Our excuse making AD

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luckyjacket

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I have had it with Dave Braine's incessant (when he does speak) dribble on how hard it is to be successful in football at TECH.
When he does get cornered into an interview, like the one prior to the carolina game, he immediately goes on the defense and makes excuses for himself and his football coach.

What would it be like to have an AD and coach that love TECH like most of us do? Sure the curriculum is narrow. Is TECH a tough school? Absolutely!

On the other hand, TECH resides in the country's greatest city. Ga Tech is one of the reasons for that. A Tech education is respected world wide. Outside the state, TECH athletics are respected nation wide. For those interested in playing on Sundays, NFL people admire TECH athletes for their intellegence.
When doing well EVERY game is televised.

Should TECH be a tough sell to the nation's premier athletes? HELL NO!!!

Braine's attitude to me is "We will do the best we can, given the bad hand we were dealt"

Nobody needs to make excuses for Georgia Tech, period.
 
AMEN!!! Perfect understanding of Tech's unusual situation. To be a good salesman, you must first believe in the product. Braine does not get it when it comes to understanding Tech and the "Tech Man". Gailey, on the otherhand, doesn't have a clue.
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.
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BOO
 
No one has to be a genius to make it at Tech, just a good math aptitude and a willingness to study and discipline to work hard. I believe our coaches could easily spot those that weren't willing to work and take advantage of the help that is offered by our AA. O'Leary was able to bring in some great players that was not star students but was willing to work and have done very well academically.
 
Ditto.

You can sell TECH. TECH is an outstanding product. One of the best in the entire world.

Is there hard evidence that Braine thinks otherwise?
 
I agree in one sense. If you believe that something is impossible then it probably is. I deal with it everyday with sales people who tell me that they can't sell to a certain group or that the product won't work in a certain area. While certain things may present obstacles, I always let them know that if they don't believe they can do something then they've already lost the battle.

Tech provides challenges but that just means you have to work harder then your competition. I'm not so sure that you can say that Gailey has definately not worked hard and put together a class that will graduate from Tech and win us ACC championships. Let's see what he does with the existing and new players that he has before you lay down judgement. I'm saving judgement until next season because I've seen plenty of great coaches struggle at first. Probably just as many, if not more, than those that succeed right from the start.

I'm not an apologist for Gailey or Braine but I do feel that they deserve the chance to prove that they learned their lessons from last year. How many of us have ever been perfect when we first enter a new position at work? Probably not a lot but many of us have learned from those mistakes and become better at our jobs. The fact of the matter is that Gailey had never done this job on a comparable level before and frankly wasn't prepared for what he encountered. He will learn and he will improve.

That just my opinion. Yours may be different.
 
GTPilot, those are wise words and thoughts. These things being a given, and using your analogy of the average Joe's workplace, how many of us were given "top dollar" right off the bat? For the kind of bucks these guys get, results are to be expected or at least a MONSTER effort, neither of which I saw.
 
Braine sure didn't say any of that kind of garbage when O'Leary was here.
The bad hand he was dealt, he may have dealt to himself.
 
tex,

I agree with you that results should be expected and I'm as disappointed as anyone with the results this past year. However, I've seen quite a few people whose resumes looked great and ended being given a higher level job with big money. I've even seen it with recent college grads back when the economy was great (kids were making absurd salaries). In the end, a lot of them were over their heads initially and it took sometime get their feet back underneath them. They were given the time because the employer felt that they had the skills to succeed.

That is the attitude I am taking with Gailey. He was in over his head this year or at least wasn't prepared for what he encountered. He has been in the business a long time and has had success during that time. Thus I would think that he is the kind of guy who can learn from his mistakes and improve. Am I wrong? Perhaps but I don't think one year is enough to judge a college coach by. Again, that is just my opinion and I fully expect that others will see it a different way.

What it really comes down to is what every employer struggles with: How long does it take to decide if someone can succeed? Some people would say 1 year, others say 2, while even others say 3-5. That is the core difference between all of our opinions. Some have seen enough to draw a conclusion while others haven't seen enough. Ain't in beautiful?
 
My original remark was about Braine. I forgot to include one thing: in his painful pre hoops interview, he stated that TECH fans Will be happy with 7 wins a year, and that's what he is shooting for due to the DISadvantages he has at TECH.

Dr. Clough, get rid of him.
 
Lucky,

Why is it dribble (sic) when Braine talks about how hard it is to be successful here. Everyone agrees (even you in your own post) that our curriculum is narrow. Everyone agrees (even you in your own post) that Tech is hard. Don't you think those in and of themselves would make it tougher to recruit to Tech?? Not to mention the fact that we are NOT the flagship university in the state, we don't have the prettiest campus and we don't have the abundance of coeds that many other universities have. BTW, those are facts, not opinion.
And for the "positives" you mentioned -- Atlanta being the greatest city in the country is an opinion that many people do not share with you. You are entitled to your opinion -- but that doesn't make it a fact. And even if some of those kids think it is the greatest city in the country -- some of those other reasons for not coming here might trump it.

Many of those kids don't really care if their education is respected world-wide (and BTW I've been to lots of places in the world where GT isn't even a blip on the radar). Outside the state, Tech athletics is respected by some and derided by others. (BTW, I've lived outside the state since I graduated in 1973.)

And how do you know how much Dave Braine does or does not love Georgia Tech? Just because someone isn't unrealistically optimisitc and parochial, does that mean they don't love Georgia Tech??

You see Braine as being excuse-driven; I see him as realistic.
 
What's this 7 win a year complacency crap? Never heard of it and don't believe in it! I say let's tie an old yeller ribbon 'round the old oak tree for the "complacent bunch" and let's hang their ass from it every year in a weeny roast!!! Yeah, now we're talking good clean fun! <jumps up and down>

THE NERVE!!! (did I miss sumpin?)
 
Seven wins would be a miracle this year. We will see what happens to his comment later on. The one thing we should demand is that the next search committee not be headed by Braine. He had his chance.

I see now why the AA went undergound from embarassment after Ga. and Fresno - with interviews like this to fire up the troops who needs a SID dept.
 
Didn't hear the pregame interview (I assume yesterday) where Braine said 7 win seasons will be acceptable with Tech fans. If he did say that and meant it on a consistent basis then I've lost a lot of respect for him. As mentioned earlier in the thread, if you believe you can't succeed then you probably won't.

Don't make excuses for your failures. Find ways to turn them into success. There are ways to make Tech a great academic institution and win in athletics. If others can do it then so can we. It just takes a commitment and belief in making the necessary changes to overcome our challenges.

As an old boss once told me, "Stop making excuses and start giving me solutions."
 
Originally posted by GTPilot:
tex,

I agree with you that results should be expected and I'm as disappointed as anyone with the results this past year. However, I've seen quite a few people whose resumes looked great and ended being given a higher level job with big money. I've even seen it with recent college grads back when the economy was great (kids were making absurd salaries). In the end, a lot of them were over their heads initially and it took sometime get their feet back underneath them. They were given the time because the employer felt that they had the skills to succeed.

That is the attitude I am taking with Gailey. He was in over his head this year or at least wasn't prepared for what he encountered. He has been in the business a long time and has had success during that time. Thus I would think that he is the kind of guy who can learn from his mistakes and improve. Am I wrong? Perhaps but I don't think one year is enough to judge a college coach by. Again, that is just my opinion and I fully expect that others will see it a different way.

What it really comes down to is what every employer struggles with: How long does it take to decide if someone can succeed? Some people would say 1 year, others say 2, while even others say 3-5. That is the core difference between all of our opinions. Some have seen enough to draw a conclusion while others haven't seen enough. Ain't in beautiful?
Click to expand...
<font size="2" face="Arial, Verdana, Sans-Serif">GTPilot,

Sure you give a young kid time when he gets in over his head, it usually makes sense in the long-term, lots of growing up left to do.

But the last time I checked Gailey was not a young kid. By the time most of us turn 40, we have figured out the strengths and weaknesses of the guy in the mirror and our growth curve is way behind us, well except width wise. But when a guy who is 50+ gets in over his head, somethings wrong with his judgement and you can't look for future growth to help him rise to the job.
 
I enjoyed the interview.

Braine was asked hard questions and made no excuses.

I believe he said that both he and the coaches knew
what the situation was here before they took the jobs
so they have no excuse.

Stop spinning an interview very few people heard in
order to push an anti-Braine or anti-Gailey agenda.
 
Get Wrecked

If DB was quoted correctly, and if he is just being realistic, then it is time to change the reality.
 
CJ, I did not hear the interview. How is it that posters are spinning his 7 win comment? What did he actually say? Thanks. THWG
 
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