What is Flunkgate?

BigDanT

BigDanT

J. Batt Fan
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Sorry to those who this may seem trivial. I’ve heard of Flunkgate mentioned from time to time over the years but honestly I was too young to notice. What was it, why did it occur, and does it matter in todays climate with a watered down NCAA?
 
In the change over from quarters to semesters a bunch of SAs kinda got screwed with the whole progress towards a degree requirement.

I don’t believe it was actually a bunch of flunking classes, they just weren’t making sufficient progress since their hours under the quarter system didn’t translate well.

Or that’s what I recall anyway.
 
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Diseqc said:
In the change over from quarters to semesters a bunch of SAs kinda got screwed with the whole progress towards a degree requirement.

I don’t believe it was actually a bunch of flunking classes, they just weren’t making sufficient progress since their hours under the quarter system didn’t translate well.

Or that’s what I recall anyway.
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It was our academic advisors screwing up and screwing the football team.
 
The worst part of Flunkgate is it took out our best player, Tony Hollings. Good God the potential of Hollings. It was a brick in the pile of bricks of academic öööö ups over the years for GT.

Hollings had been hurt the year before, Chan's first year, as he was legit putting up Heisman style numbers. He was so damn good.......and then.....I think it was the BYU game and his knee. Damn, that sucked. For those who didn't experience it, he looked like a Spiller/Reggie Bush type explosive player. Just looked so damn good with the ball in his hands. I was so upset. 11 rushing TD's in 4 games. 7 YPC.

Thanks guys. Now I'm crying
 
There was also rumored to be a shady academic advisor ("whose-name-has-long-been-forgotten") who allegedly was (1) Anti-athletes (Gee, where have we ever seen that on The Hill?) and (2) not above steering the S-As off into Never-Never-Land academically, then blowing the whistle. Don't even go down the rabbit hole of how & why that person was ever hired, let alone retained.

All this & the Quarters==>Semesters changeover (thank you John Crecine & the 1996 Olympics) led to a number of S-As not being eligible due to the "Academic Progress" rigor newly imposed by the NCAA at that time.
 
Diseqc said:
In the change over from quarters to semesters a bunch of SAs kinda got screwed with the whole progress towards a degree requirement.

I don’t believe it was actually a bunch of flunking classes, they just weren’t making sufficient progress since their hours under the quarter system didn’t translate well.

Or that’s what I recall anyway.
Click to expand...
Correct. Between Gailey's 1st and 2nd Year. Switch from quarters to semesters resulted in 10 FB players being ruled ineligible, and a few in other sports. Administrative oversight that was very costly.

Tony Hollings was the biggest name; putting up huge numbers in 3.5 games the year before and a lot of hype returning for his senior season. Once he was ruled out he entered the 2003 NFL Supplemental draft and was taken in the 2nd round. Anthony Hargrove (DE/DT) was the other big name, who entered the 2004 NFL draft after being ineligible for 2003. He was drafted in the third round by the Rams and played 9-10 years in the NFL. A few other starters were mixed also.
 
JJacket said:
The worst part of Flunkgate is it took out our best player, Tony Hollings. Good God the potential of Hollings. It was a brick in the pile of bricks of academic öööö ups over the years for GT.

Hollings had been hurt the year before, Chan's first year, as he was legit putting up Heisman style numbers. He was so damn good.......and then.....I think it was the BYU game and his knee. Damn, that sucked. For those who didn't experience it, he looked like a Spiller/Reggie Bush type explosive player. Just looked so damn good with the ball in his hands. I was so upset. 11 rushing TD's in 4 games. 7 YPC.

Thanks guys. Now I'm crying
Click to expand...
öööö those damned Mormons.
 
I’m pretty sure one additional item is that the school took over control of this type of advisement from the football team. IE, O’Leary had his hands involved in all of that stuff to make sure his players were on track. The school told Gailey he didn’t have to worry about it so they would take care of it (they likely didn’t give him a choice)

Then they screwed it up in the worst way possible. It was awful. I’m not a Chan fanboy but it might have ruin his chance of succeeding at GT.

It also affected the program greatly until about 2016. The school gave the program little leeway on academic exceptions in recruiting. Johnson finally got this changed but too little too late.
 
The Champ said:
Correct. Between Gailey's 1st and 2nd Year. Switch from quarters to semesters resulted in 10 FB players being ruled ineligible, and a few in other sports. Administrative oversight that was very costly.

Tony Hollings was the biggest name; putting up huge numbers in 3.5 games the year before and a lot of hype returning for his senior season. Once he was ruled out he entered the 2003 NFL Supplemental draft and was taken in the 2nd round. Anthony Hargrove (DE/DT) was the other big name, who entered the 2004 NFL draft after being ineligible for 2003. He was drafted in the third round by the Rams and played 9-10 years in the NFL. A few other starters were mixed also.
Click to expand...

I remember Hollings tweaked his knee, sat a play, and was back out there the next play and then hurt himself (ACL?). They carted him off with him covering his face holding back tears. He was blowing teams up and was going to be one of the greats in GT history. And then it all ended on one play.

I’ve felt sick to my stomach as a GT fan multiple times in my 20+ years of being a fan, but Hollings getting hurt was rough. 630+ yards of rushing and 11 rushing TD’s in less than 4 games… those are generational talent numbers.
 
Good luck finding any game footage of Hollings at GT. I can’t find a thing. I’ve wanted to re-live those few games. When people ask me who the best Tech RB was, I always say TH.
 
JJacket said:
The worst part of Flunkgate is it took out our best player, Tony Hollings. Good God the potential of Hollings. It was a brick in the pile of bricks of academic öööö ups over the years for GT.

Hollings had been hurt the year before, Chan's first year, as he was legit putting up Heisman style numbers. He was so damn good.......and then.....I think it was the BYU game and his knee. Damn, that sucked. For those who didn't experience it, he looked like a Spiller/Reggie Bush type explosive player. Just looked so damn good with the ball in his hands. I was so upset. 11 rushing TD's in 4 games. 7 YPC.

Thanks guys. Now I'm crying
Click to expand...
I was at the BYU game. Hollings hurt his knee and was taken out of game. He then did some stretches on the sidelines and Gailey put him back in. He then hurt same knee for good and I don't think we ever saw him put on a Tech uniform again. He was damned good. His Clemson game was unbelievable.
 
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