Those who can, coach. Those who no longer can…

… take SEC Network gigs.

Georgia Tech’s recruiting is…

… even more Chantastic than ever.

Worry about …

Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets entered June with one 2017 commit; they now have six, but two of them are kickers. Their highest-ranked commit is cornerback Jaytlin Askew from McEachern (Powder Springs, Ga.), who is No. 506 in the 247Sports Composite rankings.

“Georgia Tech has been pretty disappointing,” Huffman said. “They have different academic requirement so it might be tougher for them, but you’re in the state of Georgia, and there’s no reason to have so few commits. And it’s not like Georgia Tech has been in a downward spiral. Two years ago, they were in a playoff bowl. Given where they are located, it’s surprising to see where recruiting is.”

Remember my asking this morning if it’s preferable to have an elite recruiter or an elite tactician as your head coach?  Georgia versus Georgia Tech is beginning to look like a controlled experiment on that point.

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“All the girls were accompanied [to games] by Captain Morgan.”

The future of beer sales at college venues, in two quotes:

One:  “We all saw it,” Lyons said. “You see it in pro sports. They control it. People are staying at home, watching on TV, having a cold beer. Now you’re hearing, ‘I want to come [to the game] and have a cold beer.'”

And two:  “We’re not talking about life-changing money,” said Kristi Dosh, a sports business contributor to Forbes. “But expenses have gone up.” 

Uneasy lies the ellipsis.

Say what you will about Hugh Freeze – and we’ve said plenty here – here’s a stat that you have to admit is pretty impressive.

There are four coaches in SEC football history whose team improved its record each of its first four seasons – Georgia’s Wally Butts (1939-42), Alabama’s Bear Bryant (1958-61), Arkansas’ Bobby Petrino (2008-11) and Ole Miss’ Freeze (2012-15).  Freeze has a chance to become the first SEC coach to improve his record in each of his first five years, but…

That “but” in the last sentence is carrying a lot of weight, though.  It’s a good summary of the man’s career so far.

Tastes great vs. less filling

Here’s a good thought piece, inspired by the Athlon rankings of college football coaches, from Rocky Talk Top Top Talk.  The question he asks is whether it’s better to have a head coach who’s an elite recruiter, or one who’s an elite tactician.

Of course, as he notes right off the bat, we’d like our man to be both, but there simply aren’t that many of those types out there.  Second place?

Perhaps the best strategy is to have an elite recruiter – as we’ve seen, it’s almost impossible to win a title without elite talent – and make your coordinators the expert tacticians.

And as I think about this question in the context of Georgia football, Smart comes in with a clean slate.  What do we think we’re getting in him?  Early indications appear to show he will turn out to be one of the better recruiters in the country, but as far as directing traffic goes, we won’t know for sure until game time.  And some of that will no doubt be built based upon how good his staff is tactically.

Is Smart the master recruiter good enough by himself to bring Georgia a conference championship?  (I don’t think anyone would argue that Smart the master tactician would be without a sufficient talent base.)  Before you dismiss that thought, consider what Les Miles has accomplished in Baton Rouge.

Honestly, and at risk of sounding like a broken record here, I’m not so much looking for a master tactician as I am someone who’s focused enough to stay on top of the details.  If Smart can handle that better than Richt did, and bring in the elite talent, I think we’ll be fine.

 

Musical palate cleanser, better cover edition

“Silver Train” is a fairly obscure Rolling Stones tune from Goats Head Soup (I think it was the B-side to “Angie”).  The official video the Stones released is good evidence that their glam phase was, shall we say, regrettable.

Anyway, here’s a cover of the song from Carla Olson and Mick Taylor.  It’s off their Too Hot For Snakes live album, and, in my humble opinion, is superior to the original.  Listen and let me know what you think.