Ins and outs of getting Georgia Tech to Ireland

It would have been easier if Georgia Tech were going to Boston to play Boston College in the season opener and not Ireland. For one thing, Tech’s support staff wouldn’t need to enlist a hotel chef to teach the kitchen at the Yellow Jackets’ team hotel how to make bacon.

The equipment room guys wouldn’t have to count up how many extra chin straps will be accompanying the team. And the institute most likely wouldn’t have to plan and take part in academic and business forums expected to include Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Gov. Nathan Deal.

But the Yellow Jackets, who begin preseason training Thursday, will indeed play their season opener in Dublin on Sept. 3, their first game ever off American soil and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for players, coaches and traveling fans. For the athletic department and school administrators, it has meant dozens of hours spent planning and preparing, communicating with counterparts in Dublin and Boston, making site visits and figuring out what a zip-and-link bed is, and who can fit in one.