UPDATED: Tech denies Big Ten rumors
Amidst rumors and reports that Georgia Tech has applied and been approved for membership into the Big Ten, the school denied their veracity.
“There is no truth to the rumors,” Institute spokesman Matt Nagel said in an e-mail Friday afternoon.
In his conversations with school president G.P. “Bud” Peterson, acting athletic director Paul Griffin said that Peterson “has told me there’s been no communication (with the Big Ten), nor does he expect any.”
Griffin spoke from Charlotte, N.C., where Tech will play Florida State for the ACC football championship Saturday. Griffin said in addition he was not aware of any communications between Tech leadership and the Big Ten or any other conference.
Wednesday, on a teleconference with news media following the ACC accepting Louisville as a member, commissioner John Swofford said that the nature of conversations he had had with Peterson in the past 10 days regarding Tech’s future “has been emphatic in terms of their commitment to the ACC and Georgia Tech’s future.”
Ken Sugiura, Georgia Tech blog
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252 comments Add your comment
Delbert D.
November 30th, 2012
10:01 pm
Toadster – Remember “patrick”? The narcissistic pest who used to post on the AJC blogs (probably still does under some new nyms.) In an ongoing “discussion” over a year ago, he boasted that he lived in a $350,000 home in San Clemente. I replied to him that it must be tough living in a studio above a garage.
playmeortrademe
November 30th, 2012
10:03 pm
Of course, the ACC may not really care. Tech’s always seemed to be an outsider like Maryland, beneath the tobacco road and Virginia snobs. Plus, Atlanta is an SEC market, and Tech leaving makes room for UConn as #14 and gets more of the northeast market and strengthens hoops. The ACC would probably get Villanova in the conference in a few years for Philly and go after Central Florida for the Orlando area and that sweet 16 number.
11 of 12
November 30th, 2012
10:04 pm
Forgot about ND semi joining ACC. I think the fact they agreed to play 6 ACC teams a year is a good thing for the conference and I would like to watch tech/ND in Atlanta every two or three years. Would be pretty cool and I enjoyed that matchup in the past.
xpuctaqpgt
November 30th, 2012
10:09 pm
One GT alumnus’s opinions on where we should be.
#1. My first preference is that we stay in the ACC and that the teams currently in the ACC GET BETTER!!!. Spend some money on quality coaches, assistant coaches, etc. Win some big games vs quality opponents. Stop being the SEC’s whipping boys. Man up.
but if that doesn’t seem likely then….
#2. The B1G. Money. Academic prestige. Stability. We’re AAU, everyone but Nebraska is AAU. Visiting B1G teams would guarantee home game sellouts. Heck we could probably expand the stadium another 5k seats and still sell out.
#2b. The SEC. They are a very close second. We would renew some traditional rivalries. We’d get our butts handed to us for the first 5 years or so, but it would be worth it. The money would be better. And the travel costs would be reasonable, since we’re in the middle of SEC territory already.
#4. The Big 12. To me they are the AQ of last resort. The fact that people still want to go there when 4 teams have left astounds me. I wouldn’t go to a restaurant where 4 people got food poisoning, why would I join a conference with the same problem?
Prometheus
November 30th, 2012
10:15 pm
Tech’s UGs friends want Tech to leave the ACC, because ACC basketball gives Tech the upper hand. If it’s leaves the ACC, Tech will have nothing on UGa.
playmeortrademe
November 30th, 2012
10:18 pm
One of two things are going to happen with ND playing in the ACC halfway. The first and most probable scenario is this: ND continues to build strength as a program and demolishes every ACC team they play like they did this year. The teams that get screwed out of an ACC title chance because they caught ND that year will be pissed, or worse, ND will knock a Florida State or Clemson out of BCS title contention. ND causes (more of) a divide in the conference and F$U, Clemson, and VT get out.
The second is that ND struggles once they start playing ACC games, TV ratings drop, especially against ACC teams, and the perception becomes that the ACC is bringing down ND football. ND supporters call for the end of the relationship with the ACC. The ACC is left holding the bag, TV contracts suffer, and the other conferences come in to pick the ACC clean.
This ND thing is not going to end well.
1 4 GT
November 30th, 2012
10:20 pm
Delbert….you are so right about that….I recall listening to a PBR show about Cali real estate a good while back & they were talking about an 800 sq ft house in San Diego selling for $800,000…..
Delbert D.
November 30th, 2012
10:22 pm
Gruden turned down the coaching job at Tennessee *and* an accompanying part ownership in the Cleveland Browns. Looking at it from Gruden’s point of view, I immediately see 2 things wrong with that offer: Tennessee, and Cleveland.
Danny
November 30th, 2012
10:23 pm
Why would GT leave the ACC now? ACC is the best in everything besides football, and on that front they got a little better with the future departure of Maryland and arrival of Louisville. Not to mention that, as a whole, the ACC has very good schools in it.
Toadster
November 30th, 2012
10:28 pm
Delbert, I do not remember “patrick”. I only hope he did not live on San Clemente Island. If he did the the NGFS practice must of been hell! LOL
I always remember “Rick James”. You would think a person with his wealth would have better things to do besides run down Georgia Tech. You’d think he would show some appreciation for all the things provided to him by Engineers. The Bentley comes to mind.
Don’t worry Rick James I for one don’t believe you at all. Good luck with your drug habits.
Delbert D.
November 30th, 2012
10:28 pm
1 4 GT – The first year we lived in California (1972), it was an apartment in Oakland at 10th Avenue and 22nd Street. Local law enforcement was provided by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale and their boys.
GJ
November 30th, 2012
10:32 pm
GT needs to join a High School league
Delbert D.
November 30th, 2012
10:36 pm
Toadster – Well, they would have been firing toward the island and away from the mainland, I think. There was an island in the Hawaii chain, Kahoolawe, that was used for bombing practice when I lived at Pearl Harbor. They would have had to miss really bad to hit us, though.
Prometheus
November 30th, 2012
10:41 pm
The first yr (1968) I lived inCa it was in Pacific Grove, in the house where John Steinbeck had lived. He died that yr or the next, and his picture appeared in the Monterey Newspaper standing in front of our house.
Delbert D.
November 30th, 2012
10:52 pm
Whoa, The Grapes of Wrath was written there? We lived in a rambling older house in New Jersey with my wife’s family the first couple of years I was in the service. The in-laws rented it from the folks that owned a company my mother-in-law (and the rest of the family, at one time or another). A few years ago, Bon Jovi bought the whole property, which a former governor of New jersey had owned. The main house had burned down in the 30s or 40s. Bon Jovi lived in the house while his mansion was built on the property. Derek Jeter lives next door. It’s on Navesink River road across from Red Bank.
Delbert D.
November 30th, 2012
10:55 pm
Whoops, I left out “worked for” at the end of the 3rd sentence.
Toadster
November 30th, 2012
10:56 pm
Delbert, nothing came from San Clemente Island everything was directed at the southern portion. We had people on the island (north side). They transmitted the results by microwave to North Island NAS to avoid Rusky surveillance. I sure hope that’s declassified. Anyway, that was a long time ago yet sometimes seems like a few years ago. Good and bad memories. Anyway, goodnight.
Delbert D.
November 30th, 2012
11:02 pm
Later, Toadster..
fan
November 30th, 2012
11:04 pm
THis bunch of losers are not worthy of the Big Ten. They belong in the Sunbelt, Mid American or even better Division 3. Their haughtiness is revolting.
ODog
November 30th, 2012
11:15 pm
Tech’s athletic dept is broke–no way they can afford to pay a $50 million exit fee or even a $50,000 fee.
Another comment
November 30th, 2012
11:27 pm
Tech would have to find out what a real Engineering School (Purdue) is like. A school where the players have to make the grades. I was a TA at Purdue and Football players did not get any slack.
Those that question Big 10 Basket Ball, have never seen every single game of a Big 10 season in Person. You never witnessed the great Bobby Knight coach. You didn’t go to a school where Gene Keady coached for 20+ season’s because the emphasis is on the student-athelete. Big 10 Basketball is smart defensive basketball, not just run and shoot offensive basketball.
Perhaps GT could recruit better qualified students if they recruited up North or in the midwest. The SAT scores are much better.
Lots of Big Ten Schools are represented here in Atlanta. The top Corporations hire the best and the brightest. They bring us down here out of the Big 10 Schools; Purdue, Michigan and Ohio State.
guy
November 30th, 2012
11:36 pm
Tthe Jackets would be a perfect fit in the Sun Belt Conference.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 30th, 2012
11:41 pm
@ Another Comment—-Purdue is a UNIVERSITY. They offer a much broader curriculum than Tech does, so it’s not exactly right to refer to Purdue as a REAL engineering school. I have no idea whether Tech or Purdue cuts players any slack, but I would imagine many Purdue athletes take the same course that the athletes at UGA take. However, your comment about Tech needing to recruit up north or in the midwest is correct. Tech needs to recruit nationally, not regionally.
Supersize that order, mutt
November 30th, 2012
11:42 pm
guy = silly little girl
Paul in NH
November 30th, 2012
11:59 pm
Prometheus
November 30th, 2012
10:15 pm
Tech’s UGs friends want Tech to leave the ACC, because ACC basketball gives Tech the upper hand. If it’s leaves the ACC, Tech will have nothing on UGa.
———
Unfortunately,basketball is not even a consideration when it comes to the conference realignments – it is all about football. Heck, last year the Big 12 almost broke up and Kansas, one of the top 5 b’ball schools, would have ended up in the Mountain West or Conference USA.
Outside of NC and Duke, ACC b’ball has been in the dumpster for the last 5 years. State looks like it is coming back and FSU has improved but the conference overall is not close to what it used to be.
The ACC won the first 9 ACC-Big 10 challenges but there is little difference between the conferences now.
BILLY MAYS HERE
December 1st, 2012
12:00 am
lol @ all the dum-dums who think “academics” matters at all to SPORTS conferences
BILLY MAYS HERE
December 1st, 2012
12:02 am
Supersize that order, mutt
November 30th, 2012
11:41 pm
@ Another Comment—-Purdue is a UNIVERSITY. They offer a much broader curriculum than Tech does, so it’s not exactly right to refer to Purdue as a REAL engineering school. I have no idea whether Tech or Purdue cuts players any slack, but I would imagine many Purdue athletes take the same course that the athletes at UGA take. However, your comment about Tech needing to recruit up north or in the midwest is correct. Tech needs to recruit nationally, not regionally.
Oh cool a Tech homer desperately trying to one-up freaking Purdue lmao get a life bro
Paul in NH
December 1st, 2012
12:04 am
“Those that question Big 10 Basket Ball, have never seen every single game of a Big 10 season in Person”
Considering that during the Big 10-ACC Challenge, there were games being played at the same time, and this is not an unusual occurence, it is spatiallyand temporally impossible to see every single game of a Big 10 season in person.
What the heck do they teach people at Purdue?
BILLY MAYS HERE
December 1st, 2012
12:07 am
This is why no one cares about Georgia Tech football, you morons are discussing SAT scores in earnest as if that has ever mattered to anyone who watches football.
“Well, Clemson might be a better team athletically… but our guys are smarter!
*gets rolled for 20 by Middle Tennessee*
BILLY MAYS HERE
December 1st, 2012
12:13 am
Danny
November 30th, 2012
10:23 pm
ACC is the best in everything besides football,
WHO CARES
Supersize that order, mutt
December 1st, 2012
12:19 am
@ Milly May…..get a life, little girl
Supersize that order, mutt
December 1st, 2012
12:20 am
By the way, nobody here has to try to “one up” Purdue. Purdue is a fine UNIVERSITY. But Ga Tech is one of the top engineering schools in the world. Deal with it, Milly May
Supersize that order, mutt
December 1st, 2012
12:24 am
While I’m at it, since Milly May is obviously a dwag, Purdue is a better university than UGA
BILLY MAYS HERE
December 1st, 2012
12:54 am
Supersize that order, mutt
December 1st, 2012
12:19 am
@ Milly May…..get a life, little girl
Grade school flame
BILLY MAYS HERE
December 1st, 2012
12:58 am
Oh, I see what you did. You changed around a couple of letters and called me a girl. Funny. Clever.
Gopher4ever
December 1st, 2012
1:01 am
You all don’t understand how the TV deal works for the Big Ten Network. Essentially, the BTN gets subscriber fees of about ten cents if it is on a paid sports tier network. It gets about 80 cents if it is part of a basic tier. This is regardless of how many people watch the channel. The BTN makes additional money selling ads which is ratings based. Most outside of the Big Ten don’t realize Fox Sports owns 51% of the BTN. Fox is also starting a national sports channel next year to rival ESPN. It is Fox’s intention to bundle the BTN, YES & their new sports channel in the NY market to get on basic tier.
I don’t think the Atlanta market will be as easy to happen…but if Fox is going to bundle their sports packages like that in Atlanta, GaTech makes perfect sense for that market…just like MD did for DC.
The reason the Big 12 has no interest in adding FSU or any other ACC team is because they have a sweetheart deal right now. They make 20 mil per school off their current TV deal. If they add more schools, each school gets a smaller peice…regardless of TV sets or ratings. A FB championship game wouldn’t make enough of an impact to add two more teams. Plus, TX has its own TV network and all the Big 12 schools are locked in for 10 years and can’t leave the conference (signed away all their TV rights so nobody would want them).
The SEC is a fine football conference but doesn’t hold a candle to the Big Ten in academics, on any measure. The Big Ten is made up of large, mostly public state universities that have a combined annual research income of over $500 million. The money our member universities make off of research and public/private enterprise is more than double what we make in athletics…and what we make in athletics as a conference is more than any other.
Joining the Big Ten would be the best thing to ever happen to GaTech both academically and athletically. BTW – our 16th school after GaTech will be Kansas not UNC.
BILLY MAYS HERE
December 1st, 2012
1:09 am
Gopher4ever
December 1st, 2012
1:01 am
The SEC is a fine football conference but doesn’t hold a candle to the Big Ten in academics, on any measure.
Awesome, another rube who thinks academics matters one iota to athletic conferences.
You people must be a blast to watch college football with.
Just A Dawg Fan
December 1st, 2012
1:24 am
Tech needs to find a conference that they can win like AA high school!
List Mama » Georgia Tech denies Big Ten rumors – ESPN (blog)
December 1st, 2012
3:05 am
[...] football-crazed Atlanta market. The ACC is trying to strengthen itself as much as possible …UPDATED: Tech denies Big Ten rumorsAtlanta Journal Constitution (blog)Georgia Tech approved by Big Ten to become 15th member?Land-Grant [...]
InterestedObserver
December 1st, 2012
4:25 am
We are facing the elimination of the ACC as a major conference. Maryland is already gone. Florida State and Clemson are probably headed to the Big 12. The SEC is waiting to pick off Virginia Tech and NC State. Georgia Tech and possibly North Carolina or Duke would be good catches for the Big 10. With the 4 team football playoff coming the big 4 will be the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, and Pac 12. There is no room at the table for a 5th or 6th hand.
Fair n Balanced
December 1st, 2012
4:31 am
If Vandy gets more difficult to beat then we want Tech back in the SEC!
luvthemountains
December 1st, 2012
4:43 am
Hey Gopher4ever. That was a nice little rant you had going on there, but I must correct you on one thing and show you were you contradict yourself big time. First, the GOR’s (grant of rights) for the Big 12 is 13 years. You state no one wants a school from the Big 12 for that reason. You are spot on with that statemene. You contradict yourself by saying that school #16 will not be UNC, but Kansas. As of today, Kansas is in the Big 12
you can't fix stupid or bulldogs
December 1st, 2012
5:27 am
Here in SEC country where 90% of their fans live in single wides and basketball in their minds is a stop between football and the Braves. Make the move take the money!
Toxic
December 1st, 2012
7:08 am
By combining their resources Big Ten schools bring in billions (yes billions) of dollars of federal grant money that dwarfs the millions of dollars made by the Big Ten channel and football. Getting a piece of this pie will be a major reason GA Tech joins the Big 10.
Paddy
December 1st, 2012
7:41 am
This may be way to simplistic but if the president of GT says there is nothing to the Big Ten rumor, I tend to believe him!
dawgfan
December 1st, 2012
7:51 am
Its simply absurd that this is even a story and the president of the school has to issue a statement on it. These rumors have never been anything other than wishful thinking out of delusional Tech fans. Now the Techies will spin in it to make it sound like they have no interest in the Big 10, when in reality the Big 10 has no interest in them. They’d jump ship in a heartbeat if the opportunity arose. This is a common Techie spin tactic you see alot of in recruiting. Tech fans pretend they aren’t that interested in 5 star recruits because, according to Tech fans, they are all too dumb to hack it academically at the “Institute.” The reality is that there are plenty of 5 star recruits smart enough for a management degree at Tech. They just don’t want anything to do with Tech’s half azzed joke of a football program. Tech fans should get in to politics. They can slice and dice the truth with the best of ‘em.
Georgia Tech=JOKE
dry dirt road
December 1st, 2012
8:14 am
The Big 10 is a midwestern conference, and Tech is on the Atlantic Coast. The Big 10 is a farmer conference that grows ‘em big, such as Iowa was. They have Iowa, Nebraska, Indiana, and Wisconsin farm states. Tech would also not be competitive with any those teams, not anywhere near. Tech’s offense would get blown out of the stadiums like they did against farm Georgia.
Game Changer
December 1st, 2012
8:22 am
Ga Tech has an opportunity to rejoin the SEC when two team expansion occurs.
Still think North Carolina Tar Heels and Miami Hurricanes should be the two additions and send Missouri to the West.
Toadster
December 1st, 2012
8:22 am
“Its simply absurd”
Yes you are dawgfan.
Bob
December 1st, 2012
8:23 am
well if they are making a …strong denial …then you know it’s the truth.