TO: Fans, Friends, and Supporters of Georgia Tech Athletics
FROM: Dan Radakovich, Georgia Tech Director of Athletics
It’s great to be off and running for the new academic year at Georgia Tech. I don’t think our opening weekend could have been better with our solid football victory in Paul Johnson’s debut and a loud, enthusiastic crowd at Bobby Dodd Stadium. And just for good measure, we’ve already got a win over UGA on the very first weekend as Bond Shymansky’s volleyball team not only defeated our rival, but went on to win their tournament by sweeping through undefeated.
Thanks to all of you who came out to support the Jackets in our opener. Before we kicked off, our season ticket sales had surpassed last year’s total by a few hundred. Several more Tech fans have purchased season tickets since the game last Thursday. If you’re still holding out, why not consider doing the same? We will take on SEC foe Mississippi State in our next home game on September 20.
Those of you who were at the game last week should have noticed a number of changes. Our promotions staff went to great lengths in the offseason to enhance the atmosphere with more band music, fan-friendly video promotions and fireworks….and fewer PA announcements. We appreciate the cooperation of our media partner, ISP, in helping with this effort, and we salute our corporate advertisers who realize that your enjoyment of the game is paramount.
We did have something of a rarity involving the opener as well. There was no live television coverage of the game. (Except the internet feed provided by ESPN 360). This was not by our choice, certainly, but was a result of the ACC’s television contract with ESPN. It is important to know that the ACC dictates the positioning of our games with regard to live coverage, not us. This Saturday, for example, the Boston College game will be televised by Raycom at noon. The following Saturday’s matchup at Virginia Tech is an ABC game at 3:30. Future television opportunities and corresponding game times will be announced by our conference as the season progresses.
The lack of live television created a whole lot of interest in our radio broadcast. Since some of you had trouble accessing the broadcast, I thought I would give you a roadmap that might help. First, even though 790 The Zone is officially our flagship station in Atlanta, it is not the only source for attempting to hear the broadcast. All of our games are carried live on South 107.1 FM – which is an excellent alternative if you are in northwest Atlanta and even better the further you get towards the Rome-Cartersville area.
In addition, anytime we play at night, the games are simulcast on WREK (91.1 FM). This is our campus station which has an excellent 40,000-watt signal, reaching out far beyond the perimeter in most directions. And certainly, those of you who are in Georgia but outside the Atlanta market can access one of our 32 statewide network affiliates around the state.. And, don’t forget all of our games can be heard on XM satellite radio between channels 190 and 192, depending on the game.
That brings me to yet another source for radio coverage. By visiting Ramblinwreck.com, you can go into our “All-Access” package. This is a subscriber service that you can order by the game, by the month or by the season. This type of service has become standard operating procedure on school web sites across the country, and we are happy to offer it to our alumni and fans nationwide.
Some of the information I am providing may be new to you. However, it is information we continually send to the media and try to have updated in all of our game week materials. Understand as we do that, what we send out and what is printed in the media are two different things. That being said, I thought you’d like a peek at the mounds of weekly Georgia Tech information that is provided to hundreds of media outlets around the South and the nation. Dean Buchan and his media relations staff make this packet available, updated at least twice-weekly. You can also find a link to this info by going to RamblinWreck.com, clicking on “football” and then clicking on “Game Notes” in the upper right-hand corner.
If you are the type of Yellow Jacket fan who has an insatiable appetite for information, we think there are some hidden gems on our website that you should investigate:
Listen live to Paul Johnson’s weekly press conference – Every Tuesday at 11:45a.m. (except during open date weeks or weeks of Thursday nightgames), you can listen to the head coach respond to questions fromthe media, live, and at no cost. Near the top of the page, click on”Multimedia”. Then, click on “All-Access”. This requires a sign-upon your part, but does not require any fee.
Yellow Jacket Journal, highlights, recaps and more – Click on the”Multimedia” pull-down menu and click on “RSS Podcast Feeds”. Fromthere, you can listen to the Yellow Jacket Journal, highlights fromthe previous week’s football game, a re-play of Paul Johnson’s weekly press conference and much more. You maybe surprised at just how simple this is and it requires nofee.
Watch videos – Click on the “Video” tab on our website to watch agrowing menu of video features. Today, for example, you can watchhighights from the Jacksonville State game, watch a re-play ofPaul Johnson’s press conference and much more. This requires nosign-up and no fee. Photo galleries – Also, under the “Multimedia”tab are photo galleries. Here you can see photos from theJacksonville State game, look at photos of construction of the newsoftball facility and much more.
Here are a couple of other notes that may be of interest to you. We are currently in the process of a make-over of the museum inside the Edge Center. The facility is open to the public on game days, so come by and take a look. Don’t miss the Yellow Jacket Theater, which allows you to play a series of highlights and other programming on the big screen.
Another great place to gather in the coming weeks is at Fox Sports Grill in Atlantic Station. Wes Durham hosts the Paul Johnson Radio Show every Wednesday night at 7 p.m. live. Come out and join other Yellow Jacket fans as the coach takes questions from the audience and talks about the upcoming weekend’s game.
Also, if you want to re-live some great moments from 2007-08, check out our newly-released Annual Report. In addition to summaries of all of our academic and athletic highlights for last year, you can access all of our most up to date financial information from our recently concluded fiscal year.
For those folks in Atlanta over the weekend, come and check out our volleyball tournament on campus. Our Georgia Tech team takes on Arkansas Friday night a 7, Xavier on Saturday at 5 and concludes with a huge match vs. nationally-ranked Michigan on Sunday at 2. This is big-time college volleyball! If you’ve never been to one of our matches at O’Keefe Gym on campus, I promise you’ll love the action. It’s a great family trip as well.
I’m off to Boston with the football team on Friday morning hoping to bring back Coach Johnson’s first ACC win. I know there are a lot of you making the trip, so I’ll hope to see many of you there. As always, I appreciate your spirit, your support and your input. We are working hard to get a little better every day at Georgia Tech.
