What are the REAL reasons our football program can't compete?

StraightFresh said:
I'm a big fan of this take. Ultimately, Dodd was a Tennessee redneck and should generally be treated as such. If Tech football has any hope whatsoever, it has to throw off all shackles and go into full YOLO mode. Some goober who threw us into the wilderness shouldn't necessarily be celebrated.
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Not really worth a comment
 
As much as I want to see GT win football games, I didn't attend GT because of the football program, I attended because it was #2 in the nation in my degree, I got hope scholarship, and Cal Tech wasn't my cup of tea. My career earnings justify this decision and, frankly, I'm better off than if I'd chosen some place like Auburn.
 
BainbridgeJacket said:
As much as I want to see GT win football games, I didn't attend GT because of the football program, I attended because it was #2 in the nation in my degree, I got hope scholarship, and Cal Tech wasn't my cup of tea. My career earnings justify this decision and, frankly, I'm better off than if I'd chosen some place like Auburn.
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Understood, but this is a football message board
 
BainbridgeJacket said:
As much as I want to see GT win football games, I didn't attend GT because of the football program, I attended because it was #2 in the nation in my degree, I got hope scholarship, and Cal Tech wasn't my cup of tea. My career earnings justify this decision and, frankly, I'm better off than if I'd chosen some place like Auburn.
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I know a few people who did. Say you grew up a football fan and are also smart and have a couple of well regarded schools to choose from, maybe you pick the one that plays football in the highest NCAA division over a school that doesn't even have a football team at all (such as Cal Tech).
 
This article pinpoints the exact cause....the $ difference between the SEC/BIG10 and the ACC. As much as I would've hated it, perhaps Tech should've accepted the Big10 invite.

abc7chicago.com

New ACC commissioner Jim Phillips faces big challenges without easy answers

Jim Phillips faces a daunting task: Figure out how to bring in more money, have more football contenders and rewrite the league's image as the ACC looks toward an uncertain future.
abc7chicago.com abc7chicago.com
 
As far as Dodd goes, why do we either have to think he is a saint or as someone put it, "a Tennessee redneck"? The truth, as usual, is somewhere in the middle. He was a great coach for his time. He did a huge amount for GT. This shouldn't be cast aside flippantly. There is a reason the Dodd award is called the Dodd award. However, all evidence points to leaving the SEC being a mistake BUT that was now 60 years ago and we have to deal with things as they are now.

The biggest challenge I see (like @aeromech said) is shedding this holier than thou attitude that we seem to have that we are above some tactics to win at football, or that doing what it takes to win at football will somehow damage out academic reputation. When we don't push the limits and suck at athletics, the only people who give us extra credit is us. We are literally patting ourselves on the back and no one else is congratulating us. Does winning or trying to win hurt Michigan? Are their alum's degrees worth less because of even a blunder like Juwan Howard's punch? NO.
 
ricejacket said:
This article pinpoints the exact cause....the $ difference between the SEC/BIG10 and the ACC. As much as I would've hated it, perhaps Tech should've accepted the Big10 invite.

abc7chicago.com

New ACC commissioner Jim Phillips faces big challenges without easy answers

Jim Phillips faces a daunting task: Figure out how to bring in more money, have more football contenders and rewrite the league's image as the ACC looks toward an uncertain future.
abc7chicago.com abc7chicago.com
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Need to cash in or adjust this spring... I hope the ACC doesn't say yes... we are GTG since the ACCN is fully distrubuted... We need to up the Contract by 5-10M per Team.
 
The ACC is a sinking ship. I do not understand why some on here want to hang on until the end. The ACC has been carried by the basketball success. The basketball dominance is fading quickly. Any football success has been sporadic and limited to a few teams. The long term TV deal is an albatross that is pulling all the ACC teams down relative to the other P5 teams.
 
Another Newsletter from the President. Ten detailed topics but no mention of athletics at all. I am beginning to think the President would be just as happy with an athletic program on par with MIT and Cal Tech.
 
Alliance with Big Ten, Pac-12 makes a ton of sense for the ACC & TV $$
Great Read....

The belief is if the ACC can schedule more high-profile matchups with Big Ten or Pac-12 teams in non-conference play, it can create attractive neutral-site games that would be broadcast on Fox instead of ESPN. The goal is to increase the value of the league without necessarily increasing its size, and creating more premium inventory is a step in that direction.

The operative word is “premium.” The key is for the scheduling alliance to incorporate the few top brands from each league. In general, TV executives said the top three brands from a respective league attract more than 50 percent of the TV viewers for that league. In terms of ratings, all other matchups of mediocre appeal see a precipitous drop.

The viewing model is extremely top-heavy. Networks right now, one source said, “will pay you whatever you need them to pay you for the top inventory — just the top inventory. What they don’t want to do anymore is pay $7 million for Clemson-Miami and also pay $7 million for Wake Forest-Boston College.”

For the ACC, that means more Clemson, Miami, North Carolina and Florida State. The aim, of course, is to create more long-term value.




www.on3.com

Alliance with Big Ten, Pac-12 makes a ton of sense for the ACC

As everyone tries to stave off SEC world domination, it makes perfect sense for the ACC to join forces with the Big Ten and Pac-12.
www.on3.com www.on3.com
 
GTFLETCH said:
For the ACC, that means more Clemson, Miami, North Carolina and Florida State.
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Carolina? WTF, was the article written by a UNC fanboi? What about UNC football is "premium"?

I get it, we suck and UNC has a more recent Coastal title, but give me a break. UNC doesn't belong in any reference where football and marquee games are mentioned. (Neither does GT, but come on man)
 
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covingtonjacket said:
As far as Dodd goes, why do we either have to think he is a saint or as someone put it, "a Tennessee redneck"? The truth, as usual, is somewhere in the middle. He was a great coach for his time. He did a huge amount for GT. This shouldn't be cast aside flippantly. There is a reason the Dodd award is called the Dodd award. However, all evidence points to leaving the SEC being a mistake BUT that was now 60 years ago and we have to deal with things as they are now.

The biggest challenge I see (like @aeromech said) is shedding this holier than thou attitude that we seem to have that we are above some tactics to win at football, or that doing what it takes to win at football will somehow damage out academic reputation. When we don't push the limits and suck at athletics, the only people who give us extra credit is us. We are literally patting ourselves on the back and no one else is congratulating us. Does winning or trying to win hurt Michigan? Are their alum's degrees worth less because of even a blunder like Juwan Howard's punch? NO.
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Very well said.
 
Didn't read the whole thread, so probably repeating some points already mentioned here.

Odds are stacked against us for primarily one reason, which impacts our ability to compete consistently in many ways: the size of our fan base.

The teams that stay at the top of college football almost all have literally millions of fans that have no direct affiliation with the school. GT has almost no "sidewalk fans" comparatively, as well as a smaller enrollment, alumni base, and massive international / nerd student base that doesn't give a damn about sports and won't even attend games as an undergrad, let alone give money and support as an alum.

Compare GT to UGA (or any of the other major names in CFB). As the big, accessible state university in Georgia, UGA has probably 5 million fans born into default UGA football Fandom. There are enough of them to fill the stadium for every game no matter who they play, keep the money flowing, keep things exciting for recruits. Most of these people cant even truly call themselves fans of UGA, the university. They'll pick a different team for sports UGA sucks at, like basketball. All their money and support is for football.

They get more money, attendance, excitement, coverage, etc., all leading to better facilities, coaches, recruiting budgets, and recruits. These teams will be better than us more often than not.

Playing in the ACC just exacerbates the issues, especially when we are down. If we played in the SEC against more of these large regional state schools we'd at least have a full stadium every week from the opposing fan bases. When GT only has 15k fans show up to a home game Syracuse, Wake, BC, etc ain't filling in the gaps for us. Empty games, less money, excitement, coverage, recruiting interest, and no new sidewalk fans are made...it's a vicious cycle.

Can we do better? Of course. We have a öööö coach right now and these issues are compounding. With a good coaching hire we can put together some competitive teams, outscheme the big boys from time to time, and have the occasional magical season.

We will never be yearly contenders. Find a magical coaching hire that gets us to that point and he'll get poached by a program that can pay 3x the money, eventually. It is what it is.

Getting into the SEC or some new regional equivalent after conference restructing is out only hope, in my opinion. Even joining the B10 would only do so much. They have a few bigger names that might have sole local fans but the local populace in Georgia/the south will only care so much about a program that exclusively plays Northern Midwestern teams every week when all their friends and family are SEC fans.

Basically, I think our fate is sealed and we will never be relevant year to year. I'm hoping we get a good coach and squeeze in one more magical season in the next 5-10 years because college football is F'ed anyway and won't exist in its current form for much longer.
 
No one at GT cares. That’s the entire problem. The President doesn’t care because none of the admin care so there is no pressure. The BOR laughs at GT sports so they love having GT Presidents who don’t care. The head coach doesn’t care and he has proven this by not resigning. A few rich alumni care but they don’t have the juice to change anything. TStan knows he’s a dead man walking so he’ll keep collecting those checks.

If UGA ever went thru a stretch like this (closest thing was Donnan) you would have the Governor of the State inviting the school Pres, the BOR, and the AD into his office. We have no one who cares in a position that matters.
 
covingtonjacket said:
As far as Dodd goes, why do we either have to think he is a saint or as someone put it, "a Tennessee redneck"? The truth, as usual, is somewhere in the middle. He was a great coach for his time. He did a huge amount for GT. This shouldn't be cast aside flippantly. There is a reason the Dodd award is called the Dodd award. However, all evidence points to leaving the SEC being a mistake BUT that was now 60 years ago and we have to deal with things as they are now.

The biggest challenge I see (like @aeromech said) is shedding this holier than thou attitude that we seem to have that we are above some tactics to win at football, or that doing what it takes to win at football will somehow damage out academic reputation. When we don't push the limits and suck at athletics, the only people who give us extra credit is us. We are literally patting ourselves on the back and no one else is congratulating us. Does winning or trying to win hurt Michigan? Are their alum's degrees worth less because of even a blunder like Juwan Howard's punch? NO.
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@1982Jacket why the poo? Serious question. I'm interested to know what I said that you disagree with.
 
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