Q&A with the AJC on the hiring of Dan Radakovich

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Oct 30 10:58:54 GMT-04:00 2012

Clemson announced the hiring of Dan Radakovich – who has been the Athletic Director at Georgia Tech since 2006 – to replace the retiring Terry Don Phillips.

TigerNet contacted Ken Sugiura, who covers Georgia Tech for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for a quick Q&A regarding Radakovich and how he is perceived within the Georgia Tech community.

TN: What were his major accomplishments at Georgia Tech?

KS: Overseeing major facilities projects – indoor football practice facility, new softball stadium, new basketball practice facility, renovation of Alexander Memorial Coliseum, scheduled to open Nov. 9.

He also instituted a seat-licensing program – fans were required to make donations in order to purchase season tickets for prime seats – to help ensure a steadier and larger flow of income.

TN: How would you classify his tenure at Georgia Tech? Success? Failure? To be determined?

KS: I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable judging it. The facilities projects will obviously be his legacy and will be a benefit to those teams. I imagine Tech may always face revenue problems, but he has managed to get the debt more under control. Obviously, fans look at the hiring of Paul Johnson and to a lesser extent men’s basketball coach Brian Gregory as his legacy, and those are clearly important decisions whose ultimate outcomes will also color his tenure.

TN: From the outside looking in, it would appear he has done a good job as far as facilities and finance, while the hiring of coaches has been an up-and-down affair. Is that a fair characterization?

KS: That’s probably fair. As I said, particularly with Gregory, that remains to be seen. With Johnson, things are obviously down, but I don’t know that the final chapter has been written. He’s also made support staff hires that I think have helped the department.

TN: Speaking of finances, is Georgia Tech better off than when he arrived? I have heard there is a lot of debt there, but obviously you can't trust rumors.

KS: I don’t know the gritty specifics, but I think that’s true. The department has taken on a lot of debt with the projects, but as I understand it, it’s manageable debt.