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January 30, 2009

Dave Braine will keep screwing GT...for eternity

I've often felt that GT's former Athletic Director Dave Braine was the best thing to ever happen to the UGA vs. GT series. He was like a one man wrecking ball of incompetence hell bent on bringing their program to its financial and athletic knees. He was in charge of such brilliant decisions as:
  • Investing $65+ million for additional seats at Bobby Dodd Stadium for rival fans
  • Monitoring GT eligibility requirements into a 4 sport NCAA violation
  • Extending Chan Gailey's contract in the face of total mediocrity
  • Announcing that GT would never be consistently good in football
But all of that compares to the contract Paul Hewitt signed before Braine retired which apparently makes him the defacto Georgia Tech Basketball Coach for Life...unless Tech is willing to spend over $9 million to terminate him.

The AJC reports that Hewitt is on an automatic rollover six year deal which must be paid in full if Hewitt is terminated. The contract's current value is over $9 million.

(Image Caption: "I'm Invincible Nerds!)

Tech is too cash strapped due to reckless brilliant financial decisions made by Braine to even consider biting into that buyout. If they do bite it into, they'll be further cash poor.

I wish Dave Braine nothing but the best of health and many more years of happiness. But it looks like long after he's gone, he'll still be giving Tech fans the business.

The Best Part of This Story:
Hewitt's agent is...wait for it...Mark Carmony, University of Georgia Class of 1991. Georgia Tech, home of the self-professed greatest minds in the Universe, got taken to the contractual woodshed by a Dawg. Outstanding.

Paul Hewitt, the Wizard of Techwood, is currently 0-6 in ACC play with #4 Wake Forest coming to town tomorrow. He's only 4-5 against UGA despite us fielding arguably 3 of our 4 worst teams in the past 30 years while Hewitt was at Tech.

Update: Bradley fixed his math. It's now at $7.175 million for the buyout instead of $9.5 million. Either way, it's more than GT can swallow right now.

See Also:
-- The Hive Reacts to the Contract

PWD

30 comments:

Kevin said...

"the contractual woodshed"
love it

Anonymous said...

+1 to PWD for the photo caption!

Anonymous said...

Who cares if the state of Maryland is broke, we've got Mark Carmony representing the University of Georgia in screwing the joke by Coke FOREVAH!!!!

Anonymous said...

Great article; even better Carmony punchline. Classic nerd bashing, this is.

But, to avoid inane Techies' mindless retorts, it should read "If they do bite into it."

And bite they do.

Anonymous said...

That ALMOST makes me feel better about Georgia basketball. Almost. The picture caption is great, though.

Anonymous said...

if you think your glee is endless, given the contractual woodshedding Mr. Carmony put on Tech, take a gander at the frenzied comments to Mark Bradley's column, which also discusses the monstrous buyout.

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/bradley/entries/2009/01/30/like_it_or_not_hewitt_is_safe.html

"So, no matter when we fire him, we have to pay him $9.5 million?"

there's only one thing to say here, and I suspect Hew?tt says it to himself every morning when he looks at his elegant, Armani clad self in the mirror before hopping in his Mercedes for a long day of being smooooooooooooove on North Avenue:

Dayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyum. It aint easy bein'a fuzzy bee.

Anonymous said...

Maybe I'm a little slow, but what does "automatically roll over" mean? Is the contract renewed for an additional year at the end of every season, thus giving him a six year contract forever? That can't be right.

Why did a school that reportedly produces such smart graduates agree to such a bad contract? Nerds.

Anonymous said...

That is right - the contract always has six years on it! The 2011 part means he can re-negotiate the dollars then, yet unless he (Hewitt) wants to drop the automatic rollover aspect, it is there to stay!

Anonymous said...

you got it sg, according to the way Bradley describes the language in the comments, it constantly rolls over to 6 more years, and if Tech fails to renew it, it counts as firing him and they are due the full $9+ mil. An absolutely beautiful piece of work. Mr. Carmony deserves to have his name in the Ring of Honor.

Anonymous said...

I think Paul Hewitt & Reggie Ball should be serious contenders for the next list of Ring Of Honor Nominees

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:51

Don't get carried away. Why would we enshrine Paul Hewitt... he still consistently beats us on the court. Maybe you meant Braine.

Anonymous said...

We've split with Tech since he has been there. If we has consistently beating us, we've consistently beaten him, which is saying something given our general ineptitude of late.

Anonymous said...

he, not we.

Anonymous said...

It's early, but depending on how the coaching search works out, Mark Carmony is in the lead for "DGD of 2009".

Also in the running:
-Courtney Kupets
-Joe Cox
-Dave Perno

Anonymous said...

We should issue Carmony a 007 jersey just so we could retire it. DGD

Unknown said...

Actually - Hewitt is 4-5 vs. UGA.


And that's in spite of UGA having 3 of its 4 worst teams in the past 30 years during that time span.

JT said...

He does have a damn good recruiting class coming in next year though. Coach Capel/Grant/Miller will have their hands full.

Anonymous said...

well... hate to bust everyone's bubble but he did hire paul johnson now didnt he?

Unknown said...

Anon 6:14,

No. Dan Radocovich (SP?) hired Johnson. He's their new AD.

It's the old one that screwed them.

Anonymous said...

I particularly find it funny that the AD is named BRAINe!!!!!

A little punchy this afternoon...

Damon Evans, take note! Even if a coach wins a national title (much less goes to the championship game) do NOT get suckered into a contract like this.

Maybe Tech needs to get the BC AD.

Hobnail_Boot said...

David Beckham and Mike Hampton don't see why this is a big deal.

Anonymous said...

Well, that's a silver lining to our current situation... they're STUCK with Hewitt.

Though it's difficult, at least we're taking steps to improve our situation.

Must really grate them that they're imprisoned in their hoops darkness where at least we have some light on the horizon.

RidgeDawg
GeorgiaBulldog.com

Anonymous said...

do do do do dooo....I'm lov'in it!

Anonymous said...

great post! and great news!

Anonymous said...

After hearing this news, Notre Dame football fans feel like they suckered Weis in to such a great contract.

Anonymous said...

Schadenfreude best describes my feelings to this.

Looking forward to saying the same re: the Gators.

Anonymous said...

The nats get the last laugh. They just beat the #4 team in the country.

Anonymous said...

Something to smile about.

Anonymous said...

Any thoughts on Bobby Knight as new basketball coach? I think this would be a G R E A T hire.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 3:17...
How in the world does winning one meaningless regular-season game equate to "getting the last laugh"?

What is everyone supposed to say? "Oh look, they upset a team in late January with nothing on the line. See, it wasn't a bad contract after all"

The only thing "laughable" is the absurdity of your comment.

 
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