Technical Tidbits 3/17

Just in case you missed the big news yesterday, Georgia Tech revealed that it will be retaining head coach Brian Gregory for at least another season. This is shocking news from the office of Mike Bobinski, who was thought to be in the process of releasing Gregory and beginning the search for a new coach. In fact, many sources expected Gregory's days on the Flats to be over as soon as this week -- his four seasons have been among the most disappointing in recent history. This move really tells us that Bobinski is either unwilling to dig deeper into his budget or truly on board with what Gregory has laid out for next season, and I'm going to hope that it's the latter. Get the FTRS take right here.

While some see the decision to retain Gregory as a purely financial maneuver, others see it as the Institute giving up on the once-storied basketball program all together. I can't get on board with this point of view at all simply because it makes absolutely no sense to "give up" on what could potentially be a cash cow for Georgia Tech, but I can definitely understand the frustration behind the post. Was it the best idea to retain Gregory in terms of the future of the program? Probably not. Does it mean that we've given up on the basketball program? No. That's silly.

Former Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt, the predecessor to the (somehow) current coach Brian Gregory, was fired yesterday by George Mason after an awful 9-22 season. Georgia Tech still owes Hewitt money through 2019, and his GMU buyout will guarantee that the once-great head coach will be making north of $2 million next season to not coach at a division one school. To be honest, the real loser here is former Georgia Tech forward Julian Royal -- he was recruited to Tech by Hewitt the season he was fired and chose to transfer to GMU to follow his coach. Hewitt's latest firing means that Royal is stuck on yet another team from which he's been fired and still with one year of eligibility left.

I'll leave you today with some upset picks for the upcoming NCAA Tournament courtesy of CBS Sports. I'm usually more conservative with my upset picks (I'm not feeling like any No. 4 seeds are going down in the first round), but some of those do make good sense. Buffalo over a West Virginia team which has struggled lately seems reasonable, as does Stephen F. Austin over Utah. I'll also be thinking about the Georgia vs. Michigan State game as a potential upset because as much as I hate UGA, it just makes sense. Ew, I hate my bracket already.

What does retaining Brian Gregory mean for the program?

Have a great Tuesday!