Is golf an anomoly

We talk about Georgia Tech having to carry the burden of one of the premiere educational / athletic institutions in the country. We talk about the limited talent pool available to GT coaches because of the academic challenges. We talk with pride about how a GT degree really means something, and that with all this understanding, we know that it presents a higher challenge for GT sports programs to compete for national championships. The general knock is that we have consistent above average success in most sports but do not compete at the top every year. How can we be a Miami in football because we cannot recruit 80% of the players that go there?

Well, here we are having just played in the hoops national championship game, we have a good shot at heading to Omaha for the 2nd time in recent years, and the football program appears to be steadily headed in the right direction. But even detractors will talk about negatives.

With all this, how do you explain the golf program. Check out this quote:

College golf is supposed to belong to schools such as Oklahoma State, Florida, Wake Forest, BYU and Georgia Tech, schools that through the years sent to the pros players such as Charles Howell, Matt Kuchar, David Duval, Johnny Miller and Andy Miller. The Cal guys didn't go on Tour, they went to graduate school.

Is GT thought of as one of the top golf programs in the nation EVERY year? We have had 5 top 5 finishes in the NCAA tourney recently, including a tie for 1st, which we lost in sudden death, we have had 2 collegiate players of the year, an NCAA champion, sent guys like Duval, Kuchar, Cink, etc, on the tour. Are we to golf what Miami is to football? Well, I suppose we need to actually win a couple of NC's, but the sustained success in golf is pretty remarkable. Maybe credit needs to go to Coach Bruce Heppler. The folks at the Hive think he is possibly the most accomplished coach in GT history. Link here.

Can our sports programs increase their success and eventually compete at the highest levels year in and year out? We are happy about the hoops success, but we cannot forget we finished the regular season tied for 3rd, barely over .500 in conference. We didn't get to the ACC conference tourney final. The football team has been to 7 bowls in the row, but admittedly lower caliber bowls the last few seasons. Can we compete with FSU / Miami every year? What about other sports? Do we have to accept that GT has a certain lot in life and that we will always be limited because of the caliber of people we can recruit?

At the end of the day, the harder road is the more rewarding imo. I think we can have our cake and eat it too - just not every year. We will see our programs rise and fall, but at the end of the day, I just want our programs to be successful. I am not condoning mediocrity, but as long as we are competing in the top 5 spots in our conference (the 11 team version) I can be happy. The day our football program is compared to Duke (pre-Roof) and hoops is compared to Clemson (pre-Purnell), I will start to get really frustrated.

2004 has been one of the most successfull in GT history when you look across the board. Let's hope it is just the start of the road to sustained high level success.