And I do mean friends, because if we weren't all on the same side and if we didn't all love Tech, we wouldn't be spending our Sunday exchanging views on what we think is the best for Tech.
I know that Chan Gailey is going to be our coach for the next part of my life, and I want him to succeed. I'm sure all of us want him to succeed, and I'm also sure that all of us who have thought about it realize that he is our coach and he's going to be our coach for the next important years in the life of the program. We made that decision and we're past that and, for what it's worth, I think he can be a very good coach for and representative of Georgia Tech because he has integrity and he understands football and people.
I'm just addressing my personal single concern with him which is what I understand to be his philosophy of recruiting. I've taken what he's said to mean he's not going to try to win the recruiting battles in Georgia or produce nationally recognized Top Ten recruiting classes, because he feels that can't be done with Tech's academic requirements. Some of you may not have understood him to have said that. Others may think that's what he said but that he's right in saying it. I respect your views.
But my view is that we should recruit nationally recognized Top Ten recruiting classes and out recruit Georgia in Georgia. It's been done before, and it can be done again, and to have a lesser goal or to believe it cannot be done or to fail to work hard to do it is a disasterous and suicidal mistake in my opinion.
To the person who said "basketball players want to play in the ACC," I agree. But I think we should do everything we can, and spare no effort or expense, in getting back in the conference that football players want to play in, the SEC.
Football is more important to me than basketball. I drive 700 mile round trips to football games and further than that to road football games. I used to have basketball season tickets when we lived closer to Atlanta, but I don't anymore because I can't make those trips. But even when I had season tickets to both, football was always much more important to me. Maybe you feel differently. If basketball was the most important sport to me, I would want to stay in the ACC. But that's not the case for me.
The ACC may be the best basketball conference, but the SEC is much stronger in basketball than the ACC is in football. Plus, our traditional rivals and our history and our geography all favor us being in the SEC. I was even told once in his office by a person who is still at the very top of our athletic program that "we could get back in the SEC tomorrow if we wanted to. I had a call from them about it this week."
Well, I urge anybody who feels like I do to write President Clough and Coach Braine and urge them to get Tech back in the SEC. Bill Curry said on TV earlier this year that in Atlanta and Georgia, "young men who want to play football want to be in the SEC." There's just no doubt in my mind that getting back in the SEC would be the very best thing that could ever happen to Tech football or the whole athletic program. It might hurt basketball recruiting some, but overall it would be a great thing. And have you noticed lately that some ACC head basketball coaches have moved to the SEC?
So, to recap so I can get back to the rest of my life, let me say this:
1- I joyfully accept and support Chan Gailey as our head football coach and think he should be given at least five years to show he can get the job done.
2- I want to see him either rethink or clarify his recruiting philosophy to be in line with what I've said above, because I think it's vital to the future of Tech football for him to do that.
3- I think the whole future of the program would be in wonderful shape if we joined the SEC. We would sell out season tickets every year in our newly expanded stadium and have a waiting list beyond the 55,000 available seats. We would also have sell outs for all conference basketball games, have many more fans from other schools come to games in all sports at Tech, and travel more Tech fans to away games. We would also get more and better press coverage in the areas in which most of us live, even though we would get less in Washington, D.C. and the research triangle of NC and in Virginia, all of which would be a great trade off to me.
Well, like I said to my wife when I asked her to marry me well over 32 years ago, I've said what I honestly believe with all my heart, and now it's between you and God and out of my humble hands.
(By the way, the day we got married, I arranged for my ushers to "kidnap" me from the wedding luncheon, claim they were going to dump me in the country as a prank, and take me to Grant Field to see Georgia Tech play FSU, then get me back in time for my wedding that night. The good news is we beat FSU 23-13 that day. The bad news is that the darn ushers double crossed me and did dump me in the country, where I knocked on a farmer's door and watched the game with him on TV. Oh well, I did all I could to be there that day, just like I have for every game since then and just like I will continue to do until I die, whether we're in the SEC, the ACC or the WAC, for that matter. And when I meet people and they ask me how many people are in my family, I say, "One wife, two sons, one daughter-in-law, one dog, and one school, and her name is Georgia Tech." Selah.)
I know that Chan Gailey is going to be our coach for the next part of my life, and I want him to succeed. I'm sure all of us want him to succeed, and I'm also sure that all of us who have thought about it realize that he is our coach and he's going to be our coach for the next important years in the life of the program. We made that decision and we're past that and, for what it's worth, I think he can be a very good coach for and representative of Georgia Tech because he has integrity and he understands football and people.
I'm just addressing my personal single concern with him which is what I understand to be his philosophy of recruiting. I've taken what he's said to mean he's not going to try to win the recruiting battles in Georgia or produce nationally recognized Top Ten recruiting classes, because he feels that can't be done with Tech's academic requirements. Some of you may not have understood him to have said that. Others may think that's what he said but that he's right in saying it. I respect your views.
But my view is that we should recruit nationally recognized Top Ten recruiting classes and out recruit Georgia in Georgia. It's been done before, and it can be done again, and to have a lesser goal or to believe it cannot be done or to fail to work hard to do it is a disasterous and suicidal mistake in my opinion.
To the person who said "basketball players want to play in the ACC," I agree. But I think we should do everything we can, and spare no effort or expense, in getting back in the conference that football players want to play in, the SEC.
Football is more important to me than basketball. I drive 700 mile round trips to football games and further than that to road football games. I used to have basketball season tickets when we lived closer to Atlanta, but I don't anymore because I can't make those trips. But even when I had season tickets to both, football was always much more important to me. Maybe you feel differently. If basketball was the most important sport to me, I would want to stay in the ACC. But that's not the case for me.
The ACC may be the best basketball conference, but the SEC is much stronger in basketball than the ACC is in football. Plus, our traditional rivals and our history and our geography all favor us being in the SEC. I was even told once in his office by a person who is still at the very top of our athletic program that "we could get back in the SEC tomorrow if we wanted to. I had a call from them about it this week."
Well, I urge anybody who feels like I do to write President Clough and Coach Braine and urge them to get Tech back in the SEC. Bill Curry said on TV earlier this year that in Atlanta and Georgia, "young men who want to play football want to be in the SEC." There's just no doubt in my mind that getting back in the SEC would be the very best thing that could ever happen to Tech football or the whole athletic program. It might hurt basketball recruiting some, but overall it would be a great thing. And have you noticed lately that some ACC head basketball coaches have moved to the SEC?
So, to recap so I can get back to the rest of my life, let me say this:
1- I joyfully accept and support Chan Gailey as our head football coach and think he should be given at least five years to show he can get the job done.
2- I want to see him either rethink or clarify his recruiting philosophy to be in line with what I've said above, because I think it's vital to the future of Tech football for him to do that.
3- I think the whole future of the program would be in wonderful shape if we joined the SEC. We would sell out season tickets every year in our newly expanded stadium and have a waiting list beyond the 55,000 available seats. We would also have sell outs for all conference basketball games, have many more fans from other schools come to games in all sports at Tech, and travel more Tech fans to away games. We would also get more and better press coverage in the areas in which most of us live, even though we would get less in Washington, D.C. and the research triangle of NC and in Virginia, all of which would be a great trade off to me.
Well, like I said to my wife when I asked her to marry me well over 32 years ago, I've said what I honestly believe with all my heart, and now it's between you and God and out of my humble hands.
(By the way, the day we got married, I arranged for my ushers to "kidnap" me from the wedding luncheon, claim they were going to dump me in the country as a prank, and take me to Grant Field to see Georgia Tech play FSU, then get me back in time for my wedding that night. The good news is we beat FSU 23-13 that day. The bad news is that the darn ushers double crossed me and did dump me in the country, where I knocked on a farmer's door and watched the game with him on TV. Oh well, I did all I could to be there that day, just like I have for every game since then and just like I will continue to do until I die, whether we're in the SEC, the ACC or the WAC, for that matter. And when I meet people and they ask me how many people are in my family, I say, "One wife, two sons, one daughter-in-law, one dog, and one school, and her name is Georgia Tech." Selah.)
