BeeBad, you asked an honest question. I will give you an honest answer.
You have to look at the situation from the aspect of two different groups of fans. There are those at GT, probably including yourself, who thought O'Leary was the driving force of Tech's four year's of very good football.
Those who were not blinded by the facts, could easily see that Friegden was the driving force of the four year string. The Notre Dame fans were not tied to O'Leary and could see the real truth.
When O'Leary was announced as the next head coach at Notre Dame, the fans there were in an uproar. They were approaching the AD and school president to deny him the head coaching job.
The Notre Dame boards were lit up with all the fans protesting the hiring of O'Leary. They did not want him, and this was before they found out about the resume. The pressure was so great by their fans, the president and AD was overjoyed to back out of the deal.
If you will go to the web site below and look at the four years Friegden was at Tech 1997-2000, you will note there is no difference in the other years O'Leary was the coach at Tech on the defensive statistics. We just scored more points with Friegden to gain the edge.
If you are the Notre Dame fans, you are not blinded by O'Leary's record at Tech. Now that is the honest truth if you can accept it.
http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/acc/georgia_tech
Father Time