Dan Radakovich talked about academics and wore a Capital One Bowl watch.

The clear message from Georgia Tech's new athletics director: Tech can maintain its standards in the classroom and still play New Year's Day football.

Less than a minute after being introduced Wednesday afternoon as the seventh athletics director in Tech history, Radakovich spoke of the "daunting task for our student-athletes." But he didn't stop there.

"There's an expectation to do well in every sport," he said, and, "When it's third down and 2 yards to go, I can guarantee you the student-athletes aren't trying to be mediocre."

Radakovich didn't deliver specifics, like a timetable for winning an ACC championship or a strategy for filling Bobby Dodd Stadium. Details about his plans for Tech athletics probably won't come until after he starts the job in late March or the beginning of April.

Still, Tech President Wayne Clough's decision to hire the No. 2 man in the LSU athletics department, the man who supervises the football, men's basketball and baseball programs at a school that shared the 2003 football national title, signaled a desire to continue raising the bar in a Tech athletics program already experiencing unprecedented all-around success.

http://www.ajc.com/gatech/content/sports...trada.html

This guy was chosen over Steve Orsini because......... ??????

I hear nothing from him yet that makes me want to jump for joy. :domokun:

I thought it came down to him and Bill Curry?

When does he officially take over?

Maybe I can get my medal from him.

- From what I recall he starts working in April.

- A lot of Tech fans/alum I know are a little taken aback that it's not "one of our own," but this might be the right time to make this move. Radakovic wouldn't have taken the job without wanting to be here, which says a lot considering he came from an LSU environment that's much easier to work around. More importantly, I trust the Board to have addressed this process covering all the hot issues. Perhaps it was fortunate that Tech had the acadmeics problem when it did so that it was front and center during the candidate selection process.

- My big concern is that GT is decidedly that much different a situation. Small , selective school with a tiny pool of majors to study, surrounded by 9 of the top 18 collegiate programs in terms of following, and lies within an expansive metro area with several major and minor league pro teams. Tech fans are rabid, but comparably scarce and results oriented. Not so much in terms of wins but in terms of effort. (Yes, that's directed at you, Mr. Gailey)

I'll buy into everything Mr. Radakovic is selling when he spells his mission for the programs and then issues his mandates of Gailey and Hewitt. And if he can concoct tailgating space near Dodd/Grant then he'll be immortalized.

Tailgating and parking would definitely be nice. Not to mention revamp of the gold seats in BDS and AMC.

And I hope he can revoke the 5 year deal and decide what he wants. I think he should give Gailey a year though.

The most important question...

Is he going to give Paul the medal he deserves?

techfan4 Wrote:Tailgating and parking would definitely be nice. Not to mention revamp of the gold seats in BDS and AMC.

And I hope he can revoke the 5 year deal and decide what he wants. I think he should give Gailey a year though.

One of the things with Gailey is, I hate to say, the economics of the situation. Tech has leveraged a lot of their post-olympic renovations and the Athletic Dept. needs to be frugal for a spell. It didn't help that the renovations to Dodd/Grant, which were sorely needed, turned out to be more expensive than anticipated. And that was going with the cheap design, too! (Another gripe for another time.)

Thus, Gailey is probably the best choice for the price being offered. I'll rephrase, he's a known commodity and a safe bet. There may be a half-dozen up-and-comers that could do better for the same $, but the risk might not be worth it.

Gailey does need a severe lesson in How to Inspire, but I imagine he knows the clock is ticking after that horrid bowl game. One more performance like that and yes, he is/should be gone.

Gailey also needs an offensive assistant OR to get much better QB's able to make audibles. The combo of Gailey and Ball hasn't been able to average more than what, 19 ppg? Not good. This is correctible, though.