- Let's say a donor comes to JBatt and asks "I want to donate $5MM and earmark it exclusively for basketball". How would you best use that new funding? (consider coach salaries, facilities, NIL, everything)
KQ- So you can't use donations for coaching salaries as I understand it. NIL is the best use of any of that money whether it is for Josh or the next person. So I'd pretty much tell them to put it all on that nad see if they can set up a longer-term strategy to fund 4-5 years of hoops NIL money.
- Can you describe a day-in-the-life of a coach when they visit high schools? Do they pull kids out of class? Are they catching up with coaches? Do they bring swag? How many high schools are they hitting in a day?
RJ- The typical coach will see anywhere from 7-10 schools on a daily basis, depending on the territory, method of travel, etc.
What happens is they drive from school to school, and the first meeting typically will take place with either a recruiting coordinator or head coach. From there, if it is an Underclassman they will get called out of class and will be in the room for the second part of that meeting. They can’t “officially” be spoken to, but there’s no questioning the fact that they have some level of discussion.
If it is a senior, things can be different. The visit to the HS can serve as something similar to an in-home visit. Parents can come in, coaches can come in, food can be had, etc. while having the same type of discussions that would be taking place in their living rooms.
They big thing is getting eyes, up-close and personal, on the recruits with eyes that the head coach trusts.
I wouldn’t necessarily say that they bring swag, but they come dressed to impress with GT apparel on, and I’m sure they have business cards they can distribute.
They just look like business cards, and not something you’d get in a happy meal. Or an All-Star Special.
Coaches will typically stop before their first stop for breakfast, in between 3/4 or 4/5 will get lunch, and then are usually done and either near a hotel or back at home in time for dinner.
Ask this again in the spring and I’ll detail what it looks like in the contact period.
As someone living in California their whole life with no connection to Tech, I have always wondered how Tech is viewed in Georgia and neighboring states. I would think being in Atlanta and being in the ACC would make us have a top 25 class almost on accident.
KQ- Oddly the prestige value increases the further you get away from Atlanta rather than what you are thinking.
Without naming names, how many people currently in the GTAA are dead weight in your opinion? It has been such a poorly run org for years. If you were AD, which hire / position would be priority No. 1 for you? How many people there are merely punching the clock in the Edge instead of working tirelessly to grow the product?
KQ- I'm not positioned enough nor do I spend enough time down there these days to accurately give you an answer. It is like a government job and like when I grew up with my parents working at multiple universities there are people who love there job and are great, there are people who are really effective at their job but it is a job, there are people punching the clock to retirement, there are people who are hidden within the system who probably shouldn't be there and there are people past their prime trying to cash in for a few extra years. Most of the people I deal with don't really fall into the last few categories because the sports information side of things for example is high-pressure/low-reward so you get people who really like the job or it is their life and they are doing the best they can. Broadly I don't feel really comfortable getting into what I think because I'm making assumptions on a lot of second-hand or third-hand info or just what I see happening or not happening. There may be underlying reasons as to why things don't happen that I or others are not aware or people might be bad at their jobs or not care. J Batt's job is to shape it up. I've heard he is trying to do that and there are some things that need cleaning like any business, especially a gov't type of job.
Have we made any efforts to do some branding or more visibility with Roman Reigns? Dude is arguably the most popular athlete on the planet. Hardly ever see him or mention of his connection to GT. Think College Gameday did have him on as celebrity picker a couple years back but the GTAA didn’t have anything to do with that.
KQ- He was around quite a bit pre-covid. I know most of those guys were also tight with John Sisk when he was the strength coach and some others on his staff like Zach Reed maybe. I would assume that he has a lot more to do right now than hang out at GT with how big he apparently is.
Do you know why Pastner never plays Cyril Martynov it's not like we are getting any production from the center position?
KQ- He struggles offensively with where to go and what to do and defensively he is still a work in progress. Remember he should be in high school right now. They brought him for long term development. I'd say the bigger thing to me is Jordan Meka who actually bodies up to people and can rebound. I think if Rodney is being soft you have to put him in. I actually thought Rodney played harder defensively that he has in the Duke game, he was just completely overmatched.
You spoke about CG3 chasing stars. Yet by the looks of Russel's posts it seems the new staff has cast a net over some top SA's too? With our NIL situation is this going to be another Charlie Brown / Lucy situation? Why does the current staff think they can pull of top 250 players given the economics?
KQ- I think they will know where things stand with HS kids and NIL very quickly. Key is basically not going to pay any HS kid NIL money of any substance unless it was like a Jahmyr Gibbs type kid as I understand it and now most schools are following that path. What you see right now is a bidding war for a few 5-star types or sometimes high-level QBs, but not much else with NIL. I think that is less of a factor if you have what Key has and that is a plan and something you can show them of how they EARN the actually NIL money with performance and whatnot. I would not be shocked to see them get a 250 kid or two. Right now it is hard to tell because we are so far away from having any idea on rankings and what they will really look like outside of the top 50 kids.
Does being a good "recruiter" matter as much for an assistant coach with the NIL funds? In other words, since top recruits will be in bidding wars is the better move just to get top X's and O's assistants and use money to recruit?
KQ- In hoops, with HS kids yet, in football it still matters to a point. With a SR type transfer that kid is going to be looking for exposure or maximizing their NFL/earning potential more than even who the coach is or the relationship. The bidding war is more about the portal these days and a few top 50 kids than an average 4-star non-250 player.
RJ- I’ll put this as simple as I can-
Relationships lead to a seat at the table. NIL is one of the factors that can get it done from there.
No kid is going to go to a school and lose just because they are getting paid thousands of dollars. Tens of thousands? Maybe. Hundreds of thousands? Yeah, likely so.
GT can’t bank on that being the case, though.
They’ve got to win games, they’ve got to continue establishing a presence in-person just as much (if not more) than they do (or have done) on social media.
Coaches still have to coach. They still have to be relatable. They still have to be able to win on the field (or court) and in the living room. They still have to, in other words, RECRUIT. They can’t take time off.
Not every kid is chasing money, at least not out of HS. The transfer portal, on the other hand? Well, that’s another story.
A lot of coaches are building recruiting win trophy cases off of NIL victories rather than relationship victories.
That’s muddied the waters and led to some interesting shuffling around college football that will be interesting to look back on in due time.
A great example of a relationship recruiter is a guy like Marco Coleman. With GT’s NIL at his back, he knows that he has that resource if he needs it, but is not going to lean so heavily on that factor that he doesn’t invest time in getting to know the parents, the kid, his HS coaches, heck maybe even his girlfriend.
