Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
| Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | |
|---|---|
| Logo | |
| University | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Conference | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| Division | Division I |
| Athletic director | Dan Radakovich |
| Location | Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state) |
| Football stadium | Bobby Dodd Stadium |
| Arena | Alexander Memorial Coliseum |
| Mascot | Buzz & Ramblin' Wreck |
| Nickname | GA Tech |
| Colors | White and Old Gold |
| Website | ramblinwreck |
The Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that play for the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Ramblin' Wreck, Engineers, Blacksmiths, and Golden Tornado. There are 8 men's and 7 women's teams that compete in the NCAA Division I athletics and Division I-A football. Georgia Tech is a member of the Coastal Division in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The official school colors for Georgia Tech are old gold and white. Black and navy are often used as secondary colors and for alternate jerseys.
The traditional rival, in all sports is in-state University of Georgia. This rivalry is often referred to as Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate. There are also rivalries with out of state Auburn and conference foe Clemson.
The athletic department is run by the Georgia Tech Athletic Association, a private organization located on campus. The department dedicates about $53 million per year to its sports teams and facilities. Since 2005, the athletic director of Georgia Tech has been Dan Radakovich. Most athletic teams have on-campus facilities for competition, including Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field for football, the Alexander Memorial Coliseum at Cremins' Court for men’s and women’s basketball, and Russ Chandler Stadium for baseball.
Football
The football team is traditionally the most popular at the Institute. The games are played at Bobby Dodd Stadium or simply the Flats, which is the oldest on-campus stadium in division 1-A football. The stadium was expanded in recent years, increasing the maximum capacity to 55,000.
Georgia Tech plays an eight-game conference schedule, headlined by an annual ACC cross-division game against Clemson. In addition, the team has a yearly out-of-conference meeting with Georgia at the end of the season known as Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.
The football team is in the top 20 winningest Division 1-A programs and was the first team to win all four of the historical big four bowls - the Orange, Sugar, Cotton and Rose. Georgia Tech has won four national titles in the years 1917 under John Heisman, 1928 under William Alexander, 1952 under Bobby Dodd, and 1990 under Bobby Ross.
The Yellow Jackets have won a total of 15 conference titles. They won 5 SIAA titles between 1916 and 1921, 3 Southern Conference titles in '22, '27, and '28, 5 SEC titles between 1939 and 1952, and the 1990 and 1998 ACC championships. The team has played in 34 bowl games, posting a record of 22-13. The resulting win percentage of .629 is currently the second-highest among teams with over 20 bowl appearances.
The current coach is former Dallas Cowboys head coach Chan Gailey. In five seasons, Chan Gailey has posted a 37-27 record, 5 straight bowl berths, and a 2-3 record in bowl games. Chan's 5 straight bowl appearances have the Jackets at 10 in a row overall, an active streak tied for 5th longest in the nation.
Some notable and more recent Georgia Tech football players are three-time All-American Calvin Johnson, Keith Brooking, Joe Burns, Marco Coleman, Joe Hamilton, Tony Hollings, Dorsey Levens, and Arizona Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt.
Men's basketball
| Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | |
|---|---|
| File:Gatech buzz.gif | |
| University | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Head coach | Paul Hewitt |
| Conference | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| Arena | Alexander Memorial Coliseum |
| Nickname | Yellow Jackets |
| Colors | Old Gold and White |
| NCAA tournament Final Four | |
| 1990, 2004 | |
| Conference tournament champions | |
| 1938 (SEC) 1985, 1990, 1993 | |
| Conference regular season champions | |
| 1938 (SEC) 1985, 1996 | |
Georgia Tech features a strong and popular basketball program. The team plays its home games in Alexander Memorial Coliseum. However, under the tenure of Bobby Cremins Georgia Tech established itself as a national force in basketball. Bobby Cremins led his team to the first ACC tournament victory in school history in 1985 and in 1990 he took Georgia Tech to the school's first Final Four appearance ever. Cremins retired from Georgia Tech in 2000 with the school's best coaching win percentage.
Paul Hewitt is the current head for Georgia Tech. He helped to revitalize a stagnant program and Georgia Tech experienced a Cinderella Season in 2004, earning the school's second ever berth in a National Title Game in any sport. The 2003-2004 team won the Pre-Season NIT tournament, ended Duke's 41 game home-winning streak, and finished its season losing by only 9 points in the National Title game to UCONN.
Some notable and more recent Georgia Tech basketball players are Stephon Marbury, Kenny Anderson, Travis Best, Chris Bosh, Jarrett Jack, Mark Price, and John Salley.
Baseball
Baseball is a very successful sport at Georgia Tech. The baseball team makes its home at Russ Chandler Stadium and is one of the premier baseball teams in the NCAA. Georgia Tech baseball is notable for its high-scoring offenses and stout defenses.
The team's success is guided by head coach Danny Hall. Danny Hall has coached Tech for 13 seasons and has posted 579 wins over that span. He has led Georgia Tech to 12 years of NCAA regional play and its only three College World Series appearances in 1994, 2002, and 2006.
The baseball team, under Hall, has become an annual contender for the ACC regular season and tournament titles winning each four and three times respectively.
Some notable and more recent Georgia Tech baseball players are Kevin Brown, Nomar Garciaparra, Matt Murton, Jay Payton, Mark Teixeira, and Jason Varitek.
Golf
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's golf team is one of the most consistent Yellow Jacket teams. The men's golf team has made the NCAA Championship round nine straight years under twelfth-year head coach Bruce Heppler. In 2005, the program was rated by Golf Magazine as the #1 collegiate golf program in the country.
Some notable and more recent Georgia Tech golfers are David Duval and Stewart Cink.
Volleyball
Georgia Tech Women's Volleyball is one of the newer additions to Georgia Tech's athletic department, having only been started in the past twenty years. Despite the program's youth, it has been a dominant force in the ACC.
Bond Shymansky, in four seasons, has shaped Georgia Tech volleyball into a powerful, perennial ACC title contender and NCAA tournament qualifier. Tech has been in the NCAA tournament three out of the past four years and has set several school records for victories in a season, consecutive ACC victories, and consecutive victories.
Other sports
Georgia Tech also fields women's basketball, softball, men and women's track & field, men and women's swimming & diving, men and women's tennis, men and women's cross country, and assorted club sports.
The non-NCAA sanctioned club sports include but are not limited to crew, cricket, cycling, equestrian, fencing, field hockey, gymnastics, ice hockey, kayaking, lacrosse, paintball, roller hockey, rowing, rugby, sailing, skydiving, triathlon, ultimate, water polo, and wrestling.
Traditions
Mascots
Costumed in plush to look like a yellow jacket, the official mascot of Georgia Tech is Buzz. Buzz enters the football games at the sound of swarming yellow jackets and proceeds to do a flip on the fifty yard line GT logo. He then bull rushes the goal post and has been known to knock it out of alignment before football games. Buzz is also notorious for crowd surfing and general debauchery amongst Tech and rival fans.
The Ramblin' Wreck was the first official mascot of Georgia Tech. It is a 1930 Ford Model A Sports Coupe. The Wreck has led the football team onto the field every home game since 1961. The Wreck features a gold and white paint job, two gold flags emblazoned with the words "To Hell With Georgia" and "Give 'Em Hell Tech", and a white soft top. The Wreck is maintained by the Ramblin' Reck Club, a selective student leadership organization on campus.
Spirit organizations
The Ramblin' Reck Club is charged with upholding all school traditions and creating new traditions such as the Swarm. The Swarm is a 900 member strong spirit group seated along the north end zone or on the court at basketball games. This is the group that typically features body painting, organized chants, and general fanaticism.
The marching band that performs at halftime and after big plays during the football season is clad in all white and sits next to Swarm at football games providing a dichotomy of white and gold in the North End Zone. The band plays the fight songs Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" and "Up With the White and Gold after every football score and between every basketball period. At the end of a rendition of either fight song, there is a series of drum beats followed by the cheer "Go Jackets" three times, then a different drum beat and the cheer "Fight, Win, Drink, Get Naked!" The official cheer only includes "Fight, Win" but all present other than the band and cheerleaders will yell the full version.
It is also tradition for the band to play the Budweiser anthem When You Say Budweiser after the third quarter of football and during the second-to-last official timeout of every basketball game. During the "Budweiser Song", all of the fans in the stadium alternate bending their knees and standing up straight.
Other notable band songs are Michael Jackson's Thriller for half-time at the Thrillerdome, Ludacris' Move Bitch for large gains in football,Outkast's Hey Ya! during television timeouts and occasionally Zombie Nation's "Kernkraft 400".
The band is also the primary student organization on campus that upholds the tradition of RAT caps, wherein band freshman wear the traditional yellow cap at all band events.
Another popular chant is called the Good Word and it begins with asking, "What's the Good Word?" The response from all Tech faithful is, "To Hell With Georgia." The same question is asked three times and then the followup is asked, "How 'bout them dogs?" And everyone yells, "Piss on 'em."
Fight songs
Official fight song: Up With the White and GoldOh, well, it's up with the White and Gold, Official fight song: Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia TechI'm a ramblin' wreck from Georgia Tech Oh! If I had a daughter, sir, Oh! I wish I had a barrel of rum (*Some students will substitute the line |
Official alma materOh, sons of Tech, arise, behold! We cherish thoughts so dear for thee, |
See also
- See List of Prominent current and former athletes
- Georgia Tech v. Cumberland, 1916 - The most lopsided college football game of all time
- Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech - The fight song
References
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External links
- GIT - Official school website.
- GT Band - Official website of the Georgia Tech Bands
- GTAA - Official athletics website.
- The Hive - The Insider Authority on Tech Sports.
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