Question from a GT Fan: First I want to say congrats to Radakovitch. We are excited to have him. Obviously there is a lot of discussion going on over at The Hive (our forum, http://georgiatech.scout.com/index.html ) about this decision. As you may or may not know, the AD position came down to Radakovitch and Curry. Curry was a former GT Football coach, and his players were pushing hard for him. However, I believe Radakovitch will do great, as long as he can handle our, what I will call, “Old Money Alum” appropriately. Anyway, I am not here to talk about the decision or to ask about Radakovitch himself. I am curious about how LSU fans perceive your AD and Athletic Department. I assume Radakovitch will take what he has learned from LSU and bring that success to GT. I am curious about what you think his approach will be with our program and his areas of focus. Go Jackets, Go Tigers, and To He** with Georgia.
Well, I think all LSU fans think highly of the Athletic Dept. overall. Sure, there are gripes here and there, but you can't deny the fact that much has been done in, say, the past 5-10 years to greatly improve facilities. Of course, winning a national title in football didn't hurt the bottom line, either. The LSU ADept. is a standalone entity, totally self sufficient from a budgetary standpoint. It's solvency and strength is in part due to good stewardship at the top, so Dan gets some kudos in that regard. He was also the point person on football scheduling, and this is where I think most here will gripe about him. Yes, our current AD has some intense love affair with scheduling every directional school in the state, but Dan R's the guy front and center every time LSU announces it's filling an open date in the schedule with...Appalacian State. Or East Central Tennessee State Tech A&M Community College. Or...you get the idea. He did a nice job of nabbing Fresno St. for 2006, but other than that the lack of creativity in finding marketable home foes/out of conference is what I'll remember most about him. In fairness, there are a number of reasons why LSU was restricted in filling schedule gaps, but surely some of the "blame" has to go to the guys in the Ath. Dept...just as some of the credit for successes go to those guys.
He's good enough that GT had better pay him well and give him a long-term contract, because LSU is likely going after him when Skip retires. With luck Dan can pump up Tech's fortunes for a few years and then you can hire Curry anyway.
He is a very personable and likable man from a personal standpoint. At least as far as a boss is concerned.:wink: Wonder who my new one will be?
This Athletic Department has enjoyed the most success LSU has ever seen. We've had a lot of success in several different sports, and have added vast improvements to our facilities to help ensure future success. I think ya'll got a great one, and like Red said - you better pay him well because we'll be coming after him soon.
