It was just over a year ago, Jan. 18, 2013, that Georgia Tech athletic director Mike Bobinski was hired from Xavier. On Thursday morning, in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bobinski addressed some of the issues facing him — namely, the struggles of the football team and potential scheduling changes within the ACC.
Q: In your interview posted on the Tech website, you talked about a four-hour meeting with (coach Paul Johnson) following the season and how you both came out of it energized. Were there specific plans or changes that will be implemented?
A: I don't know if you come out of that with specific things. You just come out of it with sort of a resolve and a shared agreement on the fact that we want to look at everything we're doing. And I know that's a very broad and generic statement. But you look at the substantive things. Our approach and how we prepared our guys, how we trained in the offseason, how we do our preseason camp. Just a little bit of everything. Our game prep during the course of the week. Everything that goes into the preparation.
Honestly, one of the things Paul talked a lot about was just, he said to me, ‘We’ve got to have stronger accountability. That goes for our players, that goes for our staff, that goes for myself.’ We all need to be more accountable to ourselves and to what our goals and objectives are in order to move this thing forward. I think that’s as much as anything. It’s just a tightening up.
Q: In situations like this, where there are fans that are unhappy, people will say, coach X has to win X amount of games or beat Team Y. I’m guessing that’s not your thinking?
A: I have never ever believed in a number. That's such a faulty construct in my book because then you get into these issues where, if it's a number, then (a coach will say), 'I want to play these four teams because those four teams will get me to that number.' It's not about a number. It's never been about a number. It's my job to evaluate. That's what I do. That's why I'm here in a lot of ways, to lead and evaluate. As you're around a program, as you watch a program over a period of time, you get a sense. Is it moving in the right direction? Is there a strategy? Is there a plan? Is there a momentum, or are you kind of running in place?
That’s something over time that determines whether or not a program is where it needs to be or not. Do wins and losses matter? Absolutely, they matter. Of course, they do. That’s why you keep score. It matters. But it’s not the sole determinant of whether a program is moving in a good direction or not. It’s a little deeper analysis than that.
Q: Is there a need to put more resources or staff into the team?
A: I think there are always opportunities to help what you're doing and how you're doing it. … I asked coach Johnson that when we met. At that moment in time, he didn't have anything specific: 'Hey there's a burning (need), we're just falling here or there.' We're trying to do some things in our weight room; we're trying to do things from a physical perspective to help things along, but there was nothing that was, 'My gosh, we're missing it right here and if we had this, we'd be rolling.' There was none of that.
Q: What are your thoughts about changing the divisions or the format for the ACC Championship game?
A: If you were to ask me, I continue to like the divisions (as they are). There was some statistical information that's out there that the league has developed where, from a sort of relative strength over the last eight years, it's like almost absolutely dead even between Atlantic and Coastal. … Are there different ways to do it, how you rotate and what your rotating partners are? Yeah, there might be different ways to do that, and I'd be open to that, but I'm not ready to (abandon) my own decision process. I wouldn't be ready to (say), 'Scrap that and let's start over here.' I think there's some value in (the present configuration).
Q: Regarding permanent crossover partners (such as Tech has in Clemson), it sounds like you’re not completely wed to it?
A: No, I'm not, although I think just from a geographic perspective, being able to play Clemson, from both schools' perspective, every year is a good thing. We're only a couple hours away from each other. It'd be kind of a shame to not have that game in our pockets from both perspectives.
Q: From what you said in the meeting, I can understand why (Johnson) and (FSU coach) Jimbo Fisher and (Clemson coach) Dabo Swinney aren’t keen on a nine-game conference schedule (because of their annual nonconference rivalry games), but I guess you see the reason for the alternative.
A: I do, and I also think that if in fact we move as a league in the direction of a dedicated ACC channel, the need for more inventory will really be an imperative. I don't know that there will be ultimately a lot of decision-making to go into that. I think it'll be something that we'll need to do to find a way to do as a league and that's a way to do it. And I do recognize that in, certain years if you've got nine conference (games), plus you've got Georgia and then it's a Notre Dame year, you've got a full plate. I get that. It's a full plate. No argument.
