Tech AD Radakovich still has a job; for that, he’s a lucky man
Demaryius Thomas holds a list, but you'll note it's not a list of infractions. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
The strongest sanction in the NCAA arsenal — and we should stipulate this was one sanction not levied against Georgia Tech — is the “show-cause” penalty. When a coach is found to have committed egregious violations (two examples: Dave Bliss and Kelvin Sampson), he’s banned for a number of years and any member institution seeking to hire him during that span must convince the NCAA it has good reason.
I mention this because I’ve been thinking: If the NCAA said, “We want you, M. Bradley, to show cause as to why Dan Radakovich should remain athletic director at Tech,” I’m not sure I could.
This isn’t easy for me to say. I like Radakovich. Until Thursday, I rated him among the brightest stars in his industry. But the department Radakovich heads turned what should have been a one-week tempest into a 20-month ordeal that has yielded four years’ probation, a $100,000 fine and a vacated ACC title.
Even the NCAA sounded a note of incredulity. From its press release: “The university’s failure to cooperate and meet the obligations of membership compounded the seriousness of the case by adding onto what was originally an isolated instance of impermissible benefits and preferential treatment.”
As late as this spring, Tech still believed this case could amount to no more than a secondary violation. This tells us Tech had no idea what was happening, which is a dire indictment. Radakovich has been in this job since 2006 and has spent all but four years of his adult life working for NCAA institutions. This is the man who should have been steering, not asking, “Which way looks good to y’all?”
It’s clear he got bad advice, but Radakovich was (and remains) the guy in charge. He gets paid to safeguard his athletic association. Given that Radakovich had fired coaches Chan Gailey and Paul Hewitt despite the onerous contracts negotiated by predecessor Dave Braine, this AD seemed capable of acing any test. He flunked this final.
In a 25-minute phone conversation Friday, Radakovich was asked if he felt he’d let Tech down. His response: “The circumstances around this have caused a lot of consternation, not only with me, but within the department. I take this very seriously. I know there was no intent to hinder the investigation, but the NCAA enforcement committee doesn’t see it that way. That’s a blow to my integrity.”
If you read the committee on infractions’ 26-page report, you’ll have a hard time grasping how a case that began with the NCAA checking on a football player’s cellphone and his use of complimentary tickets could lead to such heavy penalties because a different player was found to have accepted $312 of clothing. (FYI, most of the clothing given to Demaryius Thomas was never worn and is housed in a cabinet at Tech.) From Point A to Point H to Point W?
Conceded Radakovich: “It’s not cut and dried. It’s not as simple as some cases.”
I get that part. What I also get is that the NCAA got ticked at Tech — not just at former Institute counsel Randy Nordin and what it called his “obstructionist reproach,” but also with the AD.
Said Radakovich: “I don’t personally think I angered the NCAA. I think the NCAA and this particular investigator were miffed when I did not follow his instruction to our compliance director.”
Radakovich told football coach Paul Johnson what was coming. Investigator Marcus Wilson had asked that Radakovich not say anything. Said Radakovich: [The NCAA believed] this action impeded their investigation. We maintain that it did not.”
Then: “This [don't-say-anything order] may have come up a hundred times [in other cases], but it certainly wasn’t highlighted. It goes back to how the individual investigator chooses to handle it. It is procedural.”
And that’s Tech’s defense: That its error was procedural, as opposed to conspiratorial. Said Radakovich: “There was no clandestine meeting, no conspiracy to pull together a story. That stuff didn’t happen.”
Why did he tell Johnson? “I was going off previous experience I’d had … I did it consciously.” Then: “I need to have a relationship with coaches. That’s important in being able to run a department. What would my relationship [with Johnson] have been like if I hadn’t said anything? That’s the part that gets lost.”
The NCAA made hay of Tech’s failure to comply with its request. The committee on infractions noted that, because it lacks subpoena power, “the successful adjudication of infractions cases is heavily dependent on the good faith efforts and, most importantly, the full and complete cooperation of member institutions and other involved parties under investigation by the enforcement staff. ”
Translated: We might not be able to make an agent come testify, but if you work at one of our institutions you’d better do as we say.
Said Radakovich: “We didn’t do — Georgia Tech didn’t do — some things very well.”
That doesn’t quite go far enough. This was a howling case of mismanagement — “A cautionary tale of conduct that member institutions should avoid,” the NCAA deemed it — from a school that has, of all things, a college of management.
Asked if he had offered his resignation to Tech president Bud Peterson, Radakovich said: “No, I did not. Was not asked and didn’t offer.”
Then: “The lesson learned from all of this is that when you get that inquiry, the initial phone call is to bring in someone like a Chuck Smrt [a former NCAA investigator who now counsels those being investigated and who was retained by Tech] … someone who is skilled in that kind of forum. You need a different set of eyes. As good as any university attorney is, this is not their forte.”
In 2006 a Tech coach said, “If Tech people understand anything, it’s business.” The next day Gailey’s team lost the ACC title to Wake Forest in the worst game ever played. Fifty-one weeks later, Radakovich fired Gailey. Two years after that, a different Tech coach won the conference title. This week the crowning achievement of this AD’s most notable hire was forfeited because the AD and his department didn’t follow procedure.
I’m not a Tech grad, but I wouldn’t call that good business. I’d say it’s close to being a firing offense.
By Mark Bradley
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291 comments Add your comment
blazer
July 15th, 2011
4:19 pm
the game was played and we still won!!
YellowJacket
July 15th, 2011
4:20 pm
Does Murdoch own this newspaper?
mrb
July 15th, 2011
4:24 pm
Mark- You’re way off base on this one. Bad decision to not allow someone with more experience to handle the issue? Certainly…..in retrospect. But from what I can infer, this seems pretty clear to me. Some NCAA dork bureaucrat didn’t “like” the fact that Tech didn’t play nice, so he arbitrailly smacks the program with a big ‘ol incriminating report and fine and takes away the ACC Championship. I admit, I haven’t read the report and don’t intend to. Does it say that any of our players were ultimately ruled ineligible?
Bottom line, I think the NCAA is out of hand and this kind of ruling does not help their credibility. But what do they have to lose, right? They get to make an example out of Tech. Tech will appeal, and in my opinion may very well win that appeal. But there won’t be any big headlines when that happens, will there? If that happens, it won’t make the front page, will it? And I doubt you’ll write a story about it, because nobody will care by that point, right?
And by the way, all of you sanctimonious Dawg fans who have been barking about how well you handled the AJ Green deal, ask yourselves one question: If that had gone down three weeks before the SEC Championship, would you have been in favor of sitting a guy who may or may not have “benefited” to the tune of a couple hundred bucks, and therefore, may or may not be ineligible? Thought so.
tar and feathers party
July 15th, 2011
4:26 pm
Exterminate the NCAA! Stinking English professors, fire them all! A pack of worthless deadbeats!
tar and feathers party
July 15th, 2011
4:27 pm
I hope the ajc folds real soon, so we can yell FIRE MARK!
Atlien
July 15th, 2011
4:29 pm
Why hasn’t anyone from the media picked up on the fact that the allegations came 4 days before the UGA-GT game?
Telling Johnson is not against NCAA rules. Being mean to the investigator, or discrediting him is apparently.
Alabama Jack
July 15th, 2011
4:30 pm
Damn I thought St. Mark referred to Richt. Obviously it is the title of the all-knowing all-seeing Mark Bradley. Thanks for sharing your infinite wisdom with us, o holy one. Maybe get on your pony and ride.
Blah, blah, blah
July 15th, 2011
4:30 pm
Hey Jackets, allow me to put this NCAA stuff in full perspective:
I emailed a friend of mine who is a huge Wisconsin and Big 10 fan and he lives in Wauwatosa, Wisc. Big college football fan he is. He can always name the fabled top 10 from week to week and is loaded with opinions on college ball and of course, The PACK.
We discussed back and forth all kinds of sports stuff and I asked about his thoughts on the GT probation thing with the NCAA. He said “I have no opinion, I mean are they not like in some lower level classification”? He really had no opinion because GT is irrelevant outside of Fulton, Cobb, maybe Paulding County and Dekalb County, Ga.
GT ………………….. some saving grace in all of this is, if you are on a Delta flight and were to mention your alma mater as GT, they would say great. Good school, because byond that ………………….NO ONE follows GT sports.
You all at GT are taking this far too seriously. Gee, go hit a golf ball this weekend or hoist the sails on your boat at the lake. I plan to do both.
UGA man, class of 71 & 73
Paul N Destin
July 15th, 2011
4:31 pm
Folks the NCAA is slowly plodding along blasting team after team in order to get college football back on track! UNC,UT and OSU will get clobbered in the very near future as well but the Big Nuke will take place in Auburn but not until these other 3 are completed. Shame on the AD for playing the Hootie Ingram and Gene Stallings GTFO of my office card with the NCAA. As you recall Auburn played this card last fall before the UGA with Cam and the payback will be really something when the NCAA finally gets to Auburn. There is no excuse for what just happened at GT…none. The AD should resign on his own if he had any honor but hey honor is yesterday’s news in this country. Look no further than DC and you see a collective bunch of weak azz slackers without a doubt no character.
GSU
July 15th, 2011
4:34 pm
All this means is that the Furmans and Charleston Southerns have a good chance to get techs recruits
Spartan
July 15th, 2011
4:35 pm
Tech’s attitude was that “we’re smarter than the NCAA”. Arrogance cost tech $100,000.
jabster
July 15th, 2011
4:35 pm
Don’t forget that Tech got their azzes burned by the NCAA when they SELF-REPORTED retiring registrar Frank Roper’s failure to track which student-athletes were taking sufficient degree courses some 10+ years ago. Tech self-reported the infraction in good faith, thought they would get off easy, and all hell broke loose and “lack of institutional control” and all that. Considering that, now being less than completely forthcoming seems completely understandable.
Plus, a Tech LAWYER telling his client to STHU or not volunteer information? I’d FIRE my lawyer if they DIDN’T tell someone to do that. Law 101: Never have someone testify if you don’t know what they are going to say.
Maybe Tech needed an unlawyerish lawyer for counsel here…?
Alabama Jack
July 15th, 2011
4:38 pm
Remember Patton slapping the enlisted man? This is all because a former second string UNC Tarheel football player, now big-time NCAA investigator, named Marcus Wilson got his feelings hurt.
Fo real
July 15th, 2011
4:41 pm
As usual, most media outlets believe the penalties are way overboard but the local media cannot do anything but criticize and try to defame local teams. Psst, do you wonder why nobody buys your paper anymore???
wild bill
July 15th, 2011
4:47 pm
Well, well,well. So the “holier than thou” Techies, the self-proclaimed paragons of excellence, virtue, honesty and perfection are on probabtion AGAIN ! Winning the ACC Championship just means you are not as bad as the other mediocre ( at best) teams in the conference, so having to vacate the 2009 title is no punishment…..more like a relief. You folks cheat, and then cheat again and still can’t beat the Dawgs!
If you cheat you should win, so cheating and still losing must be very embarassing for you.
Fo real
July 15th, 2011
4:47 pm
Wow, one guy in wisconsin does not follow GT sports. Color me amazed, especially since this is one of the two months of the year he can actually go outside. I’m sure every person in wisconsin can, on a moments notice, name every uga football player of the last ten years.
PerimeterCenterJacket
July 15th, 2011
4:51 pm
Sorry, but I don’t pin this all the way up the chain at Radakovich and Peterson. Yeah, they figurehead all this, and it’s D-Rad’s conversation with Coach Johnson which you write about regarding firing him (wonder why you’d like to whip up THAT debate), but this all reeks of an incompetent compliance director. He’s gone, so let’s see if we can get through 4 years on probation without doing something else. Radakovich doesn’t need to be labeled a cheater and a liar and then shot down for this. I’m pretty sure we’ll be fine with him at the helm for the forseeable, thanks. But nice try at sustaining the hype of a here-then-gone story. With a “friendly” hometown paper like the AJC, I’m not sure Tech needs to self-report anything anyway….
Fo real
July 15th, 2011
4:58 pm
As a Tech fan, I can say that there has been a fair amount of less than stellar employees in the ranks of the AA, especially a few years ago in the ticket office. DRad is not one of those. We are very lucky to have him running things and, outside of this overblown blemish and security issued in the first game last year, every part of GT sports has improved under his leadership.
Fo real
July 15th, 2011
5:00 pm
I will also add that the AJC has went nowhere but down under Mark Bradley and Jeff Schultz’s tenures. Bring back Furman or a few like him!!!!
Wolfman
July 15th, 2011
5:11 pm
How can anyone believe that the NCAA acts consistently, and has and credibility remaining….
Big Ol Stinger
July 15th, 2011
5:15 pm
Wauwatosa Wisconsin?? That’s funny right there, I don’t care who you are. Who gives a flying flip what some Big 10 fan from Wauwatosa Wisconsin thinks? The richest part is you think anyone outside of Georgia and the states on it’s immediate borders pay any attention to UGA football.
What this comes down to is D Rad and Tech’s attorney didn’t jump as high and as many times as some pencil neck NCAA investigator thought they should. When the NCAA shows up next time at UGA (and they will), you best ask how high, how many times, and say “Thank You Sir, may I have another”?
don bozeman
July 15th, 2011
5:16 pm
In my opinion the NCAA has become a vindictive, petty, overblown and ineffective bureaucracy. They strain at gnats and swallow camels.
GT
July 15th, 2011
5:18 pm
There should be a relationship and loyalty owed to the coach, the NCAA should have known there was one and should never have asked the AD to lie to this coach. This is truly petty stuff. The only thing not petty is the outcome. Also no results were changed because of the communications to Johnson, no conspiracy was afoot.
roughrider
July 15th, 2011
5:20 pm
I think this will reduce the holier than thou attitude of Tech.
GT Hulk
July 15th, 2011
5:22 pm
I agree Mark, Dave Braine really hurt GT finacially with the long term contracts and Rad really dropped the ball on this one. GT is a very high school of integrity, but to not suspend Thomas when everything was in doubt, really hurt us. He really has let GT down. I have to commend Richt for holding out A.J. Green.
Fo real
July 15th, 2011
5:29 pm
AJ Green clearly broke the rules. The info DRad had indicated that D. Thomas did nothing wrong. Furthermore, D. Thomas was cleared before the game and cleared again during the investigation.
Why did uga not get hit for publicizing to the entire world AJ Green’s investigation when they received the same notice not to tell the player of the interview. Hmmm, no bias there.
dagnabit
July 15th, 2011
5:29 pm
D-rad should be AD for life. I like anyone who talks back to the NCAA.
tar and feathers party
July 15th, 2011
5:41 pm
I piss on the ncaa, and markus too!
Dan
July 15th, 2011
5:57 pm
He still has his job because there is such a culture of corruption at Tech the school and fans see nothing wrong with cheating.
RAMBLE ON!!!
July 15th, 2011
5:58 pm
DRAD’s worst mistake was taking too long in firing Paul Blewitt has HC.
He did to GT Basketball what King Obama is doing to the USA.
…oh yeah, the NCAA is just making an example out of GT. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime (if there even was one).
Dan
July 15th, 2011
6:03 pm
In the report the NCAA posted they said Tech’s general counsel Randy Nordin “adopted and obstructionist approach” to the NCAA investigation.
That’s why Tech got hit so hard. They cheated and tried to block the NCAA’s investigation. Accept it cheaters!!!
Alan
July 15th, 2011
6:03 pm
To “Blah, blah, blah”:
So, you use the opinion of a friend from Wis-freaking-consin about the state of GT athletics to show how irrelevant they are? If they were really irrelevant, then why did you waste your time and ours by writing this pitiful diatribe about it? If you really were a man, and not just a UGA man that has to mention that he has two degrees from UGAs, you would have taken the time to find out what this is really all about, and not just use it as an excuse to inflate your hollow and bottomless ego by ridiculing a program and a school that really gets under your skin. Real men do not have time for ridicule or hate – they are too busy doing constructive things for their families and communities, unlike those who went to school in Athens – that drinking town that has a football problem, which unfortunately for you is one of the best things that can be said about it.
Ekim
July 15th, 2011
6:07 pm
@Chris @ 1:09: “Fine a team because a player got some freaking clothes. Most stupid story I’ve ever heard of.”
If you think that’s the crux of the matter, you’ve missed the point.
superDawg
July 15th, 2011
6:08 pm
I believe the NCAA is on the verge of putting the major hammer down on OSU,NC,AND THE SLEDGE HAMMER ON au.Tenn. you may be next before the big gun comes out.
Ekim
July 15th, 2011
6:10 pm
@roughrider, “I think this will reduce the holier than thou attitude of Tech.”
I doubt it, because Tech really is holier than thou.
MB: You're off the mark
July 15th, 2011
6:26 pm
MB: Are you serious? DRAD should lose his job over this? Have you ever been involved in an investigation like this? or any litigation? You don’t have near enough information about what has gone on in the past 20 months to make this kind of judgment call. What is insane is that the NCAA has spent 20 months investigating $312 worth of clothing that appears to have ended up in an athletic dept. closet, unworn. This could have been cleared up in a 60 minute conference call between the NCAA and GT’s principal players if investigators weren’t trying to make themselves important. Why spend tens of thousands of dollars investigating something this stupid? I said the same thing about “the jersey incident” at UGA.
The NCAA is like all other bureacratic organizations – they become behemoth and useless – spending money to justify that they need more money. Their rules and infractions are intentionally ambigous so that lawyers can generate millions in “defending” or “prosecuting” them. The game is to “lawyer up” and see whose got the best lawyers. Meanwhile, while millions of dollars transfer into the lawyers’ bank accounts, innocent kids are punished for things in which they were in no way involved.
NCAA needs to get a life. And you should not be sitting in your cubicle chair passing judgment on someone based upon the scripted press releases of the NCAA. If anything, DRAD is probably thinking what the rest of the normal people are thinking…the NCAA has lost their collective minds!
AustinJacket
July 15th, 2011
6:27 pm
I think it’s a stain on the institution. It got out of hand, and it’s bad for DRad. He needs to learn from it and move on. I don’t think he should be fired. Tech needs to do better in the future, on the field and in the front office.
But I’m more angry and the NCAA. there’s no way the crime justifies the punishment. How is it even plausible that anyone would construct a cover-up over $300 in clothes? Why is the NCAA even investigating a case involving $300 in clothes when there are much more egregious violations rampant all over NCAA football, and from repeat offenders! Go police those schools (and we all know who they are) to earn some credibility!!
juvenal
July 15th, 2011
6:29 pm
osu was NOT penalized for the games dez bryant played in before the nzaa declared him in eligible on oct. 9…
VaBeachDawg
July 15th, 2011
6:33 pm
I’m a Dawg fan but i think it’s absurd that the NCAA is coming down like this on Tech. Radakovich has to be careful in how he phrases it now but he’s right. He’s got to keep his coaches in the loop. The NCAA is naive if it thinks ADs don’t talk to their coaches about ongoing investigations. Unlike other ADs, maybe Radakovich didn’t tell Johnson to act like he didn’t know. So, he gets slapped for NOT conspiring with Johnson. I just think it’s ridiculous that the NCAA can come into an institution and tell the AD not to talk to the people who work for him who NEED to know that there is a player on THEIR team being investigated.
Adam
July 15th, 2011
6:41 pm
At least DRad didn’t get a DUI with a woman in the car that wasn’t his wife…
Cardinal Sin
July 15th, 2011
6:44 pm
“I’m not a Tech grad, but I wouldn’t call that good business. I’d say it’s close to being a firing offense.”
No Mark, you are far from being a Tech grad. And people aren’t fired for such things as a kneejerk reaction – not good business – however, DRad will have that mark to contend with down the road, and who knows what may happen in a years time.
Obviously, by the way the NCAA interprets and enforces its rules, Tech gets spanked. It is amazing that they, the NCAA, spent so much of their time and resources at so litlle transgression.
The real issue obviously was GT’s appearance of failed cooperation. It is not what you do that the NCAA cares about, just don’t diss them.
“Yet – they keep the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe?? ZERO credibility.”
Just think about the Auburn/Oregon TV ratings if Cam had to sit out.
GDBurdell
July 15th, 2011
7:16 pm
BBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Melinda
July 15th, 2011
7:27 pm
Radakovich made a huge error. And he may not pay for it with his job, but his career trajectory certainly looks dismal in the future. He made one decision that turned out to be perhaps the worst one decision of his life.
In my opinion, the NCAA took it a bit too far. They infer that the administration coached the player on his interview, which they did not prove and which I, for one, do not think happened. I’m not naive enough to think that there isn’t a really good chance that this infraction happened. But how can the NCAA, which had several Ohio State players under investigation give the okay for them to play in a bowl game, which is what they just nailed Tech for doing?
Clemson
July 15th, 2011
7:38 pm
Referring to the photo in this story… didn’t UGA beat Tech at Tech that year? Cause 2008 was the year Tech beat UGA in Athens, correct?
Midtown
July 15th, 2011
7:41 pm
Chris,
The NCAA did not fine GT for getting some clothes.
The NCAA fined for trying to cover it up.
Ask Richard Nixon, Bruce Pearl, and Jim Tressell to explain it to you.
Gordon
July 15th, 2011
7:41 pm
The idea that Radakovich would lose his job over this is completely ridiculous. This has to be one of Mark Bradley’s poorest posts ever.
Fo real
July 15th, 2011
7:41 pm
AJC writers, such as Mark Bradley et al., are just embarrassed that GT was being investigated for so long and they had no clue. They are making up for it by blasting DRad and Tech for not spoon feeding them this info. It’s unfortunate that such a world class newspaper (lol) does not understand how the Freedom of Information Act works.
"Chef" Tim Dix
July 15th, 2011
7:51 pm
Good job Mark.
Mark Bradley
July 15th, 2011
7:52 pm
Thanks, Chef.
Solid Gold Dancer
July 15th, 2011
8:17 pm
Woustawawawosa Wisconsin just got served!