The Culture of GT Football

CornerBlitz

CornerBlitz

To be the man you have to beat the man
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
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CGC says he has established the culture and is now ready to coach. I agree culture is important..whether in business, sports, community or any aspect of life. This got me thinking about what actually is the culture of GT football.

First off, I don’t think the 404, bigTime, money down, Waffle House or any other of these things represent our culture, rather they are advertisements to attract eyeballs. While not necessarily bad, my experience is culture is much deeper.

I might offer that we have one of the most consistent cultures in college football. It began with Coach Heisman and was most recognizable under coach Dodd. Ross, O’Leary, Curry, Johnson and even Gailey represented this culture with varying degrees of on field success.

I would say our culture is this…we earn everything and declare nothing. We demand academic performance. We focus on fundamentals, are sly on game day, and squeeze every ounce of value from our players. We honor our commitments and don’t try to cheat the system.

That said, what say you? I’m genuinely curious to hear the opinions of other GT folks.
 
Agree. I think Collins brought a unique culture. And it was one recruits liked. But winning games, or at least not being humiliated, is an important part of any culture at any program and a necessary one if you are going to be successful recruiting and promoting GT football. 3 years in, it’s not unreasonable to expect more.
 
Our Athletic tradition and success is strong. CGC recruiting culture is solid and dove tails with ATL as a corporate hub and the 404 is an NIL market ready to be tapped. The twitter, media stuff multiplies recruiting impact and is also more fan engaging and extends our following of the team in the off season. The guy who figures out how to better capitalize on this for the AA gets a gold star (old gold). The culture infrastructure reconfiguration is good. Now start winning football games.
 
Tampa Jacket said:
Agree. I think Collins brought a unique culture. And it was one recruits liked. But winning games, or at least not being humiliated, is an important part of any culture at any program and a necessary one if you are going to be successful recruiting and promoting GT football. 3 years in, it’s not unreasonable to expect more.
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The ND and UGAg games were obviously humiliating, but we were pretty much in every other game. Even the Pitt game Sims had crazy good stats. The deep dive needs to instill the discipline to finish out those games.

We should have been good enough, with the proper coaching, to beat NIU, BC, VT, UVA, Miami. Terrible failures. We know the team has the talent to compete and win those games.

Our biggest issues seem to be getting addressed. I like the OL pickups who, on paper, are > our last portal pickups. Sorry Johnson and Cochran. Our OG play was horrendous at times with one particular OG, who I will not call out here, so overmatched and overwhelmed he really shouldn't have been in the field. I guess with Cooper out injured, we had no choice but to play what we had.

The DL was the other glaring weakness. It should improve tremendously, again, on paper. Ivey was the best on the line and with help can absolutely be a dominant DE. Very long player. NFL body type. Quick off the line. Just need some other solid players there to help. LB play and DB play would look a lot better with a disruptive DL. There were several plays last season that just went on too long. The QB had too much time and was able to make a play. We all saw that. DB's can only cover for so long.

We have a solid starting QB and look to have brought in a solid backup and seem to have the succession management of the position handled.

As much as I would love for Gibbs to return because of the home run threat he poses, we are solid at RB.

I hope our new TE and our existing TE's get additional touches with the new OC's offense.

We do need a WR who can stretch the field. Maybe we already have one, I don't know. Coach Pat seemed content with swing passes and we didn't really take many shots as the season progressed
 
JJacket said:
The ND and UGAg games were obviously humiliating, but we were pretty much in every other game. Even the Pitt game Sims had crazy good stats. The deep dive needs to instill the discipline to finish out those games.

We should have been good enough, with the proper coaching, to beat NIU, BC, VT, UVA, Miami. Terrible failures. We know the team has the talent to compete and win those games.

Our biggest issues seem to be getting addressed. I like the OL pickups who, on paper, are > our last portal pickups. Sorry Johnson and Cochran. Our OG play was horrendous at times with one particular OG, who I will not call out here, so overmatched and overwhelmed he really shouldn't have been in the field. I guess with Cooper out injured, we had no choice but to play what we had.

The DL was the other glaring weakness. It should improve tremendously, again, on paper. Ivey was the best on the line and with help can absolutely be a dominant DE. Very long player. NFL body type. Quick off the line. Just need some other solid players there to help. LB play and DB play would look a lot better with a disruptive DL. There were several plays last season that just went on too long. The QB had too much time and was able to make a play. We all saw that. DB's can only cover for so long.

We have a solid starting QB and look to have brought in a solid backup and seem to have the succession management of the position handled.

As much as I would love for Gibbs to return because of the home run threat he poses, we are solid at RB.

I hope our new TE and our existing TE's get additional touches with the new OC's offense.

We do need a WR who can stretch the field. Maybe we already have one, I don't know. Coach Pat seemed content with swing passes and we didn't really take many shots as the season progressed
Click to expand...
Of those 5 terrible losses, I’m not sure anyone would have been complaining if we had beaten directional U & 1 of the other 4. That would have been 5 wins, pretty much what everyone figured we’d win this year if they were being honest. 6 wins was a stretch, 7-7+ a pipe dream. As it turns out, 7 wins was possible given the weakness of our schedule. 6 wins & win a bowl game was not out of the question or 7 wins & lose a bowl game.

Many just got done claiming the transfer portal for OL is ineffective because the OL needs to “gel”. Bull. We just got smoked in the portal & what we got wasn’t what we thought we were getting. Maybe we got smarter or maybe the not so smart people are no longer here to make not so smart decisions on transfers?

I disagree with the QB succession. We’ve lost a serviceable back up (always need one), we had Gleason (bust) & now Peery (transfer, did not see the field). There was no discussion of having the Temple transfer see the field when Sims was hobbled & back up was struggling. To me that speaks volumes. Now we got another green Freshman as the primary back up. Hopefully we have the luxury of developing him instead of an untimely injury & thrusting him right into the frying pan.

RBs we’re ok, but have downgraded because obviously Gibbs is a unique talent & Mason was a horse. I’m not sure the fascination with TEs, but hell it would be great if when they’re on the field we’d use them occasionally.

We had a WR that stretched the field & he tied Calvin’s Freshman TD record. I’d say that’s no small feat. He bolted unfortunately & it turned out bad for him and bad for us because that element of the offense has completely disappeared. Is it QB, WR or both? I don’t know, but we had something and lost it having changed both positions So it’s tough to nail the exact cause.

Goober is gone & Long has the ability to shine with an abundance of pieces in place. If he squanders his opportunity like Goober did, well the Goober lovers are gonna have a field day.

All signs are we should win 5-6 games next year. There are 9 winnable games, 3 pretty much in the bag. 6 wins is splitting the toss ups. At some point we have to win half the winnable games & pick of an upset somewhere or win an extra one of the winnable games. If we can’t do that, we should see a lot of changes but again this is GT & nothing is possible.
 
Liberty said:
Of those 5 terrible losses, I’m not sure anyone would have been complaining if we had beaten directional U & 1 of the other 4. That would have been 5 wins, pretty much what everyone figured we’d win this year if they were being honest. 6 wins was a stretch, 7-7+ a pipe dream. As it turns out, 7 wins was possible given the weakness of our schedule. 6 wins & win a bowl game was not out of the question or 7 wins & lose a bowl game.

Many just got done claiming the transfer portal for OL is ineffective because the OL needs to “gel”. Bull. We just got smoked in the portal & what we got wasn’t what we thought we were getting. Maybe we got smarter or maybe the not so smart people are no longer here to make not so smart decisions on transfers?

I disagree with the QB succession. We’ve lost a serviceable back up (always need one), we had Gleason (bust) & now Peery (transfer, did not see the field). There was no discussion of having the Temple transfer see the field when Sims was hobbled & back up was struggling. To me that speaks volumes. Now we got another green Freshman as the primary back up. Hopefully we have the luxury of developing him instead of an untimely injury & thrusting him right into the frying pan.

RBs we’re ok, but have downgraded because obviously Gibbs is a unique talent & Mason was a horse. I’m not sure the fascination with TEs, but hell it would be great if when they’re on the field we’d use them occasionally.

We had a WR that stretched the field & he tied Calvin’s Freshman TD record. I’d say that’s no small feat. He bolted unfortunately & it turned out bad for him and bad for us because that element of the offense has completely disappeared. Is it QB, WR or both? I don’t know, but we had something and lost it having changed both positions So it’s tough to nail the exact cause.

Goober is gone & Long has the ability to shine with an abundance of pieces in place. If he squanders his opportunity like Goober did, well the Goober lovers are gonna have a field day.

All signs are we should win 5-6 games next year. There are 9 winnable games, 3 pretty much in the bag. 6 wins is splitting the toss ups. At some point we have to win half the winnable games & pick of an upset somewhere or win an extra one of the winnable games. If we can’t do that, we should see a lot of changes but again this is GT & nothing is possible.
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I think a serviceable FG kicker also comes into play. We somehow managed to fix our weak kick offs and can't kick a FG. Just having a good FG kicker may be the difference maker in some games. I hope the new signee is accurate, reliable, and has a strong leg.

As for TE's, good TE play helps hold LB's and keeps them honest. Being able to run through progressions and dump to a 6'-5" 260 lb QB is a hell of a good play.
 
JJacket said:
The ND and UGAg games were obviously humiliating, but we were pretty much in every other game. Even the Pitt game Sims had crazy good stats. The deep dive needs to instill the discipline to finish out those games.

We should have been good enough, with the proper coaching, to beat NIU, BC, VT, UVA, Miami. Terrible failures. We know the team has the talent to compete and win those games.

Our biggest issues seem to be getting addressed. I like the OL pickups who, on paper, are > our last portal pickups. Sorry Johnson and Cochran. Our OG play was horrendous at times with one particular OG, who I will not call out here, so overmatched and overwhelmed he really shouldn't have been in the field. I guess with Cooper out injured, we had no choice but to play what we had.

The DL was the other glaring weakness. It should improve tremendously, again, on paper. Ivey was the best on the line and with help can absolutely be a dominant DE. Very long player. NFL body type. Quick off the line. Just need some other solid players there to help. LB play and DB play would look a lot better with a disruptive DL. There were several plays last season that just went on too long. The QB had too much time and was able to make a play. We all saw that. DB's can only cover for so long.

We have a solid starting QB and look to have brought in a solid backup and seem to have the succession management of the position handled.

As much as I would love for Gibbs to return because of the home run threat he poses, we are solid at RB.

I hope our new TE and our existing TE's get additional touches with the new OC's offense.

We do need a WR who can stretch the field. Maybe we already have one, I don't know. Coach Pat seemed content with swing passes and we didn't really take many shots as the season progressed
Click to expand...
Nobody cares about your take on culture. Hell, your only experiece with culture is when you eat yogurt.
 
CornerBlitz said:
CGC says he has established the culture and is now ready to coach. I agree culture is important..whether in business, sports, community or any aspect of life. This got me thinking about what actually is the culture of GT football.

First off, I don’t think the 404, bigTime, money down, Waffle House or any other of these things represent our culture, rather they are advertisements to attract eyeballs. While not necessarily bad, my experience is culture is much deeper.

I might offer that we have one of the most consistent cultures in college football. It began with Coach Heisman and was most recognizable under coach Dodd. Ross, O’Leary, Curry, Johnson and even Gailey represented this culture with varying degrees of on field success.

I would say our culture is this…we earn everything and declare nothing. We demand academic performance. We focus on fundamentals, are sly on game day, and squeeze every ounce of value from our players. We honor our commitments and don’t try to cheat the system.

That said, what say you? I’m genuinely curious to hear the opinions of other GT folks.
Click to expand...
I agree with you and I think that's part of why it isn't working. Our culture is campus wide and the football team is just a public vehicle of expression. The Collins vision of culture just doesn't match with an engineering school (relentless positivity vs skepticism). I do think there's an aspect of culture he was trying to implement regarding expectations of greatness vs underdog mentality that I think could help consistency.

I think the campus has had a bit of an identity crisis as well going from chip on the shoulder, intelligent, hard working to exceptionally intelligent, well qualified. In other arenas this has played out where our grads are becoming better suited to startups and r&d positions while local engineering firms are finding that roles previously filled by Tech grads are better served by Auburn and Clemson grads.
 
Has Geoff ever said what comprises the culture he’s installed?

I’m guessing one part of it is love of each other.
 
BainbridgeJacket said:
intelligent, well qualified. In other arenas this has played out where our grads are becoming better suited to startups and r&d positions while local engineering firms are finding that roles previously filled by Tech grads are better served by Auburn and Clemson grads.
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I agree. One of my Tech buddies quit hiring GT grads about 15 years ago. His work was in B & C...said GT grads were no longer interested in that kind of work. They were looking for Silicon Valley type of work.He and his firm started recruiting out of the two schools you mentioned plus Athens. The firm was nothing but Tech grads when he started there...many moons ago.
 
CornerBlitz said:
First off, I don’t think the 404, bigTime, money down, Waffle House or any other of these things represent our culture, rather they are advertisements to attract eyeballs. While not necessarily bad, my experience is culture is much deeper.
Click to expand...

I agree with you. 404, money down, etc., are not really "culture". You call them advertisements, I'd call them branding. Personally I think they're excellent. I know we have our own rich tradition and history, but the reality is that history is just that -- history. We need to find the right balance but tying our branding to Atlanta and doing "juice" stuff is a good idea in my opinion.

I would say our culture is this…we earn everything and declare nothing. We demand academic performance. We focus on fundamentals, are sly on game day, and squeeze every ounce of value from our players. We honor our commitments and don’t try to cheat the system.
Click to expand...

I would say that is very generic and most of it would be said by every athletic department in the country.

Culture is very important, but the reality is culture isn't about broad, sweeping statements like "we demand academic performance and are sly on gameday." Culture is about the little things and how every person in the organization goes about their day-to-day business.

Are the coaches coming to film study with a solid plan and preparation to make sure no one's time is wasted? Do leaders solicit and actually listen to feedback, as well as show a willingness to change? Are players truly giving 100% in drills, or are they getting by on 95%? Does everyone take the time to critically examine what they're doing and if it's still the right thing to do to give the team the best chance of success?

Culture is set by the people currently in charge, not the organization's history. It's about leaders working smart and doing the right thing, even if it results in things taking longer or people getting pissed off. When that happens, it cascades down to everyone in the organization and ensures that the organization does the best it can.

Based on how we have played, I am not convinced we have a good culture right now Too many mistakes, too many losses that look like they come down to poor execution rather than a talent gap. Hopefully that can change this offseason.
 
B said:
I agree. One of my Tech buddies quit hiring GT grads about 15 years ago. His work was in B & C...said GT grads were no longer interested in that kind of work. They were looking for Silicon Valley type of work.He and his firm started recruiting out of the two schools you mentioned plus Athens. The firm was nothing but Tech grads when he started there...many moons ago.
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If GT was smart, they’d spin the current GT Engineering into a honors college & double or more admissions by implmenting GT Engineering for the run of the mill brainiacs. We’d own Engineering in the southeast if not eastern US.
 
B said:
I agree. One of my Tech buddies quit hiring GT grads about 15 years ago. His work was in B & C...said GT grads were no longer interested in that kind of work. They were looking for Silicon Valley type of work.He and his firm started recruiting out of the two schools you mentioned plus Athens. The firm was nothing but Tech grads when he started there...many moons ago.
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I'm CS, not engineering, but I can tell you that I was really surprised to find out how well respected the GT name was in tech circles up here in NYC. Multiple different recruiting and hiring managers actually commented on it to me.

I guess that has come along with a decrease in suitability for some other types of roles Tech grads used to fill.
 
During the losing streak, one of the players said you wouldn't know they were losing by the attitude and energy in the locker room. Apparently they drank the kool-aid and thought they were hot öööö regardless of the record.

That's the "culture" Collins has brought in. I guess I am glad the players are having fun, but there needs to be an attitude that winning is everything. All the other stuff is smoke and mirrors.
 
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