Since I became a GT fan, GTAA finances have always seemed to be strained, struggling to keep up with peers, and so forth. There’s been a lot of talk about J Batt needing to improve fundraising and improve the financial situation, but what does that mean in a practical sense? The ACC’s TV deal with ESPN is locked in long-term and already limiting revenue (and may get worse if the ACC were to go to an uneven revenue sharing model). There’s an annual debt servicing payment that's an albatross on the overall finances with no end in sight. GT has been paying significant buyouts almost constantly for over a decade (now with Pastner's buyout joining the Collins buyout on the books). At the same time, Georgia Tech does not seem like it has a pool of high-dollar donors (or even 1-2 mega-donors) who are willing/able to give significantly more to change the GTAA's fortunes, and I'm imagining that they're nearly tapped out between buyout talks and other recent fundraisers. (In other words, this is more difficult than just asking for more money from the same people who are already primarily financing the biggest expenses.) Ticket sales will increase if the football & MBB teams start winning more, although the current financial situation makes it tough to provide competitive resourcing to those programs that's needed to get out of their current ruts, which quickly makes this a self-driving cyclical issue.
What, if anything, can J Batt reasonably do that would change the GTAA's financial situation and improve the top-line revenue in a meaningful way? We need more money to get better results on the field, but where do you envision that money coming from? Are we doomed to cheer for a "budget" program for the rest of time, or is there something that can/should be done that would truly move the needle to create a better financial situation and better ability to consistently compete in the top half of the ACC in football and men's basketball?
KQ- The easy answer is starting from the bottom up with donations. The GTAA actually saw people donate money during covid or even for this recent match gift thing that maybe don't donate often or as much. Every penny counts and through several different ADs that haven't been courted or developed. The other thing is quite truthfully a lot of people held back because they didn't believe the President wanted to have successful athletics and didn't trust the leadership to spend the money effectively. I know a lot of donors who had given up on GT effectively dumping season tickets and donations that are back onboard with J Batt and those people in some cases are recruiting others who were displeased with basically everything that happened going back to the hiring of Brian Gregory to how football and hoops got underfunded to other things under previous ADs and they are buying back in. We will obviously see how it goes. I will say Batt raised money at ECU and that is incredibly difficult to do.
This is a very #Offseason question. Any idea how the 680 video thing came about? Did GT finally say, ‘start acting like our radio partner?’ And is it part of any renewed effort by GT to have media space?
KQ- Someone pitched it either on the GT side or the 680 side. I don't really know how it came about. GT has always been pretty open to do stuff outside the box a little that isn't a traditional sitdown interview or something like that.
I got to thinking Jbatt had to hire a football coach, now a basketball coach and if hall decides to hang it up or don’t meet expectations he could be gone also have to ever seen anything like this in a athletic director first few months on the job?
KQ- I have seen something sort of like this before at other jobs, the timing is a little compressed because he wasn't hired until October so that might be a little different. He will sort of sink or swim with these decisions other than Key because I think he will get a mulligan if that doesn't work out because that was a larger decision than just Batt IMO.
In light of CJP departure, what is a reasonable expectation for our roster next fall? Should we still expect to sign Blue Cain? Should we expect to lose a player or two from our roster who really liked CJP?
KQ- I expect tremendous roster turnover, but there is room for that. On Blue, he has not given any indication of what he wants to do. I imagine he is waiting to see who GT hires and what they run before making that call. The new hire will determine the amount of turnover though and it is way different than when Josh got the job because they basically had 15 ppg returning that year because the team was all seniors and transfer seniors BG's last year. This is one of the youngest teams in college basketball still.
What's the Pastner buyout and does it get paid all at once?
KQ- It is supposedly $2.5 million though I've never seen a contract that reflects that. Usually there is a term on the payment of that buyout it can vary from 30 days to several years and it can be negotiated out in some cases.
What's the likelihood that GT extends the MBS agreement with the Chick-Fil-A committee?
KQ- No clue, I would think Key would prefer to play in BDS if it were up to him, but I haven't discussed it with him either. I would think CFA would want to see if they sell tickets for these less marquee games like Louisville or not.
Offensive and defensive player you’re most excited about seeing this spring?
KQ- A healthy Leo Blackburn on offense, I got a few days of it only back in 2021 and defensively the linebackers. I'm very curious how that shakes out.
What was BJ Elder’s role on staff? Was he considered effective? I thought he was supposed to be the connective to AAU and bolster recruiting but was that ever the expectation?
KQ- His role is basically the recruiting office in one person relative to the football comparison. I have no idea how effective he was, but GT struggled to recruit in Atlanta once D-Lab got fired. Wilkins has no juice and Elder apparently didn't have enough to overcome that. Miles Kelly is the only ATL kid they've signed out of HS that was a high-level guy.
Now that we are more than 3 months removed from the football search, can you shed any more light on what happened with the 48 hours of chaos between the Fritz leak on Sunday and the Key hire on Tuesday? Was Batt being undermined? Political tug of war behind the scenes? None of the above?
KQ- It is not my story to tell. I've heard like 13 different accounts of what happened. I think I know the answer but I cannot share it because I am not even certain how accurate it is. Batt kept things very quiet and that led to a lot of nonsense such as the Bill O'Brien talk that I knew was completely bogus through people close to O'Brien. Frtiz's agent also hyped the shit out of his interest in the job to both help his client get more money from Tulane and to try to make something happen. I think a lot of the smoke came that way as well.
As of today what do you think the odds are of 1 of the 2 frontrunners Kelsey/Richey ultimately being the guy?
KQ-I'll have an update when I have something to actually update you guys on that is legit.
I know you’re probably already tired of talking Basketball but I have one more- I’ve read about the Candidates but is there someone that is flying under the radar that could be the name called upon?
KQ- There are always guys who can emerge and a lot depends on how dominoes fall or how guys interview or what comes out when Batt and his people meet with someone.
Since GT can’t organize and run NIL, does there seem to be adequate donor leadership to get football and MBB BOTH done?…..What’s your take on the state of our football NIL? Still a) “fixin to start”, b) launched and progressing, or c) up and running??
KQ- That is why the TechWay thing happened and there is a committee of boosters overseeing the overall NIL program. It took time to set all of that up. There were starts and stops along the way as well.
With a new coach there will obviously be some departures from the MBB team. What guys do you think are gone? Are there guys on the team that the new coach should work hard to keep?
KQ- That is an impossible question to answer until we know who the coach is and what type of systems they are running and if they have relationships or connections with current players that would make those guys want to stay.
How are the players handling the firing of pastner?
KQ- A lot are very upset and some are blaming themselves for what happened. It is never a great situation, especially with a young team that screwed up some winnable games by not hitting shots or closing.
Do you think any of the current MBB staff remains on payroll with the new HC?
KQ- Unlikely other than people like Richard Stewart who has been here since Hewitt as the Sports Medicine Guy for the team. More off the court types are likely to stay, but it depends on the coaching hire.
If you were able to poach any current coach in men’s basketball to coach GT who would it be and why?
KQ- Tony Bennett wins, they generally do it the right way and he has found a way to sustain winning at a place where it can be difficult.
