Most of Sidni Vaughn’s Georgia gear may well be headed for a yard sale. What else would be expected of a former Bulldogs cheerleader who has transferred to Georgia Tech and will cheer for the Yellow Jackets this fall?
Her boyfriend, Tech kicker David Scully, had another suggestion. “Burn it,” Scully said Tuesday, half-joking.
Vaughn wants to make clear she’s not “some lovesick girl that followed him to Tech.” But Scully and Vaughn, whose unusual relationship was chronicled last November before the Tech-Georgia game, concede it makes life easier. “It feels like everything fits better together,” said Vaughn, who was accepted to Tech last Wednesday.
Scully and Vaughn, who have dated for a little more than a year, met through Scully’s teammate Tyler Morgan, who dates a close friend of Vaughn’s. After the awkwardness of last year’s Tech-Georgia game, “I think it’ll be a lot better because I can truly support him and be happy with what I’m doing,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn’s academic pursuits played a central role in her decision to transfer. An aspiring physical therapist, Vaughn wanted to gather experience in her field before applying to graduate school. She determined she would have more chances to do so in Atlanta than in Athens. Further, having spent so much time visiting Scully at Tech, she said, “I guess just over time I felt like I was more at home here.”
In the spring, after applying to transfer, Vaughn came to Tech to participate in open practices with the cheerleading team, unsure if she would want to join the team. She quickly formed a bond. “It was everything I had wanted from cheerleading,” Vaughn said.
Cheerleaders have previously transferred across the line of clean, old-fashioned hate, though Tech marketing director Mindy Hylton, a former cheerleading coach and herself a Georgia grad, could recall transfers only going from Athens to Midtown and not vice versa. Vaughn also joins ranks with, among others, Tech Hall of Fame quarterback John Dewberry, who transferred to Tech from UGA in 1982, and Tech women’s tennis player Alex Anghelescu, who made the switch from Athens last year.
Said Tech cheerleading coach Katie Hodges, “It’s a little weird, but in a good way.”
Vaughn said she was prepared for malicious text messages or Facebook posts, but had heard nothing so far. Her father, a diehard Bulldogs fan, even wore a Tech visor on Father’s Day weekend and has a Jackets magnet on his RV. Her new teammates have received her well. “Nobody’s been negative about it at all,” Vaughn said. “They all say, ‘You came to the better side.’”
