Mailbag 3/30

Who is your go to for GT news that isn’t FTRS? - Notwima13 (submitted last week)

Ben: I’m not on any of the pay sites, so my go-to are press releases, Twitter and Ken’s non-paywalled stuff.

Jake: Ken is my go-to, or the Daily Digest/RamblinWreck.com/Tech direct options. Might as well get as close to the source as possible. Also, no one besides RamblinWreck.com covers most nonrevenue sports, anyways, so I don’t exactly have a ton of Tech-specific options.

Chris: Twitter. Embrace the anarchy.

Logan: RamblinWreck.com is the official site, I tend to follow their updates for news on the sports I am less familiar with.

Is it just me or does anyone else that watched the spring game see that the coaching staff as well as TV announcers have their talking points down about promoting Sims as QB 1? The over-hyping sell job is a bit much, given the on-field performance. - GT Guy (submitted last week)

Ben: Yeah, I don’t understand the overhyping of Sims. There seems to be a lot of folks saying that it isn’t even a real QB competition, but Gibson looked pretty good in the Spring game. I think if the plan is to come into the season with Sims as the guy, no matter what happens, we are in for another long season.

Chris: Yeah, I think it’s clearly the message they want to project. Agreed with Ben, I don’t love the idea of setting QB1 in stone now. Yes its probably his job to lose, but I don’t want to see us keep him there just because he’s been there in the past.

Logan: Sims is CGC’s boy. Frankly I think Sims is still the most talented QB from a physical standpoint. The problems Sims has had have been from handling things mentally on the field, immediately scrambling under pressure, and poor decision making. If Sims has improved in these areas in practice maybe they really do think he is the best option; but personally I think this is a case of CGC wanting one of his first big recruits to be the solution to all his problems, and very little to do with on the field performance.

Carter: I’m not going to offer an opinion on who should start, but I can say with confidence no one wants Sims to be the starter more than Geoff Collins does. If Gibson wins the job, it means a transfer has come in and supplanted Collins’ prize QB recruit after having three years to develop him.

#teamCRock or #teamSlapperWill? - DressHerInWhiteAndGold

Ben: I won’t sit here and say that Will Smith handled it perfectly, but I appreciate him standing up for his wife. Regardless, Chris Rock shouldn’t have made the joke.

Jake: The whole thing was bizarre, I don’t know what to think.

Chris: #TeamCanWeAllJustMoveOn

Logan: I back Chris Rock. Comedians are up there to make jokes and slight burns all night, like it or not that’s what their hired to do. Sending a message that its ok to get physical on stage with a comedian whenever the comedian says something you find insulting is a terrible thing to do. I don’t necessarily think Will Smith was in the right state of mind given the pressure and expectations of the night, and I do feel he had a right to speak up for his wife’s defense, but that does not excuse his actions and the actions of the people running the Oscars for letting that physical assault happen without repercussions. All that said, Chris Rock isn’t pressing charges, so it sounds like the drama is over. If CR wants to make a thing of it that’s fine, but at this point it is a case of personal drama that just happened to be exposed to the world on a large stage.

I will add, props to Chris Rock for handling that about as well as he could on live tv (or better than I would’ve anyway. I’ve heard some talks out how he should’ve said something or fight back… but honestly just taking it and moving I was the best move for the show and CRs career long term. That whole thing was nuts.

Carter: No, no, no, I will not be baited into having a take on this. I will not!

Since it’s been bandied about on message boards, (cough sting talk cough), about the possibility of a new AD being hired before firing CGC, on the off chance the football season turns sour early, who would be on a short list of potentially new ADs? I personally think we need to move on from the Tech Man template. I’ll hang up and listen… - planetmalone

Ben: I don’t know enough about athletic directors to have a short list. My only request is similar to yours: I don’t need everyone who works at Georgia Tech to be a Tech alum. Other schools have produced high quality coaches and administrators.

Jake: I’m still not off the ADTS train, given the great results in every other sport. I realize this train gets smaller all the time, but I get more joy out of ranked/postseason-bound volleyball, basketball, softball/baseball, swimming, tennis, and golf than okay-to-mediocre-to-decent football, and I would like to remain good at those other sports.

Chris: Hard agree on getting away from the idea that everyone we hire needs to bleed Tech. I think that can be seen as a bonus for some candidates, but I hate the idea of limiting our pool.

Logan: I would like to give an in depth answer to your question but unfortunately I do not have a full list of all available ADs. I want someone who can find a way to get us out of debt more so that finding someone who will try to immediately get results on the field. If we are in debt all the time we will never improve in the long term so we got to start thinking about things logistically and trying our best to improve down the line.

Carter: I have.... so many thoughts about Todd Stansbury, both positive and negative, that I won’t go into right now. Right now, as a whole, athletics at Georgia Tech are doing really good — it’s just that the two teams that are doing the worst happen to play the most high profile college sports. If Georgia Tech decides to move on, they need to look outside of the Georgia Tech sphere, because one of the aforementioned negatives is Stansbury’s seeming tunnel vision for hiring a “Tech Man”, especially in football. As for potential replacements.... I really don’t have an idea.

Why will Tech’s baseball team not follow this pattern this season: “Start strong for a Top 10 ranking until a sweep sets off a run of .500 play in the ACC which is enough to squeeze in as a #2 seed in an SEC Regional and prompt elimination.” - ramblin gooner

Jake: Uh, based on what we have seen so far, it seems like that is basically exactly what has happened so far, is it not? If that isn’t the case, it will be because we annihilate teams at the plate and the bullpen figures it out.

Logan: I will try to be optimistic. When Chandler Simpson comes back from injury we will be adding another talented hitter who can get good results in the field. We definitely have enough hitting to compete with everyone in the country with names like Andrew Jenkins, Tim Borden II, Kevin Parada, and Tres Gonzales. The Bullpen is deep and has found a way to keep things close despite recent struggles with fielding. The pieces are all there, we just have to find the cohesion to make all the pieces work together. Baseball is the longest and most volatile of all the major sports. Minor things make an impact on games. Having a few losing series is not the end of the world but coach Hall needs to help the team figure something out this weekend and get us back on track an restore confidence in the program.

Carter: Well, baseball is fresh off being swept by NC State and has dropped 5 of its last 6 ACC games (and a game to Kennesaw to boot). If you’re asking me to tell you why this is not an ill portent, well.... I don’t know what to tell you.

Who do you have as most likely winning the Augusta National Invitation Tournament, and whose your dark horse favorite? For extra credit, who do you have as your Augusta National Woman’s amateur champion? - gtbadcarma

Jake: I really only follow college golf. I defer to the experts.

Logan: The previous winner Matsuyama is nursing a sore back which isn’t great otherwise I might take him. I think Scottie Scheffler is the best betting option, world #1 player right now with two top 20 finishes at Augusta National. I kind of like Collin Morikawa, youngest player to win 2 majors in the modern era. Don’t want to over hype him but Morikawa could be the best player since Tiger Woods so I want to see what he can do.

August Women’s Amateur Champ... I don’t know as much about all this but I’ll give it a shot. Only thing I really know is that Stanford players are getting hyped up and that means they probably won’t win. I think it will be one of the Wake Forest players... lets say Emilia Migliaccio (I hope I spelled that right). I believe Emilia made it to a sudden death playoff last year and lost, she has been gunning for this win the past few years I think she has it this year.

Carter: I don’t follow golf very closely, so I couldn’t tell you, but I wouldn’t put a lot of money on Phil Mickelson.

How much will losing CKD to the Baltimore Ravens hurt our WR room, offense in general, and recruiting? - Partywaggin

Ben: I don’t think it will hurt our receiving too much (mostly because I don’t think he did much there to begin with), but Dixon definitely was one of the better recruiters. He had a ton of connections, and I’m curious to see who Tech hires for the position—though I will say hiring Jim Chaney in an off-field role (or at all) is not exactly inspiring confidence.

Chris: Agree with Ben, I don’t think anyone looked at our WR room and said “wow one of the conference’s great units”. Recruiting hurts, but it’s not like we’re absolutely killing that either so maybe not a huge hit.

Logan: I’m in the boat where if we weren’t exactly great to begin with then you can’t get much worse. Yeah it sucks because I think Dixon could have helped us seriously, but without him I don’t think we hurt much worse than we already are.

Carter: Of all the things that have hurt Georgia Tech football this offseason, losing the WR coach is probably on the low end.

Hello guys,

Hope all is going well for you. I have a killer headache right now so I won’t spend much time writing. My question is what is your preferred medicine/treatment for headaches? I used to be a fan of motrin but now I’m a big advil guy. How about y’all. Take it easy. (submitted via email)

Ben: Pop a few ibuprofen and take a nap.

Jake: Whatever you prefer, I always recommend a good herbal tea to compliment it. A nice hot tea is imperative for...really any time I feel bad, I guess.

Chris: I used to be an Advil guy but I’ve swapped allegiances to Tylenol. Dark room, maybe a cold rag.

Logan: you ever try cocaine? Kidding... mostly, no don’t use cocaine. I think excedrin works best but I use advil if excedrin is not available. No noise or light if you have a migraine. Try not to stare at a computer screen for too long.

Carter: Currently in my medicine cabinet is..... ibuprofen? So, that. Oh, and Pedialyte always helps. Electrolytes are good.