I was curious to see if there was any information on fan base sizes out there and I found an article that provided some good informaiton.

By Conference
SEC: Total Fans 54 Million or 3.86 M per team on avg
ACC: Total Fans 23.5 Million or 1.68 M per team on avg
BIG: Total Fans 44.6 Million or 3.19M per team on avg
Pac 12: 23.5 M or 1.96 M per team on avg
Big 12: 11.6 M or 0.83 per team on avg

I believe they did not account for teams moving between conferences. Therefore, TX and Okl are part of BIG12.

They listed top 16 teams ranging from no. 1 being Ohio State with 11 million fans down to Tennessee with 3.27 million fans.
The surprise was Stanford with 3.45 million fans. Oregon was kind of a surprise at 5.45M but I guess that NIke money has brought on a lot of bandwagon fans outside of Oregon. UGA listed at 3.99 million fans which is 12th highest.

Top 5 had 3 BiG teams along with ND and Texas.
Next 5 had Florida and Alabama from SEC. Wisoncisn and USC for BIG and Oregon who we know wants to go to the BIG.
Tenn, Auburn, UGA, Texas A&M, and LSU round out the 16 with Standfor in there. Oklahoma has 3.22 M according to article so they are close.

The article mentioned USC with 4.46 M fans from the Pac and I guesstimated UCLA might have 3 M fans that would leave the PAC with 16.04 million fans when those two schools exit. LIkely why they are having trouble with a deal but seems like they should do better than Big 12. If you took that 16M and combined with ACCs 23.5M you would have 39.54 M which would be third best. But if you look at avg fans by schools in a combined ACC Pac league it would be 1.65 M which is what the ACC is at now based on my taking an avg. That is why I would guess an ACC and PAC merger does not net more money.

ND could help a lot cause they have the second most fans at 8 million. WV only has 1.84 M so they don't bring much in terms of fan base. Again this says to me our best hope given the situation is to push ND hard and relentlessly to join the conference. There may not be another team really worth taking after that. Outside of maybe an Oregon which would put them on an island like USC and UCLA are now in the BIG. Plus you figure the BIG will get them soon enough anyway.

Another issue I see is that I don't think there are really 40 high value schools in terms of fan base and ability to win. When I look at it I can come up with maybe 20 that make sense. To go to 40 will mean taking some schools in the BIG 2 conferences that really likely are no better than GT in terms of fan base and success.

Take Nebraska for example. They were mentioned as having 2.55 M fans. Much lower than the 3 to 11 million the top 16 had. Colorado btw only had 950K fans. Seems like that would be a problem and of course until they got Deion they were struggling but they don't bring much and why the BIG 12 seems to be their only option outside of the Pac.

If I were to guess GT probably has on the low side just under a million. On the high side just under 2 million fans. The ACC avg of 1.68 M seems realistic to me. Therefore, we would not be taken based on fan base size. To get in top 40 we would have to get in based on ability to market our games.

I think you could make an easy case for 20 teams. Going to 30 will let some in that probably are not really on the level of the top 18 or so. But you need teams to play, right? But I don't think 40 is a number that can stick when the top teams look to take money from those who they feel are not pulling their weight.

Norman Okla. – All five starters for the 11th-ranked Georgia Tech golf team – seniors Bartley Forrester, Connor Howe and Ross Steelman, junior Christo Lamprecht and freshman Hiroshi Tai – have named to the PING All-East Region team selected by the Golf Coaches Association of America. The GCAA announced the selections of the best collegiate players across six regions (top 25 players in each region) Saturday.

The five Tech players are the most of any team on the 25-player list in the East Region, including No. 2-ranked North Carolina, which placed four on the team. Only Vanderbilt (Southeast), Illinois (Midwest) and Arizona State (West) also placed five players in their regions.

Howe, Lamprecht and Steelman made the All-Atlantic Coast Conference team earlier this month. All five players are ranked among the top 100 players nationally in either the Golfstat rankings or the Golfweek/Sagarin Index, while Lamprecht, Steelman and Howe are listed among the top 40 in both rankings.

The quintet has been the core of a Yellow Jackets’ team that won the 2023 ACC Championship, defeating Wake Forest in the championship match and downing Duke in the semifinals after winning the 54-hole stroke-play portion of the championship by 16 shots. They also captured the NCAA Salem Regional in record fashion, posting a 53-under-par score to win the regional by eight strokes. Tech has finished as a runner-up in five other tournaments, including three this spring. The fivesome has combined for 20 individual top-10 finishes.

The Yellow Jackets are competing this weekend in the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.



2023 ALL-EAST REGION MEN’S GOLF TEAM

Michael Brennan, Wake Forest

Ryan Burnett, North Carolina

Paul Conroy, Chattanooga

Mats Ege, East Tennessee State

David Ford, North Carolina

Bartley Forrester, Georgia Tech

Austin Greaser, North Carolina

Alex Heffner, Davidson

John Houk, Chattanooga

Connor Howe, Georgia Tech

Walker Isley, UNC Wilmington

Ben James, Virginia

Tobias Jonsson, Mercer

Christo Lamprecht, Georgia Tech

William Love, Duke

Nick Lyerly, UNC Greensboro

Dylan Menante, North Carolina

Will Morlan, Furman

Kian Rose, Clemson

Luke Sample, Duke

Ross Steelman, Georgia Tech

Maxmilian Steinlechner, NC State

Andrew Swanson, Clemson

Hiroshi Tai, Georgia Tech

Jonathan Yaun, Liberty

Wondering if anyone has anything worth posting? I had a few thoughts but am afraid I'll come across not all that excited so am hoping a cheerleader who was there can post some good stuff.

I will say I think Key is the perfect coach for such a time as this for GT. If anyone can navigate NIL, transfer portal, financial issues, etc. I think he can do it. But it is an extremely difficult job he has inherited.

Norman, Okla. – Georgia Tech head golf coach Bruce Heppler was named Friday one of five finalists for the Dave Williams Award. Given by the Golf Coaches Association of America, the Williams Award honors the national coach of the year in NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA, NJCAA Division I, and NJCAA Division II men’s golf.

Heppler joins Scott Limbaugh of Vanderbilt, Conrad Ray of Stanford, Mike Small of Illinois, and Matt Thurmond of Arizona State on the list of finalists. All five finalists are coaching at the 2023 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club.

Heppler, in his 28th year at the helm of the Georgia Tech program, has led the Yellow Jackets to eight top-six finishes in nine stroke-play tournaments this year, including a win at the 2023 NCAA Salem Regional, and a 3-1-1 match-play record, including clinching their 19th Atlantic Coast Conference Championship. He has led the Tech to the NCAA Championship finals for the 19th time, and has coached three All-ACC golfers – Christo Lamprecht, also a finalist for the Fred Haskins Award, Connor Howe and Ross Steelman.

No surprise here..

Per GT Athletics-

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech baseball pitching coach Danny Borrell will not return to the program in 2024.

“Everyone associated with our program is disappointed that this season didn’t meet the high standards that we all have for Georgia Tech baseball, as I know our fans are too,” director of athletics J Batt said. “I have full faith in (Head) Coach (Danny) Hall as the leader of our program and I support his decision to make this change on his staff. All of us are appreciative of Coach Borrell’s efforts over the past four seasons and we wish him and his family nothing but the very best.
“Coach Hall is one of the very best coaches in college baseball. I’m looking forward to continuing to support him as he works to get our program back on the path to Omaha.”

Has announced he is transferring to Louisville that makes six scholarship qbs on the roster.

and decide whether to move forward with the building associated with the $100M fund raising initiative. Hear me out on this, if we are "relegated" to a conference such as the AAC or some reconstituted version the ACC, do we really need the development that has been planned. At that point we would basically be one small step above 1AA and the requirements to attract and support athletes is not on the same scale.

On the other hand, what if we were to join the BIG10. At that point the investment might be different. Perhaps we tear down Bobby Dodd and rebuild a brand new stadium that is state of the art and appealing to athletes.

Just curious as to what others think.

Let's do this. You've got questions, I have answers

Megatron makes an appearance on Barstool’s golfing podcast!

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I’ll be on vacation for the next week but our content items will still run as normal. I look forward to the 10 commits, 3 decommits and GT rejoining the Metro Conference in the next week.

ORLANDO, Fla. – A 2023 ITA Singles All-American, Georgia Tech’s Carol Lee punched her ticket to the NCAA Championship quarterfinals with a three-set victory in the round of 16 on Wednesday morning.
Facing Auburn’s No. 23 Carolyn Ansari, Lee dropped her first set of the tournament in the opener. On serve at 2-all, Ansari won the next two games for a 4-2 lead before Lee won a break for a 4-3 tally. But Lee’s chance to move back on serve was snapped as the Jacket lost serve on a deuce point, setting up a 5-3 advantage for Ansari. The Tiger served out the opening set, 6-3.

In a second set battle, Lee and Ansari went back-and-forth, setting up a 3-3 set score. Lee gained some momentum when she held serve and then broke Ansari to take a 5-3 lead. The Jacket had a chance to serve out the match, but Ansari battled back and won the next two games to move back on serve at 5-5. Lee held strong and closed out the set, 7-5, to force a deciding third set.

Lee owned the third set, carrying momentum from a hard-fought second set victory. The Jacket jumped out with a 3-0 lead against Ansari and never looked back, not dropping a game to seal the win, 6-0.
With the round of 16 victory, Lee becomes the first Yellow Jacket to reach the NCAA Championship quarterfinals since Irina Falconi in 2010.

Lee will face NC State’s No. 26 Amelia Rajecki for a spot in the NCAA Championship semifinals on Thursday.

RESULTS
Round of 16
No. 15 Carol Lee (GT) def. No. 23 Carolyn Ansari (Auburn) 3-6, 7-5, 6-0

Congrats to my boy Osahon Tongo on winning an Emmy. Just to see what GTFB is doing on and off the field is amazing!

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Georgia Tech, coming into the beginning of Pool Play in Durham on Tuesday afternoon, is on the outside of the postseason picture completely.

The conversations between JOL and sources close to the baseball program continue to take place regarding the future of 30th year head coach Danny Hall and his coaching staff.

With games the next two days, and GT throwing their ace reliever in Ben King on Tuesday against UNC, it is clear that Hall is going all-in on attempting to beat the Tar Heels. Who can blame him, after being swept by UVA just a couple of days ago.

The Yellow Jackets achilles heel, as it has been for several years now, is pitching. The combination of free passes and missed spots have killed GT all season.

In the series against the Tar Heels earlier this season, star CF Mac Horvath wasn't what led to the UNC series win, it was the guys around him that downed GT.

Guys like C Tomas Frick, 1B Hunter Stokely, and DH Alberto Osuna had no trouble mastering GT pitching.

While GT can't get beat by Horvath, it also can't allow the role players on this UNC team to beat them.

With Georgia Tech going all-in on winning Tuesday's game vs. UNC, no pitchers are off-limits other than likely Jackson Finley, who pitched just three days ago.

The UVA matchup on Wednesday, and the importance of it will be largely determined by the result on Tuesday. With that being said, the combination of Kyle Teel, Gelof, and UVA's pitching gave Georgia Tech nightmares last weekend.

It isn't easy to beat any team four teams in a row, but given the performance from the Cavaliers last weekend, it is certainly possible if not likely.

THREE PLAYERS TO KNOW FROM UNC

CF Mac Horvath- .312/.414/.711 with 21 HR, 61 RBI, 22 SB, 65 R (started all 54 games)

RF Casey Cook- .333/.449/.429 with 2 HR, 21 RBI, 2 SB, 66 H in 52 games as the lead-off hitter

P Matt Poston- 3-3 in 28 appearances with a 1.67 ERA and a 41/19 K/BB ratio out of the bullpen


THREE PLAYERS TO KNOW FROM UVA

C Kyle Teel- .414/.480/.668 with 11 HR, 58 RBI, 4 SB, 91 H (started all 55 games)

3B Jake Gelof- .340/.442/.774 with 22 HR, 84 RBI, and a 41/42 K/BB ratio

P Jay Woolfolk- 2-0 in 25 appearances with a 2.30 ERA and a 36/19 K/BB ratio out of the bullpen

JOL PREDICTION

Game 1: UNC defeats Georgia Tech 11-5
Game 2: UVA defeats Georgia Tech 9-2

Game 1 against UNC will begin at 3pm on Tuesday, Game 2 against UVA will begin at 3pm on Wednesday.

Both games will air on ACC Network.

THE FLATS – Baye Ndongo, a 6-9 power forward from Senegal who is rated a four-star prospect by some recruiting services, has signed a grant-in-aid to join the Georgia Tech program, head coach Damon Stoudamire announced.

The 220-pound Ndongo, who finished his prep career at Putnam (Conn.) Science Academy this spring, is rated a four-star prospect by On3 and a three-star by both Rivals and 247 Sports. Nationally, he is ranked as high as No. 120 (Rivals). He chose the Yellow Jackets over Michigan and Nebraska after originally committing to Rutgers. Growing up in a soccer family, Ndongo took up basketball at age 14.

“Baye is a versatile and talented forward who has the ability to play on the perimeter as well as with his back to the basket,” said Stoudamire. “He’s a terrific rebounder and a relentless competitor. He’s humble, thankful and appreciative, which are qualities we place high value on here at Georgia Tech.”

Ndongo attended Putnam in his senior year and helped lead the Mustangs to a 38-3 record and the National Prep school championship. He averaged 8.3 points and 4.8 rebounds, hitting 59.2 percent of his shots from inside the three-point arc, and posted three double-doubles. Ndongo scored 14 points with five rebounds in the national prep school championship game, and sank two free throws to seal the Mustangs’ win with one second remaining. Prior to enrollment at Putnam, Ndongo attended Denver (Colo.) Prep and the Darrow School in New York.

Internationally, Ndongo played for Senegal’s U19 team in the 2021 World Cup, in which he averaged 7.6 points and 6.0 rebounds over seven games. He posted double-doubles in two games Senegal won against Argentina (14 points, 14 rebounds, four assists) and Latvia (12 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, four blocks).

Coach Collier signed 6-4 Liv Mogridge who made the all-ACC freshman team last season at UNC. This signing strengthens the middle hitter group. GT is reloading with eight new players joining the team this fall.

Volleyball signee

In my conversation with him for Freshman Focus, I learned that Dixon tore his ACL earlier this year.

He was never expected to contribute as a freshman, but it is now highly unlikely he plays much (if at all) this season.

Can't get just the images I want, for some reason. Sorry. First 3 photos in my photostream (and I did NOT take these photos): https://www.flickr.com/photos/29225382@N03/

Brown will play DB in Atlanta.
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THE FLATS – Season tickets for Georgia Tech’s 2022-23 men’s basketball season, the first under new head coach Damon Stoudamire, are on sale today. Season tickets include 10 Atlantic Coast Conference home games as well as the Yellow Jackets’ always-challenging non-conference slate.

Tech’s 10-game home ACC schedule for the men includes Boston College, Duke, Florida State, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia and Wake Forest, as well as permanent home-and-away opponents Clemson and Notre Dame. Dates and tip times for ACC and non-conference games will be announced this summer.

Looking to return the Yellow Jackets to national prominence, Stoudamire brings the experience of 13 years as a successful NBA player, 10 years of coaching experience on the collegiate level and four years on the NBA level. He was named the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year in 2020, his final as the head coach at Pacific University, and went from there to be an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics, who posted the best record in the NBA’s Eastern Conference the last two years. Stoudamire has built his staff with coaches who helped build winning programs at their previous schools.

Season ticket prices start at $290. Season tickets for faculty, staff and letterwinners are $280, and tickets for new alumni can be purchased for as little as $199.

Click here to renew season ticket membership

Benefits for season ticket members are as follows…

• Best seat locations
• Access to interest-free payment plan
• Priority post-season ticket access
• Season parking options
• ACC Basketball in the heart of midtown
• Ticket flexibility: easily transfer, exchange or sell tickets
• Dedicated ticket sales representative

Timeline for renewals and new sales are as follows…

• Renewals: begin Monday, May 15
• Season ticket deposit conversion: begins Wednesday, May 17
• Early bird deadline: ends Thursday, June 1
• New sales: begin Thursday, June 1
• Renewals end: Friday, June 30

Sorry if this has been discussed recently, didn't see anything when I browsed through though. Any word on how his combine feedback is going? Think he's got a week to make up his mind.

Georgia Tech will be playing UNC and UVA. Not a great draw, but that may not be a bad thing in the long-term for the program.