AD Radakovich leaves, and a wobbly Tech takes another hit
Hat's all, folks. AD Dan Radakovich is a Georgia Tech man no longer. (AJC file photo)
In the grand scheme, this might turn out to be good for Georgia Tech. Who among us can know the future? But in the here and now of a football season gone unbelievably sour, seeing Tech’s athletic director hop in a car and motor 125 miles up I-85 to take the same job at a conference rival looks really, really bad. It looks as if Dan Radakovich is ducking out on a program in disarray.
For better or worse, most athletic programs go as football goes. The best move Radakovich made at Tech, or so it seemed, was to hire Paul Johnson to coach football. Now we’ve been given cause to wonder if Johnson’s success was but a two-year blip. Picked to finish second in the ACC Coastal Division, the Jackets dumped their defensive coordinator in mid-season and just lost to BYU – that’s three home losses this year, two against non-BCS conference schools – to fall to 3-5. And now the man who hired Johnson works at Clemson, of all places.
Those who know Radakovich always believed that when he left – and those folks were never under any illusion that Tech would be the final stop for someone so ambitious – it would be for a big-time SEC school. Given that Clemson has more fans and a much bigger stadium than Tech, this isn’t what you’d consider a lateral move. Still, it’s close enough to make Tech folks wonder where their beloved Institute ranks in the firmament of college athletics.
Only three years ago, Tech beat Clemson to win the ACC championship. That sweet victory was later vacated due largely to Radakovich’s bungling of an NCAA investigation involving $312 of clothing. The subsequent four-year probationary term was the first indication that this AD, who had been seen in this and other sectors as a deft administrator, might not have been quite so savvy.
And now, even as he heads up the road to Death Valley, we have further cause to wonder. Tech is set to open its refurbished basketball arena, the McCamish Pavilion, and that renovation was championed by Radakovich. But there’s no guarantee Brian Gregory, the coach Radakovich hired after finding the money to buy out Paul Hewitt, will win big enough to fill the new place. (Season-ticket sales for Season 1 in McCamish have been slow, as you’d expect coming off an 11-20 season.)
Facility-wise, Radakovich did well for Tech: He got a lot of stuff built. He also moved to fire Hewitt and Chan Gailey, coaches who’d won but who’d left their constituency wanting and expecting more. But the longer it takes Gregory to win and the longer it takes Johnson to correct all that has gone wrong in his program, the more it will reflect on the AD who just split for Death Valley.
A friend of Radakovich’s suggests his leaving is “a natural progression” – that Radakovich felt he’d done as much as he could do at Tech. But with football in decline and men’s basketball in rebuilding mode, the eyeball diagnosis is of an athletic program on wobbly legs. There’s no buzz, pun intended, around Tech sports, no sense that this always-difficult sell in a crowded metropolitan market is carving out a deeper niche. On the contrary, the Tech footprint keeps shrinking.
Which brings us to this: The next AD needs to be more a promoter than a money man. (Radakovich was the latter, not the former.) The next AD must find a way, assuming one exists, to make Tech more appealing to both moneyed alums and Atlantans who might never have taken a class at the Institute.
This is an awfully big city. Surely some folks out there might be willing to spend a bit of disposable income on a college football or basketball game if they felt it was worth their investment. Gregory has become an ardent and upbeat salesman for his program, but Johnson isn’t what you’d call a PR ace. (Neither were Gailey and Hewitt.) Somebody needs to take this athletic department and broaden the narrowing brand.
Which brings us to Wayne Hogan: He was Radakovich’s deputy, his eyes and ears, and he’s surely worth consideration as Radakovich’s successor. Hogan was the PR man at Florida State when the Seminoles and Bobby Bowden rose to national prominence in a famously amiable way, and he was the AD at Montana for nearly a decade. Hogan isn’t a numbers-cruncher, but surely the Institute – which is, after all, a school steeped in math — could find enough of those. What Tech needs more in its next athletic director is someone with a feel for the product and how best to market it.
Which brings us back to football: Johnson’s stylized offense wasn’t an easy sell even when his teams were winning, and it will become a massive impediment if Tech continues to lose. The Jackets’ recruiting under Johnson has been tepid at best, but it isn’t in Johnson’s nature to do things any way but his. The biggest move Radakovich made was hiring this football coach. The biggest decision the next AD could face is what to do about this football coach.
By Mark Bradley
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274 comments Add your comment
Reasonable
October 29th, 2012
8:45 pm
I can’t imagine someone wanting to leave a Nerd Herd.
Yeti
October 29th, 2012
8:48 pm
This is a head scratcher move. Kind of like hiring Bernie Madoff away from an investment firm to manage your investments. This guy did a horrible job at Tech. As a UGA fan, I hate to see him leave.
fuzzybee78
October 29th, 2012
8:53 pm
@Mark Bradley
I am an alum and longtime season tix holder both FB and BB, native Atlantan. GT, post major league sports, will only marginally attract sidewalk fans unless you win some and play a KILLER schedule out of conference, and take the hit on losses, especially in FB. Over time that can help put fans in the stands, alum and non-alum.
The other issue is graduating enough alum who have jobs in metro ATL. That probably requires a broader, but not dumber curriculum. The next AD sees the issues clearly. I think I do.
Walmart Retards
October 29th, 2012
8:57 pm
Good riddance! I await many years to come aof laughing at him living it up in ridnikville, losing to GT in football, basketball, and baseball. He’ll soon find Clempsux grads don’t have the funds that GT’s do. Sometimes quantity doesn’t equal quality. What a traitor!
WTH
October 29th, 2012
8:58 pm
>>I don’t think I’ve ever commented on a Tech blog before…
>>BUT wonder what it would’ve been like if Tech had stayed in the SEC.
>>In hind sight, what an incredibly stupid move.
The biggest blunder in the history of Tech sports, and an object lesson in why a good coach (Dodd) does not necessarily make a good AD. Dodd made Tech football great, and then in one stroke destroyed it. Tech football has never really recovered.
Michael "the dynasty" Vick
October 29th, 2012
9:18 pm
WTH, look at my response. Bowden ran from SEC opportunity. GT would have been destroyed year in and year out in SEC. 1990 what a farce, GT and Colorado. One hit wonders.
one stroke choke
October 29th, 2012
9:20 pm
I agree with WTH.
Michael "the dynasty" Vick
October 29th, 2012
9:22 pm
How many games were decide by field goals for GT in 90? BYU had NC in 80’s. Are they worthy of mention. No, just like Tech and CO. Crap happens.
1981 Bama vs Tech.
Jackets81
October 29th, 2012
9:23 pm
One hit wonders? You can put UGA in that same category too vick. They got one National Title. Idiot.
Michael "the dynasty" Vick
October 29th, 2012
9:26 pm
1991 Bama grad here. Idiot.
hind tit
October 29th, 2012
9:28 pm
I have a redneck slid-rule and it says hire a combination coach ad. fire Johnson buy out his contract kill two birds with one stone problem solved. That will be three dollars and a half.
Michael "the dynasty" Vick
October 29th, 2012
9:34 pm
Mr. Eastwood says “A man has got to know his limitations.”
Stick with what you all do, engineer. You will never be a significant football school again, never. You can’t even own that wipe in Athens. And he is owned by every good coach/team. FL was exposed.
JetBuzz
October 29th, 2012
9:59 pm
Great assessment and article Mark. You hit most areas germane to the Jacket Athletic Dilemma of present…
This is a new day of opportunity for GT Athletics, instead of just more bad news and poor execution. It’s time for DRad to move on, and chase his career elsewhere. (However, his timing, style of departure, and choice of nearby rival Clemson gives pause to consider his “brand loyalty” and motivations, etc.)
Obviously Jacket Athletics is in rebuilding phase, and it’s time to hire the perfect AD as architect of this major long-term task. This is a huge, fantastic, far-reaching opportunity. We’ve got to get it right.
Jacket 2009
October 29th, 2012
10:13 pm
I would donate $1,000 if they could win football games and I am only 3 years out of school. There are plenty of alumni willing and ready to fund the program but we want results (or the strong likelyhood of results)!
RWill
October 29th, 2012
10:18 pm
I know this article is about Radakovich, but considering CPJ is his most significant hire, and once again, the same tired, false and uneducated arguments are being used against CPJ in the comments, I’m going to copy/paste my reply on another article. Here goes…
Some of the arguments on these boards are laughable. I’ve read numerous times on here that CPJ isn’t a good head coach… You ever check his record at Georgia Southern? Navy?
Lets talk recruiting. Read on here hundreds of times that he can’t recruit. Well, let’s just look at that, shall we? Here are Georgia Tech’s year-by-year recruiting since 2002 from Rivals.com:
2002: 63
2003: 50
2004: 79
2005: 62
2006: 57
2007: 18
2008: 49
2009: 49
2010: 43
2011: 41
2012: 56
It looks like recruiting has actually improved in the CPJ era.
For such an educated fan base, you guys are failing hard when it comes to logical arguments.
How about the argument that the triple option doesn’t work? Top five in rushing yards every year he’s been here isn’t working? He’s apparently taken a team with a QB that can’t throw, and is too slow, and still averaging over 450 yards a game this year. The offense works, with or without passing. Oh, and by the way, he has implemented pistol formations into it as well.
Also, he is stockpiling talent. Look at Boise State. Do they recruit the top talent? Answer: no. They redshirt almost every incoming freshman, and slow the turnover rate and gain an extra year with everybody though. This is the same as what CPJ has been doing. And, if you look at the recruiting rankings, he does recruit talented enough players, so this should work well as it continues. By doing this, to get a real judge of an entire CPJ recruited team, the next two years should be what we judge him on.
There are downsides to CPJ obviously. One is his demeanor on the sidelines. The way he yells at players may result in some of them tuning him out. At Georgia Southern, he probably had better players than most teams, and with all the winning, the yelling didn’t seem as bad. At Navy, they’re used to being yelled at by superiors. It’s part of the training. At a big-conference school, where you are woo-ing the players to come play for you-star high school athletes-then berate them weekly on tv, it might not be as well-received. Whether that’s all on him or also on the players as well, is up for debate.
The lack of defense during his tenure is concerning. Yes, it could be said that because of the offense they run, the defense doesn’t see much time in practice against conventional style offenses. However, considering the scout team mimicks that week’s team, this isn’t the biggest problem.
The choices in defensive coordinators is concerning as well, and perhaps his choices for assistants overall. The special teams coach hire is puzzling. To go get someone who was coaching in Canada, when there are plenty of qualified assistants that have ties to this area was a poor choice. Not so much because I don’t think the ST coordinator can’t coach (the ST unit hasn’t been very good though), but he has zero ties to the area for recruiting. That can’t help.
Basically, CPJ has warts, like all coaches not name Saban. He is an offensive mastermind, yesterday not included. Again though, even the best look bad occasionally. His offense does and has worked, with both his players and Gailey’s players. He definitely has the ability to outsmart the opposing coach more often than not. On the other hand, he can’t get a quality defense here (remember when George O’Leary had the same problem?), he is an abrasive person at times, maybe causing players to tune him out or quit, and he has gotten a little too conservative the last few years, as opposed to his first few here. All in all, he should be given more time to sort through the struggles. The talent is there, the offensive scheme is there, lets see what happens with a new defensive coordinator.
It really makes some of you “fans” seem less than educated with the arguments you put forth as to why CPJ should go. Being such a strong educational institution, to argue the pro’s and con’s of the football program should have a higher level of discourse and more well researched and backed in fact arguments than what is spewed here on a daily basis.
Bobby Cremins
October 29th, 2012
10:18 pm
Bobby Cremins would be a great AD candidate. He doesn’t have any experience but he’s a god at GT and can bring things back together again for them due to his ties with the top boostes and former players.
Falcon Fan
October 29th, 2012
10:49 pm
Radakovich was the worst thing to happen to GTAA. He left Tech with huge debt which will hurt Tech for 30 years, and his lack of integrity caused Tech to vacate the ACC championship. He gave PJ a contract that prohibits firing him. However, Radakovitch may fire Dabo and hire PJ- he is that stupid.
Bold Gold
October 29th, 2012
10:57 pm
Georgia is 6th in the nation–about to be in the Top 3 or 4; Tech’s AD jumped off a sinking ship. Paul Johnson is a dirt bag. Must suck being a Tech fan.
lance manion
October 29th, 2012
11:05 pm
Lots of trolls here today. Lets talk facts. Tech athletics are in good shape, except for football. Don’t forget, we just finished a 14 consecutive year run of bowl games and winning seasons, hardly a program on the rocks. We have had a lot of recent football success, and there is no reason this will not be corrected again soon. As for basketball, we went to the national championship game 8 years ago. With Greagory as our new coach, he has recruited two great classes and he even has Cremins back on campus. We have a beautiful new arena, and are on the verge of a good run under Gregory. Golf and baseball have been consistently two of the best programs in the country for 30 years. Women’s basketball is ranked in the top 25. Volleyball has been good for years too. We will hire a good AD and will continue to make progress. Our facilities have been upgraded. We have a first class new indoor football paractice facility, a rebuilt baseball stadium, an almost new, first class softball stadium, new tennis facilities being built and McCamish is gorgeous. I am a sidewalk fan who graduated from another Georgia school and has had season tickets for 25 plus years. I would add to them if we dropped the additional donation, and that is something we should look at. By the way, the Wall Street Journal ranked Tech the number one engineering school in the country. This is a huge resource for our state. I am proud of Tech and so is my son who is a third year there. I have another son who will be there next year too. Bottom line is that there are a lot of jealous folks who post crap about the institute, most of whom are UGA fans who never even attended UGA, or any college. Go ahead and hate,. A degree for Tech is a ticket to success that UGA alums will never experience. Tech will be just fine. Go jackets!
lance manion
October 29th, 2012
11:09 pm
BG, you are idiot. I imagine, you did not go to college, so all of this is very complexs to you. We will fix the football problem, the other sports are in great shape. By the way, we are the number one engineering school according to the Wall Street Journal. How about your school?
bad brad
October 29th, 2012
11:10 pm
@ the dynasty…Now Tech is the also-ran of the ACC. At least Vandy recruits better players because they are in the SEC. And look at how FSU has faired since selecting ACC. Weaker conference, weaker team. They are becoming an under-achieving joke also. Bad move by Tech, bad move by FSU. Most football fans outside of ACC fans can tell you which ACC team is in which conference. Bobby Dodd led Tech down a path to mediocrity. Bobby Bowden chose the easier path and it is hurting FSU.
lance manion
October 29th, 2012
11:16 pm
Overall Tech is in good shape. Basketball is on the rise with a great new arena, two great recruiting classes and a good new coach. Golf and Baseball are two of the best programs in the country and have been for 30 years. Women’s basketball is preseason ranked in the top 25. Football is coming off 15 consecutive bowl games and a 14 year winning streak. The teams have not been perfect, but have been good. Add a brand new basketball arena, a new indoor football faciltiy, a new tennis center and we have first class facilities. Football will be back soon. Oh, I’m a sidewalk fan, graduate of two other Georgia colleges and have had season tickets for 25 plus years. Go jackets!!!
wreckmaniac
October 29th, 2012
11:35 pm
Can we find another Dr. Homer Rice who resurrected Tech and placed our program in a solid national position ? Lets hope so.
DRAD did some nice things but nothing major. He can count on the fact that Clemson fans will always fill up their stadium but he will also have to live with their perpetually mediocre (at best) basketball legacy and an attitude among many that Clemson should exit the ACC for the SEC. He is arriving with the football program in great shape and it can, honestly, go nowhere but down from where it is today.
Tech needs someone with a solid, long-term vision and strategy for improvement which I don’t thing DRAD had. His orientation was much more toward today’s problem.
wreckmaniac
October 29th, 2012
11:37 pm
The comments here in upstate SC is that DRAD and Dr Peterson did not see eye-to-eye at all.
whatfor
October 29th, 2012
11:44 pm
It should have been PJ who resigned. Tech will never have a Good team until PJ leaves.
lance manion
October 29th, 2012
11:44 pm
Good comments wreckmaniac and RWill. We have a great school and a good foundation with lots of history of success in all areas. We will be fine.
Michael "the dynasty" Vick
October 30th, 2012
12:18 am
Vandy recruits better players? and still sucks like an academic school like GT would too. GT should give up football and I have not a clue how you do in basketball.
Reasonable
October 30th, 2012
5:30 am
It’s amazing to me how these self proclaimed rich alumni don’t fund the athletic program. Gtu is a third rate program and school.
Reasonable
October 30th, 2012
5:31 am
Keep on running that high school offense…it makes me laugh.
Jacketnation Deflation
October 30th, 2012
6:04 am
It ain’t going to get any better this year. Can’t blame Dan for bolting for Clemson. Much, much more supportive fans, than the fair-weather band wagon jumpers on the flats. Johnson is so hard headed that he will not change his game plan. Trying to run the ball and the triple option against BYU was a disaster. Vad Lee to the wide outs and A backs might have produced more points had he gone in the first half. Tech’s sorry defense is two years in the rear. We need to offer Giff Smith a nice package to return. He can recruit. Johnson should be able to get those 4 star running backs with this run oriented offense, but he doesn’t. We really stink!
lkmantsk
October 30th, 2012
6:06 am
Lord I feel for you folks………….I don’t know why, but I do….
MC
October 30th, 2012
6:52 am
Does anybody else remember all the talk about when “PJ gets HIS players”? Well he’s got them.
Sugar Hill Dawg
October 30th, 2012
7:07 am
Rejection is tough to take. I understand the hurt feelings of my Tech buddies, but consider this an opportunity to take a step forward. I hear how fantastic the Tech business degree is – show us! Hire a Tech man (loyalty goes a LONG way in college athletics) with a background in business (a “Mitt Romney” of the athletics world) and get out of his way. There’s absolutely no reason why Grant Field is so empty at every home game not involving UGA, Clemson, or VA Tech. As a kid, I attended quite a few Tech games – always had a blast! Say what you will about Tech’s location, but give me Midtown/Atlantic Station any day over Oconee County, SC. Tech fans – get proactive! Demand greatness from everyone associated with the Institute. I’ll see y’all in Athens in a few weeks!
3d
October 30th, 2012
7:37 am
Sad, but who wants to go downtown and risk getting cut or shot?
Hardhat
October 30th, 2012
7:40 am
The Ga Southern AD is stepping down they have down well in football. Hiring him that would be an OPTION ! LOL !
Rufus
October 30th, 2012
7:48 am
As it stands, we are a Div 2 program trying to compete in Div 1 in both football and basketball. D-Rad’s arrival and departure had no impact on that fact. Until we can recruits quality athletes who can also make the grades, we’re stuck in that rut. I pity the poor person who is desperate enough to take the AD job at Tech.
GT
October 30th, 2012
8:02 am
Alumni run an athletic department, bad or good. Radakovich like most executives or coaches is an opportunist. Day in day out we are about as good as our alumni and I think Tech has some of the best. You don’t fire alumni, we need to fire them up every once in a while but this is a family thing.
TechRon
October 30th, 2012
8:04 am
I have been saying all along that PJ and his nonsense offense is the biggest problem. The AD was on the list, but down. Horrible defense ever since Oleary left. Tech should have welcomed Oleary back when ND rejected him. We had excellent defense under Ross and Oleary. People who say we never should have fired Gailey are way off base. Gailey was awful. Just like Johnson, he continued to whip a dead horse. Does not common sense tell either of them that if it is not working over a long trial period, it is not going to work? Gailey’s sticking with Reggie Ball was the most outstanding example of his lunacy. Johnson’s idiot offense is certainly evidence of the same syndrome. That, and standing by while we have the worse defense in the nation and doing nothing. Johnson further infuriates the faithful by acting like anyone who asks obvious questions is a foolish amateur insulting a great master. I think if I were in his place I would be a lot more humble and be apologetic about the dismal failure. I would say that, having seen that plan A is obviously not working, that big changes are due and will be instituted immediately. He is too arrogant for that, and too foolish to see the need to change anything.
DawgRobin
October 30th, 2012
8:12 am
As a die hard Dawg fan, it saddens me to see the GT program diminished. I would remind my UGA friends that its not a zero-sum game, and that GT’s problems don’t make us any better. It just serves to diminish other’s view of sport in our state. Besides, I love a good, sharp competition between UGA-Tech. Who is intereste when one school has a lop-sided advantage — can you say Gators, boys and girls? Good luck to the Bees.
GT
October 30th, 2012
8:15 am
I like Paul Johnson.
alex
October 30th, 2012
8:19 am
How do you measure the effectiveness of an AD,in todays NCAA it is football and men’s basketball, period, Rad was therefore ineffective….period. Ga. Tech has many obstacles to winning:academics,uninterested alumni and students, among them. Clemson has none of the above.He’ll be a big fish in a pond, but it’s only a small pond,He’ll be gone in 6 years…
H20
October 30th, 2012
8:28 am
How is Atl only a 5 point fav over dallas???
Funny we just decimate philly. Dallas plays them next week in philly. I would guess the odds on that game if we could see it would be philly by 3-4. I’m gonna put 1k on the falcons to cover. That line is a joke.
GT Man
October 30th, 2012
8:30 am
Two down and one to go. The sooner we get rid of mr.personallity the better
Tyler
October 30th, 2012
8:41 am
Gailey never had a losing season. Gailey never lost to a team from a non big 6 conf, much less get blown out. Gailey had one major problem. He couldn’t get a qb worth a crap. ball did gailey in. But gailey at least never looked this bad. This is bill lewis bad. And it’s only gonna get worse. Guess what. next year fsu is back on the schedule.
TechLB
October 30th, 2012
8:43 am
@Lance Manion and others – Good, logical comments, much appreciated among all the frustrated haters trolling. A lack of class is most obvious when you see someone gloat, can’t hide it.
GT is an excellent academic school and will be fine. Paul will fix things or he’ll be gone, a new AD won’t have any reason to accept mediocrity. It won’t be because of the offense either but the other issues that have become obvious. As for fans, check out ticket prices at other schools, we’re actually pretty cheap. I would say, win baby win, then raise prices a bit if necessary.
Never thought DRad was all-in although he did a great job updating our facilities with pretty cheap money, we’ll be in fine shape in a couple of years. – We need an AD with passion, an enthusiastic believer in all that makes Georgia Tech unique and great.
AthensTech
October 30th, 2012
8:49 am
Until Tech changes their academics Nick Saban/Bear Bryant couldn’t help.
Tyler
October 30th, 2012
8:54 am
“Paul will fix things or he’ll be gone”
Huh? This is the second year with his recruits. Thing are suppose to be the best now. That’s what I heard from gt fans. How just wait til he gets his recruits. He’s been on a downward spiral for the past 2 years and this was w HIS recruits. And the opposite won’t be true. When he does get fired, the new guy will have a hard time with his recruits. It won’t be like the other way and how PJ benefited. Basically gt football is gonna be a mess for at least the next 5 years. Nice!
Tyler
October 30th, 2012
8:57 am
Funny athens it sure wasn’t an issue in 1990 or 98-2000. Funny it doesn’t affaect ND or Stanford.
rsb
October 30th, 2012
9:13 am
His biggest move was facilities and money management not hiring a football coach. The “other” sports (not bb) are doing very well.
Eric
October 30th, 2012
9:23 am
No one cares about other sports rsb. They lose $$