Radakovich’s exit shows disparity between Tech, Georgia
The financial issues that Dan Radakovich dealt with at Tech won't be an issue at Clemson. (AP photo)
It’s almost always about money. There may be other factors in changing jobs: Going back home, returning to an alma mater, or, as Dan Radakovich said Tuesday, having the desire to “get into a collegiate environment. I hadn’t had the opportunity to be in a pure college town.”
A nice sentiment. But primarily it’s still about the money, either what one can make or one can spend.
When Radakovich resigned from the athletic director’s job at Georgia Tech for the same position at Clemson, it said as much about his former employer than his new one. Radakovich won’t have to sell a ticket or plead with donors at Clemson, which is what he had to do at Tech. The pressure for victories and the chase for dollars is greater than ever in college athletes – too great, actually, but that’s a topic for another column – and right now Tech just isn’t all that attractive.
Radakovich won’t say that. But he’ll use words like “challenges” and “difficulties.” He was weary of trying to get people to “jump off the connector” in hopes he could alter their perceptions of what the metro campus looked like. He won’t criticize Tech’s high academic requirements or limited number of majors, but he’ll amplify on the difficulty coaches have to convince recruits that the school can provide an “enriching” experience.
That’s why he was so driven to improve and add facilities. “Sometimes they [recruits] make their decision first with their eyes,” he said.
Here’s the problem: While Radakovich denies also that the Tech AD position is a “steppingstone” job, relative to others in major college athletics, that’s basically what he just affirmed by leaving one ACC job for another, just two hours up the interstate. He is close with Clemson’s retiring AD, Terry Don Phillips, and had coveted the impending vacancy for several months.
Greg McGarity knows what drives Radakovich and what wears on him (or any athletic director). (Curtis Compton/AJC)
None of this bodes well for the perception of Tech on the college sports landscape, and we haven’t addressed the ever-present shadow cast by the beast in Athens. Georgia and Georgia Tech are different campuses with different missions. But they’re rival programs in close proximity of each other. The financial situations at the two athletic departments are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
According to the Equity in Athletics database, which tracks budgets of every collegiate athletic program, Tech’s sports teams had total revenues of $46,910,364 for the one-year period ending June 30, 2012. Georgia was nearly double that at $91,670,613.
Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said he wasn’t surprised by Radakovich’s exit. The two have known each other for years and speak often. He knows what drives the man. “When he was at American University, he missed the bright lights of big-time college athletics,” McGarity said.
He also knows what can wear down an athletic director.
“The financial challenges to run a college athletic program are much more difficult at some institutions than others,” McGarity said. “When you have a strong fan base and full stadiums and when you have a tremendous level of support, it makes your job easier from a fundraising standpoint. Financial circumstances can be taxing mentally. You’re always worrying about where the next dollar will come from. It wears on athletic directors just as it wears on anyone. There’s a constant pressure.”
Radakovich was back in his Edge Athletic Center office Tuesday for some desk cleanout. Asked about the challenges of running athletics at the Institute, he didn’t hesitate: “Always looking at ways to get people to consistently come to the stadium and the venues. When we’re winning, attendance is good. When we’re OK, attendance is OK. When we’re not winning, attendance falls. The challenge is to create a bigger core. We tried a lot of things to get that to happen.”
Some have characterized Radakovich’s decision to leave as “jumping ship.” That’s overstatement. Tech isn’t in financial straits. The football team, while struggling, isn’t devastated. But his departure is a reality check for the school.
Radakovich tries to minimize Georgia comparisons, saying, “The comparisons aren’t fair because the schools aren’t chartered the same, and they don’t have the same level of resources athletically. … Georgia has been up the street for the last 100 years. It’s a factor. It’s something that you have to manage each and every day. But it doesn’t make the list of why we do what we do.”
He was still saying “we” Tuesday. A day earlier, he was putting on a bright orange sports jacket at a news conference. “We” is past tense. And the jacket he put on Monday might as well have been green.
By Jeff Schultz
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
517 comments Add your comment
Mike S.
October 30th, 2012
5:37 pm
The only way Tech will have a better season next year is if the D does a 180 and starts holding teams to under 20 pts per game. I mean conference foes they have to beat, not paycheck games.
JB at home
October 30th, 2012
5:38 pm
After reading this blog, I kinda get the 4 cokes 4 hot dogs campaign…..and I’m not poking fun. Trying to put fannies in the seats, D’Rad was sick seeing 5-15K tickets go not purchased. That’s a lot of money x 6 homes games.
Cause
October 30th, 2012
5:39 pm
Youre gonna tell me that youre happy with CPJ. At least Uga is playing for SEC championships the last 2 years. How long has CPJ been at Tech? How many times have you beaten youre in state rival?
Skeptic
October 30th, 2012
5:42 pm
The writing is on the wall guys. New AD= New football coach=New attitude in Atlanta. What are you gonna do?
I agree with this. Too many keystrokes addressing this topic. It’s not rocket science; I know this because I am a rocket scientist. Ebb and Flow, just like the weather. Currently, it’s ebb.
GTBob
October 30th, 2012
5:43 pm
How long has CPJ been at Tech? How many times have you beaten youre in state rival?
If we base our hiring and firing decisions solely on beating UGA then we will have a new coach every 3 years and we will never get anywhere. There is no point in chasing some impossible dream.
Tech Engineer
October 30th, 2012
5:44 pm
ADRAD LEFT tECH WITH HUGE DEBT THAT WILL HURT tECH FOR YEARS. HE IS NOT HONEST WHICH IS WHY HE CAUSED TECH TO VACATE THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIP. HE MUST HAVE LIED TO CLEMSON. THREE FOURTH OF UGA PLAYERS ARE SPECIAL ADMITS. TECH IS UNABLE TO RECRUIT THOSE PLAYERS.AND THAT MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO COMPETE. THE AJC REPORTED SEVERAL YEARS AGO THAT TECH PLAYERS HAD THE HIGHEST SAT OF ANY DIVSION 1 SCHOOL IN THE COUNTRY. UGA PLAYERS WERE WAY DOWN THE RANKING..
GTBob
October 30th, 2012
5:45 pm
After reading this blog, I kinda get the 4 cokes 4 hot dogs campaign…..and I’m not poking fun.
The campaign didn’t do anything and it made us look stupid. We can’t even get our students to go to games and they get in free. Offering ticket and food deals is pointless.
Bark Bark
October 30th, 2012
5:47 pm
So, if there is such disparity what is the point of writing the column?
JB at home
October 30th, 2012
5:49 pm
No, I think if the Tech TICKET HOLDERS were polled about Johnson, they( President) would be shocked. As with Richt, you allow a good coach a bad year, what you look for in a sliding trend. Richt has been own one ( lost every game last year that anyone cared about except Tech). Tech football fans are smart and savvy and they see the trend. It’s showing this year bad. He’ll have a year or two to prove all wrong.
pb
October 30th, 2012
5:51 pm
Well,maybe Bark, Bark, the point is that maybe something can be done to fix the disparity? Or maybe not. But it is still news to some people.
JB at home
October 30th, 2012
5:52 pm
@5:44… you are wrong about the special admits to UGA. That would be Auburn and such. Jan Kemp cleaned that up. Georgia operates on a higher standard than most of our SEC foes say Vandy. Look it up. You’re smart. Don’t just be a hater.
JB at home
October 30th, 2012
5:55 pm
Also, I could list the Tech Athletes of recent lore that couldn’t spell Kat if you spotted them the K…LOL LOL
GB's Hamburgers
October 30th, 2012
5:57 pm
All this can be fixed if Tech can come back into the SEC. Atlanta is the capital of the New South putting Tech smack in the geographical middle of the SEC. It has natural, nearby SEC rivals to fill the stadium for every game. It’s time to bury the hatchet and do this. I think Clemson should be the other team. Hell, lets trade the ACC Vanderbilt and Kentucky. They are a better ACC fit.
JB at home
October 30th, 2012
5:59 pm
Tech in the SEC =Vandy. swap The Dukes on their schedule to Fla,LSU,Tenn,Bama, Texas A&M…etc……… please.
Skeptic
October 30th, 2012
6:00 pm
Bark Bark
October 30th, 2012
5:47 pm
So, if there is such disparity what is the point of writing the column?
I think it’s probably to sell newspapers?
Separate subject: does anyone even read the print AJC anymore? I’m only on here because I like AJC Sports and I’m WAAAAAAY OTP.
GTBob
October 30th, 2012
6:02 pm
It has natural, nearby SEC rivals to fill the stadium for every game.
The solution to Tech’s troubles is to have opposing teams fans fill up our stadium?
Vince
October 30th, 2012
6:02 pm
I matriculated first ( for 6 Quarters) at Tech, transferred to UGA and finished there. I found the curriculum at UGA to be just as challenging as at Tech. UGA is very well thought of in the academic theater, don’t fool yourself. You people championing the correlation of endowment to academics need to do some further research on the matter.
GTBob
October 30th, 2012
6:03 pm
Tech in the SEC =Vandy.
Sadly this is true. We would probably be worse then Vandy after about 10 years.
Buzz 2011
October 30th, 2012
6:13 pm
Maybe we could move up at Tech Jeff! How about that fine AD that was booted from
UGA? Damon Evans perhaps!!! What a joke ! There is indeed a great disparity between Tech
and Athens high.. You need brains and athletic skills to get into GT. ..Where is Athens???
Herchel
October 30th, 2012
6:13 pm
Where were these excuses when Dodd was at Yech? Have the standards been raised? We are constantly berated with claims that Yech grads are in a different wage stratosphere. Why aren’t they contributing? Oh, I forgot. Most are Chinese, and don’t care about football.
SoCal Dawg
October 30th, 2012
6:17 pm
GTBob I agree with one of your earlier thoughts. I wish UGA would stop playing Tech and add Clemson.
Skeptic
October 30th, 2012
6:21 pm
Herchel
October 30th, 2012
6:13 pm
Oh, I forgot. Most are Chinese, and don’t care about football.
—————————————-
Now, that right there is slap funny
230gr Full Metal Jacket
October 30th, 2012
6:22 pm
I’ve been a staunch CPJ backer for several years, but even I am beginning to sense that a major shake-up may be needed. With next years squad talent should not be an issue, barring unforseen injuries to key personel. There are some VERY good football players that are sitting with redshirts at Tech. CPJ is horribly outdated in his thinking on that. IF they are really that good of ball players, they won’t be around for 4 years so why worry so much about burning a year of eligibility?? When you have freshmen like Kallon, Gotsis (who actually has played a bit, but not enough reps), Thomas, Allen, etc on the sidelines either you are a very deep team like Bama, or you are delusional and need to get those guys some meaningful playing time so that when they are starters next year they won’t be green. Can this wreck be turned around? Absolutely! But it’s going to take a good young, aggressive DC who prefers a 4-3, and a good charismatic AD who understands how to market his product. If next season goes ANYTHING like this season, then a new head coach will also be required — but I still feel that CPJ should be given through the end of the 2013 season anyway.Let him hire a DC and bring up the newer/better recruits for next season. But if that doesn’t turn things around (and by turning around I’m not expecting an undefeated season — but I AM expecting Tech to be competitive and be at worst the #2 team in the Coastal division) then it will indeed be time to end the CPJ experiment and move forward — although I honestly can’t think of anyone out there who would be any better that would consider taking the job. Maybe some hungry young coordinator looking to become a HC? Time will tell. But right now it’s even tougher than usual being a Tech fan, and the football program has bottomed out (I hope!).
Rick James
October 30th, 2012
6:26 pm
@GTBob
Funny how we never heard that excuse when Tech football was relevant.
Things were different in the 1950’s.
—————————————————————————————————–
Seriously Bob as I say to you all of the time I hate it when you pretend to be stupid to validate your point..I guess Tech footbal was irrelevant when you split the national championship in early 90’s.
Ignition
October 30th, 2012
6:29 pm
As an outsider but having many friends that have attended both institutions I feel I can offer a different perspective. I’m not a fan of UGA at all but that’s mostly due to their fanbase not the institution or its athletes, I have little respect for them as a whole, however the blanket the state of Georgia because UGA has been more consistent and there is a since relatablity that GT does not have.
GT has NOT embraced Atlanta properly when it comes to football. The coaches particularly CPJ is brash and arrogant, they do nothing on local FM or even AM radio to promote themselves. Where is the outreach to area schools in the inner city, Dekalb, Gwinnet, Clayton, ect. What about the little league programs that are popular accross the Metro Area. Frank Ski’s youth program plays in Panthersville stadium, so does Dion’s.. If they can’t actually have games on the field why not offer tickets to feel the stands. These types of simply solutions builds brand awareness and loyalty longterm and short. Emory doesn’t and probable never field a D1 football team market to them and open up the campus. You feel the stadium with kids that can spend money on concessions and merchandising.
Atlanta is a big beautiful diverse city that Tech is lucky to be right smack in the middle of, embrace that whole heartedly ..
Destin Dawg
October 30th, 2012
6:36 pm
college towns are ALOT more fun than urban getto crime problems… my friends kid had his car stolen 3 TIMES in 2 years while in grad school at GT….
Destin Dawg
October 30th, 2012
6:39 pm
Ignition… you must life OUTSIDE the perimeter.. you couldn’t be a college grad.. or can’t type ??
fact check
October 30th, 2012
6:41 pm
flagboy-
“Many tech people believe that their choice of university/institute proves some sort of intellectual superiority. ”
I didn’t graduate from Tech, but it’s true. People who graduate from Tech do have “intellectual superiority.” If you don’t have it, you don’t graduate from there. That’s just the way it is – like it or not.
230gr Full Metal Jacket
October 30th, 2012
6:42 pm
Nice false stereotype/racial slur there Herschel — did your Mommy teach you that one?
How about some basic reality?
One in six Tech grads IS a Millionaire. I’ve never seen stats on UGA for that , but I suspect lesss than one in every 1,000 graduates from UGA accomplishes that (based on knowing literally several hundred UGA grads).
UGA has more foreign students than Tech, both in raw numbers and percentages. But don’t let basic facts interefere with the trailerpark hate fest!
Have standards been raised since Dodd’s days? Yes they have, although not by too much. The primary difference is that while approximately 75% of UGA football players are “special admission” cases (ie. they would be inadmissable to the school if they had to actually meet the same minimum academic requirements as regular students — who have to actually pay for their school, but I digress), at Tech there are NO special admissions cases allowed. Just look at your namesake — I have met Herschel many times, and my sister tutored him in English while he was at UGA — he is an incredibly nice guy, but dumber than a box of rocks. Buck Belue was even worse — I know a bunch of UGA alumni who had classes with Belue, Lyndsey Scott, etc and they will ALL tell you that NONE of those players EVER attended a class!! Some little geeky guy used to always answer as “Buck Belue” and took all of the tests for Belue (I’m sure the kid got payed well!) according to my sister and some of her classmates. This kind of garbage was common under Dooley, and is still commonplace in most football factories/General State universities. Unfortunately, Tech has always taken a slightly different path and it shows on the field. If decreased athletic performance is the price to be paid for academic excellence — and the financial rewards that come with the degree — then so be it. That is a good trade to ANY rational person.
Now get back to work, they need a clean-up on aisle 6 where some drunk frat boy puked!
Wal-Mart Retards
October 30th, 2012
6:50 pm
Good article. Final assessment : DRAD is a loser and a traitor and UGA is almost as bad as Clemson.
Skeptic
October 30th, 2012
6:55 pm
230gr Full Metal Jacket
October 30th, 2012
6:42 pm
One in six Tech grads IS a Millionaire.
———————————————————–
Damn. One of the remaining 5. I’m always left out.
And, doggone, 230-grain? What are you carrying, .45 Long Colt? Better ditch the FMJ in the ATL and get some JHP.
Beast from the East
October 30th, 2012
7:00 pm
Hire Dooley from UT as the next AD and save them the trouble of firing him at the end of the year.
Bob
October 30th, 2012
7:02 pm
Interesting comments. I teach at a college in Georgia and I also wonder how students that are able to enter college have actually graduated from high school. Not just athletes. That’s why I’m voting “yes” for charter schools…our public school system is rife with union featherbedding and needs some competition. Your/my tax dollars need to be better spent. Just my learned opinion.
230gr Full Metal Jacket
October 30th, 2012
7:05 pm
Destin Dawg — And 4 of my friends daughters were raped(BY OTHER STUDENTS!!) in their dorm rooms while students at UGA, so what’s your point?
Check the stats — the on-campus crime rate is higher at UGA than at Tech, especially the rates of violent crime. Sad, but 100% true. The issue for Tech is not the campus, but some of the surrounding neighborhoods. But hey, if you don’t have enough street smarts to take care of yourself around Atlanta, then Tech isn’t a good choice for you anyway. Not to knock Athens — I had many, many fun nights up there when I was in college — but the false stereotype being perpetuated by most UGA trolls about crime at Tech is just that, a false stereotype. The crime rate around Tech is no higher than it is anywhere else in Atlanta. You just have to use a bit of common sense when you go walking around late at night in ANY major city. Yes, there are more opportunities to get yourself in trouble in Atlanta than Athens — and there are also vastly greater opportunities to do virtually anything else. Take away UGA and Athens is just another little hick town. Not much to do there but drink, copulate, and go to football games in the fall. Atlanta, on the other hand, offers chances to do pretty much anything one could imagine. And despite the false claims by UGA homers, there are several thousand times as many women in proximity to Tech as there are in Athens (I love it when some ignorant fool tries to make the “Athens has more women” argument, lol). I guess I just don’t understand the whole appeal of a so-called “University experience in a college town”. I guess that is appealing to farm kids and those from rural backgrounds, but why would anyone else want to go to some small hick town where the police constantly harass students and you are effectively limited to interaction with only other students from your same school. I just don’t see the appeal, but to each his/her own I suppose.
Anyway, good luck to UGA for the rest of the season. I’ve already written off Tech for this year and besides, it’s deer season so who has time to waste watching children play a game with a ball in front of a stadium full of drunks??? But Kudos to the dawgs, they are playing some good ball this season!!
230gr Full Metal Jacket
October 30th, 2012
7:09 pm
Skeptic, I generally prefer Federal Hydro-shocks or home-rolled JHP’s in my acp (1911 or Glock 21 usually) for carry — THAT is why I don’t ever have any fear being around Tech’s campus, lol. Kudos to you though — I think you are the first one on here who has ever understood what my username was refering to!!!!!
230gr Full Metal Jacket
October 30th, 2012
7:10 pm
And ya, skeptic — I’m one of those 5 too
DogZ
October 30th, 2012
7:14 pm
tech–in a bad area of town, with ghettos on either side, robberies on or near the campus every week, low budget, small fan base, and mediocre facilities. Rad wanted big time sports, millions more in budget to work with and a safe environment to work in—it’s a no brainer why he left.
Wal-Mart Retards
October 30th, 2012
7:17 pm
Tech is still better than UGA by a mile.
Skeptic
October 30th, 2012
7:22 pm
230gr FMJ
I don’t understand how you can (rightly) accuse UGAs calling us stereotypes (nerds, etc) and turn around and call them hicks? I guarantee I’m more of a hick than any UGA, and I’m a Tech cum laude eng grad. I’m sure you’ll agree you can’t run around sticking labels on folks. You just never know.
Atlanta IS scary now. As a student, I used to go running (for exercise) on a route that included Techwood to Marietta St at midnight just 25 years or so ago. These days, you can’t even make a “V” run after dark. The city needs to clean up it’s act before you can use it as an selling point for students/recruits.
abby normal
October 30th, 2012
7:25 pm
OK, Jeff, I get your point. My question is: How did Tech do it so well during the Bobby Dodd years as opposed to now?
bill
October 30th, 2012
7:31 pm
BobDawg: That is one of the BEST lines I have ever heard. Driving cows to Alabama.
Pete
October 30th, 2012
7:32 pm
Radakovich got out from under the impossible BB coach contract and has built them a great new BB facility. The next AD should be more of a salesperson, both in terms of making Tech attractive for athletes and sports attractive to Atlantans. If CPJ was more successful recruiting he’d have more success. I’m not sure if that is something the AD can help with.
Atlanta is no “cesspool” but the campus does need to be made more safe.
Ignition
October 30th, 2012
7:35 pm
UGA’s international student population is 4%
It’s Black population 5%
When combined with other minorities it barely reaches past 10%
The football team is over 70% and many come to Atlanta to have fun and hangout. Athen doesn’t offer anything other than hopeful trip to the NFL, a marginalized degree if that for many, or an expensive waste of time as they return home with neither the rest. Many of these “ghettos” Destin, Muray, and many other Dawg fans refer to these players call home and are recruited from which further illustrates simple minded narrow view mentality that I absolutely hate, under educated and unitellectual.
http://education-portal.com/articles/Georgia_GA_Colleges_and_Universities.html
Comparing Athens to Atlanta is absurd and ridiculous.
Ignition
October 30th, 2012
7:42 pm
I don’t believe you Skeptic. If you actually finished Tech you would know that West Midtown is far from scary and one of the more expensive areas of the city. Complete fiction, lying on your keyboard, please stay far away from Atlanta we don’t need or desire your kind in the city at all..
Big athletic Black guys are shaking in their boots about being in Midtown Atlanta.
Tech hater from day one
October 30th, 2012
7:46 pm
All you cowboys who are not Techies are a piece of self serving, sacrimonious, disingenuous cake. If you are a true Tech Hater, you should own up to your stripes. I was accepted to tech when I applied, but I went to another school because the Tech campus was a disaster at the time, and still is. The authorities can’t make the environs FEEL safe, let alone make it safe. The Tech program has been a has been from the 60’s. So, why cry over this? Do so, if you are a blithering crybaby…
chilidawg
October 30th, 2012
7:49 pm
GTBob: Fewer armed robberies per student would be at the top of the list, but you knew that was coming.
Titus
October 30th, 2012
7:51 pm
Schultz, you are an amatuer writer at best and only good for grandstanding and feeding the idiotic masses. You expound about money but do you realize that Tech’s endowment, at 1.6B is triple the size of UGAs? Fly away Clarice….bye now
Skeptic
October 30th, 2012
7:58 pm
Hey, Ignition
Don’t worry about me staying away, I will. I come home to visit kinfolk regularly, and to get my oil changed at the “V”, but otherwise I’m safe and sound in flyover country. Don’t even know where my housekey is. But I do like to keep up with Tech news. All the best to you.
dick whiskey
October 30th, 2012
7:59 pm
tech players ten years from now will be making well into six figures in corporate america, geogia players in ten years will be asking the age old question “would you like to supersize that order”
Ignition
October 30th, 2012
8:06 pm
Skeptic Thank You
We Atlantans will continue to build a diverse, cosmopolitan, worldclass, international city..
But please feel free to continue to visit and invest your tax dollars..