cares about welfare Sports having their scholarships endowed, don't believe me, start up a GT Golf msg board and see how many people sign up.

We're smarter than uga people , we need to be smart and cunning with how we run our FB Program, it makes no sense to be in Atl, Ga a Top4 place for HS FB and the Unofficial Official Capital of CFB in the United States and for GT to have this kind of FB Program.

100% of the other 64 P5 Colleges would love to be physically located where GT is located, but we simply don't take advantage of it, we make too many strategic mistakes.

Everyone thanks you for your contributions, no matter how small and no matter how big they are, all contributions are appreciated.
Since the ND and uga games you went from CGC is a great coach to CBK is horrible and our big money donors are the reason we have problems, also CPJ's accomplishments were meaningless. It almost seems like you want us to keep losing 9 games a year so that some high school coaches in state are happy our coach blows the appropriate amount of smoke up their ass.
 
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