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Tuesday, September 4, 2007
New Tech AD redefines success
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
The first time he met with his coaches, Dan Radakovich kept his comments brief. E-mail probably would’ve been quicker. But even the simplest mandates sometimes carry more weight when they’re delivered with eye contact.
“I met with them just prior to the first news conference,” the Georgia Tech athletics director recalled Tuesday. “I said, ‘Guys, I don’t have a whole lot of time here. There are only two things that are important to me: Win and don’t cheat.’ You can do that here.”
Tech won a football game at Notre Dame the other day. They dumped a national program on national television with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. They have raised expectations. Again.
Maybe this year turns out to be special. Or maybe the Jackets go on to lose to Maryland and Army and North Carolina, and settle into the usual secondary-bowl abyss. This much we know: secondary-bowl abyss — not going to cut it any more. Never should have.
Tech athletics seem in the midst of a reprogramming. Academic standards aren’t seen as obstacles. Nothing, Radakovich says, should be seen as obstacles.
Did someone open the window?
“There’s the way the ball bounces, there’s the way the whistle blows, there are a lot of things that go into an athletic competition that would cause a team to win or lose,” Radakovich said. “But where we are, where we play, what our school is — none of that makes that list. I look at those as being positives. Academics are a challenge here. But they’re a challenge at a lot of places.”
Why did this take so long?
For too long by too many, Tech has been viewed as this little curiosity off the interstate, an engineering school that sometimes had a pretty good basketball or baseball team — but generally was big-footed by Georgia in the fall.
It made no sense. Tech is a major school, in a major conference, in a major city. Why the minor-league mindset?
Radakovich replaced Dave Braine about 18 months ago. It was Braine who made the mistake of saying the Jackets “will never” win nine or 10 games consistently because of its academic standards. His objective might’ve been to take the pressure off of coach Chan Gailey. Instead, he cut him off at the knees. That quote probably became an opponent’s opening salvo in recruiting.
Radakovich was asked about Braine’s remarks. He didn’t hesitate when asked if he would ever utter such a thing.
“It’s not in my gene pool,” he said.
Gailey said he hasn’t felt any additional pressure to win since Radakovich replaced Braine, who hired him. But all that tells you is that Gailey has never been about settling.
If Tech football hasn’t quite been off the radar, it certainly has resembled a dot, relative to the blob in Athens. There is something inherently wrong with that. This isn’t about ACC vs. SEC, or seven-win Tech vs. Georgia’s generally richer history. Success goes beyond that. Radakovich wants winning teams, and he wants them on your mind.
Last year, he hired Wayne Hogan, the former renowned sports information director at Florida State who more recently had been the athletics director in Montana. Hogan, given the title of associate AD for public relations, understands the situation. He said it’s not much different than in the late 1970s at FSU, when Florida dominated the state’s consciousness. The Seminoles, helped by affable Bobby Bowden, became one of the most accessible, media-friendly programs in the country.
Tech, Hogan believes, has spent too long putting up barriers with the public and the media.
“Georgia Tech, from what I can gather, has been a very closed society,” he said. “We’ve been borderline elitists. We’ve spent most of our time here on the corner of Bobby Dodd Way and Techwood Drive, and that’s where I think our rival has done a better job than us. If you go out in this city and go to the sports banquets, the Touchdown Clubs, there’s Damon Evans, Mark Richt, Larry Munson. Georgia does a great job of being out there. We need to do that.”
This week, Tech hosts Samford. The game will not sell out. Georgia fans show up for Georgia. Tech fans show up for the opponent. Maybe that will change.
Winning consistently would help. Expecting to win — that’s a start.
Permalink | Comments (92) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Tech / ACC
Braves struck out on 2007
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
What you do is, get in line, take a number, then say your piece. The Braves have been vulnerable since before the All-Star Game, but I’ve been a coward. I never had an appetite for filet of crow (well done, please). This season never had a chance from the start. Mike Hampton’s arm goes again, before he even throws a money pitch. Trade for Mike Gonzalez and his arm explodes. (That always looked like a strange delivery to me.) But that’s OK, John Schuerholz had Bob Wickman on a long leash.
(Sorry I brought that up, but while on the subject, whatever became of Dan Kolb?)
Then, though in dire straits for pitching, they trade for a first baseman. Mark Teixeira was a good catch, but when you’re starving for starters, you give up half the gold in your farm system for a first baseman? That included the brightest prospect in your realm — let me see if I can spell it — Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Schuerholz gambled well when he passed on Marcus Giles for Kelly Johnson, but trading Adam LaRoche for Gonzalez left a gaping hole at first base. Scott Thorman simply wasn’t ready for daily duty yet.
Thus, the trade for Teixeira. But take a closer look. When Teixeira arrived from Texas, the Braves were 55-51. Now as they head into the sunset they are 70-68 as of Labor Day. The bench, even with Thorman, physical specimen that he is, is woeful. If Chris Woodward and Pete Orr could combine their batting averages, swell, but individually .192 and .190 are sad. Where do you turn for pinch hitters? Mainly to Matt Diaz, if it happens to be his day for platooning. And even there, after such an admirable start, Willie Harris has lost his glow.
Then you have the peculiar case of Andruw Jones. Barely hitting his weight on the nose, but leading the team in home runs at 24, and second in RBIs at 84. Sometimes seeming to have his swing under control, then again lunging at a pitch like a guy falling out of a tree. On top of that, having to deal with his dictatorial agent is like trying to deal with Adolf … no, make that Adolphe Menjou.
Now, to pitching. Used to be as long as it was John Smoltz or Tim Hudson, it was blue skies. After that, well, it was cross your fingers. Chuck James ran low on fuel, and of your next choices, one was pitching in a Korean mystery league a year ago this time, and the other was ferrying between Atlanta and Richmond. Throughout the whole season, the most reliable performer has been an import from Australia, but Peter Moylan only gets an inning or two, peachy earned run average and a baffling delivery. Some time I’d like to see just how long he could go, surely no worse than some of his bullpen brethren.
Now let’s take a turn away from the gloom. No manager could expect more than Bobby Cox has gotten from Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann and Johnson. Francoeur has reined in his swing, developed occasional patience at the plate, and there is no better right fielder in the league, combining defense and all. McCann, he was an all-star catcher the first day he was called on to handle Smoltz.
Johnson’s name brings up something puzzling. In Florida the other night, caught short after a flurry of pinch-players, Cox dispatched Pete Orr to left field, a position he had never played. Johnson, meanwhile, remained at second. He had broken into the majors as a left fielder. Why not send him to left and Orr to second, his native position? Instead, the insecure Orr bungled a play in left, setting up the eventual deciding run.
Oh, well, just a thought. Who’s to second-guess a manager who has won a division championship 14 of the last 15 seasons, and who set another major-league record this season? Getting sent to the showers by irritated umpires a record number of times doesn’t make Cox proud, and it’s nice to mind your manners and not bring it up. He has more serious matters on hand, and I’m afraid, if I’m to get around to what this was intended to be all about, the less said of it, the better. My conclusion is, the race has been run, and not very smartly. As I look back over it, what puzzles me most is a $5 million layout for an overweight, unathletic one-inning pitcher. As I’ve always said, closers will kill you, one way or another.
Permalink | Comments (59) | Categories: Braves / MLB, Furman Bisher
Bobby Bowden needs a new shtick
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
THE TUESDAY COUNTDOWN
10: I’m sure Jeff Bowden - who resigned under pressure — would never want anything bad to happen to his father’s football program. But how do you suppose he felt seeing the Florida State offense - under new coordinator Jimbo Fisher - get smacked by Clemson? If you’re a Noles fan, whom do you blame now?
9: FSU might very well rebound and win the ACC this season. But the only reason a team would have that deer-in-the-headlights look in its opener is a lack of confidence, and that goes directly to coaching.
8: Whatever Bobby Bowden was doing for most of his 97-year career, the shtick ain’t working now.
7: A lot of people are going to dump on John Schuerholz now for not doing more to re-build the Braves’ pitching staff. You have to wonder how different things would be if injuries didn’t crush Mike Gonzalez and Octavio Dotel; if Bob Wickman didn’t turn into a whining prima donna; if Kyle Davies didn’t fall to pieces; if Mike Hampton didn’t get hurt - again.
6: And more importantly, I’m really upset Kate Walsh got married.
5: Interesting. Despite all of the doom-and-gloom projections, over/under projections on the Falcons’ win total this season (6 to 7) have been relatively unchanged since Joey Harrington officially replaced the other guy. Also, they’re only three-point underdogs in Minnesota, which basically means the teams are even (home teams get a field goal in point spreads).
4: Thanks to the e-mailer who pointed out a big reason why the Michael Vick case can’t be a race issue: “Didn’t he kill dogs of all colors?”
3: I’m guessing all of those old Marian Hossa-is-going-to-be-traded rumors are officially dead, given that the team keeps using his image on AJC.com season-ticket ads.
2: I was in my first of three Fantasy League drafts the other day. My last two picks were Randy Moss (15th round) and Brett Favre (16th). I’m just trying to sell tickets.
1: Joey Harrington. Still on the board.
Permalink | Comments (31) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Quick Hit
