The Confidential

The ACC School Mount Rushmores: Georgia Tech FINAL

We left it up to the fans to decide the final two spots.  And we are not ready to announce the final Georgia Tech Mount Rushmore.

There was a clamoring of support for John Heisman, of Heisman Trophy fame.  Fair enough.  The trophy alone is a reason to give him some consideration.  Although he spread out his work over several schools, he did win 100 games for Georgia Tech–in an era of 9 game seasons.  And he spent most of his time with the Yellow Jackets.  That’s good enough for the Confidential to land the third spot.

The fourth spot is tougher.  But Bobby Cremins really put Georgia Tech on the hoops map–especially during the glory days of the 1980s.  Moreover, he took over a struggling program–and yet made it nationally relevant.   Nine straight Big Dance appearances during one particular span.

So that gives us a Georgia Tech Mount Rushmore of: Dodd, Price, Heisman, and Cremins.

Other Mount Rushmores:

• ACC Football Coaches
• ACC Basketball Coaches

1. Maryland Preliminary   Maryland Final
2. Boston College    Boston College Final
3. Wake Forest   Wake Forest Final
4. Miami   Miami Final
5. Virginia Tech   Virginia Tech Final
6. Syracuse   Syracuse Final
7. Virginia   Virginia Final
8. Pittsburgh  Pittsburgh Final
9. North Carolina State  North Carolina State Final
10. Clemson   Clemson Final
11. Georgia Tech
12. Louisville
13. Notre Dame
14. Duke
15. North Carolina
16. Florida State

For more on the Georgia Tech decisions, see the original discussion…

As we discussed previously, these school-wide Mount Rushmores are limited to sports only–players and coaches.  That being said, athletes that have gone on to have careers that have furthered their legend are rewarded also.   And negative publicity will also be factored in.  We do not believe that USC would put OJ Simpson on its Mount Rushmore.  It is what it is.  Admittedly, there will be a recency bias too.  While historical accomplishments are typically quite impressive, coaching college football (as an example) in 1955 was a lot different than coaching today, where coaches rarely get 5 years to make their mark anymore.  Similarly, in an era of up to 14 college football games or 40 college basketball games, as well as daunting pressure from the fans and media, today’s game is more challenging.  That’s our opinion and we are sticking to it.

The Confidential gives the first spot to Bobby Dodd.  Georgia Tech could have named its stadium after John Heisman or William Alexander.  Each of these predecessors to Dodd won a National Championship.  And you’ve probably heard of that trophy bearing Heisman’s name.  Dodd coached Georgia Tech for 22 years, going an impressive 165-64-8.  There was a national title in 1952, as well as a 31-game winning streak.  Not an easy decision, but Dodd gets the nod here.

The #2 spot goes to Mark Price.  Price was an outstanding player for Georgia Tech, scoring more than 2,000 points and taking Tech to an Elite Eight appearance.  Price was named the ACC Most Valuable Player in 1984-85.   Price went on to have a very successful NBA career.  He is currently second in the NBA’s all-time free-throw percentage rankings (90.4%) and was a leader in three-point percentage too.  He holds the Cleveland Cavaliers record for assists in a career.  He even returned to serve as an assistant coach for Georgia Tech briefly.

The #3 and #4 spots for Georgia Tech are insanely difficult.  We are going to do the unprecedented and turn both the #3 and #4 spots over to the fans.  Let’s list some of the candidates here: (a) golf’s Bobby Jones; (b) football’s Heisman, Alexander, Bobby Ross, Calvin Johnson, and Robert Lavette; (c) baseball’s Nomar Garciaparra, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Brown, and Jason Varitek; and (d) basketball’s John Salley, Bobby Cremins, Kenny Anderson, Stephon Marbury, Chris Bosh, Jarrett Jack, and Dennis Scott.  Surely there are plenty others.  This is where you come in–let us know who should be #3 and #4.

Who will be the Confidential’s third and fourth Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket on its Mount Rushmore?