Well since I went to Tech and have a lot of friends that are actually fans, although I am not, I'll weigh in on number 2 a little.
I think the main feeling about Chan is that, while people may not exactly be thrilled with him, they don't like his offensive scheme, his play calling, or his overall demeanor, they fear change even more. Give a choice between muddling along with 6 or 7 wins with a good win and an inexplicable loss or possibility pressing the reset button on the program again like 4 years ago, they'd rather stick with the possibility that Chan might find a way out of mediocrity than face the unknown again.
Now most people outside of Atlanta are of the opinion that Chan isn't going to do that, but he flashes just enough every year to keep them hoping.
I would say a slight change has been coming about in the last year or two as the Tech defense has become more dominant. I'd say there's a faction now that would like to see Chan removed at the end of the year and Tenuta promoted to head coach, before someone comes along and poaches him and they are left with Chan and no Tenuta, and hence, serious trouble.
- Give a choice between muddling along with 6 or 7 wins with a good win and an inexplicable loss or possibility pressing the reset button on the program again like 4 years ago, they'd rather stick with the possibility that Chan might find a way out of mediocrity than face the unknown again. -
That's pretty much exactly how I feel (though I'm not happy with 6-7 wins, if we finish this year 6-5 I'm going to be pretty p'od) ... but I really think hiring to GT is harder than people want to admit, and God forbid we fire Chan and end up with Bill Lewis 2.0
I'm not against getting rid of Gailey, but we better damn sure have a upgrade in place before we do it, and there I think much of the CanChan crowd doesn't realize that we just don't have top coaches busting out of the woodwork wanting to come to Atlanta.
"The average DZ at GT spends their Friday night downloading, while their counterparts at UVA spend theirs downing load."
WOW.
That sentence was awesome.
The fact is that Gailey needs to be fired, assuming they could actually find someone of quality to replace him. But then again, doesn't the dream scenario sound a lot like Al Groh? I expect Chan to be around, and hated, for quite a bit longer, especially if they can manage to pull out one more win this season. Personally, even before you mentioned it, I've been hoping for an O'Leary offer (as a GT fan, not as a UGA fan). If Tenuta were with O'Leary for Joe Hamilton's senior year, I'd have predicted a national championship and a Heisman for the Jackets.
Just to correct one little fact...
"O'Leary beat UGA, and not just beat them, he beat them several years in a row."
George O'Leary went 3-5 against Georgia. He also lost his first 4 games against the Dawgs. Gailey is currently 0-3.
And, as I'm sure you would admit, of those 3 wins, two of them included questionable calls which had a direct impact upon the result of the game. Wins are wins and losses are losses, so I'm not saying they don't count. Of course, they do. But those games don't show any kind of dominance over Georgia. O'Leary didn't own the Dawgs, and in fact his record against UGA is about what most GT coaches have had. Bill Curry also lost his first 4 games against Georgia (2-5 overall). Bobby Ross lost his first 2 (2-3 overall). Bill Lewis lost the only 2 games in which he coached against UGA. Pepper Rodgers: 2-4. Bill Fulcher: 0-2. Bud Carson: 2-3. That takes you all the way back to Bobby Dodd (who went 12-10) and WWII.
I agree LD. But does anyone remember GO'L losing 4 in a row to them? Of course not, but they sure as heck remember him winning 3 in a row.
The Joe Hamilton years have created this deification of GO'L in many people's minds, and (to me) is one of the key issues that Gailey has to overcome to win over the fanbase - the ridiculous comparison to one of the best runs in the past 50 years for our program, with probably the best player to ever wear the white and gold.
Yep to everything.
O'Leary left probably at the right time to cement a positive legacy at Tech. Without Friedgen and a lot of those talented players, he might've been able to sustain things, but it would've been a lot tougher.
The other thing about Gailey is that that 51-7 game hangs on him. None of those other coaches had that kind of a game against Georgia, and a lot of Tech fans won't ever let him forget it. But I think it's kind of interesting how Curry, Ross and O'Leary all started out slow against UGA, but like you say, nobody remembers that. People remember '02.
Remember that last year was a close game and I know most UGA fans are very nervous about that game (because no titles really depend on it, it might not seem as important as Auburn this week - but trust me, we're not counting it as a win).
For the record, Bruce Hornsby, a native of Williamsburg, VA, can often be found at one of the three watering holes just off of the W&M campus, and is often seen playing pick up b-ball at the rec center. In light of this, we may have to claim "That's Just the Way It Is" (in reference to our women, no doubt).
Our senior year, one of my friends ran into Bruce at the Green Leafe and asked him what he thought of Tupac sampling that particularly song for "Changes." He thought for a second, then said "Well, I was really glad he didn't make it a "fuck you, die bitch" song."
Seemed like a good answer.
The hard core tech fans that I know fall into 2 camps. Those that want Gailey fired or dead (whichever comes first). And those that say something like....
"Look, he recruits DLinemen better than any GT coach ever. He's upgraded our overall talent level everywhere but QB. And he's doing it with dramatically tougher academic standards on his back than O'Leary had. We have to give him more time."
That's about what Nathan says. It's also what some other GT fans I know say.
I think if Gailey loses to UGA for 4 in a row, the segment willing to keep waiting will get uncomfortably small. But if he goes 8-4 with a win in a bowl, most folks will bite their tongue.
Bigger than the fans is GT's admin. GT is in a real pickle. Gailey needs an extension on his contract or recruiting is going to take a hit that they can't afford to weather.
Yet, if he doesn't win 7 games, he's not going to get it. And they can't fire him for having a winning overall record and keeping the bowl streak alive.
Gailey needs this UVA win in the worst way imaginable to get the GT Administration out of this mess and give them a reason to give him the extension that I think they want to give him.
Heck, Groh needs it pretty bad too for that matter.
I think it's going to be a whale of a game. It will be interesting to see how the two teams handle the pressure.
An accurate, honest run-down of what is probably the most underappreciated truly good program in college football, as only an alum could do.
Except for that whole "beating Notre Dame next year" thing...hahaha, sorry Nathan. No one beats Coach Weis with a whole off-season to prepare.
As a Georgia alum as well, though, the UGA - GT "rivalry" is also well-classified. Yeah, there are your dyed-in-the-wool haters, but to me it seemed much more like GT was the team we only remembered we hated AFTER the SEC season was finished.
In good years, as most of the recent ones have been, they're that annoying last game that can only hurt you on the national stage. In the off years, they're the last chance for us to feel good about ourselves.
Rivalries in Athens looked like this, to me:
Florida - true bilious vitriol. Cancer wouldn't be enough.
Tennessee - a rivalry, but too often succumbed to the temptation to just make fun of what unbelievable rednecks they are.
Auburn - only for the hardcore. Having experienced Auburn-Georgia games in both places, with fans on both sides, they take it more seriously than we do.
As a UVa grad ('94,) I've never seen us as looking down on Georgia Tech's academics.
It just seems like Georgia Tech wants to be and needs to be aligned with the SEC. No shame in that. Georgia is a 900 pound elephant right there in your state.
As long as Virginia Tech never wins a national title (especially with a Vick at QB,) we'll never have half the issues of inferiority (real and imagined) as you guys do.
BTW, the year you guys beat us in C'ville, Mike Francesa who was on CBS as an analyst at the time picked us to lose in every single game...until Georgia Tech. At half, said we'd come out and win by 21 points with Shawn Moore throwing to Herman Moore and handing off at will to Kirby.
As soon as the words hit the airwaves, right at that point, I knew something would go wrong. And it did.
Don't even get me started on the Aaron Brooks game a few years later in Atlanta.
Cheer up Georgia Tech fans. Gailey can't coach forever.
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