A third consecutive three-win football season hasn't sat well with Georgia Tech fans, and a letter to them Monday by athletic director Todd Stansbury did little to assuage their unease.
The Yellow Jackets' 3-9 2021 season was concluded with losses to No. 6 Notre Dame and top-ranked Georgia by a combined 100-0 score.
As reported by the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Stansbury’s letter reiterated much of coach Geoff Collins’ assurances that the program is making progress.
“Our performance in the final two games of the season were [sic] especially disappointing and were a step back," Stansbury wrote. "However, progress was still apparent at many points during the course of the season, highlighted by the fact that we had the ball with a chance to win or tie the game in the fourth quarter of six of our losses. That does not make the final results any less frustrating or disappointing, but the margin for error has been shrunk significantly. We now need to close it.”
The letter went on to highlight Collins’ recruiting successes and investments in facilities, technology and staffing, as well as the completion of the Athletics Initiative 2020 capital campaign. Stansbury wrote that “we knew from the beginning that this transition would require time and patience to build our program the right way.”
About two hours before the letter was sent, star running back Jahmyr Gibbs announced his decision to transfer out of the program.
Once it landed in in-boxes, the letter met with unfavorable reactions from fans. The AJC shared a sampling:
“The more I look at this letter, the more annoyed I get at the effective reiteration that GT fans just haven’t been looking for the so-called improvements this year. Most of us have watched for decades and/or played and can tell whether or not we are seeing improvement. We aren’t.”
“Got to throw in the close losses to three 6-6 teams, a 7-5 team, a MAC team coming off a winless season, and the weakest Clemson team in over a decade. Well done, Todd! I feel better already”
“How about an apology from said coach that we fans don’t see improvement because we don’t want to. Insulting those of us that put money in the program for improvement, isn’t exactly warming our hearts, or finding our pen to write a check. Do better.”
“I think I’m gonna hurl."
