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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL Bulldogs eager to go bowling - anywhere By Marc Weisaer Morris News Service ATHENS - Georgia isn’t expected to know its bowl destination for certain until Sunday, when the BCS selec tions are sorted out. Alter a midseason slide, in which they lost four of five games, the Bulldogs figure they can’t be choosy. The most likely landing spot appears to be Atlanta’s Chick-fil-A Bowl on Dec. 30, which would give Georgia (8-4) its third game in the Georgia Dome since last December. A return trip to the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn., where the Bulldogs last played in 2001, remains Consistent approach pays off for Georgia Tech coach By Adam Van Brimmer Morris News Service ATLANTA - Chan Gailey was due. The explanation for Georgia Tech’s run to Saturday’s Atlantic Coast Conference Championship game is much more compli cated, of course. But with the public’s need to know what’s different about these Yellow Jackets - Why did this team finally meet fans’ lofty ACC expectations? - the best place to start is the head coach. So, what’s different about Gailey this season? Plenty. He has the job security of a new contract. He has restructured his coaching staff. He has surrendered the play-calling duties. He has formed a closer bond with his players. And he has a talented, veteran team. Yet strip it down, and the simplest answer tends to be the right one. Gailey was due. “When he first got the job, there were so many things left for him to deal with,” said Wes Durham, the play by-play man on Georgia Tech’s radio broadcasts. “Whenever you take a job, you know you will inherit some things, both positive and negative. John Heisman could have been the foot ball coach here again, and it would have been the same issues. “Finally after four years, those things have balanced out.” Durham is passionate when he talks about Gailey, and not just because he and the coach are close friends. From a professional stand point, he considers much of the past criticism leveled at Gailey unwarranted. Because for all the chal lenges - star tailback Joe Burns’ unexpected decision to turn pro a year early in 2002, the loss of 10 players because of academics in 2003, NCAA-mandated scholarship reductions in 2004, 2005 and this year - the football pro gram never fell off college football’s balance beam dur ing Gailey’s first term in the coach’s office. The Yellow Jackets posted winning seasons and played in bowl games each year. Yet many fans and alumni dis agreed with the decision to award Gailey a new contract last fall. The outcry never fazed the coach. He heard much worse during his NFL days, particularly during his two years as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. He kept the criticism in perspective, and he refused to experiment to appease the armchair quarterbacks. He stuck to his plan to build a disciplined, title-contending team. “If you can’t handle the critics, they accept resig nations every day,” Gailey said. “Whether its a corpo ration or a football team or whatever it might be, when there is transition and turn over, to maintain a certain level of success is not easy. I understood that. And so did enough others.” A different personality Most Gailey detractors seem intent on pointing out what the coach is not, rather a possibility, as does the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn. Both are on Dec. 29. “Whatever we get, I’m proud and I’m happy,” junior defensive end Charles Johnson said. “You can’t have a choice with the kind of season we had.” Senior offensive tackle Daniel Inman echoed that sentiment. “To pull out a bowl at the end is going to be a blessing as it is,” Inman said. “We’ll be happy with wherever we go and whoever we play. It doesn’t really matter to me. Just another game in the Georgia outfit will do me good.” The winner of Saturday’s iisHr Morris News Service Goergia Tech head coach Chan Gailey has guided the Jackets with a steady hand. than what he is. He is not charismatic. He is not a schmoozer. He is not an unpredict able, seat-of-his-pants deci sion-maker. Quite simply, Durham said, Gailey is not what Yellow Jacket fans were accus tomed to. His predecessor, George O’Leary, possessed a dominating personality. And O’Leary had a proven history at Georgia Tech: He worked as Bobby Ross’ defensive coordinator during the 1990 national championship sea son, and as a head coach, O’Leary rebuilt the program into a national power after his predecessor, Bill Lewis, posted losing seasons in his -»,.- __ MBB TOTOB mamaame OnHMtok J MBS* BBBf ■RHSv ( SAW OViB 50% OFF THE COVER PRICI" Just Fill Out & Return The Form Below Or Call Our Office At 478-987-1823 Name: Phone: Address: City: State: Zip: Email: - $19.26 - $38.52 - - $06.34 (Above prices include tax) Credit: □ Master Card □ VISA □ Discover - Card #: Exp: SEC championship game between No. 4 Florida and No. 8 Arkansas likely is headed to the Sugar Bowl. Fifth-ranked LSU is widely considered to be in position for a BCS at large berth. The SEC championship game loser, No. 11 Auburn and No. 17 Tennessee are likely to be snatched up by the Capital One, Outback and Cotton Bowls. The Chick-fil-A Bowl has the fourth choice of SEC teams after the BCS bowls and could set up a match up between No. 14 Virginia Tech and Georgia. South Carolina (7-5) and Kentucky (7-5) are the other SEC teams that would be in the mix for the former Peach three years, including a 1-10 mark in 1994. Gailey came to Georgia Tech with no ties to the school beyond having grown up in the state. And the Americus native inherit ed a team that had won eight or more games in each of the previous four years and an ACC title in 1998. Fans and alumni found Gailey guarded, honest to a fault, and unwilling to carry on some of O’Leary’s off-the field traditions. He alienated two power ful entities - former Georgia Tech players and the media - by canceling the annual summer golf outing at Reynolds Plantation. Gailey had moral objections to some P.O. Box 1910 • 1210 Washington Street • Perry , GA 31069 478-987-1823 SPORTS Bowl if two SEC teams go to the BCS. “I’d love to go to it,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “I would love it.” Georgia Tech also is a candidate to land in the Chick-fil-A if it loses in the ACC title game to Wake Forest on Saturday. Chick-fil-A president Gary Stokan did not return a mes sage left on Monday, but said two weeks earlier that the bowl won’t set up a Georgia- Georgia Tech rematch. “If Tech lost to Georgia, and they lost in the cham pionship game, do we pass over Georgia Tech?,” Stokan said then. “We’d have to look at what does Virginia Tech do? Does Virginia Tech of the things that went on during the event: Namely wagering. Gailey is a devout Christian and opposes gam bling. “That golf tournament is not Chan’s style,” Durham said. “I get to know coaches pretty well, good and bad. And Chan’s personality fol lowing George’s was two dif ferent worlds. It took peo Mfttheifej enta family and) tefe H&telj tafcft cju® ojmurf mealsji Place your orders now to pick up your holiday feast from the New Perry Hotel Casserole Shop. We are offering the following choices: Entrees: Turkey and Dressing ~ Barbecued Pulled Pork ~ Chicken Salad ~ Shrimp Salad ~ Chicken Tetrazini Soups: Crab and Corn Bisque ~ Chili ~ Seafood Gumbo ~ Brunswick Stew Side Items: Sweet Potato Souffle ~ Green Beans ~ Maccaroni Cheese ~ Potato Salad ~ Shredded Yams ~ Corn Pudding ~ Twice Baked Potato Casserole - Broccoli Souffle Desserts: Pecan Pie ~ Lemon Chess Pie ~ White Chocolate Cheese Cake 800 Carroll St. - Perry, GA (478) 987-1073 win out?” That’s just what Virginia Tech did. The Hokies would head to Atlanta on a six-game winning streak. Georgia Tech would be on a two-game losing streak. Gator Bowl president Rick Catlett, whose bowl picks its ACC team after the Chick fil-A, told the Newport News Daily Press (Va.) that he doesn’t think he’ll have a shot at Virginia Tech. “They’d have to get past the BCS and past the Chick fil-A Bowl for us to even have a conversation, so I’d think they are a darkhorse in our picture at this point,” Catlett said. “... We have to go on the assumption that they’re off the board.” pie a while to understand that this was a different guy coaching their football team.” Players needed time to adjust to Gailey’s style as well. He did not share O’Leary’s heavy-handed approach and stressed per sonal accountability from teammate to teammate. He encourages players to take */ i \ m fjjy * AUTOPAY! And Bill Your Credit Card Quarterly For Your Subscription All The Hassle! WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2006 ♦ After the Chick-fil-A, the Music City Bowl and Liberty Bowl have the next SEC picks with consultation with the conference office and the schools. Possible opponents in the Music City Bowl would include Clemson, Boston College or Maryland. The Liberty Bowl has the first pick of Conference USA teams. Houston is play ing Southern Miss for that league’s title. The Chick-fil-A Bowl pays out $2.4 million to the SEC and the Music City and Liberty pay out $1.7 mil lion each, but Georgia gets $1.04 million for expenses for playing in any of those jjiowls. ownership of the program. “I don’t have a lot of dos and don’ts around here,” Gailey said. “It’s about doing things the right way and making good decisions, because I want a decision maker when they get out of here. If I lay down 400 rules, then all we’ve proven at the end of four years is a guy can follow directions.” 3B 00041414 |4oo^