TO: Fans, Friends, and Supporters of Georgia Tech Athletics
FROM: Dan Radakovich, Georgia Tech Director of Athletics
Thanks to all of you great Georgia Tech fans, our season tickets sales have now surpassed the 26,000 mark, which is more than 2,000 ahead of last year’s total. With still more than two full weeks to go before the season opener, we are hoping for a strong finish by our GT Ticket Sales Team and great crowds at Bobby Dodd Stadium throughout the 2009 season.
One bit of housekeeping on tickets right off the bat has to do with our Thursday night game against Clemson. We need your help in spreading the word that we have released all remaining Clemson tickets for sale, and there are plenty of seats still available. I don’t want folks to pass up an opportunity to participate in the Thursday night tradition by thinking the game is sold out and tickets are not available. Let’s all get busy on those single-game sales and pack the house for our national television appearance.
I hope many of you are planning on attending our “Can’t Wait ‘Til Kickoff” Luncheon on Friday, August 28th at the Cobb Galleria. Doors open at 11:30 , lunch at noon and a great program of video, music and Georgia Tech spirit, capped off by Coach Paul Johnson and many of our all-star football players who will share their thoughts on the upcoming season. Tickets can be purchased through our ticket office by phone (1-888-TECH TIX), online at www.ramblinwreck.com/tickets, or click here to order. Tickets are general admission and priced at $35 each, or you can secure a reserved table of 10 for $350.
I hope by now you have all been busily looking for and purchasing game day apparel for the upcoming season. There will be an opportunity to do a little GT shopping at the Kickoff Luncheon, and of course at many retail outlets around the city. Our licensing folks are continuing to work very hard to increase our presence in the marketplace. Every year seems to get a little better. Much of this success can be attributed to our “I Want My GT” Campaign. To learn more about the ongoing effort to market licensed Georgia Tech products check out this newsletter called “Licensed to Sting.”
With all this preseason talk about football, I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about our new head volleyball coach Tonya Johnson and the energized Yellow Jacket team preparing for her inaugural season. The ladies open their season at 7 p.m. next Friday night, the 28th – appropriately, hosting Georgia at O’Keefe Gym on campus. It promises to be an action-packed debut for Coach Johnson as part of a weekend tournament. On Saturday the 29th, the Jackets face Austin Peay at 12:30 p.m. and Mercer at 7 p.m.
By now I am hoping that all of you season ticket holders have received your ticket packages. Remember that parking once again is being delivered through our Click-n-Park system via e-mail. Georgia Tech fans expecting to receive season-long parking passes for the 2009 football season need to make sure those passes aren’t filtered by your spam-blocker.
Over the last week or so, these season parking passes have been e-mailed from the following e-mail address: support@clickandpark.com. If you are unsure how to allow this e-mail to reach your inbox, please check with your internet service provider or computer administrator.
If you’re wondering about our men’s basketball ticket renewals, we had a big week last week and have seen more than 4,700 seats renewed or more than 80 percent of our seats from last year. Those of you who have not renewed need to act immediately as we will soon begin to take the available seats to the marketplace. We are very optimistic that we can push toward a season sellout situation by mid-fall.
And, as this is always the time of year when our supporters get very active in many ways, it is also a good time to review the NCAA guidelines with regard to rules compliance for those representatives of our athletic interests. I am providing links below to two documents that have been expertly compiled by our Compliance Office for your review. The first is an easy-to-follow list of guidelines, and the second is a copy of our compliance newsletter to boosters we call “Buzz Bits.” Please take a moment to look these over so that you can be the very best supporter of GT Athletics without running afoul of NCAA rules.
I wanted to remind you all once again about the great work our Yellow Jacket Hall of Famer Randy Rhino is doing working out of our Edge Athletic Building at Tech. Randy provides invaluable chiropractic services to our student-athletes, and now those services are available to you. All Georgia tech fans and supporters are welcomed to contact Randy directly for an appointment for all of your chiropractic needs. To schedule an appointment, reach Randy directly at 404-385-0446 or e-mail him at rrhino@athletics.gatech.edu.
FOOTBALL ONLINE
Hard-core Yellow Jacket fans have probably been following the daily progress of the football team on RamblinWreck.com. The “Practice Central” feature gives daily tidbits, photo galleries and video interviews.
SOCIAL NETWORKS
If you’re active in the online social networks – and even if you’re not – make sure you follow Georgia Tech athletics on Facebook (www.facebook.com/gtathletics) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/gtathletics). More than 5,900 of our fans are following us on Facebook.
PRESEASON HOOPLA
— Jonathan Dwyer is on the preseason watch lists for the Doak Walker Award and the Walter Camp National Player of the Year award.
— Josh Nesbitt is on the preseason watch list for the Davey O’Brien Award.
— Morgan Burnett is on the preseason watch lists for the Jim Thorpe Award and the Bronko Nagurski Award.
— Derrick Morgan is a preseason candidate for the Rotary Lombardi Award.
— Junior basketball standout Gani Lawal is on the preseason list for the John Wooden Award.
NOTEBOOK
Kyle Scott, a two-time Division II All-American at the University of West Florida, has signed a grant-in-aid to enroll at Georgia Tech and will join the Yellow Jackets’ golf team for the 2009-10 academic year…Mark Toburen has been named Georgia Tech Swimming and Diving assistant coach…Georgia Tech women’s basketball associate head coach Sytia Messer was named head coach at Tennessee Tech University…Former University of Florida catcher Kristine Priebe has signed a financial aid agreement and will transfer to Georgia Tech…Georgia Tech senior outside hitter Chrissy DeMichelis has been named to the 2009 Preseason All-ACC volleyball team…The Yellow Jackets, who finished sixth in the ACC last year, were picked eighth in the preseason coach’s poll…Junior golfer John-Tyler Griffin has qualified for the U.S. Amateur Championship, which begins next Monday at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla.; 2009 graduate Cameron Tringale also is in the field by virtue of his playing in the U.S. Open …Tech’s men’s basketball team has scheduled an off-season international trip to Windsor, Ontario during fall break (Oct. 2-5) and will play three games against the University of Windsor (twice) and the University of Western Ontario; the NCAA allows teams to do this once every four years…women’s tennis standout Irina Falconi is featured in this week’s Faces In The Crowd section of Sports Illustrated.
