BarrelORum
Mediocre Poster
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2002
- Messages
- 16,274
So Chan Gailey enters year five, and the purpose of this thread is to take a second and look where we've been and where we are headed with the current program.
Where we've been....
Gailey followed a very popular coach who left us in a not so tasteful way. His first year at the Helm was like many other coaches at GT. He took a job quite frankly he was not prepared for. Thinking you can walk in and only "Coach" at GT is wishful thinking. He did two things that instantly brought added pressure to his tenure. 1.) His personality and style of coaching did not instantly leave a mark on Tech fans. We went from High powered Friedgen Offenses to ball control bland Offense. 2.) He lost to UGA in unthinkable fashion.
Gailey came back in 2003 and started what would be a familiar scenario for the next three years. Peaks... and Valley's. GT beat Auburn at home which instantly drew Gailey fans and in some people's opinions forgave him for the UGA loss in 2002. However, in the same year he lost to Duke who had not had an ACC win in 5 or so years. He ended the season with a blow out win against a no name team on a blue field bowl. This seems to be a repeating nightmare. I have lived the 2002 season for the last 4 years.
What people forget is in 2003 we lost 11 players, one being a Heisman Trophy candidate. Thank you Carol Moore and Dave Braine for completely botching the academic support structure. Gailey went into the season with one hand tied behind his back.
2004, 2005, you know the results. Huge wins, a blow out or two, and unthinkable losses. We've been good for 7 wins a year.. no more, no less. This has been the Gailey era.
On the positive side I see a team that has had next to no depth for 4 years yet still manage to make 7 wins a staple. I know better teams that would have folded under those scenarios. I don't blame the depth issues completely on Gailey. We've been playing Catch-up it seems forever during the Gailey era as far as depth goes. O'Leary had better and larger recruiting classes. Gailey has seemed to have better retention (as far as his recruits are concerned, and barring the flunkgate lesson) and has shown the ability to develop players (ala Andrew Gardner, AJ Smith, Mike Cox, Phillip Wheeler, Vance Walker etc. etc.). This is a good thing considering that we haven't signed a full allotment of scholly's in a given year EVER in the Gailey tenure, and this was before the NCAA sanctions of this past year. I don't think other coaches especially at GT would be able to pull this off.
That said, recruiting under Gailey BEFORE this year has been less than sucky. 2002 was horrible due to the transition and the fact that we had a coach in the Miami booth during the peak of recruiting season. 2003 was Gailey's best year and 2004 was close. 2005 and 2006 we got some hopeful players, but overall the classes were less than sub-par. You can't argue otherwise because every recruiting rag had us in the bottom 2 or 3 in the ACC. Talk about Hidden Gems all you want, when 80% of your class is "hidden gems" at what point do you stop wasting your breath on "Don't worry, Gailey knows how to evaluate talent." I think he does it better than the next guy, but you still need some headliners, which finally we are seeing this year.
Part of this recruiting problem was staff and Management. up until now, Gailey has maintained the role of OC and Head Coach. Unfortunately for GT, I think Gailey had his hands so involved with the offense, he didn't manage this team right during the 2004 and 2005 season. Dave Wilson should never be a college coach period not even for D-III. However, it seems that Gailey has righted this ship and addressed his problems with people who know how to Sell Georgia Tech.
And folks, that's what it is all about. Success at GT can be equated to one simple thing. SELLING IT! The reason O'Leary was successful is that he could sell the program to the fans AND to the recruits. If you cannot sell to recruits, how can you sell it to fans? If you cannot sell it to fans, how can you sell it to recruits? But to do that it takes more than 7 win seasons. Recruiting up until this point has been the second biggest downfall.
Developing a QB has been our #3 downfall. This has been discussed ad nauseum to the point it is no fun. I won't rehash it here. I'll sum it up by saying this. Calvin Johnson's highlight reel is sickening. But if you watch it it is sickening for two reasons. #1, Calvin is just sick/wicked/awesome extraordinare. The guy could catch a medicine ball ten feet over his head shot out of a cannon. The other reason its sick is because Calvin has maybe had 4 catches in his career thrown to him in stride, and only one on the highlight video hits him in stride, and it wasn't thrown by our starting QB. Its sad. Best talent I've ever seen in a GT jersey next to Joe Ham and we can't utilize him. Part of GT's inconsistencies can be traced back to one position. The QB. Its been the one problem we haven't been able to fix. But that's not the #1 problem of this staff.
The #1 problem with this program has been Gailey's micromanagement. Don't get me wrong. I actually think Gailey could be one hell of a coach and has shown gilmpse after glimpse of that throughout his tenure with coaching masterpieces like Auburn and Miami. Problem is, we don't know how successful we could be because Gailey's continuously demanded to be overly involved with his offense. Had he been overly involved with his recruiting in 2004-05 we may not have been so badly off. Or with special teams. I think Gailey's biggest weakness up until this year has been his inability to step back from his playcalling past, and manage a team as a whole and his staff. He finally seems to be doing that this year. Will we see marked improvement is the question. We certainly are seeing the differences in recruiting.
For 4 years we've had a coach who has basically learned on the job. Sure he was SUPPOSED to take us from where we were in 2001 and improve upon that, and quite simply he has not. However, despite what many opinionated people will say, our team was hardly a top 25 team going into 2002. We had no proven QB and no depth at RB as well as a patchwork OLine. Our interior DLine stunk too. We barely cracked the top 25 the year before and we had a worse team going into 2002.
We lost a ton of players early on that weren;t Gailey's fault. We've had an Athletic Director that almost worked in contrast to our football program. I can give a pass to some of our faults due to the complete lack of support Gailey has had over the past 4 years.
We as an entire program, from AD to Coach, to players, to fans have been the very definition of the word AVERAGE for 4 years. The philosophy of the GTAA stemming from the leadership of one Dave Braine has been less than average. We've had poor marketing of our program. We've had piss poor marketing decisions from the chairbacks in the stadium to PR blunders or epic proportions. We've had players fail out due to an academic support structure that almost wanted to "get even" from the O'Leary years.
Gailey has endured a lot, that much is true. At the same time he seems to squander opportunities. Utah being the latest blunder. A win there would have made us 8-4 and we would have been able to measure marked improvement during a year where our schedule was also the toughest in the nation.
GT has been defined by the word average... but it is further described with the word inconsistent. For 4 years we've seen the same approach game in and game out by this staff and we beat our heads against the wall wondering why we continually get the same overall outcome.
We, overall, are not a good team. But we aren't a bad team either.
We've shown the ability to be great. and we've shown the ability to be terrible. Which is why our fan base is so split. We see two polar opposite teams based on the type of people we are. We have lacked making an indelible mark, for the only mark we've made in people's minds is that of a big fat question mark. ????? We have never seized the day and made our claim as contenders under the current direction of this program.
Now we have made some changes. Recruiting is finally going better than anyone could ever hope for. We have new staff, and Gailey has finally decided to let Nix get wet behind the ears. We have a new AD who has inspired the alumni base and fans and actually supports the programs 100% no ifs. ands, or buts. Where will we go from here?
We have the ability to knock ND in the face and totally own them on the field. We also have the ability to get walked on and embaressed. Part of the reason we have been so inconsistent is because we have lacked identity.
So where do we go from here? Last year I said this was a defining year for Gailey and this team. Unfortunately Gailey made no staff or management changes and we somehow expected a different result. This year he has made those changes we all wanted to see. Will this be our defining year one year late? I don't know but one thing is certain... a 7-5 year will permanently scar this coach and his future efforts on the flats, for he will have solidified his identity in spite of making change.
I don't know if our QB situation is solid enough to command better than 7 wins. If thats the case... I predict the rose colored supporters will use this an the underlying excuse as to why Gailey needs to stay so we can REALLY see what he can do. I also predict that the fans against Gailey will use this as an excuse as to why he needs to be let go.
Unfortunately it is my opinion that while Gailey Can be a great coach for GT and I do believe that... its not going to happen this year. A fledgling OC in a defensive minded conference and a QB who is more up and down than Paris Hilton in the back seat of an Escalade will again leave question marks as to why we cannot break the 7 win barrier.
Where we've been....
Gailey followed a very popular coach who left us in a not so tasteful way. His first year at the Helm was like many other coaches at GT. He took a job quite frankly he was not prepared for. Thinking you can walk in and only "Coach" at GT is wishful thinking. He did two things that instantly brought added pressure to his tenure. 1.) His personality and style of coaching did not instantly leave a mark on Tech fans. We went from High powered Friedgen Offenses to ball control bland Offense. 2.) He lost to UGA in unthinkable fashion.
Gailey came back in 2003 and started what would be a familiar scenario for the next three years. Peaks... and Valley's. GT beat Auburn at home which instantly drew Gailey fans and in some people's opinions forgave him for the UGA loss in 2002. However, in the same year he lost to Duke who had not had an ACC win in 5 or so years. He ended the season with a blow out win against a no name team on a blue field bowl. This seems to be a repeating nightmare. I have lived the 2002 season for the last 4 years.
What people forget is in 2003 we lost 11 players, one being a Heisman Trophy candidate. Thank you Carol Moore and Dave Braine for completely botching the academic support structure. Gailey went into the season with one hand tied behind his back.
2004, 2005, you know the results. Huge wins, a blow out or two, and unthinkable losses. We've been good for 7 wins a year.. no more, no less. This has been the Gailey era.
On the positive side I see a team that has had next to no depth for 4 years yet still manage to make 7 wins a staple. I know better teams that would have folded under those scenarios. I don't blame the depth issues completely on Gailey. We've been playing Catch-up it seems forever during the Gailey era as far as depth goes. O'Leary had better and larger recruiting classes. Gailey has seemed to have better retention (as far as his recruits are concerned, and barring the flunkgate lesson) and has shown the ability to develop players (ala Andrew Gardner, AJ Smith, Mike Cox, Phillip Wheeler, Vance Walker etc. etc.). This is a good thing considering that we haven't signed a full allotment of scholly's in a given year EVER in the Gailey tenure, and this was before the NCAA sanctions of this past year. I don't think other coaches especially at GT would be able to pull this off.
That said, recruiting under Gailey BEFORE this year has been less than sucky. 2002 was horrible due to the transition and the fact that we had a coach in the Miami booth during the peak of recruiting season. 2003 was Gailey's best year and 2004 was close. 2005 and 2006 we got some hopeful players, but overall the classes were less than sub-par. You can't argue otherwise because every recruiting rag had us in the bottom 2 or 3 in the ACC. Talk about Hidden Gems all you want, when 80% of your class is "hidden gems" at what point do you stop wasting your breath on "Don't worry, Gailey knows how to evaluate talent." I think he does it better than the next guy, but you still need some headliners, which finally we are seeing this year.
Part of this recruiting problem was staff and Management. up until now, Gailey has maintained the role of OC and Head Coach. Unfortunately for GT, I think Gailey had his hands so involved with the offense, he didn't manage this team right during the 2004 and 2005 season. Dave Wilson should never be a college coach period not even for D-III. However, it seems that Gailey has righted this ship and addressed his problems with people who know how to Sell Georgia Tech.
And folks, that's what it is all about. Success at GT can be equated to one simple thing. SELLING IT! The reason O'Leary was successful is that he could sell the program to the fans AND to the recruits. If you cannot sell to recruits, how can you sell it to fans? If you cannot sell it to fans, how can you sell it to recruits? But to do that it takes more than 7 win seasons. Recruiting up until this point has been the second biggest downfall.
Developing a QB has been our #3 downfall. This has been discussed ad nauseum to the point it is no fun. I won't rehash it here. I'll sum it up by saying this. Calvin Johnson's highlight reel is sickening. But if you watch it it is sickening for two reasons. #1, Calvin is just sick/wicked/awesome extraordinare. The guy could catch a medicine ball ten feet over his head shot out of a cannon. The other reason its sick is because Calvin has maybe had 4 catches in his career thrown to him in stride, and only one on the highlight video hits him in stride, and it wasn't thrown by our starting QB. Its sad. Best talent I've ever seen in a GT jersey next to Joe Ham and we can't utilize him. Part of GT's inconsistencies can be traced back to one position. The QB. Its been the one problem we haven't been able to fix. But that's not the #1 problem of this staff.
The #1 problem with this program has been Gailey's micromanagement. Don't get me wrong. I actually think Gailey could be one hell of a coach and has shown gilmpse after glimpse of that throughout his tenure with coaching masterpieces like Auburn and Miami. Problem is, we don't know how successful we could be because Gailey's continuously demanded to be overly involved with his offense. Had he been overly involved with his recruiting in 2004-05 we may not have been so badly off. Or with special teams. I think Gailey's biggest weakness up until this year has been his inability to step back from his playcalling past, and manage a team as a whole and his staff. He finally seems to be doing that this year. Will we see marked improvement is the question. We certainly are seeing the differences in recruiting.
For 4 years we've had a coach who has basically learned on the job. Sure he was SUPPOSED to take us from where we were in 2001 and improve upon that, and quite simply he has not. However, despite what many opinionated people will say, our team was hardly a top 25 team going into 2002. We had no proven QB and no depth at RB as well as a patchwork OLine. Our interior DLine stunk too. We barely cracked the top 25 the year before and we had a worse team going into 2002.
We lost a ton of players early on that weren;t Gailey's fault. We've had an Athletic Director that almost worked in contrast to our football program. I can give a pass to some of our faults due to the complete lack of support Gailey has had over the past 4 years.
We as an entire program, from AD to Coach, to players, to fans have been the very definition of the word AVERAGE for 4 years. The philosophy of the GTAA stemming from the leadership of one Dave Braine has been less than average. We've had poor marketing of our program. We've had piss poor marketing decisions from the chairbacks in the stadium to PR blunders or epic proportions. We've had players fail out due to an academic support structure that almost wanted to "get even" from the O'Leary years.
Gailey has endured a lot, that much is true. At the same time he seems to squander opportunities. Utah being the latest blunder. A win there would have made us 8-4 and we would have been able to measure marked improvement during a year where our schedule was also the toughest in the nation.
GT has been defined by the word average... but it is further described with the word inconsistent. For 4 years we've seen the same approach game in and game out by this staff and we beat our heads against the wall wondering why we continually get the same overall outcome.
We, overall, are not a good team. But we aren't a bad team either.
We've shown the ability to be great. and we've shown the ability to be terrible. Which is why our fan base is so split. We see two polar opposite teams based on the type of people we are. We have lacked making an indelible mark, for the only mark we've made in people's minds is that of a big fat question mark. ????? We have never seized the day and made our claim as contenders under the current direction of this program.
Now we have made some changes. Recruiting is finally going better than anyone could ever hope for. We have new staff, and Gailey has finally decided to let Nix get wet behind the ears. We have a new AD who has inspired the alumni base and fans and actually supports the programs 100% no ifs. ands, or buts. Where will we go from here?
We have the ability to knock ND in the face and totally own them on the field. We also have the ability to get walked on and embaressed. Part of the reason we have been so inconsistent is because we have lacked identity.
So where do we go from here? Last year I said this was a defining year for Gailey and this team. Unfortunately Gailey made no staff or management changes and we somehow expected a different result. This year he has made those changes we all wanted to see. Will this be our defining year one year late? I don't know but one thing is certain... a 7-5 year will permanently scar this coach and his future efforts on the flats, for he will have solidified his identity in spite of making change.
I don't know if our QB situation is solid enough to command better than 7 wins. If thats the case... I predict the rose colored supporters will use this an the underlying excuse as to why Gailey needs to stay so we can REALLY see what he can do. I also predict that the fans against Gailey will use this as an excuse as to why he needs to be let go.
Unfortunately it is my opinion that while Gailey Can be a great coach for GT and I do believe that... its not going to happen this year. A fledgling OC in a defensive minded conference and a QB who is more up and down than Paris Hilton in the back seat of an Escalade will again leave question marks as to why we cannot break the 7 win barrier.
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