Georgia Tech Everyday Champions Magazine

YELLOW JACKETS HAVE BECOME ADEPT AT CONFOUNDING THEIR PACK MENTALITY THE OPPONENTS ON THE DEFENSIVE END OF THE COURT

IT

SHOULD BE A

GIANT New coach Geoff Collins draws the best from his previous experiences in his quest to make Georgia Tech football a national brand

SPRING 2019

WWW.RAMBLINWRECK.COM

SPRING 2019 • VOLUME 12, NUMBER 3

SPRING 2019

EDITOR Mike Stamus ASSOCIATE EDITORS Andrew Clausen Mike Flynn Alex Keator Liz Ryan WRITERS Jen Abrams Jon Cooper Lance Markos Matt Winkeljohn Adam Van Brimmer PHOTOGRAPHY Clyde Click Danny Karnik DESIGN & LAYOUT Summit Athletic Media www.summitathletics.com ADVERTISING – LEARFIELD IMG COLLEGE General Manager – Dave Bouteiller For information on advertising, please call (404) 733-1330

I N

T H I S

I S S U E

4 | IT SHOULD BE A GIANT

New coach Geoff Collins draws the best from his previous experiences in his quest to make Georgia Tech football a national brand

12 | PACK MENTALITY

Utilizing a combination of zone and man schemes, the Yellow Jackets have become adept at confounding their opponents on the defensive end of the court

16 | THE ELIZABETHAN ERA

Freshmen Elizabeth Balogun and Elizabeth Dixon are building blocks in Georgia Tech’s ascent in women’s basketball

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Please send all address changes to the attention of Michelle Pfingst to: Learfield IMG College 540 North Trade Street Winston-Salem, NC 27101 (336) 831-0799

20 | WAVE LENGTH

Swimming has allowed Sara Gilbert to stay connected with her mom and make a difference for Georgia Tech

24 | TRANSCENDANT TALENT

Former Tech volleyball player Jaime Weston has become an accomplished marketing executive across multiple industries

27 | AROUND THE FLATS

Here’s a look at some of the activities Georgia Tech student-athletes have been involved in

28 | A LEXANDER-THARPE FUND

pdates in facility initiatives and AI2020, and a look at the U annual Endowment Dinner

31 | COMPLIANCE CORNER

Extra benefits and Georgia Tech boosters

FOOTBALL

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| SPRING 2019

IT SHOULD BE A GIANT NEW COACH GEOFF COLLINS DRAWS THE BEST FROM HIS PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES IN HIS QUEST TO MAKE GEORGIA TECH FOOTBALL A NATIONAL BRAND

BY MATT WINKELJOHN

Collins has made a splash with the Georgia Tech and Atlanta community from the very start at his introductory press conference.

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FOOTBALL | IT SHOULD BE A GIANT

THE WAY OUR PRACTICE STRUCTURE IS, THE WAY OUR RECRUITING STRUCTURE IS, THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAM ... THERE’S A LOT BASED ON THE SABAN TREE, BUT THE WAY WE DO OUR OFFSEASON DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF TALENT STEMS A LOT FROM THE URBAN MEYER TREE. —GEOFF COLLINS 6 EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS

M

uch has changed for Geoff Collins between his first turn at Georgia Tech as a graduate assistant in the twilight of the previous century and the modern age, where he’s the head football coach of the Yellow Jackets.

Yet you should know that he’s still impressionable and adaptive.

For example, where he was initially relegated to scribbling letters and working old-school telephones without leaving campus in order to recruit, he now fires off reams of social media missives and zips around in a helicopter while chasing student-athletes.

Some things are absolutely the same for the Atlanta-area native who finally, after 13 previous coaching stops, may be at home. Collins is laser-focused and hyper-connected to recruits as he spreads the Georgia Tech brand.

You can see it in his social media posts with pictures of him and former players who’ve become executives, entrepreneurs and, of course, National Football League stars.

“We’re embracing the culture of this city that’s vibrant, that’s attractive to young men age 1622,” he said. “I do think there’s a respect for the history of this place, and there’s a great deal of respect for the academics of this place.

“I see everything that exists with this great institution as an advantage. This place affords you the opportunity to be the best in every phase of life. That’s what we’re putting out there.” | SPRING 2019

These days, Collins is doing much of that with his thumbs. He and Tech’s staff are all over Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms in pursuit of student-athletes and fans.

That’s not a complete shock. In his second turn at Tech, when the Jackets reeled in one of the greatest recruiting classes in program history in 2006-07 with Collins as director of player personnel, he turned social.

That helped him, along with recruiting coordinator Giff Smith and former head coach Chan Gailey, bring in Derrick Morgan, Roddy Jones, Morgan Burnett, Jonathan Dwyer, Joshua Nesbitt, Mario Butler, Kyle Jackson, Brad Jefferson, Logan Walls, Albert Rocker, Nick Claytor and others.

They helped recruit each other on the emerging edge of social media.

“The 2006 class was done on Myspace. That was the medium,” Collins said. “We connected them through Myspace. You’ve just got to figure out what’s the best way to communicate, the best way to build relationships.”

Collins, 47, has arrived at Georgia Tech very much the product of his environments. The plural is important. This is the 14th stop of his coaching career.

He cites a few stops as particularly important in his formation.

First, there were those first three years at Tech (1999-01) under former head coach George

O’Leary. Then, a single season at Alabama (2007-08) under Nick Saban as director of player personnel (chief recruiter), more with O’Leary at Central Florida, and his time at Mississippi State (2011-14) as co-defensive coordinator and defensive coordinator under head coach Dan Mullen, who was Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator at Florida for two national title runs.

“I worked for George O’Leary for five years (including 2008-09 at Central Florida) . . .

Tremendous attention to detail. Ridiculous work ethic. Just outwork other people,” he recalled.

“The way we run recruiting, the way we set up our infrastructure is exactly how we did it at Alabama and ...

“The way our practice structure is, the way our recruiting structure is, the infrastructure of the program ... there’s a lot based on the Saban tree, but the way we do our offseason development and evaluation of talent stems a lot from the Urban Meyer tree.”

Collins gained attention at Mississippi State for writing unique letters to recruits, often including his original sketches, like the one of the “can of swag” that the Bulldogs were going to open with a recruit if he joined the team.

This is the way Collins has long rolled.

After growing up in Decatur and Conyers, he was lightly recruited out of Rockdale County High School, and went to Western Carolina as a walk-on.

He played as a freshman, and kept chipping away in Cullowhee, N.C., where he went from a walk-on cornerback to starter at safety, outside linebacker and inside linebacker as “they kept trying to out-recruit me, and I kept getting bigger and moving.”

Collins never stopped.

He worked two seasons at WCU as a student assistant while finishing his degree in sport management and exercise physiology, and then did a stint as a corporate fitness trainer in Atlanta at Georgia Pacific before realizing that “wasn’t for me.”

So, he returned to WCU to obtain an education certificate, and helped coach at Franklin (N.C.) High School for one season while student-teaching at a pair of nearby schools.

From there, Collins set about learning more with a stop at Fordham University, a destination chosen in part so that Jennifer Haynes, his new wife and a fellow WCU graduate, could study to become a fashion designer.

There, he met another almost-as-young football coach, Dave Patenaude.

He’s Tech’s new offensive coordinator after serving two seasons on Collins’ staff at Temple.

Recalling the past and moving to the present, Patenaude recalls, “His vision and his drive, his singleness of knowing who he is and what he wanted to do in his career. He always had it in his mind to be a Power Five head

Collins spent time mingling with fans and speaking to the crowd at the Yellow Jackets’ ACC basketball opener against Wake Forest.

FACT

Collins hired four former Georgia Tech players as assistant coaches - Nathan Burton, Tashard Choice, Marco Coleman and Brent Key

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FOOTBALL | IT SHOULD BE A GIANT

coach. Even as a young coach, he had a great rapport with kids, he was a great recruiter, he had a lot of self-confidence.

“Nothing that he does is not well thoughtout. If you want to reach today’s students, you do it through social media. He makes old dinosaurs like me be modern.”

So, all Georgia Tech assistants recruit relentlessly, and Tweet religiously.

Collins seems to be pretty good at seeing things before they happen and seizing upon them, although not everything works out in linear fashion.

He wanted to stay at Tech when O’Leary left after the 2001 season, and “lobbied” new coach Chan Gailey to stay. When he wasn’t retained, he returned to WCU as defensive coordinator for four years.

It wasn’t a slam dunk when he had a chance to return to Tech in 2006. Yes, he would move to a bigger program if he left WCU, but he wouldn’t be a coach. Rather, he’d carry the title, “director of on-campus recruiting.” So, he invented a title that has become quite popular.

“You run a risk leaving an on-the-field coaching position to an off-the-field spot. You’re kind of rolling the dice. I was taking a chance on me,” Collins said. “I’m contemplating the job, and I told Coach Gailey I need to position myself that if I stay in this line of work, that there needed to be options, so I asked him if I could have the title of director of player personnel.”

He took the job, helped Tech lock up that fabulous recruiting class, and then took a call from Saban before accepting the same position at Alabama. In Collins’ one year in Tuscaloosa, the Tide scored perhaps the greatest recruiting class in college football history.

Ten members of that recruiting class went on to be drafted by NFL teams.

Julio Jones, Marcel Dareus, Don’ta Hightower, Mark Ingram and Mark Barron were all first-rounders. Terrence Cody and Courtney Upshaw were second-rounders. They and Brad Smelley, a tight end whom the Browns drafted in the seventh round, won the national championship as sophomores.

Those who stayed in school four years won two national titles, and three who stayed at Alabama for five years -- lineman Barrett Jones, safety Robert Lester and tight end Michael Williams -- also played in the NFL after winning three national titles with the Tide.

Super Bowl Week and the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday gave Collins and his staff opportunities to make prominent public appearances and promote Georgia Tech football.

continued on page 11

8 EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS

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continued from page 8 Oh, and Ingram became the first Heisman Trophy winner in the illustrious history of Alabama football.

And so, since Collins seems to see things before they happen, Brent Key left a job coaching the offensive line for Alabama, in his native state, and returned to his alma mater shortly after Collins was hired at Tech. Key is the new assistant head coach/offensive line coach/ run game coordinator, and one of four former Jackets players – including Nathan Burton, Tashard Choice and Marco Coleman – on staff.

Key played for the Jackets from 199700, overlapping Collins’ two years as a GA (studying psychology), and then became a GA in 2001, when Collins became tight ends coach under head coach George O’Leary. He later worked with Collins at UCF (also under O’Leary) before coaching Alabama’s O-line for three seasons, in which they played in consecutive national championships.

“We’d sit in his office, and Billy [O’Brien, now head coach of the NFL’s Houston Texans] was the [defensive] coordinator, and he wanted everything right. I’m learning to draw [practice] cards, and Geoff helped me,” Key said.

“That’s when he told me about his progression. He had just turned 30, and said he wanted to be coordinator by 35, a head coach by 45, and be the coach at Georgia Tech. He laid out his plan for Tech and was so matter of fact, so I thought you were pretty dead set on your timeline, so why would anything else not turn out?”

Collins is turning things. He had players pick offseason captains to lead offseason workout teams, and cranked up a points system that rewards and subtracts for performances in the weight room and in conditioning, the classroom and for community service.

The goals: foster ownership and heighten interest.

“The team chooses 10 leaders, and those leaders draft the offseason teams. If I’m David Curry, a linebacker, first he has to pick his coach, and it might not be his position coach,” Collins said. “In fact, David Curry’s team leader is Dave Patenaude.”

The new coach also will re-arrange the locker room three times a year to promote bonding, and points are awarded for attendance at other Georgia Tech athletics events.

“Over the course of your career, you will have had 12 different sets of teammates that you’ve been with [three sets of locker room neighbors for four years],” he explained. “Those studentathletes add value to this institution, and if they see the football team respecting what they do, then it gives them a sense of pride and they want to come and be involved in our success as well.”

The coach is all about gathering ideas. He’s a reader, and one of his favorite books was ‘Legacy’ about the New Zealand national rugby team – the All Blacks -- which over time has come to be considered the most successful sports team ever.

One of their deals is to “sweep the sheds,’ or clean up and take pride in your world.

So, “Within 30 minutes of every workout, that locker room is spotless. One of the tenets of the culture is leave everywhere better than you found it,” Collins said.

Count on feedback to be a big part of the program moving forward.

“After every workout is over, we talk about every kid, how he did, how he handled adversity, how he attacked the workout or didn’t, and everybody in the organization gets a full picture of who each kid is, so now every person can help this young man develop.”

Tech’s new head coach is persistent. During his first tour on The Flats, when he wasn’t even allowed to leave campus to recruit in ‘99, Collins so bugged O’Leary to let him help recruit that his boss finally said, yeah, take the 44 states that we’re not emphasizing.

He signed five recruits, and was responsible for one-fifth of Tech’s signing class with linebacker Gerris Bowers-Wilkinson of Oakland, Calif., offensive linemen Andy TidwellNeal of Plymouth, Minn. and Garren Findlay of North Logan, Utah, defensive lineman Travis Parker of Hacienda Heights, Calif, and tight end Salih Besirevic of Denver by way of Bosnia.

“I’d probably send five letters a week to each of them, just relentlessly writing,” Collins recalled. “Whatever phone call privileges I was allowed, I would do.”

The new coach is still writing, mostly electronically, to elevate Georgia Tech.

“When I was here in the past, and even growing up, Georgia Tech was a national brand. We were top 10 in the country, College Gameday was here, guys were getting drafted all the time,” Collins said. “People have called it a sleeping giant ... it should be a giant.”

COLLINS IS TURNING THINGS. HE HAD PLAYERS PICK OFFSEASON CAPTAINS TO LEAD OFFSEASON WORKOUT TEAMS, AND CRANKED UP A POINTS SYSTEM THAT REWARDS AND SUBTRACTS FOR PERFORMANCES IN THE WEIGHT ROOM AND IN CONDITIONING, THE CLASSROOM AND FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE. THE GOALS: FOSTER OWNERSHIP AND HEIGHTEN INTEREST.

BY THE NUMBERS

44

Number of states Collins was responsible for recruiting in his first job with George O’Leary at Tech in 1999.

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MEN’S BASKETBALL

PACK MENTALITY UTILIZING A COMBINATION OF ZONE AND MAN SCHEMES, THE YELLOW JACKETS HAVE BECOME ADEPT AT CONFOUNDING THEIR OPPONENTS ON THE DEFENSIVE END OF THE COURT

BY MATT WINKELJOHN

T

here are sometimes strange noises in the night, or afternoon, near the Georgia Tech men’s basketball team that might leave an observer feeling as if out in the wild rather than outside a locker room or practice, yet there’s a normal story behind the Yellow Jackets’ habit of howling.

It’s a defensive thing, and it started early in the season after assistant coach Julian Swartz – Tech’s defensive engineer – handed out fliers about African wild dogs, or “painted wolves.”

They hunt in packs to routinely bring down larger prey, and are widely considered to have the highest “kill rate” in the animal kingdom at plus80 percent per hunt.

Given that the Jackets chase “kills” like crazy -- charting how many times in every game they prevent opponents from scoring on three

12 EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS

| SPRING 2019

consecutive possessions -- the photo of the sub-Saharan mongrels and accompanying bullet points resonated.

So, the noise “erupted spontaneously among a bunch of members of the team right after [Swartz] brought it up,” explained junior center James Banks III. “We did a drill and the first two groups were killing it, and the sideline got to howling, and it just took off.

It’s really just getting into it, getting into the spirit of things, getting lost in practice and competition.”

The Jackets don’t often get lost on defense.

They’re among national leaders in field goal defense, three-point defense, and a variety of defensive efficiency metrics. They don’t play much one-on-one. They help each other, like a pack, switching, shifting and latching onto would-be scorers as if hunting.

Five men guarding the ball is one of the bedrock principles for the Yellow Jackets on defense.

FACT

In order to promote a swarming, or pack mentality, assistant coach Julian Swartz used the example of African wild dogs, which are widely considered to have the highest kill rate in the animal kingdom.

This is nothing new, as head coach Josh Pastner has preached defense since he was hired in 2016, and Tech has put up some of the best defensive numbers in college basketball over the past three seasons. He often says, “our survivability is based on defense,” as if the Jackets are perpetual underdogs.

Swartz knows underdogs.

He played one year at Wisconsin, in 1999-‘00 under Dick Bennett – one of the most respected defensive coaches the game has known, designer of the “Pack Line” defense, and the father of Virginia head coach, Tony Bennett.

Wisconsin allowed just 55.8 points per game, No. 4 in the nation, and pulled off several upsets to go to the Final Four without a high-profile player.

In the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Badgers upset No. 4 Arizona, a No. 1 seed which had future NBA players Gilbert Arenas, Loren Woods, Richard Jefferson and Luke Walton plus a walk-on senior guard named Josh Pastner.

Neither Swartz or Pastner played in that game, which the Badgers won 66-59.

“It was our easiest game of the tournament,” Swartz said recently, with a chuckle as the passing Pastner shook his head.

Seriously, the Jackets play some Pack Line in addition to their preferred zone, and Swartz sought to reinforce a commitment to ravenous defense no matter the sort.

Keeping the ball out of the lane and cutting off shots close to the basket have helped Tech rank 12th nationally in defensive efficiency and ninth in effective defensive field goal percentage.

So, he went to the internet and pumped his search engine with words like, “hunter, team, etc.,” and found that the most successful hunters in the world happen to be these tall, lean, brown, gray, black and white dogs with notably long ears.

Then, he took the news to the squad.

“The whole thing was about team, team, team,” he said of his search. “The initial thing I found was pack. Coach uses the phrase swarm. It has to be a swarming defense. Ultimately it just gives your guys something that maybe they can understand and make their own.

“We found some elements that we could connect to our defense. African wild dogs do everything as a group. They hunt together, they eat together. Defensively, we’re going to hunt together, and when we hold teams to low percentages, we’ll all reap the rewards. We’ll all eat.”

Through their first 22 games, the Jackets held 20 opponents below their season scoring averages, many times by double-digit margins.

Virginia Tech showed up at McCamish Pavilion on Jan. 9 as one of the highest-scoring teams WWW.RAMBLINWRECK.COM 13

MEN’S BASKETBALL | PACK MENTALITY

Junior center James Banks give the Yellow Jackets a top-notch rim protector, leading the ACC in blocked shots.

14 EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS

in the nation, averaging more than 80 points per outing. The No. 9/7 Hokies squeaked out a 52-49 win, but shot just 29.8 percent that day and made just 5-of-27 three-point shots.

Next time out, Tech beat Syracuse 73-59 after holding the Orange to 31.6-percent shooting and 7-of-33 shots from beyond the arc. The Jackets swarmed for 15 steals that day.

When Pastner was asked whether the Jackets’ hyper-dedication to defense is derived from his DNA or a need to match the personality of the students that Georgia Tech attracts – which is to say supremely-disciplined – the head coach said, “I think it’s probably a little of both.

“For us to have success in this league, we have to be really good defensively, because right now we’re not getting some of the individual talent where you can just come in and ... go get 40 points a night. I would say that our young men here are all high-character guys, and you have to be disciplined, and you’ve got to have a motor.

“Some of our defensive schemes can be complex at times, and you’ve got to have an understanding of that. Part of that is not everyone that fits those bills is going to be an elite offensive player. Usually, guys like that, the whole world’s recruiting them.”

The Jackets get it.

First, they emphasize the principles of the Pack Line when in man-to-man.

There is always on-ball pressure with the four defenders off the ball handler sagging off their | SPRING 2019

men less concerned by denying a pass to their man and more focused on clogging interior passing lanes while also being near the goal to cut off driving lanes. The goal is to be in position to thwart attacks on the rim.

That’s also the goal when the Jackets are in their more common zone, usually a 1-3-1 with Banks in the back, roaming.

In a 63-61 win over Notre Dame on Jan. 22, the Irish were limited to 32.3-percent shooting and 7-of-30 three-pointers.

“Their defense is really, really good and it was hard to play against,” Brey said. “They are just really hard to deal with. They’re long, they’re athletic, they’re in passing lanes, and if you do beat them, they’ve got shot blocker in the back.”

There’s plenty of method to the Jackets’ mad way of defense.

“Our two big core values are motor and discipline.

It’s not only playing hard, with a motor, but doing it with discipline,” Swartz said. “Coach says it over and over: know your job, and do your job ...

“Our No. 1 defensive goal is to get seven or more kills, which is three stops in a row. If you use a baseball diamond, getting to first base is our transition defense. Second base is the discipline of our technique or principles. Third base is we want every shot to be challenged.

Getting a home run would be a clean defensive rebound, holding them to one shot.”

The Jackets keep howling.

“Definitely ... we just have to attack other teams and go at them like African wild dogs,” said freshman guard Michael Devoe. “We do it before games sometimes, and in practice when we defend really well. We just try to get pumped up, and it gives us a little more motivation.”

For as good as Tech is at tending to defensive details, it turns out that African wild dogs don’t howl. They don’t even bark. They make some chirping and cooing sounds, more like birds, but who cares about that?

“I’d say either Jose [Alvarado] or Curt [Haywood II] are the best howlers,” Banks said.

“I don’t think we ever found out what African wild dogs sound like, so we’re just winging it.”

The Yellow Jackets don’t wing it on defense, though. They go at it hard, pack style.

“We kind of look at it like our mascot: together we swarm,” Swartz said. “African wild dogs can chase bigger animals up to 41 mph, and they can do that for 10-60 minutes. Essentially, what they do is outlast. That’s the motor part ... It’s created an identity.”

We are

so much more than a bank.

Learn more at gucu.org

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

THE ELIZABETHAN ERA FRESHMEN ELIZABETH BALOGUN AND ELIZABETH DIXON ARE BUILDING BLOCKS IN GEORGIA TECH’S ASCENT IN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

BY JON COOPER

F

reshman year is supposed to be a year of learning.

It has been for Elizabeth Balogun and Elizabeth Dixon. But the talented freshmen have actually turned the 2018-19 Georgia Tech women’s basketball season into a learning experience for the rest of the ACC. The conference has learned how good they are, how good they can be and how good the Yellow Jackets could be in coming years.

Even Jackets head coach MaChelle Joseph has learned things about Balogun, a 6-1 guard, and Dixon, a 6-5 forward, that she didn’t necessarily expect.

“Everybody knew how talented they were, but the most surprising thing is the consistency and their ability to play at such a high level in the best conference in the country,” said Joseph. “I think that’s a tribute to their mental toughness. They both are very focused young women who came to Georgia Tech knowing what they want, short term and long term. They come in, they do their job and they go home. They don’t bring a lot of the extra stuff that a lot of young players bring, especially players of their caliber. It’s been amazing, actually.”

Amazing also describes how Balogun and Dixon, both selected to the ACC Preseason Newcomers Watch List, have dominated the ACC Rookie of the Week Award. Heading into February, Balogun had won the award four times, Dixon twice.

They are the sixth set of Georgia Tech teammates to win the award in the same season -- joining Stacey Buchannon and Kisha Ford (1993-94), Alex Montgomery and Iasia Hemingway (2007-08), Mo Bennett and Sasha Goodlett (2008-09), Aaliyah Whiteside and Brittany Jackson (2012-13), and, most recently, Francesca Pan and Chanin Scott (2016-17) -but the first pair to each be multi-time winners.

Only seven-time winner Niesha Butler (199899) and five-time winners Pan and Ty Marshall

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| SPRING 2019

(2010-11) have won the award more frequently than Balogun (she’s tied with Kaela Davis in 2013-14). Butler and Pan won Freshman of the Year, while Marshall is the program’s all-time leading scorer. Dixon is the seventh multi-time winner of the award.

The Elizabeths take turns dominating games in their own way.

Heading into February, the versatile Balogun ranked in the ACC’s top 10 in scoring, points, three-point field goals, three-point field goals per game, free throws, minutes, and even blocks. She also was in the top 20 in field goal percentage and steals.

Not to be outdone, the powerful Dixon could be found in the conference top 10 in offensive rebounds and offensive rebounds per game, in the top 15 in blocks and rebounds per game, in the top 20 in rebounds and in the top 25 in defensive rebounding and defensive rebounds per game.

“They both give everything they have every day in practice,” she said. “They’re not these kind of kids that are going to conserve energy.

Both of them love practice and they love playing the game. They take shots for their team and

Balogun ranks among the ACC’s top 10 in scoring, three-point field goals, free throws and minutes.

FRESHMAN YEAR IS SUPPOSED TO BE A YEAR OF LEARNING. IT HAS BEEN FOR ELIZABETH BALOGUN AND ELIZABETH DIXON. BUT THE TALENTED FRESHMEN HAVE ACTUALLY TURNED THE 2018-19 GEORGIA TECH WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SEASON INTO A LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR THE REST OF THE ACC.

Balogun (4) and Dixon (22) got to know each other through post-season all-star games before they enrolled at Georgia Tech.

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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL | THE ELIZABETHAN ERA

Dixon has been a prodigious rebounder and shot-blocker for the Yellow Jackets.

FACT

Balogun and Dixon are both of Nigerian descent, and both attended high schools in Tennessee.

18 EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS

they take shots to win. They don’t do it for themselves. I think that’s what separates them.”

Joseph, who’s famous for traveling to the ends of the Earth to find talent, found Balogun and Dixon, both of Nigerian descent, relatively close by. Balogun was about 120 miles away in Chattanooga, while Dixon was less than 400 miles away in Memphis.

Balogun, who came to the U.S. in seventh grade -- her father still lives in Nigeria -- starred at Hamilton Heights Christian Academy in Chattanooga, captaining the Lady Hawks her final two years, and leading them to the USA National Prep School national championship and National Association of Christian Athletes national championship. She’d earn All-USA Tennessee Player of the Year from USA Today and be named a McDonald’s All-American.

Dixon, who was born in the U.S., was two-time all-state, all-district and all-region, earned All-USA Tennessee second team by USA Today as a junior and first team as a senior. She also was a Ms. Basketball finalist and a McDonald’s All-American.

Balogun and Dixon attended the same summer basketball camp in high school and signed with Georgia Tech last November yet never met or really talked until meeting at the McDonald’s All-American Game on March 28, ironically, held in Atlanta. They’d grow even closer a couple of weeks later, when they roomed together at the Jordan Brand Classic in Brooklyn, N.Y. | SPRING 2019

“Actually, I heard about (Dixon) my sophomore year. I went on Twitter and saw somebody tweeted about, ‘Liz,’ and I’m like, ‘That’s not me,’” said Balogun, with a laugh. “Then I see the last name is Dixon, from Memphis. So I really did not know her, but I knew of her. At McDonald’s, we got to know each other. At the Jordan Classic we were roommates, so I got to know a lot about her. Liz is the nicest person you could ever know. She cares about people. She puts other people first.”

“I heard that she was the whole bucket,” said Dixon. “I saw a lot of Hamilton Heights games, because sometimes they had tournaments in Memphis, so I was able to go see them play.

Also, I’d search out basketball clips on YouTube.

It was really, really nice to meet her at all the AllStar games we played.”

The two have been together ever since. They’ve started every game and have leaned on each other, while being leaned upon heavily by Joseph.

“We ask a lot of Elizabeth Balogun because she’s not just a good offensive player, she’s a good defensive player. I’ve not seen many guards that can block six shots in the ACC in one game,” said Joseph, referring to Balogun’s six-swat game Jan. 20 at McCamish Pavilion, a 65-55 upset of No. 12 Syracuse. “As soon as we clarified what her role was and what the expectation was, she just took her game to a whole other level. I don’t know that there’s a freshman in the country having a better season than Elizabeth Balogun.”

The middle child of three and the oldest daughter, Balogun has always played to win at everything.

Winning at basketball, which she remembers playing as young as three, at the feet of her father, Mark, a coach in Lagos -- she was scoring at will against the boys in fourth grade -- actually was easier than the constant competition she faced at home, from brother, Ezekiel, currently a 6-6, 235-pound junior forward at North Florida, and sister, Ruth, a 5-10 sophomore.

“We could be going to class and it would be the first to get to class. We would race for real.

When we would have dinner, the first to finish would be the winner,” Balogun recalled, with a laugh. “My brother is the most competitive.

When we play 1-on-1, he plays me like he plays a boy. It’s really serious.”

Balogun was serious from day one. In her collegiate debut she had 13 points, five boards and made five steals at Houston. Then her offense came around. On December 5, against

Alabama State, she poured in 18, beginning a streak of 13 straight double-digit-scoring games.

On Jan. 3, in her first ACC game at Boston College, she recorded her first double-double, with 18 points and 17 rebounds. Then on Jan. 31, at North Carolina, she went for a career-high 35 points, shooting 11-for-20, with a career-hightying six three-pointers.

Dixon is as fierce a competitor. The fourth of five children to Richard and Elizabeth Dixon, (two older brothers, an older sister and a younger brother), she played volleyball and ran track -- preferring the 800 and 800 relay but also ran distance events as a senior.

Doing the dirty work in the paint, she is among the Jackets leaders in double-doubles, including a 22-point, 17-rebound game against Duke on Jan. 10, and ranks with leaders among ACC freshmen in rebounding.

Neither Balogun nor Dixon is surprised by the success they’re having.

“This is what I wanted,” said Balogun, a business major, who wants to someday own her own chain of hotels. “I knew I could do this.

I knew I could be this kind of player to impact the team. It was not like something that just happened. I knew I could do it and I put in work to do it.”

“I’ve seen that I can play with them, which is really exciting to me,” said Dixon, a biology major, who wants to eventually be a doctor. “The girls are stronger, faster, longer and also smarter.

I have to continue to work on my game. I have to find more ways to step up and help my team.”

Joseph sees a bright future ahead for the Elizabeths.

“Liz Dixon has set her goals very high for herself as far as not only as a basketball player but as a student,” said Joseph. “Liz Balogun has been such a great teammate. She loves her teammates. She really enjoys playing with her teammates. I’ve really liked that about her and respected what a great teammate she is.”

They want to continue to raise the bar for Georgia Tech.

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BY THE NUMBERS

Combined number of times Balogun and Dixon have been named ACC Rookie of the Week.

(McDonald’s All-American Game photos courtesy of McDonald’s)

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SWIMMING & DIVING

WAVE LENGTH SWIMMING HAS ALLOWED SARA GILBERT TO STAY CONNECTED WITH HER MOTHER AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR GEORGIA TECH

BY JON COOPER

S

o much of excelling in sports comes from what’s above an athlete’s shoulders.

For Georgia Tech senior swimmer Sara Gilbert, as big a part of her excellence and the example she’s set in and out of the pool also can be attributed to something right at shoulder height.

It’s on her back where Gilbert wears a tattoo -- a four-inch long, thin aqua wave covering a smaller wave (about three inches long), with the aquacolored words “Until We Meet Again” tucked under the smaller wave.

She got it in 2015, her freshman year on The Flats, and is a way the 21-year-old Atlanta native honors and stays connected with her mom, who passed away from breast cancer in 2009.

“My older sister is way more artistic than I am, and she kind of had the idea to get a wave tattoo to symbolize swimming and the pool and the impact that it’s had on us and our family,” said Gilbert, a two-year captain for Georgia Tech swimming and diving who graduates in May. “I have the two waves, the bigger one is her, and I’m the smaller one. It’s symbolic of her watching over me always and having my back in swimming.

20 EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS

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“It was tricky trying to get it. My dad was opposed to tattoos, but I was like, ‘I’m going to get it,’” she said, with a laugh. “But he ended up coming with me to get it and watching. He supports it now.”

Sara, the second of four daughters, always had the support of her dad, Bob, and mom, Margaret, and a connection through swimming, as both Bob and Margaret swam collegiately at Virginia Tech.

Of course, saying Margaret swam collegiately is kind of like saying Georgia Tech is an institute of higher learning.

In 1989, Margaret was in her senior year as a H2Okie and swam under her maiden name, Margaret Soulen.

Yes, the Margaret Soulen who became the school’s first women’s swimming All-American, the first Virginia Tech women’s swimmer to score in an NCAA Tournament and the first woman swimmer inducted into the Virginia Tech Sports Hall of Fame (class of 2001). At one-time she held of some 16 program records -- even breaking all of Bob’s older sister’s records, something the family still jokes about.

Sara, who started swimming at four, would be the only Gilbert girl to stay in the pool -- she also tried gymnastics, soccer, basketball, cross country and

SO MUCH OF EXCELLING IN SPORTS COMES FROM WHAT’S ABOVE AN ATHLETE’S SHOULDERS. FOR GEORGIA TECH SENIOR SWIMMER SARA GILBERT, AS BIG A PART OF HER EXCELLENCE AND THE EXAMPLE SHE’S SET IN AND OUT OF THE POOL ALSO CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO SOMETHING RIGHT AT SHOULDER HEIGHT. Sara Gilbert tried gymnastics, soccer, basketball, cross country and track before following her mother’s lead and making swimming her athletic endeavor.

track -- swimming with Swim Atlanta, then, after her mom passed away and the family moved, with Dynamo Swim Club.

The sport proved to provide normal in an abnormal time.

“Right around her being diagnosed, I was still pretty young, so I knew what was happening, but I wasn’t quite sure what could end up happening,” Sara recalled. “Swimming was always just really good for me to get my mind off of things.

“Friends are everything in swimming to me.

They’re what makes going to practice worth it and bearable. During her diagnosis, that’s definitely what kept me going,” she added. “After she passed away, it was definitely tough to get back in the water, but I knew that I had to. But in that way, I wasn’t forgetting her. If I had stayed at Swim Atlanta and acted as if everything was the same, I think that would have been harder. When I moved to Dynamo, I got to make a whole set of new friends and still remember and share her through swimming.”

When it came time to choose a college, Sara knew she wanted to continue to share the connection with her mom via swimming. It would just be at Georgia Tech.

“If you would have asked me at first, I would have been, ‘Virginia Tech, that’s where I want to go. Follow in her footsteps!’” she said. “But once I got there it was a lot, and I didn’t know if I would ever live up to those standards. I was kind of like, ‘Maybe I’ll just forge my own path.’

“After meeting the team and walking around campus here, I was like, ‘This is definitely where I need to be,’” she added. “My mom was industrial engineering, and I came in my freshman year industrial engineering, even though I have since changed to business.”

But even at Georgia Tech, Sara still faced the elephant in the pool. Being a sprinter, she swam many of the same events as her mom.

Enter Georgia Tech swimming and diving head coach Courtney Shealy Hart.

As a senior, Gilbert posted top-10 times at Georgia Tech in seven different events.

“I wanted Sara to be Sara,” said Hart. “I knew what her mom had done and was very proud of that. I knew how important swimming was to her.

I knew that it was a bridge for her. I wanted her to honor her mom but was very, conscious of the fact that I wanted Sara to be Sara.”

Those accolades were certainly on Gilbert’s mind, giving Hart’s message of “Just be you” all the more meaning.

“Courtney did a really good job of making it, not so much, ‘This is what your mom did. You should be doing this, too,’ but she focused on me and my times and what I’m doing,” Gilbert said.

“So it was really nice to know that I didn’t have that to live up to. Obviously, they were goals to strive for, but I knew I wouldn’t be letting anyone down if I don’t do that.”

Gilbert never let anyone down. She twice made the ACC Academic Honor Roll and recorded alltime top-10 times in the 100 back (54.75, 7th), the 200 back (1:59.43, 9th) and the 400 medley relay (3:42.20, 9th). In her senior year, she put up eight top-10 times in seven different events -- the 50 and 100 free, 100 and 200 back, 100 fly, 200 free relay and 200 medley relay.

Outside the pool, she set an impeccable example as a leader and a role model, one of which the entire team was aware.

“Sara was named captain her junior and senior year. I think that says a lot about her leadership,” said Hart. “People saw her ability to lead, and she definitely knows what it takes from the team perspective and puts the team ahead of herself.”

Gilbert was also a big proponent of and spokesperson for the team’s “Pink Meet,” Georgia Tech swimming and diving’s day dedicated to spreading awareness about breast cancer.

“I think it’s huge,” said Gilbert. “I know I’m not the only one here who has been affected by it.

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SWIMMING & DIVING | WAVE LENGTH

Margaret Gilbert (nee Soulen) became Virginia Tech’s first women’s swimming All-American and was inducted into the school’s athletics Hall of Fame.

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Seeing such a widespread initiative for it is really cool. They actually have a meet at Virginia Tech.

Their Pink Meet is dedicated to my mom.”

She also recalled her freshman year going to compete in Blacksburg at the ACC Championship and the emotional mixed bag she went through.

“The Virginia Tech team was wearing a shirt with her name on it on the last day. I was so taken aback,” she recalled. “My dad was up in the stands.

It was huge wave of emotion, and I kind of lost it for a minute. I had to just tell myself, ‘That’s really cool that they are honoring her and spreading the word about breast cancer awareness.’ But then I was like, ‘OK, now just focus on your 200 back.’

“Their team room is kind of glass and open, so when you look in they have all their AllAmerican plaques and hers is right there, top, left corner, the first one they have,” she added. “It’s awesome. I loved being able to look up and know that she was there.”

Sara knows Margaret is always there and admits she’s called on her when seeking strength and inspiration.

“It sounds corny but sometimes at the end of a 200 back, when you’re just hurting so bad, I can’t help but think, ‘She’s done this before. She made

| SPRING 2019

it look easy. You can do this. No problem. Just finish a 50,’” she said. “I know it sounds cheesy but that’s definitely something that I’ve tried to channel or felt like I’ve had that connection. I keep saying the word connection. I can’t think of another word.”

Hart says there’s no doubt Gilbert’s connected with the team over her career and will leave a legacy with the impact she’s made.

“I think being that team player,” she said.

“Being that person who kind of held the team and glued the team together throughout her four years. Just being that glue and a leader in helping take this team to the next level, which we certainly have in the past four years.”

Whether rough seas or calm waters, Gilbert has always been the glue, the rock of the group – that is, once she found her role.

“For me, a big thing was finding where my fit was on the team,” said Gilbert. “Obviously, our group of backstroke girls are really tight-knit, but doing what I can as a leader was really important.

There’s a lot of grinding that goes into it, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

(Margaret Gilbert images courtesy of Gilbert family)

ATHLETICS Weston was heavily involved in how Atlanta would be branded for the Super Bowl before leaving her position with the NFL.

TRANSCENDANT TALENT FORMER TECH VOLLEYBALL PLAYER JAIME WESTON HAS BECOME AN ACCOMPLISHED MARKETING EXECUTIVE ACROSS MULTIPLE INDUSTRIES

BY ADAM VAN BRIMMER

24 EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS

| SPRING 2019

J

aime Weston has spent her life around stars and celebrities.

As a child, she came to know the famous clientele of her father’s landmark Manhattan supper club. On any given night, the who’s who at Jimmy Weston’s could include Frank Sinatra, George Steinbrenner, Howard Cosell, Muhammad Ali, Tony Bennett and Bobby Cremins.

As an adult, she’s crossed paths professionally with today’s stars in the sports and entertainment industry. She spent 15 years in the National Football League’s marketing department, working with front office leaders and players alike. Recently, she became a marketing executive with Universal Music Group, the transcendent star of the music industry.

In between, Weston was a Georgia Tech student-athlete. She parlayed her volleyball talents into a hard-won business management degree. Her educational track included marketing classes that put her on a path to become a management star in her own right.

Everyday Champions: How was your career success forged in your time as a Georgia Tech student and Yellow Jacket volleyball player?

Jaime Weston: “Oh my gosh, I actually think about this a lot, and draw from my experiences at Georgia Tech. You aren’t growing if you are comfortable. I never want to be comfortable.

I want to always be learning and challenging myself. I know a lot of Georgia Tech alumni say this, but once you graduate you kind of go into the world with some confidence saying, ‘If I could do that, I can do anything.’ A few professors that stood out to me were Professor Fred Allvine, and

15

his marketing class – he truly is responsible for sparking my interest and passion for a career in marketing. And, of course, the legendary Dr. Phil Adler and his Socratic method of teaching. As scary and daunting as that class was, it got my head straight and made me realize you can’t try to fool people in the real world.”

BY THE NUMBERS

EC: Your ‘real world’ recently turned when you changed jobs and changed industries, going from a creative director and consumer marketing and brand management role with the NFL to a consumer marketing position with Universal Music Group, which represents individual musicians and artists. What prompted the move?

JW: “It can get very easy to stay comfortable working for a brand that is big and recognizable, but I made a promise to myself to not stay at the NFL for the duration of my career. My north star was always to be an accomplished marketing executive; which requires experience across a range of industries. The first 10 years of my career I spent in the publishing and the apparel industries; so it was important for me to try something new after so many years with the NFL.”

Number of years Jaime Weston worked for the National Football League

EC: How does what you learned in football translate to music?

JW: “To me, football and music are inextricably linked. I really classify them both under the broader, ‘sports and entertainment’ category.

There are a lot of commonalities that helped make my decision to go to UMG. The structures are very similar: at the NFL you have the league, the teams, and the players; at Universal Music Group, you have a leadership team that oversees

FACT

Weston worked closely with the Atlanta Falcons to develop their “Rise Up” rallying cry.

Weston, shown here with former Tech football coach Bill Curry and some of her fellow volleyball alumni, makes frequent trips back to campus.

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ATHLETICS | TRANSCENDANT TALENT

labels that compete with each other and the world’s best roster of artists. At the end of the day, both the NFL and UMG are competing for a share of consumers’ time and wallet.”

After a long tenure as a marketing executive for the National Football League, Weston recently moved into the music industry as a consumer marketing executive for Universal Music Group.

26 EVERYDAY CHAMPIONS

EC: You have been tasked with developing a ‘consumer engagement platform,’ which is billed as a data-and-insight marketing tool. What is UMG hoping to learn from the information and how could it be used?

JW: “I have been at UMG for a few months now and I have been so impressed by the incredibly talented music professionals across the entire value chain; from talent scouting and development, to promotion and streaming.

The music industry had to step-change rapidly to adapt and succeed in the new media landscape. There are many foundational pieces already in place. We have an incredibly savvy data and analytics team, intelligent market research, a robust customer relationship management platform and a strong data management platform. I was brought in to tie all those pieces together and put the music fan at the center of everything we do.”

EC: Back to your NFL days for a second, you worked closely with NFL franchises on their branding and helped develop several memorable advertising campaigns, such as “Touchdown Celebrations” with Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. and the “Super Bowl Babies” spots.

What do you miss most about your NFL days?

JW: “First, and most important to me, I miss the people. After 15 years working with league employees, team personnel and business partners they really become your extended family, many so near and dear to me. From a work standpoint; while the Super Bowl commercials were incredibly fun to produce, and the most recognizable work from the outside, they were really just one drumbeat across an entire season of work. There are so many incredibly rewarding initiatives that I worked on, too many to mention … but, the one I look back on the most and smile was in 2009, when I worked with the Falcons to reframe their brand, which included the development of the ‘RISE UP’ rallying cry. I call it a rallying cry, because it was -- and still is -- bigger than just a tagline. It was developed as a belief between the Falcons and all Georgians: when the two come together something special, powerful and uplifting can happen well beyond the field of play. Atlanta is the No. 1 city in the South, so it was about creating a sense of pride in the Falcons, for the city.”

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EC: You left the NFL just last fall, so you surely played a role in planning for the Super Bowl in Atlanta. What stands out in your mind about the big game’s visit to your favorite college town?

JW: “Yes, the NFL Creative team starts about 18 to 24 months out from every game. In fact, former Georgia Tech men’s basketball Coach Bobby Cremins and current athletics director Todd Stansbury happened to be in New York City last spring for the Atlantic Coast Conference basketball tournament and they stopped by NFL headquarters for a visit. We took them through the entire look and feel of how Atlanta would be branded, from the airport to the stadium and everything in between. That was special, because my world really came full circle.”

EC: Circling back to your younger days, you grew up in Manhattan and your dad played basketball at St. John’s University in Queens.

What led you as a teenager to leave the Big Apple and attend Georgia Tech?

JW: “A few things: as an athlete, growing up in midtown Manhattan, I really craved a real college atmosphere and experience a different part of the country. Then there were my basketball roots – my father and Coach Cremins, then Georgia Tech’s coach, were friends. They were both from New York and both played for the legendary coach, Frank McGuire. When Georgia Tech basketball started gaining national attention during the Mark Price, Bruce Dalrymple and John Salley days was when my interest in Georgia Tech was piqued. Funny story though, when I first came to Tech, it took a while to let my guard down. I walked incredibly fast and didn’t make a lot of eye contact with my fellow students, which was normal for the streets of Manhattan at that time but not for a college campus. In retrospect, I look back and laugh.”

EC: What do you remember most from your Georgia Tech playing career?

JW: “Back when I played, not every school in the ACC had exclusive gyms for volleyball games. We played on historic basketball courts of schools such as North Carolina State’s Reynolds Coliseum, Maryland’s Cole Field House, North Carolina’s Carmichael Arena, the precursor to the Dean Dome, and of course, Cameron Indoor Stadium. Stepping on those courts was impactful to me. I was in awe.” (portrait photo and tailgating images courtesy of Jaime Weston)

AROUND THE FLATS

HERE’S A LOOK AT SOME OF THE ACTIVITIES GEORGIA TECH STUDENT-ATHLETES HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN

Twenty-nine Georgia Tech student-athletes received their degrees during the Institute’s fall commencement ceremonies in December at McCamish Pavilion.

For the sixth straight year, Georgia Tech athletics posted its highest NCAA Graduation Success Rate ever, with its GSR coming in at 89 percent in the latest data that was released by the NCAA in November.

Georgia Tech’s 89-percent GSR is its highest since the NCAA began using the metric in 2005, topping last year’s record of 88 percent. Tech has posted an all-time best GSR each year since 2013.

At 89 percent, Georgia Tech’s GSR surpasses the NCAA Division I average of 88 percent, which is also an all-time high.

Four of Georgia Tech’s 13 sports programs – women’s cross country/track, golf, women’s tennis and volleyball – own perfect 100-percent GSRs. Each of Georgia Tech’s four programs that currently own 100-percent GSRs have done so for multiple years in a row. Leading the way is head coach Bruce Heppler’s golf program, which has posted a 100-percent GSR all 14 years since the metric was introduced in ’05.

Women’s tennis and volleyball have recorded Melvin Davis (business administration) perfect GSRs for six-consecutive years and Clinton Lynch (business administration) women’s cross country/track and field has owned a 100-percent GSR for each of the last Zach Matthews (mechanical engineering) Scott Morgan (business administration) three years.

Anree Saint-Amour (business administration) Qua Searcy (business administration) BASEBALL Lamont Simmons (business administration) Wade Bailey (business administration) Jake Stickler (literature, media and communication) Jed Bradley (business administration) Vance Walker (business administration) Zane Evans (business administration) Matt Gonzalez (business administration) MEN’S TENNIS Cory Pope (business administration) Daniel Yun (business administration) WOMEN’S TENNIS CHEERLEADING Paige Hourigan (business administration) Leah Courter (chemical and biomedical engineering) Wilson Harmond (industrial engineering) MEN’S TRACK AND Carla Hinojosa (business administration) FIELD/CROSS COUNTRY Annabel McAtee (biomedical engineering) Zachary Gunnz (chemical and biomedical engineering) Matt McBrien (computer engineering) FOOTBALL Matt Munns (industrial engineering) Desmond Branch (business administration) WOMEN’S TRACK AND Will Bryan (business administration) FIELD/CROSS COUNTRY James Butler (MBA – global business) Marinice Bauman (literature, media and communication) Izaan Cross (literature, media and communication) Hailey Gollnick (business administration)

MICHAEL ISENHOUR TOY DRIVE

Each year at holiday time, the Georgia Tech Student-Athlete Advisory Board sponsors the Michael Isenhour Toy Drive, collecting toys and other donations at several home athletics events during the month of December. Toys and monetary donations that are collected were delivered to local children’s charities the week of Dec. 10, with the Atlanta Children’s Shelter serving as the primary beneficiary.

The toy drive was founded in 2001 by Georgia Tech men’s basketball student-athlete Michael Isenhour, whose inspiration was to assist families impacted by 9/11. Isenhour, who was battling leukemia when he started the toy drive, lost his battle with the disease in 2002. SAAB renamed the toy drive in his honor in order to create an enduring legacy in memory of their fellow student-athlete.

Each year, the Michael Isenhour Toy Drive has produced record donations. This year’s goals were 2,500 toys and $10,000 in monetary donations.

NETWORKING NIGHT

More than 34 local Atlanta companies were showcased Jan. 28 at McCamish Pavilion for Georgia Tech Athletics’ Networking Night, providing an opportunity for Yellow Jacket student-athletes to engage with employers in various sectors of the workplace.

More than 100 Yellow Jacket student-athletes attended the event representing various majors with a focus on business, engineering, sports, communications and software industries. The event, which featured 52 employers, was held in the Callaway Club in McCamish Pavilion with the intent to expose student-athletes to local employers and professionals to help build their professional networks and connect with experts in their desired industry. Several employers at the event were former student-athletes and Georgia Tech alumni.

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ALEXANDER-THARPE FUND

ENDOWMENT DINNER The Alexander-Tharpe Fund Annual Endowment Dinner was February 4. This is one of the premier events of the year for the AT Fund and one of the Athletic Association’s favorite times of the year to celebrate and say thank you to our generous scholarship endowment donors. A night of celebration and accomplishments, the dinner highlights the amazing student-athletes and donors who make Georgia Tech Athletics thrive. Two former studentathletes, Alex Grady and John Dewberry, delivered speeches to the crowd and four student-athletes made

speeches focusing on their personal experience at Tech and how the generosity of athletic donors has had an impact on them.

Scholarship endowments are one of the most impactful ways to make a difference for Tech Athletics. Endowed scholarships also give donors an opportunity to interact with student-athletes and gain a greater understanding of the student-athlete experience. Those interested in learning more about endowing scholarships can be reach out to to Mindy Hyde at mhyde@athletics.gatech.edu.

Former Tech quarterback John Dewberry (CoB ’86), chairman and CEO of Dewberry Capital, and former track and field AllAmerican Alex Grady (ME ’18), gave testimony on their experiences at student-athletes. Current student-athletes James Banks III (men’s basketball), Kodie Comby (volleyball), Tristin English (baseball) and Kierra Fletcher (women’s basketball) spoke on what having an athletic scholarship meant to them.

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ALEXANDER-THARPE FUND

AI2020 UPDATE The initiative for athletics has a big goal and big projects, but it will take the efforts of the entire GT nation to reach the goal. There are multiple ways to give to AI2020, and many of them are through annual giving to our scholarship fund or specific sport programs.

Program support helps each sport have more flexibility from year to year in the everyday operations of the program. Some programs use program-specific funds for scholarship, some for promotional efforts, and often to cover unbudgeted expenses that come up during the

Former Tech FB standout Anree Saint-Amour with scholarship donors Claude and Carroll Wills at the 2018 annual scholarship endowment dinner.

year. Sport-specific giving allows donors to have a more personal touch and impact on their favorite teams.

Giving to the Athletic Scholarship Fund helps to close the gap of financial need for our student-athletes.

Closing this gap will make it easier for GTAA to recruit, easier for us to keep talented young people at Tech, and ultimately will help us to win. Fully funding scholarship keeps Georgia Tech competitive and at the top of our game. It is one of our highest priorities and an impactful and meaningful opportunity for any donor to give.

Those interested in supporting these efforts can give online at atfund.org, calling the office at 404-894-5414, or contacting Nick Parsons, Director of Annual Giving, at nparsons@athletics.gatech.edu.

RUSS CHANDLER STADIUM RENOVATION Fundraising for Russ Chandler Stadium has reached $8.2 million against the $9 million goal. Phase II renovations for Russ Chandler Stadium are driven by the vision for Georgia Tech baseball: to enhance player development, to improve the fan experience and to celebrate Tech’s rich baseball history. The concourse level will feature an atrium that also functions as a Georgia Tech Baseball Hall of Fame. It will be the first thing fans see when they enter the stadium and will be designed to convert into a 40-seat teaching auditorium on non-game days. Other features in the planned upgrade include a new outdoor plaza, a new high-tech scoreboard, a premium club area, a new alumni locker

Stadium renderings for the second phase of renovations to Russ Chandler Stadium. room and an expanded training facility that will be open year-round for Tech players and be available to Yellow Jacket professional and Major League Baseball players during the offseason.

Donors interested in helping Georgia Tech baseball and the AT Fund push this project over the finish line should contact Jim Hall, Associate VP of Athletic Development, at jhall@athletics. gatech.edu or call at 404-894-8219.

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COMPLIANCE CORNER

BY LANCE MARKOS, ASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR FOR COMPLIANCE

EXTRA BENEFITS AND GEORGIA TECH BOOSTERS

LANCE MARKOS ASSISTANT ATHLETIC DIRECTOR FOR COMPLIANCE

An informed understanding regarding information on the NCAA’s extra benefit legislation is critical to preserving the eligibility of all Georgia Tech studentathletes. As such, here are some important tips on how to best navigate this issue on behalf of Georgia Tech.

The definition of an extra benefit is any special gift or arrangement provided to a student-athlete, or student-athlete’s friend or family member, which is not available to the general Georgia Tech student body or the general population. A booster is someone who has triggered any of the following:

• Have participated in or to be a member of an agency or organization promoting Georgia Tech’s intercollegiate athletics program; • Have made financial contributions to the athletics department or to an athletics booster organization of Georgia Tech; • Be assisting or to have been requested (by the Georgia Tech athletics staff) to assist in the recruitment of prospective student-athletes; • Be assisting or to have assisted in providing benefits to enrolled Georgia Tech student-athletes or their family members; or • Have been involved otherwise in promoting Georgia Tech’s athletics program.

• Free or reduced-cost housing for any length of time • Entertainment • Assistance with paying bills (e.g. cell phone, gas money, rent) • Awards • Loans (including co-signing) • Use of your credit card In addition, it is not permissible for Georgia Tech studentathletes to sell any item that belongs to a student-athlete or is signed by a student-athlete. This includes any gear, apparel, jerseys, helmets, gloves, game balls, awards (ACC rings), shoes, etc., that has been provided to the student-athlete by Georgia Tech as incidental to their participation in their sport.

In very limited instances, boosters may provide a meal to a student-athlete. In order to do so, the meal must be provided at either the booster’s house or a Georgia Tech facility, it may only be done on an occasional basis, and approval from the GTAA Compliance Office must be received prior to the meal.

Above all it is critical that you ASK BEFORE YOU ACT when it comes to any involvement with Georgia Tech student-athletes.

Failure to do so may jeopardize their eligibility.

You may contact the compliance office at compliance@gtaa. gatech.edu or 404-894-5055. Go Jackets!!

As a booster, the NCAA restricts the involvement that you may have with student-athletes. NCAA rules prohibit boosters from providing student-athletes with an extra benefit at any time, and doing so may result in the student-athlete being declared ineligible to compete on behalf of Georgia Tech.

Examples of Extra Benefits (this is not an exhaustive list): • Use of an automobile or transportation of any kind • Admissions to an event (e.g. movies, athletics event, banquets, clubs, concerts, private parties) • Cash or loans in any amount • Gifts of any kind including those for special occasions such as birthdays, religious holidays, graduation, etc.

• Free or reduced-cost services, rentals or purchases or any type (e.g. meals, drinks, clothing, laundry, haircuts, legal fees, tattoos, rounds of golf, car repairs) Shoshanna Engel Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance sengel@athletics.gatech.edu (404)894-8792

Lance Markos Assistant Director of Athletics for Compliance lmarkos@athletics.gatech.edu (404) 894-5507

Compliance Office Phone Number: (404) 894-5055

Bret Cowley Director of Compliance bcowley@athletics.gtaa.edu (404)385-0611

Shardonay Blueford Associate Director of Compliance sblueford@athletics.gatech.edu (404)894-0416

Christina Chow Compliance Assistant cchow@athletics.gatech.edu

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