The Difference In The Fanbase Now And 1980/81 Is

G

GoldenIsle

Damn Good Rat
Joined
Dec 17, 2017
Messages
1,307
The fanbase in the early 80’s was not going to tolerate losing, we seemed mad and we felt confident that the folks with influence was going to get something done. Today … the feeling I get from the post I see on Stingtalk is the game has changed, we’re not a football factory therefore we can’t compete, our alumni don’t care about sports anymore, we can’t afford a big time coach, yada yada yada yada. Maybe all this is true and the fanbase today is just going to throw in the towel … we sure didn’t in the 80’s and had a natty by 1990.
 
GoldenIsle said:
The fanbase in the early 80’s was not going to tolerate losing, we seemed mad and we felt confident that the folks with influence was going to get something done. Today … the feeling I get from the post I see on Stingtalk is the game has changed, we’re not a football factory therefore we can’t compete, our alumni don’t care about sports anymore, we can’t afford a big time coach, yada yada yada yada. Maybe all this is true and the fanbase today is just going to throw in the towel … we sure didn’t in the 80’s and had a natty by 1990.
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So I guess you were leading the torches and pitchforks to fire Bobby Ross.

YOU are why we do not win more games.
 
I don’t know that I completely agree with the difference regarding the fan base. Pepper was run out of town because he was considered too “loose” both on and off the field for a conservative West Stands crowd. His second 4–6-1 season gave them enough reason to fire him. He had 4 of 6 winning seasons, went 2-4 with Georgia, only had one bowl, but with fewer bowls he did not get a bid with two 6-5 years and one 7-4.

Curry could not have had a more patient fan base. We endured 1-9-1 and 1-10 at the start, and after the promise of a 6-5 year dropped back to 3-8. Year five was 6-4-1 and then came the really good season, 9-2-1 before a disappointing 5-5-1 last year. He was 2-5 with Georgia with one bowl game.

Ross came in and started 2-9 and 3-8, both dead last 8th place seasons in the ACC. Year three was a promising 7-4, but no bowl bid. Then came 1990! We dropped back quickly to 8-5 and then B*** L****. It was only under O’Leary, Gailey and Johnson’ first years that we sustained winning seasons, bowl games and upper conference finishes without the low dips.

It seems the rewarding seasons happened more because of patience than being demanding. The bigger differences in the fan base today are that expansion has diminished conference game interest, so many games on TV makes it easy to opt out of game days, college football itself seems less attractive to younger adults, and the number of truly loyal, generous alums in the West Stands who will support Georgia Tech through the lean times has diminished. We have failed to address this with better marketing, especially in developing a long standing loyalty among new grads. The Tech Fund makes it easy to drop out and then buy back in if you want. The AT Fund approach to seating greatly rewarded loyalty.
 
GoldenIsle said:
The fanbase in the early 80’s was not going to tolerate losing, we seemed mad and we felt confident that the folks with influence was going to get something done. Today … the feeling I get from the post I see on Stingtalk is the game has changed, we’re not a football factory therefore we can’t compete, our alumni don’t care about sports anymore, we can’t afford a big time coach, yada yada yada yada. Maybe all this is true and the fanbase today is just going to throw in the towel … we sure didn’t in the 80’s and had a natty by 1990.
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Internet
 
77GTFan said:
I don’t know that I completely agree with the difference regarding the fan base. Pepper was run out of town because he was considered too “loose” both on and off the field for a conservative West Stands crowd. His second 4–6-1 season gave them enough reason to fire him. He had 4 of 6 winning seasons, went 2-4 with Georgia, only had one bowl, but with fewer bowls he did not get a bid with two 6-5 years and one 7-4.

Curry could not have had a more patient fan base. We endured 1-9-1 and 1-10 at the start, and after the promise of a 6-5 year dropped back to 3-8. Year five was 6-4-1 and then came the really good season, 9-2-1 before a disappointing 5-5-1 last year. He was 2-5 with Georgia with one bowl game.

Ross came in and started 2-9 and 3-8, both dead last 8th place seasons in the ACC. Year three was a promising 7-4, but no bowl bid. Then came 1990! We dropped back quickly to 8-5 and then B*** L****. It was only under O’Leary, Gailey and Johnson’ first years that we sustained winning seasons, bowl games and upper conference finishes without the low dips.

It seems the rewarding seasons happened more because of patience than being demanding. The bigger differences in the fan base today are that expansion has diminished conference game interest, so many games on TV makes it easy to opt out of game days, college football itself seems less attractive to younger adults, and the number of truly loyal, generous alums in the West Stands who will support Georgia Tech through the lean times has diminished. We have failed to address this with better marketing, especially in developing a long standing loyalty among new grads. The Tech Fund makes it easy to drop out and then buy back in if you want. The AT Fund approach to seating greatly rewarded loyalty.
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Excluding the Lewis years, we’ve had very few losing seasons since 1989, when Ross turned things around, through 2018. We all knew the transition from the TO was going to be rough so 2019 & 2020 did not surprise me, but last year we all thought .500 was doable and then winning after that. I think we can all agree the players were not coached up and that is unacceptable. O’Leary and Ross had good coaching staffs and CGC has got to assemble a good staff. I think Gailey had pretty good coaches and he could have had multiple 8+ win seasons if he had not taken over the offense. I’m pretty sure he ran BOB off. Anyway that’s history. If Tech wants to compete at the top level today things have got to drastically change. In today’s college football environment players are hired to play for the school’s football team to entertain the fans and to provide the player a shot at the NFL. Of course if a player wants to take advantage of a free education that is also available but many players are looking at two things: How much NIL money can I get by playing on your team, and can your coaches get me in the NFL. So …. The bottom line is will Tech fans and administration pony up … or will we take our ball and go home?
 
GoldenIsle said:
The fanbase in the early 80’s was not going to tolerate losing, we seemed mad and we felt confident that the folks with influence was going to get something done. Today … the feeling I get from the post I see on Stingtalk is the game has changed, we’re not a football factory therefore we can’t compete, our alumni don’t care about sports anymore, we can’t afford a big time coach, yada yada yada yada. Maybe all this is true and the fanbase today is just going to throw in the towel … we sure didn’t in the 80’s and had a natty by 1990.
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I was alive and a big GT fan in the 1980.

NIL, free agency have completely changed the game.

Also, the NCAA has always selectively applied rules of recruiting, paying players and player eligibility to some schools while lending a blind eye to cheating by the factories. But not nearly to the extent they do now.
The CFB Playoff SEC, ESPN deal is designed to produce prime time competition between The Factories who bring big $$$$ and lots of fans to the party.
The current “rules “of college football are designed to eliminate the possibility of a Georgia Tech, Boise State, Cincinnati, TCU, or Oklahoma State from ever making the playoffs.
Summary: Georgia Tech’s odds of being relevant on the CFB landscape now are much worse than in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Sad but true.
 
Tampa Jacket said:
I was alive and a big GT fan in the 1980.

NIL, free agency have completely changed the game.

Also, the NCAA has always selectively applied rules of recruiting, paying players and player eligibility to some schools while lending a blind eye to cheating by the factories. But not nearly to the extent they do now.
The CFB Playoff SEC, ESPN deal is designed to produce prime time competition between The Factories who bring big $$$$ and lots of fans to the party.
The current “rules “of college football are designed to eliminate the possibility of a Georgia Tech, Boise State, Cincinnati, TCU, or Oklahoma State from ever making the playoffs.
Summary: Georgia Tech’s odds of being relevant on the CFB landscape now are much worse than in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Sad but true.
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You may be right but not because Tech can’t do it, I don’t know if we have a fanbase who wants it that bad. I believe the fanbase of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s would have stepped up.
 
GoldenIsle said:
The fanbase in the early 80’s was not going to tolerate losing, we seemed mad and we felt confident that the folks with influence was going to get something done. Today … the feeling I get from the post I see on Stingtalk is the game has changed, we’re not a football factory therefore we can’t compete, our alumni don’t care about sports anymore, we can’t afford a big time coach, yada yada yada yada. Maybe all this is true and the fanbase today is just going to throw in the towel … we sure didn’t in the 80’s and had a natty by 1990.
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Many of the old school west standers from the late 70s and early 80s are gone. (The real money folks). Along with native Atlantans who were sidewalk fans.
In today's world the internet allows for additional scrutinization by being able to see past games and scenarios.
Madden video game made everyone an expert, or at least very literate, of game clock management.
Maybe in the late 70s and early 80s they KNEW Tech could be competitive while now it's more of a hope.
 
It’s all because back then GT alum were majority from the state of Georgia so they actually cared about GT football. We have spent the past 40 years becoming an international school where a small percentage of alumni care and the current student body has little ties to Georgia. I attended the hoops game today with my born and bred GT fan/now student. The first thing he said to me after our hug was “Did you hear about the spring game?”. I laughed and he said no students will be there. He’s the same kid who during the fall would walk out of his dorm room to walk to the game and everyone else was playing video games or had other things going with no intention of going to the game. His roommate spent his Saturdays wearing his Michigan hoodie watching their games.

Point is in relation to the OP, back in 1980 GT alum (from 40’s thru 70’s) cared and forced the school to care b3cause they were Atlanta centric and definitely Georgia state centric. Today GT is either a 2nd or 3rd team for most alumni so there is little pressure on anyone at GT to care. My son made the comment today that he could easily blend in now in New Jersey because half the people he has met are from New Jersey or New York. And I’m not knocking it but that’s why the alum simply don’t care. It’s because they didn’t care before they were admitted and they don’t care after 4-5 years of school.
 
PM Gold said:
Many of the old school west standers from the late 70s and early 80s are gone. (The real money folks). Along with native Atlantans who were sidewalk fans.
In today's world the internet allows for additional scrutinization by being able to see past games and scenarios.
Madden video game made everyone an expert, or at least very literate, of game clock management.
Maybe in the late 70s and early 80s they KNEW Tech could be competitive while now it's more of a hope.
Click to expand...
In business it's often the grandchildren that destroy the company that their grandfather built with sweat and sacrifice. This seems to generally hold true whether they are from NY/NJ/GA. Hmm, 50s/60s = gramps & today = grandchildren (maybe even great grandchildren). We are gonna miss those old west standers and more importantly, WE are gonna miss the WWII generation. NIL/TP = me me me me = loss of cFB. New/young doesn't always mean....better.
 
Tampa Jacket said:
I was alive and a big GT fan in the 1980.

NIL, free agency have completely changed the game.

Also, the NCAA has always selectively applied rules of recruiting, paying players and player eligibility to some schools while lending a blind eye to cheating by the factories. But not nearly to the extent they do now.
The CFB Playoff SEC, ESPN deal is designed to produce prime time competition between The Factories who bring big $$$$ and lots of fans to the party.
The current “rules “of college football are designed to eliminate the possibility of a Georgia Tech, Boise State, Cincinnati, TCU, or Oklahoma State from ever making the playoffs.
Summary: Georgia Tech’s odds of being relevant on the CFB landscape now are much worse than in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Sad but true.
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I’m sure you were a fan in 1980… but the rest of this is utter baloney.
 
GoldZ said:
In business it's often the grandchildren that destroy the company that their grandfather built with sweat and sacrifice. This seems to generally hold true whether they are from NY/NJ/GA. Hmm, 50s/60s = gramps & today = grandchildren (maybe even great grandchildren). We are gonna miss those old west standers and more importantly, WE are gonna miss the WWII generation. NIL/TP = me me me me = loss of cFB. New/young doesn't always mean....better.
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GT wanted an easy, cheap, flash in the pan solution to a problem that required significant strategic thought, grit and determination. The Institute is migrating from the roll up your sleeves, blue collar Engineers that dissected complicated problems to fancy, high gloss coddled Engineers that stay away from the dirt. Yeah, everything looks great on the glossy cover but below it’s a rotting foundation. Someone better do a gut check and conclude what made us great before will make us great again. Yeah there are things not good about the old ways, but you don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. GT needs to get back to being GT & win GT’s way. Harder work, smarter strategies, with less resources. Thinking we’re magically going to get all the $$ to complete on a level playing field is idiotic. GT leadership better wake up quick.
 
GoldZ said:
In business it's often the grandchildren that destroy the company that their grandfather built with sweat and sacrifice. This seems to generally hold true whether they are from NY/NJ/GA. Hmm, 50s/60s = gramps & today = grandchildren (maybe even great grandchildren). We are gonna miss those old west standers and more importantly, WE are gonna miss the WWII generation. NIL/TP = me me me me = loss of cFB. New/young doesn't always mean....better.
Click to expand...
You can always look at the first generation for the answers. GT did this to themselves when they abandoned their fanbase. You can’t blame a random kid from the burbs of Chicago who grew up a Michigan fan (and will remain one due to family ties) who got accepted into GT over a kid from Cordele who grew up a GT fan who didn’t get accepted because GT wanted to ”grow its reach” for why the stadium is empty. Multiply this by thousands over a 40 year period and here we are.

Unfortunately, there is no going back at this point. GT is an international school now where a niche sport like American football has been relegated. Yesterday was out of state early admission acceptance. 2900 out of state were accepted. A month ago was the in state early admission where 2400 were accepted. Now by the time the numbers shake out you’ll have about 60% from in state and 40% out of state who enroll in Fall 2022. And these percentages have been fairly consistent lately. By the time the rest of the old guard dies off there will be very few diehard fans to replace them as we are seeing now. I’ve seen GT family after GT family in my South Georgia area send their money to UGA because their high level kids got passed by GT. It’s freaking sad to see the dad sit by himself watching GT games while the rest of the family is at someone else’s house watching the UGA game. And yes, the pathway option is there but how many 19 year olds are going to leave UGA after a year of building relationships. It is what it is so you may as well enjoy the elbow space on Saturdays in the fall.
 
GoldZ said:
In business it's often the grandchildren that destroy the company that their grandfather built with sweat and sacrifice. This seems to generally hold true whether they are from NY/NJ/GA. Hmm, 50s/60s = gramps & today = grandchildren (maybe even great grandchildren). We are gonna miss those old west standers and more importantly, WE are gonna miss the WWII generation. NIL/TP = me me me me = loss of cFB. New/young doesn't always mean....better.
Click to expand...
Well said. Usually the grandchildren sell the business that Grandpa built with sweat and tears so that they can have good money with little work. In this analogy Georgia Tech needs to attract the people that buy Grandpa’s company or better yet attract the people that are starting their own company with their own sweat. Maybe these people like football and are looking for somebody to support in college football.
 
OptionJacket said:
It’s all because back then GT alum were majority from the state of Georgia so they actually cared about GT football. We have spent the past 40 years becoming an international school where a small percentage of alumni care and the current student body has little ties to Georgia. I attended the hoops game today with my born and bred GT fan/now student. The first thing he said to me after our hug was “Did you hear about the spring game?”. I laughed and he said no students will be there. He’s the same kid who during the fall would walk out of his dorm room to walk to the game and everyone else was playing video games or had other things going with no intention of going to the game. His roommate spent his Saturdays wearing his Michigan hoodie watching their games.

Point is in relation to the OP, back in 1980 GT alum (from 40’s thru 70’s) cared and forced the school to care b3cause they were Atlanta centric and definitely Georgia state centric. Today GT is either a 2nd or 3rd team for most alumni so there is little pressure on anyone at GT to care. My son made the comment today that he could easily blend in now in New Jersey because half the people he has met are from New Jersey or New York. And I’m not knocking it but that’s why the alum simply don’t care. It’s because they didn’t care before they were admitted and they don’t care after 4-5 years of school.
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I started as a instate freshman in '72 and am pretty sure that admits were about 50/50 instate/outofstate. My randomly assigned roommate was from New Jersey. Last I heard today's admits were like 60% instate which makes sense since Atlanta metro is so much larger now. That would undermine your theory a bit.
 
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