GTSB Top 5 Results: Most Memorable Plays

Your votes have been cast. All hanging chads have been accounted for. There was a tie, so our "Top 5" is acutally a "Top 6". Al Gore has not protested. When you ask for the "most memorable plays", naturally the slant is going to be on the modern, during the time when most people either lived it in person or saw it on TV. There were so many good choices that we had to leave out some truly magical ones. For example, William Bell's magical run in 1990 against Nebraska in the Citrus Bowl, James Forrest's magical 3pt shot in the 1992 tourney against USC-west (Holy Mackeral anyone?), and there were hundreds of magical plays from games only covered in print and remembered only through the living history of our "seniors".

I proudly present to you your Top 5 most memorable plays in Georgia Tech history.

THE CATCH
In one of the most improbably comebacks in Georgia Tech history, the Jackets manage to score 3 TD's in the last 4:30 to beat Clemson. It was Calvin Johnson's coming out party, as the highly touted freshman caught 3 TD passes and amassed 127 yards in the air. In addition, this call by Wes Durham has to go down as one of the classics in GT history. It just captures everything we love about Wes, as he was as excited and amazed as anyone else watching (I mean, does it really compare to this?). Classic, classic, classic!



THE KICK
The year, 1990. It was a magical year if you were on campus........ I was. Final Fours, football National Championships. The crowing moment was this 37 yard field goal by ice-water-in-the-veins kicker Scott Sisson. Did I mention I was Scott's "RA" (Resident Assistant) in Field dorm, so I'd like to think I had a hand in it all. That kick ousted Virginia from the #1 spot in the nation and propelled Georgia Tech to a National Championship under Bobby Ross. Anyone remember the bonfires in the intersection of Techwood and Bobby Dodd Way? Anyone remember the stop lights catching on fire? Anyone remember tearing down the goal posts in BDS (that was an away game)?



THE LAYUP
Five feet and change. Will the Thrill Bynum. No Georgia Tech team had ever played for a National Championship. The Jackets were on the verge. Little Will, the transfer from Arizona, was finally learning to accept a role coming off the bench. Coach Hewitt kept telling him to be patient; that his time would come; that it mattered more who finished than who started............... and oh did he finish. "Look at that little fellow take it in there and use his strength" - Bill Packer.



THE ORIGINAL "CATCH"
November 28, 2000. Kerry Watkins has something to say to Calvin Johnson about who owns "the catch". He would also take umbrage at who is the biggest heartbreaker of Tiger fans in Death Valley. I was at this game as well. Unfortunately I could not find video of another magical miracle victory over Clemson, but I did find this:

No. 92 Georgia Tech 31 ... Clemson 28, November 28, 2000
At the time: Georgia Tech had won three straight and was 5-2. Number four Clemson had started off the season 8-0 and was looking forward to a showdown with Florida State the following week with the hopes of securing an ACC title.

The setup: It was a tremendous game with long scoring drives and an 88-yard punt return for a score from Clemson's Brian Mance. The Tigers took a 28-24 lead with under two minutes to play on a Rod Gardner touchdown catch. Kelly Campbell finished with 209 receiving yards for the Yellow Jackets, but it was another Tech receiver that would steal the show.

The ending: Tech QB George Godsey, who finished with a school record 454 passing yards, had the ball on the Clemson 16 with time running out. He lofted a pass into the end zone for Kerry Watkins, but it looked out of reach. Watkins dove making a one-handed grab for the game-winning score with just seven seconds to play.

If someone finds the video of this one on YouTube or elsewhere, I update this post. It was magic.

THE SHOT
March 1, 1989. "There's mayhem in Alexander Memorial Coliseum". Georgia Tech down 2 with 5 seconds on the clock and UNC has the ball. One of many magical buzzer beaters in Georgia Tech hoops history, but Dennis Scott managed to squeeze the improbable off against the hated Tarheels, by stealing the ball and draining a three. The Bobby Cremins reaction goes down as the classic moment..... and to think, if Karl Brown hadn't messed up and made the stinkin' free throws we may have never seen the magic.




GOING OLD SCHOOL - WRONG WAY RIEGELS
It is good to see that enough of you voted for what goes down as not only one of the most memorable plays in Georgia Tech history, but in college football history. In fact, the story of the 1929 Rose Bowl truthfully goes down as one of the most memorable plays in the history of the game - period. ESPN named it the 26th most important moment that defined college football. In 1971, Sports Illustrated said it was "the best-known play in the history of American football". Riegels was parodied in Hollywood by heavyweights such as Frank Capra.


Georgia Tech and Cal were locked up in a tight, low-scoring battle. Locked up 0-0, Tech back Stumpy Thomason had the ball knocked loose. With the ball squirting lose on a fumble, Cal's Roy Riegels picked up the ball, spun around and proceeded to jaunt 69 yards....... the wrong way. His own teammates tried to pull him down, and one of them finally did - at the one yard line. Riegels was ticked because he thought his own teammates wanted the credit for the TD. On Cal's next play, they attempted to punt the ball from the endzone (with Riegels snapping). The Tech line broke through, blocked the punt, notched a safety and posted 2 points on the scoreboard. That safety ended up being enough for a winning margin for Georgia Tech, as they won 8-7.

The result was that Bill Alexander's Yellow Jackets remained undefeated and went on to win their 2nd National Championship. For Riegels, much was written and said, but he want on to become a Cal team captain, successful coach and businessman.

"You know," he says slowly, "I really wasn't a bad football player. But for the life of me, I still don't know how or why I did what I did." He dismisses the damning memorabilia with a hearty wave. "Now I ask you, isn't this a hell of a way to become famous?"

"I used to be sensitive," he says, "but everybody else thought it was funny and I finally decided that all I could do was laugh with them. Sometimes my 10-year-old son calls me 'Wrong Way Riegels'—and I don't even spank him for it."

BONUS:
I'll leave you with this memorable flyover - unforgettable!!!!

Football - ACC Media Days GT Player Quotes

Andrew Gardner and Vance Walker represented Georgia Tech today at the ACC Football Kickoff. Here's what they had to say:

ANDREW GARDNER

What have been the differences in conditioning this year?

There's been a lot more running, especially the tackles. On a lot of plays, you are expected to run 20 yards downfield and try to get the safety. There is a lot of second and third level blocking so we have a conditioning test that we have to do before camp that we did not have in the past. Some of the lineman have been put on weight loss plans over the summer. In this offense, we do a lot more running and bottom line is, we just needed to be in better shape. There is more expected out of lineman in this offense than in year's past. This is the kind of offense that can be real fun for an offensive lineman. Once we get going, we can knock people over. I think the guys are really excited to get going.

What is one of the biggest differences on the line in regards to this new offense?

I definitely think it is the amount of cut blocking. Every team in the ACC is going to dread the week that Georgia Tech is on the schedule because they know that they are going get their legs knocked out from under them.

Was spring a little weird with all of the player changes as well?

It is always going to happen with a coaching change, but you can't worry about it. The big thing is that the guys here are the committed ones. For the guys that didn't want to be here, it's probably better for themselves and the team that they did leave. You don't want anyone that doesn't want to be here talking bad or bringing the rest of the team down. You want everybody moving in the same direction and doing what's best for the team.

VANCE WALKER

What is Coach Johnson trying to change about the team?

A lot of people played for themselves last year and Coach Johnson wants us to realize that the scoreboard doesn't read Georgia Tech vs. Georgia Tech. That's what he has been working very hard to instill in us and it's the biggest thing he wanted to get rid of.

What are your impressions so far of Defensive Coordinator Dave Wommack?

We all like coach Womack. He is a great person and he has a great charisma about him and he is very exciting so we believe all his stuff. It's not even about believing, we know what he has done and we on the defense know each other well so we think it will work.

Football Recruiting - Jackets Nab O-Lineman

Will Jackson, a TN standout at O-Line, committed to the Jackets today. More later.

It's here folks - 2008 Media Guide

For your ravenous, brain-starved consumption - the 2008 Georgia Tech Football Media Guide. The cover tells you what's on the menu - new blood!

The Atlanta Sports Council - no friend of GT

The Atlanta Sports Council is fodder for some good debate, but their mission in life in most ways works directly against the best interests of the hometown Jackets as well as the mutts in Athens.

The Atlanta Sports Council promotes the value of sports growth in Atlanta and Georgia by acting as an authority on the economic impact, visibility and quality of life issues associated with sports. Its mission is to lead, organize and support sports development with the goal of building Atlanta's reputation as the Sports Capital of the World.

Sounds good on the surface. Who wouldn't want their university to be based in the "Sports Capital of the World"? However, the recent announcement that Virginia Tech would open their season next year in the ATL against an unnamed opponent in the Georgia Dome is case #2 that their interests don't always coincide with GT. Case #1 is the season opener this fall in the Georgia Dome, pitting Clemson against Alabama. That little announcement is what most likely resulted in Georgia Tech moving their opener to Thursday night. Whoops. Thanks ASC.

I'm sure the ASC wants to make that thing the annual "Kickoff Classic". Nick Saban appears to want to make a Dome visit an annual ritual, and why not? Behind California, Florida and Texas, you can argue that Georgia has the deepest high school talent pool in the nation - in ALL three major sports no less. So if I'm in the shoes of AD's surrounding the state, I'd be putting my bid in to play that game each year as well. If the state didn't have the high school talent, would Saban or Bowden care? Of course not. This is a decision purely about money and exposure, facilitated by the ASC.

Sorry, but the mission of that group by definition creates competition for eyeballs and wallets. While the pure mission would be to bring in more people who wouldn't normally attend an event, it will certainly cannabalize D-Rad's effort to attract casual ATL area fans to BDS. Not so sure it's the ASC's problem though. It's certainly Dan Radakovich's problem - who happens to sit on the board of the ASC.

If I were sitting in the AD chair down in Athens, I'd be a little concerned as well, although they seem to be doing just fine when it comes to attracting fans.

By the way, note that the ASC is sponsoring an event July 28 where Paul Johnson, Bill Curry, March Richt, Lee Corso and Tony Barnhardt are speaking (college football preview luncheon).

Daryl Richard Anointed

It's one thing to tout the "superiority" of Georgia Tech athletes from an intellectual perspective to our sisters in Athens. Mostly it helps the medicine go down when we lose to them. However, it's another thing when one of your football players is selected to help chose the next President of your University. I mean, are you serious?

Here's the committee:

Members of the Presidential Search Committee are as follows:

Regent Willis Potts, committee chair
Regent Hugh Carter
Regent Mansfield Jennings
Regent Jim Jolly
Regent Don Leebern
Regent Elridge McMillan
Regent Ben Tarbutton
Regent Richard Tucker
Dr. Gisele Bennett, professor, Georgia Tech Research Institute
Dr. Thomas Boston, professor, School of Economics
Dr. Steven French, professor, College of Architecture
Dr. Don Giddens, Dean, College of Engineering
Dr. Gary May, professor, College of Engineering
Dr. Sandra Slaughter, professor, College of Management
Dr. Jeffrey Wu, professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering
Mr. Herky Harris, Georgia Tech Foundation chair
Mr. Darryl Richard, MBA Student, Athlete, and Member of the Georgia Tech All-Academic Team
Mr. Joe Rogers, Waffle House
Mr. Bill Todd, Georgia Tech Alumni Association president
Mr. Chris Young, Georgia Department of Economic Development

Help me out here, but not only is Daryl Richard, standout Defensive Tackle, on the committee, he's the ONLY student on it. Here's a guy who graduated in 3 years, is now in the MBA program, and has an NFL Future ahead of him, even though one of his goals is to be an Athletic Director. Heck, sign up the guy now if you ask me. That's just insane if you ask me.

On a side note, I "know" the guy heading the committee, Willis Potts. He won't remember me, but I met him a few times during my 14 years in the paper industry. Potts retired from Temple-Inland Corp, and worked for the now "absorbed" Union Camp Corp (now International Paper) for a long time. Potts is a great guy and a GT alumni. I was involved with the Georgia Tech Pulp & Paper Foundation and he spoke once and was very engaging. Super guy.

Jay Bilas on Dennis Scott

Jay Bilas posted his crack at the to p 25 3pt shooters in college history. Guess who clocks in at his #1? None other than 3D, Dennis Scott. With 3D it wasn't so much about his percentage, it was about his range. It was about leisurely jumpers from half-court. It's on ESPN Insider. Here's the take on D-Scott:

1. Dennis Scott, Georgia Tech, 1988-90: 351-831 (.422)
Scott gave "range" a whole new meaning. I first heard about Dennis when he was in seventh grade, and I never saw anyone shoot with such ease from so deep.

Hoops Recruiting - Jackets Get Commit #2

Paul Hewitt and company received a verbal commitment from forward Kammeon Holsey. Different sites have him listed between 6'7" and 6'9", and one quote from Holsey indicated that Paul Hewitt has a vision for his role similar to Thaddeus Young, with an inside/outside game playing both the 3/4 spots. Holsey plays at Hancock Central High School in Spara GA. Scout.com lists Holsey as a 4-star and Rivals.com has him at #124 in the nation. He seems to have offers from FSU and Clemson, Alabama, Nebraska and Xavier. For the star watchers he's a 4-star guy on Scout and a 3-star guy on Rivals.

As a junior Holsey averaged 18.1 pts, 11.8 boards, and 2 blocks and helped lead his team to a state championship.

Sounds like a solid addition to the team. This year's recruiting class is going to be a foundational class for future years. Yes, there's a lot of interest in super-stud Derrick Favors, but ultimately this is a critical recruiting year to build a foundational class for the next few years.

Holsey becomes the 2nd verbal commit, to go with 2/3 Brian Oliver

WATN - Tashard Choice - Stage Actor ?

Tashard Choice attended one of those NFL camp lectures by a guy teaching newly crowned professionals how to handle their business when every "cousin" and long lost friend comes out of the woodwork. Choice got picked to come up on stage and act out an impromptu scenario. Choice absolutely does his deal, and has his fellow pro's laughing.

Classic Tashard Choice. Classic. Check it out.

WATN? - Bonus Coverage

There's a plethora of Where Are They Now? bonus coverage to be had for Georgia Tech fans. Let's roll right into it:

WATN - ANTHONY MORROW
A-Mo had quite the outing this week during his summer league stint with the Miami Heat. How's about 5 3-pointers, dropping 19 points in a victory where top Miami pick Michael Beasley had 9 pts on 1-13 shooting, 7 fouls and 5 turnovers. Kansas's Mario Chalmers had 19 pts and 9 assists for the Heat as well.

WATN - RESNO "ROCK" PERDONI
Renso "Rock" Perdoni has been named to the 75th anniversary all-Sun Bowl team. He's one of 75 guys named.

WATN - JAKE RUDOLPH
The former Georgia Tech standout football player Jake Rudolph passed away last week. Rudolph was on Bobby Dodd's back-to-back undefeated teams back in the early 50's. The AJC recounts his famous plays and some nice back-story. Rest in peace young man.

WATN - CALVIN JOHNSON
Some see this year as a breakout season for Calvin "The Truth" Johnson, being all healthy and all.

WATN - TOM BARTON
Interesting story about the guy largely responsible for building Greenville Tech (a local technical school here in upstate SC). While the guy was a Clemson graduate, I couldn't help but notice the following statement:

Of the festivities surrounding his retirement, Barton said, "I'd like for both my mother and Coach Frank Howard to see today what has happened."

Bobby Dodd of Georgia Tech, who coached Barton's final football game, wanted to help him find a career. He contacted a number of schools, and Barton wound up with a job teaching and coaching at Brown High in west Atlanta.

Someone help me with the connection here?

WATN - JASON PERRY
Former Georgia Tech diamond-baller Jason Perry was swapped around by four different clubs before finally getting his first taste of the bigs back in the he played his college ball. The Atlanta Braves call-up only tripled in his first at-bat and has been contributing ever since.

WATN - J.P. FOSHCI
Who is John Paul Foschi? A Kansas City Chief - that's who. Chan Gailey continues to look after some of his old guys.

Don't Bury the Bone Yet

Over at SMQ, they have proclaimed that all things "bone" are not dead, as Paul Johnson has been trying to convince people of for years.

Even more importantly, Johnson begins the experimental odyssey of transplanting the flexbone to one of the major conferences, where the triple option's immediate future may again be in his hands -- the current promulgation of the spread/spread option was based on the early, experimental success of Randy Walker, Joe Tiller, Hal Mumme, Mike Leach and Rich Rodriguez at schools with serious deficits in talent, much like Georgia Tech's in relation to the rest of the ACC and the BCS leagues as a whole. This is part of the same cyclical struggle: as the optimal window begins to close on the subversive deception of the spread and spread option, the great talent-maskers of the last two decades, the pendulum will begin to swing the other way -- while Texas, Florida, Michigan, Auburn a cavalcade of first-rate recruiting powers are taking the "defend the entire field and the running quarterback" concept mainstream, less talented teams that relied on surprising defenses with the unfamiliar week after week must begin looking for a new edge. Maybe Johnson's aggressive, high-scoring version of the old bone concept is it; maybe he can't get away with leaving faster, more disciplined defenders unblocked the way the Midshipmen could against second and third-tier defenses. Either way -- for now, at least -- your father's option still has legs, after all.

Ahhhh, music to my tired ears.

HD Scoreboard - $6.1 million ?

Dan Radakovich indicated we were getting a modern new video scoreboard as part of BDS renovations after this upcoming season. So how big will it be? Turns out Mississippi State just approved a "true HD board", which will measure 152' wide by 135'6" tall. The main HD screen will be 111' wide by 47' tall. It will be the largest true high-def board in the SEC, and will be able to be used as one big board, or broken into many smaller displays using state-of-the-art LED's.......... all for the reasonable price tag of $6.1 million.

Of course that doesn't quite rival "Godzillatron" out in Texas, which is 134' x 55', and requires 40 5-ton A/C units to keep it cool.


Do you have HD-envy yet? With our financial picture, what type scoreboard do you see us hooking up with?

Football - Trev Alberts like GT

Trev Alberts likes Miami and UNC and Georgia Tech as surprise teams in the ACC this season. Honestly, the Coastal division is pretty much a murky pond. You can assume VaTech will be near the top and Duke will be near the bottom, but the rest is pretty much up in the air.

GTSB TOP 5 - Most Memorable Plays?

Time for a new segment which involves more participation from readers. It's called the "GTSB Top Five". It's simple. I'm going to ask a question. You're going to "vote" through the comment section by giving your answer. Sometime later in the week, I'll tally the answers and do a write-up on the top 5 winning answers. Your answer must be in the comment section to register a vote. I strongly encourage you to put your name or a pseudonym at least. Not sure yet if I'll count the "anonymous" posts yet.

GTSB TOP 5 - MOST MEMORABLE PLAY IN GT HISTORY?
The question is - what is the most memorable play in Georgia Tech history? It can be any sport during any era. I suspect we'll get votes mostly from the "modern" era. Cast your vote for the most memorable play in GT history.

VOTE NOW!!!

.... and Happy Fourth of July!!!

Crimes and school policy

It's interesting to see other stories of players charged with crimes and how their head coaches handle the situation. Tommy Bowden at Clemson is dealing with a sophomore safety, DeAndre McDaniel, who was arrested June 21 on charges of assault-and-battery "of a high and aggravated nature" against his girlfriend.

While the case has gotten a little flaky, McDaniel has not been suspended "pending the legal outcome" of the case, like Jerrard Tarrant at Georgia Tech. He has not been kicked out of school either, leaving the door open for him to play pending the legal outcome. The article says that Bowden is expected to address the situation Monday, and that he has been "gathering information about the case".

In another case at UGAg (the 7th player to be charged with a crime this off-season), Michael Lemon has had an arrest warrant issued against him by Athens police, for causing a "blowout fracture of the left eye-socket" of a guy he allegedly punched a handful of times in the kisser. This one just came across the wire, so at press time, I guess he had not been arrested.

The article states - "Because it is a felony charge, Lemon is expected to be suspended indefinitely from the football team until his case is resolved."

So, in Paul Johnson's case, the player is suspended from the team until his legal case is resolved. It appears that is also the policy for Mark Richt, particularly for felony offenses. Meanwhile, Tommy Bowden appears to be doing his own Private Eye routine before making a judgement. In effect, Bowden is making a decision based on the known facts in the case, not based on the fact that there was enough evidence to arrest his player. He's got a "fluid" policy.

I'm not saying one way is right and one is wrong. If we live in a country where you are presumed innocent until guilty, then why wouldn't you be allowed to play if you haven't been convicted of anything (if you are pleading innocent of the charges of course)? Well, one reason is the court of public opinion. If you setup a policy that allows players to play until they are convicted of a crime, AND you have a track record of guys getting arrested, then you'll be crucified on blogs and in the media - you know, the "Thug U" tag.

Now, there are laws and there are rules. When people break laws, the legal system handles it. When people break rules, the institutions, companies, etc, handle it. There are still consequences, but what should institutions do when their students / employees are accused? Should they suspend them automatically? Should they make their own judgement based on the facts of the case? Should they only focus on the question of whether team rules were broken? Maybe Bowden got the player's version of the events and decided that if true, then he never broke the law NOR violated any team policies. As such, he shouldn't be punished until the law convicts him. If Paul Johnson had that same perspective, then maybe he would decide that Tarrant's version of the events did not constitute any team rules violations and as such, he should continue to play until the legal system deems him guilty.

The other aspect of this is sending a message to kids in the first place - get into trouble and you're dead. Even if you're innocent, if you put yourself into situations that get you into hot water with the law, then you're going to pay a price even if you didn't do it.

How would handle these situations if you were the head coach? If a kid was accussed of a crime and arrested, and he says he's innocent, what would you do? Presumably there's enough evidence out there to justify an arrest, but many times it's a "he said, she said" situation - a la Jerrard Tarrant. What would you do? Reuben Houston was allowed to stay in school and actually made his way back to the field towards the end of the season after his situation played out. However, he did miss most of the season.

What would you do if you were Paul Johnson? Mark Richt? Tommy Bowden?

Navy Stats - to make you feel good

This write-up from "the Quad" on Navy has some interesting mentions for Georgia Tech fans. How's this for an opener:

Contrary to common belief (pay attention, Georgia Tech fans), Navy’s triple-option offense was one of the most explosive in the nation in 2007: third in the nation with scoring drives of a minute or less (13), 10th in scoring drives of two minutes or less (25) and eighth in offensive plays of 25 yards or more (16). Over all, the offense was tremendous, scoring a team-record 511 points (39.3 per game, 10th in the nation) and 444.1 yards per game (22nd in the nation). These numbers contradict the perception of the option offense as a plodding, methodical, ball-control system; instead, Navy has shown over the last five seasons that its many looks give the option as much big-play potential as any philosophy in college football.

Here's another stat you might find interesting (and some wide receivers as well). Paul Johnson designed a run first, run second and run third offense at Navy out of necessity, right? It was pretty successful. They led the nation in rushing the last three seasons and threw sparingly. On the other hand, Chan Gailey ran a ball-control offense with a stronger passing attack..... right?

Here's the stat.......... Georgia Tech's "pro style" offense threw a grand total of 10 TD passes last season........ Navy's run, run, run offense last season threw 9 TD's. We sure know that GT will throw more than Navy did, right? So it stands to reason that we will probably see more TD passes under PJ than CG. Hmmmmmmmm

Jerrard Tarrant Update

More details are starting to emerge. Read it yourself. I'm not going to try and draw any conclusions at this point. We'll just let things play out..........

Football - GT Player Arrested

UPDATE IN RED BELOW
Georgia Tech freshman Jerrard Tarrant was arrested last Friday on rape and sodomy charges. Uhhh, not good. Here's what we know about the alleged incident:

- reportedly occurred before 4:15am April 25.
- victim reported it in the morning on April 25
- reportedly happened at Undergraduate Living Center
- no weapons used per GT police incident report
- reported to Dekalb County police
- Tarrant arrested Friday June 27
- Tarrant released on $40,000 bond
- Monday, Tarrant was suspended by Paul Johnson indefinitely, pending the legal outcome
- Tarrant's legal team has been investigating the facts for awhile.

Tarrant's lawyer, Charles Lea, had the following statement:

"He is in fact, innocent. We have done some extensive investigations, interviewed numerous witnesses in this case and at the proper time we fully intend to present our defense, the real version of events, what happened in this case," - Charles Lea

Tarrant's facebook page had the following statement per the AJC:

“Jerrard Tarrant is truly MISUNDERSTOOD, when will they see the real me????”

Honestly, there are no real details that are public right now. Most are timeline related and what happened to Tarrant. As always we have to remember innocent until proven guilty. We sure hope Tarrant is able to clear his name and we hope the alleged victim is ultimately ok if this is true.

Another story had the following statement from Tarrant's lawyer:

'A two month investigation into the claims was conducted. Lab results are pending. “The activity was consensual. The circumstances are such the surrounding facts will show no sexual activity took place against the will of the female,” says Tarrant’s attorney.'

QUESTIONS FOR READERS?
Now, I'm no lawyer, but my guess is that Jarrard's facebook page will be changed or coming down soon (if not already). If I were his lawyer, I'd be checking out his entire online life..... quickly. I haven't looked, but can you find his facebook page?

Reading between the timeline, what should we conclude based on the fact that the alleged incident was reported back in April, yet the arrest only happened last week? Did investigators build their case during that time? I've watched enough Law-and-Order. Heck they do it in 30 minutes every time. It's uncanny.

If Tarrant is found guilty, obviously there is no way he sees the field again. However, what scenarios exist that would allow him to see the field this season? Barring dropping the charges, I can't think of one. Even if he's ultimately found not guilty, the legal process will probably still play out too late. What do you think?

Some Hivers speculated that the fact Tarrant was able to get bond so quickly is a good sign, and speculated that this is not typical for rape charges. Somehow, I can't buy that, but I have no idea. Do you?

IN A BIT OF IRONY
Let's talk irony. Joe Hamilton is at a low point in his life - at least based on fan perceptions. He quit his job after a multi-charge DUI, drug, etc, etc incident. Based on 2nd hand information from people at the Hive, a guy who has been "brought on staff", maybe to replace Joe, is Lamar Owens Jr. First, I have no confirmation this is true or not. I'm sure we'll hear more on that soon if true. Owens is a guy that played QB for Paul Johnson at Navy.

Here's the irony - Owens Jr was the "victim" of an alleged rape charge that absolutely changed his life..... a bogus rape charge, that in effect ended his collegiate career. He was completely acquitted of charges, but evidently Navy's Naval Academy's superintendent, Vice Adm. Rodney Rempt, decided that he wanted a witch-hunt to appease the feminists who were always on Navy's case when it came to cadet incidents.

According to another affidavit, this one sworn by three other Navy alums who attended Optekar's dinner party, Rempt also said that the consensual-sex and failure-to-obey convictions would be considered felonies, and that they would bar Owens from voting and require him to notify any future employer, for the rest of his life, that he was a convicted felon. (Rempt has disputed the affidavits.)

This despite the fact that the military jury, after a 10-day trial, not only acquitted Owens of rape but also determined after careful deliberation that there should be "no punishment" for his two minor convictions. And despite the fact that but for the bogus rape charge there would have been no general court-martial at all—only administrative discipline under an often-violated regulation prohibiting sex in Bancroft Hall. And despite football coach Paul Johnson's characterization of Owens as the "outstanding leader" of his team, one who "cares about people that are around him" and has "a natural ability that draws people."

How about the outcome. Check it out:

While Owens still faces grave consequences for his minor convictions, his accuser is on her way to graduating and being commissioned. This despite the military jury's implicit finding that she was as guilty as Owens of having sex in Bancroft Hall. Not to mention her serial, admitted underage binge drinking and other violations of Naval Academy rules.

The accuser will go unpunished because Rempt granted her broad testimonial immunity. From behind this shield, she admitted at the trial that she had left Bancroft Hall "about four times" after having signed a muster sheet that she was there, and that hours before the incident with Owens she had consumed "three rum and Diet cokes, two shots of tequila, one shot of Southern Comfort, and a Kamikaze."

In addition, she had occasionally blacked out in a party house in Annapolis that she rented with male and female friends. Sperm—not from Lamar Owens—was found on her comforter in Bancroft Hall. It "could have been the sperm from some guy I was with that was on that blanket," she later said. She was known to have been sexually aggressive with multiple men. Some "victim."

The assessment of all this offered by Reid Weingarten, Lamar Owens's defense lawyer, seems more than fair: "This is a case of political correctness gone totally awry. The academy's otherwise laudable effort to protect its women broke down when their charges proved to be demonstrably and palpably untrue and their target proved to be a young man of uncommon integrity, strength, and character. They tried to make Lamar a poster child, but they picked the wrong case and the wrong kid."

'Rape' and the Navy's P.C. Police
Former Navy QB Acquitted of Rape

Innocent until proven guilty............. but branded whether innocent or guilty. Stigma's live on. We give people second chances, but stigma's don't die.

Interesting that Paul Johnson might have Owens back on his staff here at Georgia Tech. If true, sure could be an interesting guy for Tarrant to talk to. Might even be God's way of adding purpose to lives by bringing them together.......... after all, there are no accidents in life.

GT Fight Song - where does it rank?

Fox Sports writer (and Bleacherreport writer) Justin Goar says that the Georgia Tech fight song is the 3rd best in the nation. Can't argue with that.

No. 3 Georgia Tech
If this were a list of most-fun-fight-songs, "Ramblin Wreck" would be at the top. It's truly a song that should always be associated with Saturdays in the fall. I do wonder when this song was written, how many choices of words they tried that rhymed with "Tech" before they settled on "wreck"? I think after countless hours of debate and coffee and cigarette chasers they went "Ok, 'wreck' is a term that's usually bad, but we're gonna make it good."

Everyone agreed and called it a night. I think it worked. (Actual history may vary).
Link to mp3

Audio Interview with Paul Johnson

Check out ACC Nation's interview with Paul Johnson. Nothing really new for Tech fans, but always good to hear him talk about the players, the plans and the attitudes.

Listen here

Hoops Recruiting - Another Hewitt Miss??

Virginia Tech's Seth Greenberg just landed a kid out of Tucker High School in Atlanta named Manny Atkins. He's a 6'5" perimeter player and an outstanding student. Prepstars ranks him a top100 kid. I ran across this article with the following interesting quote from his Tucker high school coach:

“He had offers from everybody,” Hartry said, “Coach [Paul] Hewitt from Georgia Tech called me as recently as yesterday, just wanting to know what he had done wrong, why he hadn’t landed the kid. He wanted to polish up on his recruiting because he had done something wrong.

“I think Manny just wanted to leave the state and, second of all, Virginia Tech was a great offer and the head coach up there came down and visited Atlanta. When the head coach takes time out to come and sits in your gym for 2 ½ hours and watch you play, that’s something special.”

Now, from an outsiders view, it seems that Atkins was about Hewitt's 4th or 5th choice at his position in terms of recruiting priority. I certainly don't know that for a fact, but it seems that guys like Glenn Rice, Brian Oliver, Noel Johnson and maybe a couple of others were higher priorities. Of course some of guys are cross-overs with different positions, so who knows. From a student-athlete perspective, Atkins looks like the perfect GT-type guy with a 3.8 GPA and makes academics a priority.

Well, no problem. Glad he found a place he wants to play. We'll move on to other guys (or continue to focus on the top priorities that have been there all along).

CLASS OF 2008?
As to any additions to the current class, I am hearing nothing that says we are "done", but we also missed out on some of the major guys who transferred elsewhere. Unless there's another Matt Causey-type guy in the woods, I haven't heard any other names bubble up. The fat lady may not be signing but she's warming up.

D-Rad's "Good Word"

Dan Radakovich's latest edition of the "What's the good word" newsletter has a lot of interesting points. However, many of them raise as many questions as they answer. Below are the main bullets of the write-up along with my comments on each point.

D-Rad's text is in blue color.

D-RAD: We are approaching the middle of the summer with the 4th of July coming next week. I am sure many of you are in and out on family vacations and weekend trips to the lake. Many of our athletic department employees are doing the same - catching a breather and re-charging their batteries for the new academic year just ahead in August. Yours truly will grab a little time with family next week as well, but I thought I might give you a glimpse of the AD's current worksheet for the summer months.

# We have been very active in our discussion with regard to multi-media rights. I have informed you in this space before that we are in a window in which our current rights-holder ISP has exclusive negotiating rights for a contract extension past 2010. Our talks have been very substantive and innovative. It is now clear to me that whether we remain with ISP or look elsewhere for a partnership, Georgia Tech is well-positioned in the area for the future. Our location in the heart of this thriving hub of the South combined with our tradition, prestigious academic standing and a bright outlook for success in athletics has us in an enviable situation. Look for this picture to become very clear before the calendar year is out.

Good news in my opinion. Reading between the lines - we are positioned for a more lucrative contract. Talks that are "innovative" sound interesting. What does that mean? Are we talking innovation in terms of the business model financially? Are we talking innovation in the broadcast? Internet broadcasting offerings? I sure hope it has something to do with the radio broadcast for the local folks. Here's the ISP team if you're interested.

Another question - if Georgia Tech ends up moving away from ISP (which I doubt will happen), how does that impact Wes Durham? I doubt much since I believe he's officially an employee of the GTAA.

D-RAD: # On a separate but somewhat related matter, we are on the verge of announcing a major partnership extension with Russell Athletic that will provide uniforms, apparel and a lucrative cash distribution over the next several years. When the terms are completed, Georgia Tech will find itself in the upper tier in these types of agreements in all of college sports. Look for a formal announcement in August.

Cash money. The message from D-Rad - He's makin' it rain. More good news for sure. Let's face it - we need to wring out as much income from these deals as possible. They go a long way towards coaching supplemental salaries and team gear.

# We are finalizing the first phase of a plan to bring a state of the art video screen, ribbon boards and sound system to Bobby Dodd Stadium in 2009. While the huge visual change won't take place for this season, we are busily building the infrastructure this summer to complete the back-of-house technology that will drive the new system in the future. Current work is being done to provide a state-of-the-art production unit that will allow us the most up-to-date video and audio capabilities on the market. We hope to have this behind-the-scenes equipment on hand and in use by August. If all goes well, construction on the new in-stadium displays will begin soon after the football season concludes.

That's cool. BDS is a classic stadium and upgrades like this are a nice touch. A top notch sound system and new modern video screen sounds like a reasonable way to spend some money and possibly attract some new fans. Ribbon boards I believe are those narrow screens that run along the narrow face between the upper and lower decks. My guess is that the ribbon boards are a pure ROI calculation, because they'll primarily be used to sell advertising space throughout the game. They will provide a return on capital in some timeframe and become an income generator.

For those who attend the games, a new bigger video board (maybe HD?) and better sound system should be welcome. The ribbon board I'm guessing is more about revenue, which means I like the idea as well. However, I'm not so sure how much it will really add to the game. Let's just not turn BDS into a Christmas light-show. Make the ribbons tasteful I say........

D-RAD: # Academic reform continues to be an important undertaking. Two major pieces of academic change were accomplished during the last few months thanks to great cooperation from the Institute, its faculty and Provost - now Interim President - Dr. Gary Schuster. Thanks to this work, the playing field has become more level for student-athletes at Georgia Tech and we should begin to see a greater level of retention and academic success.

Ok, now this one really opens the door on a bunch of questions. Paul Hewitt alluded to some things that D-Rad was attempting to get done on a 790thezone radio interview a few months back. He didn't say what, but said he really appreciated the support that D-Rad was trying to push through for the athletes.

So what is the "academic reform"? He references "two major pieces of academic change". Here are some pieces of the puzzle based on some comments at some local alumni meetings.

1. One item seems to have to do with a rule that is actually tougher on student-athletes than the general student body. It had to do with a student's ability to participate in "extra-curricular" activities if they were not in good standing academically. Seems that the rule dis-allowed students from participating in clubs, intra-murals, drama, etc if they were on probation. For student-athletes it effectively cut them off from playing their chosen sport. Apparently the rule was only being enforced on student-athletes and not the general population.

2. The second change seems to involve a student-athlete's ability to transfer classes or take transit classes at other schools. Evidently there were more limitations on student-athletes than on "regular" students.

Both of these are speculative until something official is said. Some folks who heard D-Rad's comments at the "coaches caravan" commented that they were really looking for the new GT President to support the Georgia Tech athletic program since it was such a visible face of the school. There were implications (I wasn't there, but read between the lines of attendees) that Wayne Clough was a barrier at times with the GTAA. Not sure any of us will know the truth.

Bottom-line on this is that it's a move to support the student-athlete......... not give them special treatment relative to regular students, but actually treat them more "equally" in areas that seemed to beg change. Nice move by D-Rad. He's standing up for the athletic program, coaches and student-athletes. That's a good way to endear yourself with your organization.

D-RAD: # The Budget process has occupied a good bit of the last month and is now ready to roll out. Our 2008-09 budget has been approved by the GTAA Board of Trustees and I feel confident that we will meet our revenue expectations while giving our programs the financial opportunity to succeed.

Not much to say here without seeing the budget. However, I'm sure the top-line and the bottom-line are both heading north in the plan........ "up and to the right", I say.

D-RAD: # We will spend the summer in our annual evaluation process for our coaches and employees. I believe this is critical if we are to continue to improve while giving our staff honest and direct constructive feedback on job performance. It is my mission to ensure that we have the right people, doing the right jobs and performing to their utmost capability within the program. Doing so will translate into more success on the field and in the classroom. This is a great time of year to really dig down and assess the strengths and weaknesses of our organization both as a whole and individually.

Ahh, the annual performance review / appraisal. We all know'em and love'em, right? That ever effective strengths / weaknesses, projects / accomplishments conversation. Personally I do believe you need a structured process in place, so that's a good thing. However, I'm a believer in the day-to-day open feedback mechanisms when it comes to course-correcting. I sure hope the coaches and staff have a pretty good idea of where they stand at all times, not just once a year. Now, if this is more of an overall process of looking at the organization, structure and activities, then hey, I'm all for it.

# In addition to time in the office there have been a couple of summer road trips for workshop and committee work. Last week I was in Dallas for the annual National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) meeting, where I served on a panel to discuss "Dashboard Indicators." This is a program of financial benchmarks that allows schools to compare their financial data with other institutions. And just last night I returned from Chicago after two days of service on the NCAA's Championships Cabinet - the committee that sets policy and procedure for the various NCAA post-season competitions in all sports.

.......... because the NCAA is really all about the arms race, right? What we need are better ways to benchmark and compare how much money we are (or aren't) making relative to the "Jones's" next door. What's striking about almost every item in D-Rad's letter is the common thread of money through-out. I take that back - it's not striking at all. It's reality.

D-RAD: # We have and will spend a good deal of time this summer on our various facility projects and some deferred maintenance. We continue the construction of our new softball complex just off Fowler Street on campus. Likewise, we are working toward a March '09 start to the Zelnak Basketball Practice Facility - adjacent to Alexander Memorial Coliseum. These are major additions to our landscape that require solid planning and discussion this summer. Not so visible is the work to provide a bit of a facelift to some of the infrastructure within Bobby Dodd Stadium. For this season we will see the complete repainting of the East Side Upper Deck. After the '08 season more deferred maintenance issues will be tackled.

We now have a target date of March 2009 for the hoops practice facility. Sounds good. Should be a nice addition for the hoop teams and maybe boost recruiting a tad.............. A facelift to BDS. Some infrastructure work. When you're the oldest DI-A stadium in the nation, I imagine infrastructure work is something that needs to be on the agenda regularly. Repainting of the East Side Upper Deck. Good news. My wife tells me all the time that paint is the cheapest and quickest way to change the look of a room. Why not a stadium.

D-RAD: NOTEBOOK ITEMS: Congratulations to golfer Chesson Hadley for being named a first-team All-American by Golfweek magazine... Hadley is currently playing on the United States team which is competing in the annual Palmer Cup matches in Glasgow, Scotland... congratulations to golf alumnus Stewart Cink for capturing his fifth PGA Tour title last week at the Travelers Championship in Hartford, Conn... Cink currently ranks No. 2 in the points standings (behind Tiger Woods) to make the U.S. team for the Ryder Cup, which will be played in Louisville, Ky., in September... We'd also like to congratulate basketball alumnus Chris Bosh (2002-03) who has been named to the 12-man U.S. basketball team for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China... Bosh, an NBA all-star with the Toronto Raptors, was on the U.S. squad which won a bronze medal in the 2006 FIBA World Championship, and participated in the 2007 Senior National Team training camp.... Kristi Miller received an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship... Derek Dietrich was named to the 20-man USA National Baseball Team that will tour the Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic before competing in the FISU World Collegiate Baseball Championships to end the summer... Miller and Amanda McDowell knocked off the tournament's No. 3 doubles seed to advance to the quarterfinals of the CHRISTI Pro Tennis Classic in Wichita this week... make sure to continue to check out RamblinWreck.com for updated blog and journal entries by members of our golf and baseball teams... Speaking of the website, you have an opportunity to vote for the seven greatest games in Georgia Tech football history... the top seven vote-getters will get a spot on the cover of each of our home football game programs this fall.

I hope you all enjoy a great 4th of July holiday next week as well as the rest of the month of July. I will reconnect with you via the Good Word beginning the first week of August. Go Jackets!

Why do you care?

If you peruse the discussion boards enough, you will find that there is a sub-segment of Georgia Tech fans who really care about the fortunes of our rivals in Athens. You will occasionally find these rants from Tech fans about how the recent success of UGAg absolutely drives them to drink, pull their hair out and even give up sports all-together. I just don't get it. Well, let me clarify - I understand it, but I still don't get it. So here's my question - why do you care?

Here's my position on the mutts - I don't care a lot about what happens to them other than when it overlaps with the fortunes of Georgia Tech. I care how we perform against them head-to-head, but my feelings are pretty ambivalent as to what they do on their own. Am I upset that they made it to the College World Series final and almost won the whole thing? No. I don't really care much. There's a little part of me that was glad to see them lose, but not much. It's mainly that part of me that doesn't want to hear the gloating from them. Now, do I care that they beat us in the Regional to get there - yeah. But what steams me is GT's failure, not UGAg's success.

Do I care that their football team is getting major hype pre-season? Not really. Heck, the way I look at, it just means there will possibly be a lot more at stake for them when we meet in November. That's when the wins are the sweetest.

Do I care that UGAg's hoops team won the SEC championship out of nowhere? Not really. Honestly, it doesn't even sting that they beat us on our home floor. We did the right thing by opening our doors and I'm proud of our school for that over the results of the tourney. However, I'm using my brain cells to focus on where Paul Hewitt is taking us as opposed to the fortunes of the crew in Athens.

You'll notice that I rarely mention UGAg on this blog, while many of the UGAg blogs devote a decent portion of their weekly coverage to the Jackets. For me, one reason is time. I have 3 girls under 7 years old, a full time job, responsibilities at church, etc. I chose to focus my blog time on Georgia Tech sports - not UGAg sports. But mainly, I just don't care much what they're doing. I don't even spend much time figuring out ways to slam them. If I did, it would just invite the throngs over here to turn the site into a smack board, which I'm not that interested in. Even posting on this topic is likely to result in some non-regulars to make their way over.

Understand one thing though - I really don't like UGAg, and the basis for that is precisely my loyalty. Clean-ole-fashion-hate is alive in my heart. However, for me, it's about crossing paths, not what goes on when our worlds are apart. From that perspective, I'd like to see better performance from the GTAA. They've gotten the best of us recently. It's a fact. I don't like it and want to see us be more competitive.

However, bottom-line, their successes and failures really mean nothing to me. Does their success drive you crazy? Why?

Where are they now - Stewart Cink

Turns out Stewart Cink's lack of PGA Tour wins was starting to weigh on him. His latest win comes at a good time:

"I know there's been talk that I've not been a closer," he said. "I mean they have every right to say that, because I felt the same way myself. And so I felt like I had something to prove to myself. I'm not trying to prove anything to anybody out there that's writing stories or doing articles or whatever, but to myself. I wanted to prove something to myself. And that extra burden that was carrying around, trying to silence those thoughts added to the difficulty. And coming through it makes me even more proud of it."

Football - D-Rich on the option

Daryl Richard and Cory Earls attended the Peachstate Pigskin Preview in Macon and talked with reporters. Here are some interesting quotes from D-Rich that came from various media stories:

On Paul Johnson's "3 yards and a cloud of dust" critics on the triple option:
"It's more like 8 yards," Richard said. "It's fast -- that's the biggest thing about it. You've got guys that will burn you if you can't get to them for the tackle. It's physical, smash-mouth football, and if you're not ready for it, you're going to be embarrassed."

On attitudes:
"Things are definitely different than things in the past," said Richard, a fifth-year senior. "The bar has been raised. It's the level of intensity and the expectations."

On first playing against the TO in spring:
“When we first started this spring, the offense actually got the best of us,” he said. “It was a new offense; we were not familiar with it at all. I had the mentality that every now and then I got to go make a play. (Johnson) is going to find those type of people. That is who he is going to attack, the most productive guy on defense can actually become a weakness because he wasn’t playing team defense. It forces you to play football that way. That was real big.”

On Paul Johnson:
“You are talking about bringing in one of the best minds in football,” he said. “I don’t live my life in a vacuum. I watch a lot of football. I have seen what his Navy teams did. I have seen some of the Georgia Southern clips in the past. You watch some of his football games in the past, the way he is attacking people … you can actually see there is a method to the madness. That is really important. When you do those types of things, you can help build something that is big.”

On defensive changes:
“Our front four has been freed up to make plays,” he said, almost singing. “In the past, we pressured by scheme, not by winning personal battles.”

“In the past, you had teams that set up their blocking schemes for that [hells bells pressure, non-stop]. When you have a Boston College — and we took a lot of criticism for this — that said, ‘Let’s do some max protection, and hold in seven or eight guys, and run two-man or three-man routes … that doesn’t happen a lot in college football.’ Now, we’re going to tell a team if you do that to us, we’re going to have five or six guys back there waiting on you to throw the ball.”

“Now, instead of only offenses attacking us different ways, changing to see what works or doesn’t, we’re going to change what we do, change the way we attack you as we go.”

"pretty much running two shell. You know, last year we got into cover three action and our former defense, we zone blitzed a lot. One thing our defensive coordinator Dave Womack does, he adds that. Also he likes to do some dropback coverage. So in terms of how we're gonna play every down, they don't know.

"No question. In Coach Tenuta's system, I pretty much played the nose guard, and I had a responsibility every play of crossing the center's face," Richard said. "I didn't get many chances to do what I thought I do best, which a lot of times is work from the guard position, get in their heads with different styles."

On leadership on the line:
“I think when you have a unit that has three seniors who have played a lot of football (Michael Johnson, Darryl and Vance Walker), you can show these younger guys how to play the game. It’s almost an expectation. It’s not, can you get it done?”

Where are they now - Extravaganza

Jamal Lewis was released by the Falcons..................... Philip Wheeler looks to have a serious chance the crack the starting line-up at some point this NFL season with the Colts................ Matt Wieters continues to absolutely tear up the O's minor league system and will probably be making his next jump after his league's all-star game, where he is now the headliner.................... Stewart Cink won the most recent PGA Tour event - the Travelers Championship. Fans wished him well here........... Wayne Clough gets a caricature..................... Ted Roof goes from trying to fix the worst program in D-IA (Duke) to only trying to fix the worst defense in IA (Minn)............... Jeremis Smith is working out for the Milwaukee Bucks today along with a handful of other players.

Where are they now - Chris Bosh

Chris Bosh was chosen as a member of the US Olympic basketball team. In addition there are rumors that Jermaine O'Neill might be joining him in Toronto. Congrats to Chris!! I think we should all expect the US to bring home the gold, but nothing can be presumed on the international stage any longer.





Player Position NBA Team
Carmelo Anthony Forward Denver
Carlos Boozer Forward Utah
Chris Bosh Forward/Centre Toronto
Kobe Bryant Guard L.A. Lakers
LeBron James Forward Cleveland
Dwight Howard Centre Orlando
Jason Kidd Guard Dallas
Chris Paul Guard New Orleans
Tayshaun Prince Forward Detroit
Michael Redd Guard Milwaukee
Dwyane Wade Guard Miami
Deron Williams Guard Utah

D-Rad's Extension - Good Idea?

At this point I don't think anyone really questions the hire of Dan Radakovich. However, I was curious about your thoughts on him getting an early contract extension this week. He just signed a new 5-year deal after a 2-year performance review.

Here's what we know about his contract:

New base salary = $300,000 / year
Supplemental income = $260,000 in year 1, increasing by $20,000 / year.

Salary year 1 = $560,000
Last year he made $477,000

What has Mr.Radakovich done in 2 years? There are primarily two faces of success to examine and both are somewhat intertwined. There's the front-end - wins, losses, championships, all-americans, graduation rates, program excitement & momentum. I also put coaching hire decisions on the front-end since they are so public. Then there's the back-office stuff - fundraising, investment in facilities, organization building, GTAA balance sheet / income statement, etc.

On the front-end, two years really isn't long enough for D-Rad's impact to be felt. We have experienced some strong success in women's sports, but it's been in bumpy ride in the "big 3" men's sports. D-Rad has basically put his stamp of approval on all legacy coaching hires except Chan Gailey. In the highest profile program, he recognized that something needed to change "off the field" to generate more excitement and energy. So he brings in Paul Johnson. Only time will tell if this was a master-stroke. While there was a clear split in the fan-base on if Chan Gailey should stay or go, once the decision was made, the vast majority of fans seem to like the new hire and where he's taking things. Of course it's going to be a rough first year and it's going to be a long-term process. Patience will be required.

Behind the scenes, D-Rad has taken some tough steps to get the GTAA back in the black. It's always painful to change the ticketing fees and season ticket structure, but honestly there wasn't much choice. If Georgia Tech wants to be competitive on the field, they've got to be competitive off the field. That means money for facilities, academic support, to keep the gears greased. It means separating us from more of our money - all in the name of progress. It means attracting more fans, particularly the non-alumni. It's necessary and difficult at the same time to raise ticket prices. In terms of fundraising, I don't think we have a good idea of the change in fundraising activities with donors at this point. We do know he managed to extract more money out of the students with an increased activity fee, and overall we know GTAA's financial picture has postive momentum. Looking at the facilities, there are capital projects on a new softball complex and fundraising is ongoing for a hoops practice facility by next year. So he's gets good marks on the behind the scenes stuff at this point.

All-in-all, I have no problem with the contract extensions. He done a lot of good things and seems to be building a good foundation for future success. He is energetic and has passion. He reaches out and talks to everyone he can. He's trying to build bridges. He's trying to connect new fans with Georgia Tech. While he has also been named in a couple of recent AD searches, including LSU and U of Washington, he has withdrawn his name from both. You want guys that other people want. You just want them to stay where they are. So far so good.

So kudos to Dan Radakovich for the progress so far. Keep up the good work!!

That's my opinion - what's yours?

Football - The Walls Brothers

Great story by ESPN on the three Walls brothers, all playing at Georgia Tech, and all playing with hereditary heart problem. You know, what's interesting about this story is the fine line between the aggressive push of head coaches to teach kids new limits to their abilities, and at the same time monitoring their personal health. It's not uncommon to see one or two stories in a year about a kid dying during some workout. In many of those cases they find some type of heart defect or abnormality.

Where are they now - Matt Harpring

The Sports Network - National Basketball Association

Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - Matt Harpring underwent successful scope surgery to remove two bone spurs from his right ankle, Utah Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor announced Friday.

The procedure was performed Thursday by Dr. R. Marvin Royster in Atlanta. A timeline on Harpring's recovery was not immediately available.

The Georgia Tech product averaged 8.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, shooting .500 from the field in 76 games, all off the bench last season.

The 6-foot-7 veteran, entering his ninth season and seventh with the Jazz, appeared in all 12 of Utah's playoff tilts this past season, averaging 6.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per contest.

BDS to Become Earth-Friendly

Add a new color to the official colors - we're going green.

UWire

Georgia Tech going to more earth-friendly lights in football stadium
By Yoon Kim
June 13, 2008
Source: The Technique, Georgia Tech
EmailPrintspheredel.icio.usDigg

The Athletic Association has begun the process of making a switch from manual breakers to solar breakers and photocells at Bobby Dodd Stadium. The switch to solar breakers and photocells will mean less light being output from the stadium during daylight hours.

“[We] have not have made a switch yet, but anticipate it’s completion in July,” said Shawn Teske, Director of Athletic Facilities.

Bobby Petrino - Triple Option Fan

Guess who's watching Paul Johnson closely - Bobby Petrino.

He mentioned the success of triple option teams Navy and Air Force
and said he was interested in how former Navy coach Paul Johnson would
do at Georgia Tech. Johnson, 45-29 in six years at Navy, says the
Midshipmen played more than 30 schools from Bowl Championship Series
conferences. “If it worked at Navy, why wouldn’t it work here?” he said.

Where are they now - Calvin Johnson

How do you top All-American? How do you top breaking handfuls of records? How do you top highlight-reel catches? How do you top being a first round draft pick with a $30+million signing bonus?

I'll tell you how. You bowl. You bowl like the wind. You participate in a 100+ person team tourney and then proceed to win by bowling a 243, including 8-straight strikes. Just crazy. Wes Durham's moniker of "The Truth" still holds.

On a side note, CJ missed a few "voluntary" practices to work out some personal issues (completely sanctioned by his coach). Hope everything's kosher.w

Where are they now - Matt Wieters

Great article on Matt Wieters, who will be coming to a MLB stadium near you............ soon.

J.J. Cannon, the Keys hitting coach, has worked with him since the spring.

"Him
coming here is a blessing for us," Cannon said. "He's a knowledgeable,
positive young man. I'm surprised he adapted so quickly to pro ball. He
just came in and took off."

He called him a leader in both the clubhouse and on the field.

"You see him in the locker room and you don't think he's the big dog," Cannon said. "But on the field he is the big dog."

Where are they now - Bill Curry

Here's a little on Bill Curry's sales pitch to get kids to come to Georgia State.

"We set it apart by communicating that it's a different kind of
opportunity," Curry said. "If you go to Georgia or Georgia Tech, you're
going to have to compete with a bunch of high school All-Americans to
get playing time."

Football - Triple Option vs UGAg

Good video showcasing the Georgia Southern Triple Option against our arch-rivals at UGAg in 2004:

Recruiting Bonanza

Yesterday we mentioned that three guys verbally committed to Paul Johnson. Turns out that number inflated to four by late evening, and the other Paul (Hewitt) got into the act with his first commit of the class of 2009.

FOOTBALL
Click here to check out the three guys we reported on yesterday (Daniel Drummond, Jay Finch, Chris Crenshaw). The 4th guy to commit was Jeremy Moore, a 6'3" 170lb WR out of Austin TX. He's a big physical receiver who doesn't seem to mind blocking, which is a good thing.

Per the recruiting sites, we are done at Wide Receiver for this class. One guy - that's it.

HOOPS
How's this for deja vu. The Jackets just got a verbal commit from Brian Oliver. Turns out there is no relation to the original. This one is a 6'6" 200lb SG/SF with a pretty darn good outside shot. Consider him a "top 100" type guy. He plays at the famous Oak Hill Academy. He holds offers from Cincy, UMass, Miami, Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, VaTech, WV and Xavier. It seems that GT and VT were his top choices.

As far as Oliver's game, he's been recruited as a versatile guy who could play everywhere from SG to SF to maybe PF. We're likely to see him settle into the 2/3-spot. He's a very good 3-pt shooter, has a good handle and is a very good defender who can block shots. He's athletic, although his foot-speed has been questioned by at least one site. He evidently has a very big wingspan.

Great weekend all-around for Jacket fans. Four commits in football and one in hoops.

Football - Recruiting - Jackets Nab Three

A Saturday football camp turned into a verbal commit free-for-all, as at least three different guys gave their pledges to Paul Johnson (per Scout.com and Rivals.com). A good day for Jacket fans.

DANIEL DRUMMOND
A 6'3", 230lb kid from Flowery Branch HS, he was offered and committed on the spot to Georgia Tech. Most schools were after him as a MLB, but we recruited him as a B-Back. Has some pretty impressive measurables - ran about a 4.5-40, 35" vertical, bench 350lb and a 3.8GPA. Drummond had offers from Arkansas, Ok St, WV, Marshall and Troy.

JAY FINCH
A 6'4" 265lb O-Line / D-Line combo player. While every other school recruited him for the D-Line, we recruited him for the O-Line. Looks like he ran about a 4.7-40, so quicker looks to be better than bigger when it comes to O-Linemen for Paul Johnson. Jay is from Kennesaw Mountain. Had offers from Louisville, Ole Miss, NCST and at least 3 other schools.

CHRIS CRENSHAW
A 6'2" 210lb LB / DE from Jefferson County. Offered by Miss St and was getting a lot of interest from Virginia and Alabama. He will likely end up in the LB position although he was ranked the #33 DE by Rivals.com nationally.

Where are they now - Bill Curry

For the "completely out of left field" moment of the week, how about this - Bill Curry was named as the inaugural head coach of the newly formed football program at Georgia State. Ga St will be playing "I-AA" starting in 2010, and Curry will go down in the history books as their first head coach. We knew Curry had the bug to get back into the collegiate game after his run for the Georgia Tech Athletic Director job. Even the most die-hard Curry supporters have a hard time finding fault in how Dan Radakovich has hit the ground running, but it did leave us wondering in what form Curry would emerge. I didn't see him staying with the ESPN gig, even though he did a nice job with it. I could have seen him making some cheddar on the speaking circuit. He's definitely an engaging and entertaining speaker.

............... but head coach at Georgia State? Does it make sense for GaSt? Does it make sense for Curry? My general feeling is that it's probably good thing both Curry and the school. Looking through our old gold lense, is it a good thing for Georgia Tech? Some downside and little upside. Let's look at some factors:

SPLASH
If Georgia State was going to make an impact hire, this is probably close to a home-run. A highly respected, high character guy known in all circles of the game. A guy well known in the state - heck, in the state sports hall-of-fame. Getting Curry should work to energize the fanbase in just the right way.

FUNDRAISING
There's no doubt in my mind Curry can raise funds and sway donors. He's strong but approachable, wise and influential. We don't know about the product he'll be selling, but he's an outstanding front-man.

Now, there could be an interesting side-effect with Georgia Tech. Dan Radakovich is on a mission to draw a new non-alumni fan-base in the ATL area. Now comes another competing product. There's no way around that. People will have another choice to make. Having said that, it would be pretty sad if a brand new program had a big negative impact on a program that has as much tradition and history as Georgia Tech. But hey, if we were drawing enough ATL-area non-alumni fans, then D-Rad wouldn't be on a mission, now, would he?

RECRUITING
Can Bill Curry get into the recruiting game again? Sure, why not? He can probably live on ATL-area kids that are looked over by the big schools. Heck, the ATL has become such a hotbed for recruiting that schools like Clemson, 'Bama, FSU and others are starting to schedule "neutral site" games in the Georgia dome just to poach in-state kids. I doubt recruiting will be too much of an issue.

COACHING
The X's and O's. If we take an honest look at Bill Curry's coaching resume, it really isn't all that great. He was ok at Georgia Tech (31-43-4), better at Alabama (26-10) with the exception of 3 sinful losses to Auburn (side bar story from a former 'Bama beat writer) and he was pretty bad at Kentucky (23-51). Can Curry build a winning program where no program exists? Remains to be seen. They'll be competing in the Colonial Athletic Association (and playing in the Georgia Dome).

I don't really think they really hired Curry for his coaching ability. His choices when building a coaching staff will probably be more important in his ability to win. That will probably happen in the coming weeks.

BOTTOM-LINE
At the end of the day, it's a good hire for Georgia State. It's probably a decent way for Curry to get back into the collegiate game while also forging an untraveled road. Bill Curry is now the first guy to ever run this program. There's a strong legacy thing going on there.

Bill Curry is incredibly well-like and respected by his teammates, players he coached, and just about anyone who meets him. Personally, I wish nothing but the best for Mr.Curry. We all should. A great man forging a new chapter in his life back in the town his collegiate career began. Great stuff.

So does this mean we'll be seeing a Panthers / Jackets match-up on the field? With the way football scheduling works, it's not bound to happen for years, barring some scheduling quirck (Army, ya hear me?). However, I have no doubt that those conversations will occur if they haven't already. Of course they'll want to schedule GT. Of course they'll want to schedule UGAg. So stay tuned..............

Story or no story?

So, why has Jamaal Evans disappeared from the roster at Ramblinwreck.com? Mistake or something else? I don't know. I sure hope it's nothing.

Listen to Amanda McDowell

Amanda McDowell joined the guys at ACC Nation for their podcast. Taken a listen here. She comes in about the 9:20 mark.

Where are they now - George Cooper

Tight-end supreme George Cooper was released by the Atlanta Falcons today. He was on their practice squad last season. What are they thinking?

Where are they now - Austin Jackson

The Point Guard that never was is now the #2 prospect in the New York Yankees organizagtion. Here's an interview with the guy that handed the PG job at Georgia Tech to Zam Fredrick.

Where are they now - Chris Bosh

Chris Bosh does a nice field reporting role for Jay Leno and The Tonight Show. This guy's got a future in broadcasting:




Chris's girlfriend my have a different future - as a motivational counselor:



Chris's girlfriend and Lebron became friends after that episode.

Tennis - Player of the Year Amanda McDowell

Amanda McDowell not only wins the singles NCAA Championship. Now she's named the ITA Player of the Year. Sweetness

Beesball - MLB Draft

The final line-up of guys taken in the draft. No time for more right now:

GT (7)

Blackmon - 72
Duncan - 152
Hicks - 422
Haniger - 564
Murton - 1008
Rulon - 1040
Burns - 1191

As we hear what these guys plan to do, we'll update more.

Gold Nuggets

Just a quick reminder. If you are a news hound and want all the latest and greatest, there is a great source of relevant links involving Georgia Tech Sports. It's in the left column below the google ads called "Latest News" (imagine that). That list contains links to stories involving current and former GT athletes and also links to stories relevant from the ACC as well.

There's gold in those links. There's a lot more to learn there than I have the time or inclination to report in the main column. Make sure to check it out on a regular basis. It's updated throughout the day.

TGIF

Beesball - Two Jackets Drafted on Day 1

Charlie Blackmon goes to the Colorado Rockies in the 2nd round with the #72 pick in the 2008 MLB draft. Starting pitcher David Duncan was taken 152nd overall, in the 5th round by the Houston Astros.

Congrats to these guys. Blackmon's story is truly a storybook one, as he's already been drafted twice as a pitcher, but now as an outfielder. Here are some comments on various GT prospects. Here is the official draft central.

By the way, note that a Georgia high school kid went #1. Some of the commentors are right - Georgia is a serious hotbed of talent in all three major sports. There is no reason you can't be successful by only focusing on in-state talent. There's certainly enough.

Beesball - The End

The Jackets got demolished by the half-breeds at UGAg in beesball yesterday. Season over. What is there really to say? It was a depressing end to a tragic season. Truthfully, there wasn't going to be a happy ending to this year. The death of Michael Hutts made sure of that. Sure, a trip to the Super-Regional would have been nice. A single victory over our hated rivals in two tries would have been nice. Not only didn't either happen, the Jackets played the worst game of the season during the most important game of the season. It hurts. It stings. It's painful to see your guys completely fall apart in every phase of the game when it counts the most.

So what is your reaction? Do you choose to empathize with the team and their pain or do you choose to focus on the X's and O's of a pitching staff that failed or a defense that fell apart or bats that went silent? Do you choose to focus on the big picture - that Danny Hall fields a team each and every year that is competitive and in the national picture? Or do you choose to focus on a pattern of post-season collapses, with too many coming against our Rival? Are you the optimist that focuses on the youth of this team? Are you the pessimist that focuses on their shortcomings?

For me, I'm a supporter of Danny Hall. He's built a consistent regular season program that just hasn't proven to be a consistent post-season winner. His teams are seemingly always in position to do good things in the post-season. They just don't do them enough for anyone's taste - Coach Hall's included. I want more. We all want more. One College World Series game won since that great 1994 team during Hall's tenure isn't enough for me. However, I support Coach Hall's efforts 100% and want to see him continue to build the program further. Danny Hall is a successful program builder. I like the kids he brings in. I like the teams he builds. I like the consistent winning his teams do in the regular season. I'm just selfish like every other fan, and I want more trophies and titles. I hope he can find a way to build off his current success and make that happen.

To UGAg - congrats. Even without our errors, I doubt we beat them. They mashed. We got mashed.I hope with every ounce of my being they get crushed by NCST. I really do. The Pack better bring their A-game though. In the end, it's not really about them anyhow.

For the Jackets, better luck next season I guess. Congrats to the team on a successful season in light of some truly unique and trying circumstances. As much as this season will sting fans, it will pale in comparison to what each and every member of that team feels. Not only will they be dealing with two bad losses to our rival. They be dealing with fan backlash, AJC backlash, 790theZone backlash and blog backlash.

Most important, they'll still be dealing the loss of their friend and teammate Michael Hutts. My guess is that dealing with that is going to be a lot tougher now that there's no "team" to go practice with. This group is disbanding. Guys are heading their separate ways - summer leagues, Cape Cod leagues, MLB workouts, etc. They will be more alone in their contemplation of things now, and that just might be when reality starts to hit some of them.

I hope the guys stay in touch during this time. I hope their families check in on them regularly, because you know us fans mostly won't. We'll be voicing our frustrations through keyboards and radio shows. Then we'll be moving on to the next thing, preparing for Paul Johnson's opening stanza in the fall. We'll compartmentalize the baseball team somewhere and lock it away until next spring. The guys on the team will be living every day.

Have I completely depressed you? I hope not. I just wanted to share some of my perspective about different ways to view the situation. Kids playing games in college. That's what we're talking about.

Beesball - Jackets Advance in Athens

On Friday, the Jackets beat Louisville 8-5. Tonight the Jackets beat Lipscomb 6-3. Sandwiched in between the half-breeds at UGAg lost to Lipscomb Friday, then squeeked by Louisville earlier Saturday.

So here's how it sets up.

Jackets 2-0
Lipscomb 1-1
UGAg 1-1
Louisville 0-2

Sunday at about 2:00pm Lipscomb plays UGAg. Whoever wins gets a double-header and plays the Jackets at about 6:00pm Sunday. Should the UGAg/Lipscomb winner actually beat the Jackets Sunday evening, they would have to do it again on Monday to actually win the regional.

The Jackets, on the other hand, only need to win Sunday night to put a bow on the Athens regional. Danny Hall took a bit of a risk by starting freshman Deck McGuire tonight. However, the gamble looks to pay off, and now he has a fresh cadre of top guys to chose from on Sunday, while UGAg / Lipscomb are going to be down to their #3,4,5 guys in the rotation. McGuire went 6 & 2/3 innings, giving up 3 runs. A solid outing. Jason Haniger went deep and drove home 3 runs on the night.

So there's a chance that the Jackets could win this regional and never play UGAg. I think that would be a shame. I'd love to lay it on 'em one more time before leaving for the super regional.

Nothing's in the bag. Still work to be done, but Danny Hall's gang is in prime position to move on.

GO JACKETS!!!

Tragedy Revisited

So on day one of the Athens regional in beesball, Georgia Tech fans are informed about the autopsy results for Michael Hutts. The report showed an accidental drug overdose involving heroin. Pretty much what we all expected to hear.

What can you really say? There's really very little good that comes out of situations like this. Maybe Michael's life can be a transforming force for his family and friends. Maybe Michael's life can be a warning signal to the lives of invincible youth who run across his story.

What's the moral here? It would be presumptuous of me to There are many. Drugs are not just "illegal" and they aren't just "bad". They don't just impact lives. They don't just ruin lives. They end lives. It's not a verbal warning. Michael is a dying example.

Life is precious.

Life is fragile.

Here today.
Gone tomorrow.

Rest in peace Michael. May your life help others make the right choices before it's too late for them.

D-Rad's "Good Word"

Dan Radakovich published his latest "The Good Word". Here are some highlights:

1. Congrats to Amanda McDowell right off the bat
2. Track-and-Field regional coming up
3. Congrats to Danny Hall getting to 15th regional in 17 years
4. WREK broadcasting beesball games
5. CSS airing the games on TV
6. Thirteen weeks to fall football
7. Pushing season ticket sales. Go buy some! (I bought 4)
8. Season opener against Jax St Thursday Aug 28. Kick-off 7:30pm - the revolution will NOT be televised......... as of now. Bummer.
9. Last stop on the Coaches Caravan coming
10. Braves / GT night coming up. Special cross-promotion with a good deal on tickets.