The day after with Brian Gregory, part I
New Georgia Tech basketball coach Brian Gregory took some time before visiting a recruit Tuesday night to share a bit more about his thoughts on recruiting, refs on Tobacco Road and The Varsity.
Part 2 of the Q&A will appear later in the day.
AJC: So, the day after your introduction, what practical issues do you have to work on? What schedules do you have and notes have you taken?
BG: First and foremost, spending as much time as I can with our current players to make sure they have a feel for the things that are important to me as we move forward together basketball-wise and academically as we got out about our daily business
Recruiting, making sure the guys who signed early with us are comfortable with our situation and to make sure that this is the right place for their future.
Try to set up something with the former players in the next couple of weeks so that I can meet all the former guys that live in the area.
In terms of recruiting also, start touching base and get back on track with some of the 2012 kids that Georgia Tech was recruiting and see who in the 2011 class might be a good fit.
We have two [scholarships] available but only one available for the next year. Have to determine what’s best.
AJC: If they don’t want to honor their commitment, will you grant them their release?
BG: Yes, it’s a kids life we are talking about.
AJC: Some say the ACC has fallen behind other leagues, what do you think?
BG: Every league has ebbs and flows in terms of how strong it is. Maybe this year it wasn’t as strong as it has been in the past. It’s one of, if not the premier basketball conference in the country.
It’ll be right back up there.
AJC: Tech is obviously tough academically. You talked about embracing that challenge on Monday. But what do you think about competing against some schools in the conference that have easier admissions requirements and academic requirements?
BG At times, what it does is it puts you in a position where you have different requirements in your recruiting and different checkpoints you have to take care of during the recruiting process. With that said, you have to find those recruits where the quality of education they are going to receive and where that degree puts them in is very important to them. You have to know that situation and embrace and find people that share the same value for that type of education that Georgia Tech possesses.
AJC: Did you ever dunk over David Robinson when you were at Navy?
BG: No. absolutely not.
AJC: Did you ever try?
BG: No. When you realize you want a career in coaching, you don’t do something that could get you hurt.
AJC: Lots of coaches come to ACC and get a whiff of Tobacco Road officiating and realize they can’t win, what makes you think differently?
BG: I don’t have any opinion on that because I haven’t gone through it. You are talking about two programs whose teams are very, very good. Teams that are good get the benefit of the doubt. I think it has more to do with how good they are more than anything else.
AJC: The Big 10 has a reputation as plodding, beefcake-type teams in past 10 years. What did you see during your time as an assistant?
BG: The Big 10 is a very physical league and so with that physicalness it’s not so much that the offenses are slow-down offenses, it’s just that it’s so physical and so good defensively it’s hard to score in that league sometimes.
AJC: Sweet tea, Coke or water?
BG: I’m a Diet Coke guy.
AJC: Do you think 68 teams in the NCAA tournament is the right amount?
BG: If you take a look around, this year proved it, over the last two-three years has proven it, it’s so hard to secure those at-large bids. There’s probably enough quality teams that could receive at-large teams.
Expanding it would only make it more exciting. One of the teams in the Final Four was possibly one of the last in. Adding to it wouldn’t dilute the product.
AJC: Been to The Varsity yet?
BG: I drove by it and I’ve heard the rumors.
AJC: What are the rumors?
BG: It’s a landmark. It won’t be too long, I’ll be there.
AJC: I’ll buy you a chili dog and an frosted orange.
BG: You got it.
AJC: During the recruiting process, how do you know when a player might be thinking about being a one-and-done? How do you approach that player at that point?
BG: I think you continue to recruit them. Just because it’s a thought process it doesn’t mean it’ll come to pass. Even those players understand the value of the education Georgia Tech provides. They have to have some desire to attend one of the best institutions in the country because if they are in that situation they will have a lot of different choices. At the same time you hope to build the program where even guys that have the ability to leave, whenever that may be, that you’ve been able to create the desire to achieve that and they’ll come back to work on that degree.
Part 2 will be posted later today.
– Doug Roberson, AJC
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78 comments Add your comment
Tech Fan
March 30th, 2011
10:31 am
Go ahead and ask for a Beer BG!!!
Ramblin Man
March 30th, 2011
11:08 am
Thanks for the updates Doug. BG is talking a good game and gives the right answers add to that the current players seem to like what he has to say I am optimistic about the future.
GT'98
March 30th, 2011
11:15 am
If any can give me a phone number to just contribute to Alexander Tharpe, GT Football, please do. I’ve tried in the past, and Georgia Tech, being Georgia Tech, has been uncooperative.
Georgia Tech has a very rich football tradition. I want GT’s athletic focus to be like Alabama, Auburn, Notre Dame. FOOTBALL!!!!
Pure football— unwatered down with silly basketball, baseball, golf, tennis, etc.
Our athletic program’s buget is struggling, financially. Time to focus our efforts.
Jackets 2011
March 30th, 2011
11:28 am
@GT’98.
I am not here to argue with a fellow GT but I don’t get your football only mentality at all.
You didn’t like the baseball team’s showing the way with four straight wins over Uga including the last 15-6 on their field.
What’s not to like?
BTW when this coach was hired, a bunch of folks had “jumped” GT Phenom on the first blog.
He did a good job holding his own against 4 or 5 fans/trolls.
I showed up to back him up by berating the negative folks points.
@GTe.
If however I was overbearing to any young teenage Jacket fans that day, I apologize.
If you read the full morning insults, you’ll accept this.
No apology to trolls or adults.
juvenal
March 30th, 2011
11:39 am
thank you, Stinger-i appreciate that, man, my bad, & no undertones intended-my apologies, Mr. Shumpert(to think i was trying to use his 1st. name to avoid spelling his last name wrong!)-& thanks, Supersize, very interesting(still won’t wear my GTU shirt i bought just for fun)….
Jackets 2011
March 30th, 2011
11:50 am
I also liked CBG’s remark about ex-players in the area.
I think Doug has done yeoman work lately but I did not care for the blog containing ex-player’s advice.
Woody for head coach, Steppe said.
Now there’s an idea that would go over great.
Craig Neal, however, impressed me every step of the way.
He is laying the groundwork for a head coaching job instead of expecting it solely from his playing days.
I also liked how he responded to the hire.
Were any of the others so classy?
Neal really loves Tech.
I’m not so sure about all the rest.
BYRDDAWG
March 30th, 2011
11:53 am
I think you’re gonna really like this guy because he reminds me of Cremins…a guy that lives sleeps & eats hoops!! Unlike phewitt that seemed to be working on his “AGENDA” more than getting his team prepared! I’m looking forward to him & Coach Fox going toe to toe for many yrs!!!!!
Supersize that order, mutt
March 30th, 2011
12:07 pm
GT98, again, BUY football season tickets and you HAVE to contribute to the football program to get decent seats.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 30th, 2011
12:10 pm
WOW, BYRDDAWG, more sincere words of wisdom for a mutt. LOL Why don’t you just come on over from the dark side?
Supersize that order, mutt
March 30th, 2011
12:11 pm
sorry, FROM a mutt, not FOR a mutt
UGA = Yawn
March 30th, 2011
12:15 pm
Coach Gregory is a winner!
BYRDDAWG
March 30th, 2011
12:22 pm
Supersize, one of my best friends went to school with me @ UGA then went to Tech so we have a good {CLEAN} debate most every time we talk!!!!
BigTimeTECHFan
March 30th, 2011
12:25 pm
Tobacco Road includes 4 teams from NC, not just Duke and UNC, needs to add Wake and NC State.
Like Gregory, based on bio and his attitude seems like real good hire to me. I thought UGA made good hire getting Fox, I would rate this the same level.
GT
March 30th, 2011
12:47 pm
You think TomB may come from Dook? The rudeness is there, you don’t hear Carolina people throwing out the word stupid that much, usually nerd or Yankee when referring to something like Dook but with a little southern grace. I listened to another rude radio guy talk about how the tournament is not fair because it gives teams that have won all year and are the “good” teams a disadvantage. The “bad” teams that are hot win the championship. I think a lot of the “good” teams build their rep at home with home cooking and it all washes out at tournament time when they have to play on a even playing field. Obviously Duke was not as good as advertised ,as shown against a far superior team in both the NCAAs and St. John’s in New York earlier in this year. Tech has beaten Dook a few times in Durham and there is no better feeling than to watch Coach K after one of those losses when the table is set for him. It is like the lawyer in Rainmaker, Leo F. Drummond, who thinks he has caught the opponent, Rudy Baylor, cheating by illegally wire taping Baylor’s phone, and can’t tell anybody. As a Tech fan I hope it never changes, liking Coach K would not be as much fun and seeing a little rat every year sitting there with his minions and every blue moon stealing their cheese.
Rodney Dangerfield
March 30th, 2011
1:05 pm
At least he hasn’t said that he was the ninth choice to be coach or whatever it was that Hewitt said that one time. Does his “team” practice or is it all individual instruction like Hewitt?
Q&A with Brian Gregory, part II | Georgia Tech
March 30th, 2011
1:22 pm
[...] This is the second part of a two-part Q&A. Here’s part I. [...]
Headley Lamar
March 30th, 2011
2:02 pm
AJC: Tech is obviously tough academically. You talked about embracing that challenge on Monday
List of scholars that got into Tech. The greatest academic institution the world has ever known.
1. Reggie Ball
2. Stephon Marbury
3. Kenny Anderson
4. Chris Bosh
Rhodes Scholars all and I think they all currently work for NASA. I hear they are heading up the team that’s planning the first manned mission to Mars.
GT Dude
March 30th, 2011
2:56 pm
@Headley Lame, please never ever come on here and talk academics,
AJ Green – UGA’s greatest receiver ever was a junior (or at least he was there for 3 yrs) and scored a 10 on wonderlic, a turnip can score an 11
GT Dude
March 30th, 2011
2:58 pm
@ Headley Lame, but I do agree with you on one point Reggie Ball could never count to 4
Jackets 2011
March 30th, 2011
3:30 pm
I am disappointed that Reggie Ball is always thrown under the bus when he started the four game win streak vs the Canes and beat Auburn at least once but I’m thinking twice. That’s after Auburn beat us 15 in a row (guessing) and Warren Sapp and Canes consider us Sisters of the Blind.
Billy Lothridge beat Uga three staight but had many regular season flops including a home loss I saw at age ten of Auburn 29 Tech 21.
Lothridge got better coaching and played against an easier to beat Uga.
So we trash Reggie Ball and think highly of Billy Lothridge (those of us with some age).
I think it’s past time to recognize Reggie did some good things while at Tech. With an OC like Freigen, he would have faired a lot better vs Uga.
Maybe Tech failed him.
Ever think of that?
UD Barrister Boy
March 30th, 2011
3:54 pm
I’m a University of Dayton man and I think GT has someone in BG who has the highest of ethics and decency. He cares about his players. He cares about the community (BG raised BIG money and awaremess about breast cancer in the Dayton area). However, the UD community and Coach Gregory are better off that he has departed. He lost control of the team this year and made a serious blunder in how and why he recruited the recently-departing point guard, Juwan Staten.
Thankfully, BG guaranteed the UD folks will NOT hire his top assistant by endorsing the guy on his way out the door.
Essentially, Oliver Purnell, resurrected a sagging program in the 90’s and the ever-polite albeit stubborn Brian Gregory did nothing to advance the program further. If the former Dayton Flyers coach is a STEP UP for Georgia Tech………………well……………….GOOD LUCK!!!!!
DRad Fan 2
March 30th, 2011
4:03 pm
GT’98,
Telephone number for the Alexander-Tharpe Fund is 404-894-5414.
Born2Buzz
March 30th, 2011
5:13 pm
I keep hearing how BG wants to reconnect with past players. Anybody got any insight as to what happened with Hewitt in this respect? Or should we just let it all be forgotten. Yes, that is probably best.
TomB
March 30th, 2011
5:16 pm
No Dook fan GT and I’m from here and I’m a die hard GT fan who hates coaches and fans who cry about the officiating, that all. I just hate the references made to officiating favoring Tobacco road. You would think NC State fans would complain that they are not part of this so called Tobacco road? No conspiracies in officiating even in the ACC.
threetrone
March 30th, 2011
7:04 pm
BG and PJ both from Navy. PJ’s offense has expired. It is run based, and college ball is shotgun pass based. No team is good enough to run it on every play. PJ digs the color black for uniforms also, which should be taboo at Tech. Will Navy link expiration be contagious and Gregory catches it? All I know is Ohio voted for yankee Obama, as did all the northen states, and Dayton is in Ohio. Georgia, usually dem, voted for McCain, as did all the south, excluding Florida, and he carried the midwest. Why would Radikovich select from a state that voted for Obama? Didn’t Michelle Obama work with Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground? Weren’t Price and Noodles available as reps from Georgia, ergo McCain red state, when they were students?
Supersize that order, mutt
March 30th, 2011
7:10 pm
threetrone, although we DO need a better passing game, can you name me one team who so far has stopped our running game consistently? NO? I didn’t think so.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 30th, 2011
7:12 pm
And where do you get that black uniform thing??? Tech hasn’t worn black since the days of Bill Curry. I for one wish we did have black in our color scheme; it sure makes a helluva lot more sense and looks better than blue.
you can't fix stupid
March 30th, 2011
7:43 pm
@GT’98 … you either graduated from GT in ‘98 or were born in ‘98 (I’m guessing the latter). GT Athletics, like most NCAA div.1 schools, is about a whole lot more than just football. Only in the South are there one-track minded imbeciles like you who think that football is the only game worth watching, playing or paying for. I suggest you pick one of the SEC schools and cheer for them … GT doesn’t need or want you. Moron.