Dear Yellow Jacket Fans,
The 2023-24 athletics year is off to an exciting start on The Flats, with our teams having success on the field and exciting developments off the field continuing to build our incredible momentum. Your continued passion and support is what drives us and allows our student-athletes to excel.
Consider so far this fall …
- Almost a month into the season, volleyball remains undefeated at 7-0, with wins over No. 8 Penn State and No. 20 Ohio State (twice). This Friday night, the team brings its Top-10 national ranking into a huge home match against Georgia in McCamish Pavilion. (More on that in a bit …)
- In their first race of the year at Kennesaw State, women’s and men’s cross country opened the year with first- and second-place finishes, respectively, with the women defeating Georgia and Helena Lindsay winning the individual crown.
- And, of course, our football team is 1-1 after a 48-13 victory over South Carolina State in last Saturday’s 2023 Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field opener.
Despite the final outcome of our football opener at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the Aflac Kickoff Game against Louisville, the atmosphere was electric and loud, as it was after a two-plus hour weather delay at Bobby Dodd for last Saturday’s win over S.C. State. On behalf of Coach Brent Key, our student-athletes and our entire athletics department, thank you for your support of the Yellow Jackets over the first two weeks of the season.
I hope that many of you were able to enjoy the inaugural Helluva Block Party Driven by Hyundai on North Avenue prior to the S.C. State game. We recognize the cherished gameday traditions here at Tech and did not take moving traditions such as Yellow Jacket Alley and the Georgia Tech marching band’s pregame show to North Avenue lightly. But thank you for giving it a try. The reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. So, if you came to Helluva Block Party and liked what you saw, we hope you’ll come again. And if you didn’t make it out last Saturday, we hope that you’ll try it at the Bowling Green game on September 30, which will include a pregame concert by multi-platinum country songwriter and artist Chris Janson.
One of the factors behind the creation of Helluva Block Party is the upcoming demolition of the Edge/Rice Center. Construction over the next few years will make it impractical to carry on many of our pregame traditions on the north end of the stadium. As you are aware, the demolition of the Edge/Rice Center will make way for our new Student-Athlete Performance Center. We are so excited about the SAPC, which will provide our student-athletes with the space and resources they need to excel at the highest level through strength and conditioning, sports medicine (including recovery and mental health), nutrition and an area that we’re very eager to invest more into, sports science and analytics. The SAPC will also include new, expanded space dedicated to our football program with state-of-the-art meeting rooms, a players’ lounge and office space for our expanded football staff.
The SAPC is on schedule to open following the conclusion of the 2025 football season and I’m thrilled to share exclusively with you updated renderings of the facility.
If you happen to read this article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week, you already know that the SAPC is just one of the many facilities projects on the horizon for Georgia Tech Athletics. We have already started the process of looking at some comprehensive renovations to Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field, including changes to enhance the gameday experience for fans and expanded and upgraded premium seating options. We still have a long way to go and want to make sure we have a thoughtful approach, but the process has begun and we’re looking forward to sharing our vision for the future of Bobby Dodd Stadium at Hyundai Field and all of our athletics facilities.
We need you more than ever! I encourage you to buy tickets, come to games, donate to the Alexander-Tharpe Fund’s Athletic Scholarship Fund and become a member of The Tech Way. No matter how you choose to support Tech Athletics, you are helping our student-athletes achieve life-long success and helping our teams return to national prominence.
Although we’re only a couple of weeks into our fall sports seasons, we’re also eagerly looking forward to the start of basketball season in November, including the first season for under our new men’s basketball coach, Damon Stoudamire. Season tickets for men’s basketball are on sale now, while season-ticket renewals are underway for head coach Nell Fortner’s exciting women’s basketball squad. Hoops season is approaching fast, so be sure to secure your season tickets today.
As a final reminder, on Friday night, our Top Ten volleyball team faces Georgia at McCamish Pavilion in the first head-to-head Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate matchup of the 2023-24 academic year. Because of their success, Coach Michelle Collier’s team has earned the opportunity to play in front of huge crowds at McCamish. I hope that you’ll come out on Friday night for a great night of volleyball and help us shatter the program attendance record of 3,418, which was set in last year’s inaugural McCamish Pavilion match against Pitt.
As always, thank you for your continued support of Georgia Tech Athletics!
Sting ‘Em!
J Batt
Director of Athletics
