AJC > Sports > Tech > Blog > Archives > 2006 > September > 14 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USTech’s AD not playing softball
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
OK, so it was only softball, but what do you think of Dan Radakovich making his first head coaching hire a Georgia assistant coach?
I think it’s brilliant, provided the coach is the best person for the job in all other respects. Hiring a key assistant coach from your rival: —Weakens your rival. —Gives you someone who already understands recruiting in your area. —Provides you instant insight into the way your rival thinks.
If I were an athletics director, I wouldn’t hesitate to hire a head coach who worked as an assistant for my rival OR a head coach whose alma mater was my rival. Anybody worried about divided loyalties is kidding themselves. Coaches are loyal to their job, first and foremost.
I grew up in L.A., where Henry Bibby played for UCLA and later coached USC’s men’s basketball team into the NCAA tournament Elite Eight. I worked in Mississippi, where Mississippi State grad Van Chancellor became a legend (or as close as a women’s basketball coach can get to that) at Ole Miss before becoming a multi-time WNBA coach of the year in Houston, and where Joe Lee Dunn went from interim head coach at Ole Miss to defensive coordinator for a Mississippi State team that played in the SEC football championship game. And, of course, I work in a state where some Auburn grad named Vince had a bit of success as a football coach at one of Auburn’s rivals. Then there’s Dick Bestwick, an assistant at Tech from 1967-75 and a longtime athletics administrator at a certain school in Athens.
I’m sure I’m leaving out a lot of the best examples, but you get the idea.
Comments
By GREG
September 14, 2006 04:18 PM | Link to this
WHAT KIND OF CRAP IS THIS!!!!LOL!!!!!GEORGIA TECH HAS A HUGE GAME WITH VIRGINIA IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS!!!!!!!!!LOL!!!!!!!BATTLE OF THE GIANTS!!!!!LOL!!!!!!!
By GREG
September 14, 2006 04:24 PM | Link to this
GEORGIA TECH HAS LEFT ENOUGH LOGS ON THE FIELD TO BUILD AT LEAST 50 LOG HOUSES!!!!!LOL!!!!!!!
By Mike Knobler
September 14, 2006 04:58 PM | Link to this
I should have mentioned Mac McWhorter, who went to college in Athens and coached at Tech, then at UGA, then at Tech again. He’s now at Texas.
By This guy
September 14, 2006 05:00 PM | Link to this
Is this a joke? Does Georgia even think about Georgia Tech anymore? The hiring of an ex-UGA assistant coach for Tech’s women’s softball team is “brilliant?”
This is going to “weaken” UGA? How-weight in tears from laughter? Tech needs to concentrate on becoming competitive in the ACC in the major sports (football, basketball, baseball-all sports in which they lost to Georgia last year) before worrying about UGA.
I guess it’s true: At UGA they care about winning, at Tech they care about UGA losing.
By JustMe
September 14, 2006 05:09 PM | Link to this
Come on guys…. does anyone really believe that the Tech AD even considered that it was a UGAG asst. coach? He hired the best person available for the job, period. If you think otherwise, you are just an idiot (LIKE ALL CAPS GREG).
By GT
September 14, 2006 05:50 PM | Link to this
The Tech AD is so much more. Tech is leaping ahead in every direction and I like what they are doing in football with this unbelieveable recruiting year, which is a lot about the AD, and basketball has one of the best classes coming in the country. The landscape of college sports has changed more in the last 10 years than all the history put together and will continue to change. Atlanta is a great spot for a coach and his future. A lot of activity in this town, lot of exposure. It also gives a good AD a great vantage point to look at the rest of college sports and stay on top. It is where the SEC and ACC come together which pretty much covers the east coast. It’s a televison hot bed and it has money, lots of money that loves sports. There may only be 50,000 in the seats but they are on television about every game and the alumni and friend give lots of money. That old alumni may be watching the game from his apartment on Park Ave. or in the CEO suite in some high rise because he has a life and can’t get to the game, but he sends the check and offers the high tech knowledge this school teaches to improve things. It’s only going to get better.
By GTGreg
September 14, 2006 07:40 PM | Link to this
Hopefully a new softball facility will be just around the corner as well.
By Greg
September 14, 2006 09:47 PM | Link to this
MAYBE THE FOOTBALL TEAM WILL DONATE SOME OF THERE LOGS TO UPDATE THE STATE OF THE ART FACILITIES AT TECH!!!!!LOL!!!!!
By GREG
September 14, 2006 10:01 PM | Link to this
IM A MORON
By GREG
September 14, 2006 10:24 PM | Link to this
I LOVE ALL CAPS!!!!LOL!!!!!!LOL!!!!!I JUST HAVE TO WRITE STUPID STUFF TO GET ATTENTION!!!!!LOL!!!LOL!!!!!LOVE ME!!!!!WRITE TO ME!!!!!
By Greg
September 14, 2006 10:29 PM | Link to this
GEORGIA TECH IS PART OF MECA SPORTS CENTRAL IN ATLANTA WITH THE HAWKS AND FALCONS!!!!LOL!!!!MAKING ATLANTA PROUD WITH THERE STOCKPILE OF LOGS!!!LOL!!!!!
By George P. Burdell
September 15, 2006 09:13 AM | Link to this
Mike:
Good catch on McWhorter and he was the first person that I thought of as I was reading your column. There have been numerous crossovers between Tech and UGA over the years. Another notable one is Griffith, who coached under Dodd and later was the head coach at UGA. His record as a head coach wasn’t all that great, but he was a lifetime coach who knew his stuff.
By Tom
September 15, 2006 09:44 AM | Link to this
Actually, George….Griffith was HC at UGA before coming to The Flats. After getting fired in Athens, Dodd hired him as a B-Team coach at GT.
tom
By GREG
September 15, 2006 10:21 AM | Link to this
REGGIE BALL IS THE HEAD LOG LAYER!!!!!LOL!!!!!
By ylwjacket
September 15, 2006 10:55 AM | Link to this
Why is this thread about football?
I attended the UGA/Tech Softball series in Atlanta last season, and saw some great ball being played by both teams.
I have 3 daughters all playing softball, who may well go one of these schools.
We lost a great coach, but this is a good hire.
Softball may not be a ‘major’ sport, but it you attended some of the games, you would know that Tech/UGA is a great softball rivalry, and that both of these programs are playing some of the best ball in the country.
Popst your football crap in a football thread, and get over yourselves. Intercollegiate softball is just as important in the lives of female student-athletes as football is in the lives of male student-athletes.
By GREG
September 15, 2006 12:14 PM | Link to this
I DON’T START MY JOB SWEEPING FLOORS UNTIL 5 PM!!!!LOL!!!!GIRLS SCARE ME!!!!
By GREG
September 15, 2006 12:33 PM | Link to this
LOG RHYMES WITH DAWG!!!!LOL!!!!GIRLS SCARE ME!!!!
By GREG
September 15, 2006 12:37 PM | Link to this
MOMMMA SAID I DON’T HAVE TO QUIT THIS!!!LOL!!!YEAH!!!!LOL!!!!LOG IS SPELLED L-O-G!!!LOL!!!MOMMA SAID THAT WAS RIGHT!!!LOL!!!PEACHES SCARE ME!!!
By GREG
September 15, 2006 01:59 PM | Link to this
WHEN TECH PLAYS BIG TEAMS,TECH LAYS THE BIG LOGS!!!!!!LOL!!!!
By Ramblor
September 15, 2006 08:31 PM | Link to this
This guy, apparently you just don’t get it. Mike didn’t say that it would weaken UGAg. He said it would weaken the rival. In other words, the UGA softball players will have a soft spot in their hearts for their old coach so maybe they won’t be quite as jacked up for the game. Therefore, the rival spirit is weakened. Hello! McFly!!
By CW
September 15, 2006 10:30 PM | Link to this
For chrisakes, does anyone really give a damn who the softball coach is, much less where they come from? Please don’t make anymore comparisons between Vince Dooley and someone whose name didn’t even merit a friggin mention in the blog you wrote!
By ylwjacket
September 15, 2006 11:24 PM | Link to this
Actually, lots of young women, WHO ARE NCAA STUDENT-ATHLETES
By ylwjacket
September 15, 2006 11:24 PM | Link to this
Actually, lots of young women, WHO ARE NCAA STUDENT-ATHLETES