What it takes being the head football coach at GT

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hiveredtech

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Firstly...this is not a discussion over who should be the head coach of our program...we have one...Chan Gailey. This is about what it takes to be the head cfootball oach at Georgia Tech.

As many of us know, the head football coach position at Georgia Tech may be the most demanding football coach position in the country. We are now in the toughest conference in the nation, and we have academic requirements that few can claim they have for their student-athletes.

As a proud alumnus of Georgia Tech I expect that our players should represent the institute well on and off the field (stay out of trouble, interview well, etc.), work successfully towards their degree, learn what it takes to become a better citizen and family member in our communities (TPC if you will), and lastly compete for conference championships in football. Unfortunately, most of our competition does not have to worry about the first three items that I see as a requirement…they only must be concerned with the fourth item. Even if they do have to graduate players because of the new NCAA requirements, it will likely be a degree that is not that meaningful.

Let me emphatically state that I do not want to change who we are…we are a school of higher learning first. As fanatical a Georgia Tech sports fan as I am, I still have to put things in this proper perspective.

I just believe there are few men out there that are willing to strive towards satisfying all of the aforementioned requirements. Why put up with it if you do not have to?...just coach at 11 of the 12 SEC schools, 7 or 8 of the 12 ACC schools, etc...you get the point.

How would you like to have a job where someone told you to go out and grab the majority of the market share in your industry...however we are not going to be able to even try to get contracts from 40% of the viable customers in our space? Not only that, each of the customers we do take on have to be perfectly clean and profitable on a stand-alone basis?

That is the situation we have...a lot to accomplish there huh? Probably more to accomplish than any football position in the country.
 
Re: What it takes being the head football coach at

I agree with you, no one ever said it was easy, thats why its so rewarding. (and I think it could be VERY financially rewarding with the kind of money GT grads are making these days if the AA would ask the right way and the right people)
 
Hot Diggidy Dog, hot dad burn dog gonnit!!!!!!!
What a post, WHAT AAAAAA POOOOOOOOSSSSTTTT!!!!!!!
That has been needing to be said for a long time hiveredtech. Matter of fact, I'm especially glad you did this because my attitude toward our program was starting to need an adjustment. Good Job !!! Keep up the good work. Do it again. I feel like that old guy on the Mennen Skin Bracer commercial back a few years ago when he got slapped, then he answered, "Thanks, I needed that."
Now, just for the sake of being "nosey", are there really any other D-1 school football programs that have as high standards as Ga Tech? If there are some, do you know who they are? I can think of a few possibilities, but I'll need to check first to see if they are really D-1 league.
 
Re: What it takes being the head football coach at

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are there really any other D-1 school football programs that have as high standards as Ga Tech?

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There's a few...Stanford, I think, and Notre Dame, and perhaps a couple of others, HOWEVER, it must be noted that NO D-1 school has the limited and tough curiculum that GT has - not even close.
 
HdT, how would this change your attitude?

If you changed your belief to Ga. Tech is a great school but not impossibly difficult to get a fine degree from, would you still think that this HC job is as hard as you describe?

I am starting to strongly believe that our problem is the Hill overreacting to the ineligible problem. Now, this would be a huge problem that the Athletic Director has to take on.
The curriculum is more narrow than other state schools, buts its much broader than its ever been. We offer enough diversity of study for anyone that is not dead set on what they want to major in coming out of high school. I think this would address the needs of most prospective athletic recruits.
I don't think we will ever have to worry about academics getting watered down for the sake of football, and I know we don't need to.

When academics are used as a crutch, it not only limits the expectations of athletes as well as coaches. That's wrong.
 
Re: HdT, how would this change your attitude?

The fact is these athletes, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, have to merge in with kids that were mostly (not all) National Honor Society students with 1400 SAT scores. The competition around you creates a faster thinking environment to learn in...and much more independent environment.

That is tough for any kid to overcome (hence the high student flunk-out rate at GT)...much less a kid that has coasted through a sub-par high school that thought of him as just an athlete.

It is unfair to the kids to not match them with an environment where they can excel on and off the field. I am not saying that ambition cannot overcome...it certainly can.

A similar analogy would be major league baseball. Most kids cannot go from high school to the 'big show'. However, they can step through the minor league classifications until they get used to the speed of the game.
 
Re: HdT, how would this change your attitude?

I think you're overestimating the student body a bit. I know theres a lot of crazy smart kids there, but theres also a a fair number of regular to slightly above average guys who got in with a good bit lower than average on their SAT or whatever because they were from Georgia. Not denying its a hell of an adjustment. That said, its probably easier in some ways with the structured lifestyle of the S/A, and probably harder in some ways for the same reasons.

Theres a lot of students who were the best in their HS, who get to Tech only to find out that their HS was terrible. Its an uphill battle, but plently do it every year. Its hard, but its not "that" hard.
 
Re: HdT, how would this change your attitude?

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The fact is these athletes, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, have to merge in with kids that were mostly (not all) National Honor Society students with 1400 SAT scores.

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Unless things have changed much since my days at Tech, not a whole lot of merging is going on between the research scientist prospects and the non engineers. Just like most places, likes hang with likes and that is not meant as offensive to any group. Management students and other non technical majors just don't spend a lot of time with Bio Medical Engineering students, for example. Its not that one group is better than the other, they just don't have much in common including classes.
I am not even singling out athletes. We have engineers and science majors on all athletic rosters.
 
Re: HdT, how would this change your attitude?

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Unless things have changed much since my days at Tech, not a whole lot of merging is going on between the research scientist prospects and the non engineers. Just like most places, likes hang with likes and that is not meant as offensive to any group. Management students and other non technical majors just don't spend a lot of time with Bio Medical Engineering students, for example. Its not that one group is better than the other, they just don't have much in common including classes.
I am not even singling out athletes. We have engineers and science majors on all athletic rosters.

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Hey now...lets not sell the mgt majors short...we had the same tough time getting into school that the engineering majors did...with a lot of competition in there as well !

We were just a little more social. :-)
 
Re: HdT, how would this change your attitude?

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Hey now...lets not sell the mgt majors short...we had the same tough time getting into school that the engineering majors did...with a lot of competition in there as well !

We were just a little more social. :-)

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I was right there with you! Not better or worse, just different. (Mgt. majors are more fun though) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugher.gif
 
Re: HdT, how would this change your attitude?

Yeah, us Mgt majors are definitely better drinkers /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
Re: HdT, how would this change your attitude?

Only because we couldn't do the calculus! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/drink1.gif
 
Re: HdT, how would this change your attitude?

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Yeah, us Mgt majors are definitely better drinkers /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif

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I'll take that challenge anytime on behalf of the college of computing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/drinking.gif
 
You guys can\'t touch the BCs of the world.

We take the best of both worlds.

As for the original post, I agree that the job at Tech is near the top in difficulty. I think because of our situation it takes a special type of person to succeed here. Just because a person has had success at other stops doesn't guarantee success at Tech. The job really requires an extremely dynamic individual who can think outside the box (much like our grads).
 
Re: You guys can\'t touch the BCs of the world.

It also requires really adopting GT as your own, much like Paul Hewitt has. The man bought into the system from the first day he was on campus, and Danny Hall has become a solid member of the Tech community too, and he's darn proud to be here. Other coaches haven't exactly got that down, at least when they were first speaking to student groups, they didn't. And I'm talking simple stuff like answering "whats the good word" correctly. Not that I'm refering to anyone in particular, just saying thats whats required.
 
Well said Peck. GT is a cult.

The more I've been away from GT and come into contact with other college grads, I've found very few schools engender the same school spirit that Tech does. There is great loyalty to GT. I've only seen similar from Texas A&M alumni. At law school, most think those of us from GT are a little bit crazy about our school. That's why as you state, the HC has to become a part of GT, like Paul Hewitt, and that's one of the reasons our coaching positions are more attractive than most schools. It's because you can become a part of the culture at GT; and upon doing that and winning some, you will be respected for life (Bobby Cremins). Many coaches who want to be coaching ball appreciate that. I will state that Gailey, did not understand this at first, but had improved a bit by his 2nd year, which was my last year at tech. At a student meeting the week before the Georgia game I asked him "what' the good word?" and he didn't know. I'm told the next year at that meeting he led the student group in that cheer. I don't know where he stands now, but I hope he's shown continued progress.

As far as academic requirements for admissions, we are harder to get into than most,but no longer an outlier. UVA, Mich, Tex, Cal, UNC, Stanford, ND, WF and the like are very similar. Its not the limitations of our curriculum as much as its the general difficulty--the fact that we don't hand out degrees in any major and our grade inflation is significantly less than other places (almost all of the above schools). No matter what, you have to show up and do your work. That requires a lot of discipline for anybody and when combined with a Division I-A sport becomes even more difficult.

The bottom line for any GT HC is they have to become a part of GT. That means enthusiasm. That means showing up at student events from midnight breakfast (like CPH did his first year) to leading pep rallies and speaking at organizations. It also means enthusiastic performance at alumni club meetings. I say and mean that for any major sport.
 
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