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
Bad Dawg, Yeck
October 30th, 2012
9:26 am
Pressure should be on one Paul Johnson. He’s the CEO of the primary income engine. I was at Saturday’s game versus BYU and in the 3rd quarter pointed to my wife to look at the coaches on the sideline. Absolutely no emotion, no spark, no fire. Johnson is 0-4 in bowl games, 1-4 versus VT, Miami and soon to be 1-4 versus Dawgs. He has recruited poorly. If I hear him say one more time on this radio show “I’ve coached for 34 years…..”. He is responsible AND accountable!
Sideline Dude
October 30th, 2012
9:38 am
Time for Tech to clean house. The entire athletic program sucks, starting with football.
Flat on the Flats
October 30th, 2012
9:46 am
Tech alum here. I have stuck with the team for many years now. As bad as I hate to say it, the 2 words that come to mind are “Bill Lewis”. Total devestation of a program. It will take at least 5 years after we finally fire Johnson to get the program back to mediocre. I will always love and respect my Institution, but right now, I am sick of our fotball program.
Heat Check: Dogs and Falcons are smokin’; Tech’s a-mopin’ | Mark Bradley
October 30th, 2012
10:01 am
[...] Which means nothing good. Forecast: Dan Radakovich, who hired Johnson, chose this happy moment to take a job as Clemson’s athletic director. This is getting serious, [...]
RWill
October 30th, 2012
10:01 am
@TechRon: Really? Same dumb arguments again. Read my post @10:18pm. Then try and use logic. Please, try. Where to begin?
O’Leary had good defenses? Why did GT lose four games in Joe Hamilton’s senior year? I suggest you go back and look at the statistics from that era again.
Johnson’s idiot offense? The one that is top five in rushing every year? The one that consistently is among the leaders in big plays? (Again, look it up). The offense that averages as many, if not more yards and points per game than any Tech team under Friedgen? The offense that puts up over 400 yards and 30 points a game with a QB that can’t throw? Please, give up the illogical arguments, people!
Standing by and doing nothing about the worst defense? By standing by, do you mean firing TWO defensive coordinators, and now being more hands on on defense?
Lastly, if someone of your OBVIOUS intellect even began to question me, much less CPJ, I’d laugh you out of the room as well.
@Tyler: These are his recruits, yes. The classes rated at least on par with any of Gailey’s classes, even while being under probation. And it hasn’t been a downward spiral. Remember, the 6-7 was with a large portion of upperclassmen being Gailey’s recruits. What does that tell you? And going from 6-7 to 8-5 does not equal a downward spiral. Yes, this year is a downer, granted. But again, read my previous post as to recruiting.
New Idea
October 30th, 2012
10:11 am
UGA now has 800 Engineering students. They will get the funding from the BOR. Where does that leave GT.
We either expand Majors and become a University or go private and become a MIT. I chose the former. We cannot continue to take State taxpayer dollars and be a specialty College with UGA Engineering. Georgia cannot afford this and we only have 50% students from Georgia anyway.
Thank You - Thank You
October 30th, 2012
10:11 am
RWill & lance manion,
Finally some logic and common sense of this blog. I also have been a huge Tech fan for some 50 years plus. I have seen the so-called good time and the so-called bad times in GT football. I happen to TOTALLY agree and think that Coach Johnson will get this turned around. I really am tired of all the negativism on the blogs. We have a great academic institution which thankfully does not prostitute itself academically in the order to recruit football players who probably have no business in a higher learning institute. I love Ga Tech having 2 sons who graduated from Tech and who are highly successful men. “THWG”
Jacket Nation Deflation
October 30th, 2012
10:45 am
Sorry recruiting = sorry for years to come. Tech is usually around 50th (average) in recruiting. We have not had a great duel threat qb since Joe Hamilton. We don’t have a Calvin Johnson or a Deymarious Thomas to throw to. We have a sorry defensive line. We can’t stop the run. We can’t stop the pass. Just about anyone can run up the score on this sorry excuse of a team. As I said earlier, Johnson is hard headed and he isn’t going to change things up. If you are up against a team that your scheme won’t work, then go to plan b. We need an effective passing game.
ARdawg
October 30th, 2012
10:50 am
Jacket Nation
Recruiting will never improve until you get a coach that believes in an offense something other than a triple option. Manboobs has proved it doesn’t work in anything other than short term for victories, doesn’t work at all for the kids today in recruiting. Believe it or not, no matter how nerdy a football player maybe, his hopes and dreams are to play in the NFL. Johnson’s system does nothing to help or encourage that
RWill
October 30th, 2012
11:04 am
@Jacket Nation and ARdawg: Good grief…. Do you two have any reading comprehension? Any logical thoughts?
Answer this: You want GT to run a more conventional offense? Maybe a spread passing system? More like Alabama, UGA, Tennessee, South Carolina, FSU, Clemson? And compete for the same athletes with these school? Talent pool is deep, right?
Except for GT. A significant portion of the talent pool is unaccessable to GT. That means that they’d be competing with these heavyweights for the qualified athletes to run the same type of system. How do you figure that would work? Gailey tried it. Look up his recruiting class rankings. Absolutely not better. O’Leary did it. Had a very similar record to CPJ. When was the last outright conference title before CPJ was here, by the way?
Good lord, I am fair enough to admit the guy has issues. I pointed them out earlier on here. It’s just ridiculous that a supposedly educated fan base makes such dumb and unthinking arguments.
CPJ has proven it doesn’t work long term? You see his record at Navy? Georgia Southern? You don’t consider Vad Lee a dual threat QB? Just wondering if you guys actually think about what you post…
Good Riddance
October 30th, 2012
11:05 am
I feel sorry for Clemson. What did Rado do other than build a new basketball arena? He should have been kicked to the curb two years ago when his mistake put GT on probation. He could have hired a real football coach in Cutcliffe and he blew that by hiring a Div 1AA troll coach. Days will be better for Tech now that Mr Slickster is gone.
RWill
October 30th, 2012
11:15 am
@Jacket Nation and ARdawg: Good grief, do you guys have any reading comprehension? Any logical thoughts?
Answer these questions: You want GT to run a more conventional offense? Maybe a spread passing style? Like UT, UGA, Alabama, South Carolina, Clemson, FSU? You want GT to compete with these heavyweights for the same recruits? Deep talent pool, right?
Except for GT. A significant portion of that talent can’t qualify for GT. That means they’re stuck competing for a portion of that deep talent pool with these local heavyweights. And you want them to run a similar offensive system, too? With lesser talent? How you figure that will work? Gailey tried it and failed. His recruiting rankings were absolutely no better than CPJ. Look it up. Might help your arguments to do that occasionally. O’Leary made it work, to the same amount of success as CPJ has had. Check their records. By the way, when was the last outright conference championship before CPJ was here?
I guess you don’t consider Vad Lee a dual threat QB? Oh, if recruiting was so hard to do with this system, how did he land a four star, highly touted QB like Vad Lee?
And CPJ has proved his system doesn’t work longterm? Look at his time at Navy. Or at Georgia Southern. Again, research before making dumb arguments.
The ridiculous thing is, there are legitimate problems/criticisms of CPJ. I pointed a few out on this board earlier. Look it up. Yet, a supposedly highly educated fanbase conitinually comes on here and makes dumb, illogical arguments.
Tommy
October 30th, 2012
11:27 am
Our family originally had 12 season tickets, starting in the 60’s. Then we cut down to 6 in the 90’s.Got displaced when the gold seats went in and finally dropped all season tickets when GTAA took our points away and required a doantion for every seat. Terrible marketing.
ARdawg
October 30th, 2012
11:52 am
RWill
You should understand I’d be completely happy to watch you bugs lose and squirm under Johnson the rest of your days. You don’t have to believe or even understand it, I’m just telling you. Kids with NFL aspirations are not going play at Tech until you get a coach that runs a more exciting, prolific offense. I ain’t making this kaka up here, it’s the facts of life.
Gailey DID recruit some good athletes and won about as much as any coach can win at GT. Until your university gets behind the football program and stops looking down it’s nose at it, Gailey is as successful as you’ll ever be
PonGT
October 30th, 2012
2:40 pm
They can always hire Bill Curry. He’s a Tech man and is going to be available. Tremendous proter and sales man … Yessir, they should hire Bill Curry.
RWill is a PJ Lickspittle
October 30th, 2012
3:59 pm
PonGT,
Curry is a loser! Was at GT and everywhere else, too. And what is a “proter”?
RWill
October 30th, 2012
6:35 pm
Ok ARdawg, you’re obviously not a fan. You’re obviously not good with reading comprehension, either. You keep making the same tired points, without facts. Look at the recruiting rankings for GT under Gailey and Johnson. CPJ recruits just as well, if not better. That’s the facts of life. Look it up. Not many offenses around that are as prolific as CPJ’s. I’ll concede the exciting part, even though big plays, whether running or passing can be exciting.
To say Gailey won as much as any coach can at GT is laughable. Of the last three coaches, he is the only one not to win at least a share of a conference title. He’s also the only one of the last three to not beat UGA. (Maybe that’s why you like him?) He lost a minimum of five games every year. CPJ has had two years already where he lost less than that. Gailey only won more than seven once. CPJ has won 8 or more three times. Tell me again how Gailey is the better, more successful coach? And please, use some facts. I know that’s difficult for you people.
BS Patrol
October 30th, 2012
8:05 pm
There is nothing wrong with the TO, but you MUST have a QB that can run it (the football & the TO) and pass decently. Right now I don’t know if tech has a Qb that can do either. Even this combo couldn’t overcome our defensive handicap.
As for Rad,he was a joke. How could tech do worse?
William Casey
October 30th, 2012
11:31 pm
RWILL is right. GT defense was not good in the late ’90’s. Perhaps, slightly better than now but not much. GT seemed to be on the rise then for one reason: JOE HAMILTON was a magnificent QB. What would the Jackets record in 2012 be with Joe at QB? 7-1 at worst. The sky is not falling. Solve the problem!
ACC M5: 10.31.12 EditionRush The Court | Rush The Court
October 31st, 2012
8:01 am
[...] Atlanta Journal-Constitution: It’s safe to say Mark Bradley is not impressed by the current state of Georgia Tech‘s athletic program. Bradley points out that the biggest problem facing Georgia Tech right now is generating excitement around the program, so athletic director Dan Radakovich’s successor should really focus on selling the program instead of just being a “money man.” While Bradley criticizes the Yellow Jacket program as a whole, he clearly places significant blame on Radakovich for his role in the growing irrelevance of its athletics. Who Georgia Tech picks to replace Radakovich will be very important going forward if Brian Gregory wants to get his basketball program back on track. [...]
Hatfieldgeoff
November 1st, 2012
10:12 am
And, it appears the rumours of Paul Johnson being a genius were greatly exagerated…
DawginNY
November 4th, 2012
8:28 am
As a Georgia fan, I hope Tech does fire Paul Johnson for his unconventional offense. I mean they are only 4th in the nation in rushing this year. As Tech fans are quick to remind everyone, they have a recruiting problem due to their academic standards and narrow curriculum. Having an offensive scheme that most defenses see only once a year levels the playing field. The problem is that it’s hard to find a good defensive coordinator. I suggest Greg Hudson, LB coach at FSU. He was previously the DC at ECU under Skip Holtz.
Heat Check: Falcons and Bulldogs and Hawks, oh my!!! | Mark Bradley
November 5th, 2012
9:07 am
[...] to a 21-point thrashing by Middle Tennessee to the dismissal of defensive coordinator Al Groh to the departure of AD Dan Radakovich to … the Orange Bowl? [...]
Heat Check: Falcons and Bulldogs and Hawks, oh my!!! | Egypt
November 5th, 2012
9:55 am
[...] to a 21-point thrashing by Middle Tennessee to the dismissal of defensive coordinator Al Groh to the departure of AD Dan Radakovich to … the Orange Bowl? [...]