This season has been especially busy for women’s basketball at Tech as over half the team’s games are away. So much travel can be especially hard on team performance. The Jackets have powered through jet lag and the stress of travel, with many players having their strongest career performances away from home.

Sophomore, Kaela Davis has excelled on the road this season. Just before Valentine’s Day, Davis made the Naismith Trophy women’s midseason “Top 30” list. She has broken another of Tech’s athletic records; becoming the fastest women’s basketball player at Tech to score 1000 career points.

Davis also managed to break Kisha Ford’s record for the most points scored in a single season. During Sunday’s game in Miami, Davis brought her tally up to 524 points this season, three points more than Ford’s record during the 1994-95 season.

Averaging about 21 points per game, Davis is having a fantastic season so far.

However, the season so far has not added up to the long list of wins the team was hoping for.

Last week the Jackets played North Carolina State  and freshman, Zaire O’Neil tied the game at 60 with a three point play. A victory was just in reach, but NC State pulled away and gained a double digit lead in the last three minutes of the game.  Coach MaChelle Joseph expressed her disappointment in the team’s performance against NC State.

The team responded with a well-played game against Miami. Davis and O’Neil each scored 13 points, and freshman, Imani Tilford tallied eight rebounds and two steals. Junior Roddreka Rodgers scored ten points.

Things seemed to be looking up for the Jackets during the first half of the Miami game. Late in the second half, however, the Hurricanes managed a comeback, and through some crucial plays, Miami gained a lead.

The Jackets fought back for a leg up and the second half battle for victory ensued. In the final minutes of the game the Hurricanes came out on the court with a drive that would gain them a five point victory.

The two losses against NC State and Miami brought the Jackets conference record to a total of six wins and eight losses. Such a close loss to Miami was especially difficult.

“I’d always say I would rather lose by thirty than lose by two.” Davis explained how close losses are sometimes the hardest.

The five point loss to Miami may have been a blow to the team, but the Jackets are using their losses as a learning experience and a basis for improvement in future games this season.

As a powerful competitor, Tech is still a force to be reckoned with. The team has had many learning experiences this season and has returned from each one ready to fight for a win.

“We’re still just kind of figuring things out I guess.” Davis said, “Each and every game we want to improve and work on our weaknesses and figure out the best way to help everybody else out and get everybody else better. Obviously there is always a bigger picture. Just getting everybody focused and on the same page and continuing to improve.”

The season has not been completely dismal. For Davis this season has been marked by career high scoring. It has also been a very successful season for O’Neil, whose debut on the court was filled with well-timed and well executed plays.

As a whole, the team has grown throughout this season. But Davis believes there is still room for improvement.

“You know, there’s been adversity and there’s been a lot that we’ve had to deal with. But I think that we are doing a great job of adjusting and figuring out our way.” Davis commented, “Our goals are just to continue to improve no matter who we are on the floor with or who we are up against. Every game is an opportunity to get better. So we just take every opportunity for what it is and, you know, make it beneficial for us. That’s kind of been our big thing since the start of the season.”

Women’s basketball team has made it clear that there is still a lot to play for this season. With their goals in mind and a lineup packed tight with dynamic scorers and powerful players, the Jackets intend on finishing out the season with a fight.

For senior Katie Johnsky, things at Tech have only improved since her successful freshman year. She started in 57 games that year and went on to start right field in every game during her sophomore year.  Johnsky was listed on the ACC Academic Honor Roll and made it onto the All-ACC Academic Team in 2013, her sophomore year. As a junior, Johnsky tied for fourth-most triples in the ACC. With such a successful track record, big things are expected of Johnsky this year.

This season, the team holds a 2-8 game record. Both wins were against Nebraska who was ranked 20th in the nation.  The Jackets’ most recent loss against Michigan, though a tough loss, revealed the strength of perseverance in the team.  Going into the fifth inning, the Jackets had no runs. In the bottom of the fifth inning, they scored on a pair of runs batted in by Johnsky and sophomore Samantha Pierannunzi.

So far, Johnsky is batting a team-leading 0.364 on the year,with an OBP of .500  and six runs scored.

The first ten games of this season have not been what the team was hoping for, but the team has a positive outlook as the season is far from over. With 46  games left, the team still has lots of time to fix their inconsistencies. The team has also played four games against ranked teams and won two of them already. Playing ranked teams will help the team develop as they face tough competition.

This week, the Jackets had a little extra time to focus on practice. The doubleheader against the University of South Carolina Upstate that would have taken place on the Feb. 18 was cancelled due to the weather front that has blown over the east coast.

Every moment that the team has on the field is an opportunity for improvement. Win or lose, there is always a lesson to be learned. Johnsky believes that every failure is a learning experience.

“The most beneficial thing, I think, is that I have learned to deal with hard times and failure, you know, it pushes you down constantly and you just have to get back up. I think that is the biggest thing that I have taken away from softball,” Johnsky explained. “When it knocks you down, you get back up and keep going. I have learned to enjoy that. You have failures every day, and you learn from them every day and get better every day.”

In her last softball season here at Tech, Johnsky is still learning from her experiences. Johnsky’s sophomore year the team placed third in the ACC. Last year was a struggle for the team and the program is looking to get back on track to the success they had in the late 2000s.

The team is still young and will have to replace key players from  last year’s team. They still have a more than capable lineup as there is plenty of experience on the team, and they should have no problem turning the season around. In order to reach their goals and make it into the top of the ACC, the team will have to utilize every player’s potential and play as a single competitive unit.

Johnsky talked about what skills she thinks are needed to have a team that is capable of winning a championship.

“I think cohesion, ultimately. The best teams come together as one solid group, and if we can be one cohesive unit and be all on the same page I think that we can be successful in the long run because we have the talent to be successful, Johnsky said. It’s just about the team coming together.”

Tech’s softball team has not lost sight of their goals for the season to try to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012, where the team went to the NCAA super regionals.

Johnsky was only a freshman that year but played a large role in the team’s success that season.

The softball team will be back on the field this weekend and will play five games. They will be trying to get a winning streak going at home.

This Friday, the softball team will step onto the field against Mt. Saint Mary’s for a double header and will play three more games  over the rest of the weekend.

Fans who braved the elements on Monday night to go to the basketball game were rewarded with a hard-fought and well-deserved 63-52 victory over the Clemson Tigers. The win snapped a ten game losing streak to the Tigers (15-11, 7-7 ACC), who came to Atlanta fresh off a 21 point beat down of Virginia Tech and were 5-2 in their last seven games.

The Jackets (12-14, 3-11 ACC), who had lost four out of their last five and 11 of 13 since the New Year, were sparked by point guard Josh Heath, who led all scorers with a season high 14 points along with three assists, three steals, and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.

Forward Demarco Cox put up 12 points for the second straight game and pulled down nine rebounds. Forward Marcus Georges-Hunt contributed 11 points and four rebounds, while forward Robert Sampson grabbed a season high ten rebounds to go with four points.

It was a welcome win for Tech, who has fallen victim to several extremely close losses this season. In the last month alone, the team has lost to N.C. State by one point in overtime, Virginia Tech, Florida State, and Boston College by two points each, and No. 4 Duke by only six points.

“It was a total team effort and the energy was great,” head coach Brian Gregory said after the game. “It was a bad night out there weather-wise, but we appreciate the fans and students that came out. It made for a nice evening, I can’t lie to you.”

The Jackets never trailed Clemson all game, opening with a 6-0 lead, and went into halftime with a 23-21 lead. After Clemson guard Damarcus Harrison tied the game at 32 with 12:14 left to play, Coach Gregory’s men went on a scoring run (keyed by great defense and getting out on the fast break) to take an 18 point lead with 4:56 remaining.

Heath made all four of his free throws to keep the game well out of reach in the final minute.

“I thought Josh played a heck of the game tonight,” Gregory said. “We need that out of him the rest of the year.”

On defense, Tech was able to hold Clemson to just 36 percent from the field and 27 percent from beyond the arc. Clemson forward and leading scorer Jared Blossomgame was held to just ten points, tied with backup guard Austin Ajukwa for the team lead. The home team, meanwhile, shot 46 percent from the floor (36 percent from deep) and had 15 assists, which tied a season-high.

“I thought we played as well defensively in the first half as we did all year,” Gregory said. “It was a challenge with a one day turnaround after a disappointing and heartbreaking loss on Saturday, but as our guys have done all year long, they got themselves off the mat and came out and fought with unbelievable intensity level and belief in each other.”

An important development to note was the absence of starting guard Chris Bolden from the lineup and even the bench. According to Gregory, Bolden has been suspended “indefinitely” for “not adhering to the standards of the program.” Last year former guard Solomon Poole was also suspended indefinitely and never played at Tech again.

“We have high expectations for our student-athletes and he hasn’t met those expectations,” Gregory said. Freshman guard Tadric Jackson (coincidentally Bolden’s cousin) got the start instead, finishing with just four points, but had five crucial assists and only one turnover in a career high 29 minutes of play.

“I give a lot of credit to Tadric, he came out and passed the ball

really well tonight,” Cox said. “He wasn’t selfish and was just thinking about winning the game. Before the game, he said to me ‘if you’re open I’m going give it to you’ and when I was open, he gave it to me. He was a man of his word tonight.”

Gregory backed up Cox’s endorsement of Jackson, saying that the freshman earned the start through his “great effort and unbelievable attitude” over the last two weeks.

“He’s got this infectious personality,” Gregory said. “You can tell he loves to play and loves to compete. He stepped up and accepted the challenge.”

Looking at the struggles to close games out this season, it surely has not been easy for the team to maintain a high intensity after so many heartbreaking losses. Cox cited the close bond of the team as the key to help them “keep their heads up and keep fighting as a team.”

“You don’t have a choice but to keep fighting and keep playing and doing what you’re taught,” Heath said. “We have a love for our coaching staff and the coaching staff has love for us, and that makes it easier to keep going out there and play your hardest.”

Coach Gregory was quick to insist that both the team and individual players have “drastically improved” in this last stretch, despite the lack of tangible results to back it up. He also gave credit to the players for their mental resilience through tough losses.

There are only four games left in the regular season, but they include two games against No. 15 North Carolina, a nationally-televised home game against No. 12 Louisville (Monday night on ESPN), and another game against Clemson on the road.

Tech will look to finish the year strong by building off Monday’s success on Saturday at UNC.

Super Bowl Sunday was a super day for Wreck, the Tech women’s ultimate team. Wreck competed in the 2015 Tar Heel Tune-Up this past weekend. It was their first tournament of the spring and they finished with a bang beating hosts UNC 8-5 in the championship game.

Wreck also finished the tournament undefeated and the current team experienced their first career win against a ranked opponent. It was a huge program win for this year’s team and for the future of their program.

“It definitely is a big program win. This is the most competitive tournament we’ve won. Beating a national’s caliber team in the final just speaks wonders to the amount of time people on this team have put in,” said fourth year captain Cate Woodhurst. “I just think that is going to continue to push us to be better and be even more competitive in our future tournaments.”

The captains and the rest of the team were overcome with joy after the win and it helped ease a six hour drive back to Atlanta.

“Honestly, I was so happy I could cry. It wasn’t just the fact that we beat UNC, that was huge, but it was how we did it. We did it by playing our full roster on Saturday and did it by fulfilling our goals. VCU came up and told us we were so spirited and that was one of our goals for the tournament,” said third year captain Julia Ting.

The team travelled with 19 people to participate which is the largest number the team has had at an ultimate tournament. Going into the tournament Wreck was seeded second, but the team came in with no expectations and emphasized how the main purpose of the tournament was to have fun, get better and learn. However, they really wanted to get their chance to play against UNC since they were the hosts and coming off a nationals berth.

On Saturday, Wreck faced off vs the other teams in their pool: Wake Forest, Duke and Appalachian State. They won all 3 games to win their pool and would play against UNC-Asheville in the quarterfinals on Sunday, winning 11-3. Wreck followed that performance up with a 7-6 win against VCU in the semifinals.

They would play in the championship game against UNC, the only other undefeated team in tournament to that point. It was the first time they played UNC in over two years.

The last time the two teams met, Wreck struggled to defend their hucks down field and the game was not that competitive. This game would be different as the young players who played in that game were now veterans and were able to take a big lead on UNC due to excellent team defense led by captains Donnya Ajdari and Ting. Wreck built a 6-1 lead early on, and were able to hold off a UNC run, to win 8-5.

“Our zone defense we were playing worked really well. They weren’t able to get any throws down field and there would be turns,” Ajdari said. “In our zone we made sure everyone understood the role they were playing. That’s the key to the zone defense we were playing, is that everyone does their role properly.”

After the victory Ting reflected on how far they have come in the past two years since their last matchup vs UNC.

“It’s super exciting. It just shows how Wreck has grown leaps and bounds. I think a lot of it has to do with our mentality and focusing a lot more on conditioning. This is something you can see not just against North Carolina, but we also beat Florida in a fall tournament for the first time in Wreck history,” Ting said. “The returners coming back and showing that dedication has put a lot into this team and also our coach Maddy.”

All of the captains singled out second year Bridget Nabb’s performance and said Nabb played amazing defense and had key catches and scores during the championship round.

Despite winning a big tournament and receiving recognition from the ultimate community for their play, the team is still focused more on having fun and team spirit than winning.

“Our goal is to be the most spirited team in the Southeast and that’s what we care more about than outcomes,” Woodhurst said.

Wreck’s next tournament is the Moonlight Invite hosted by Emory on February 22 and 23, and Wreck is very excited for what the rest of the season entails.

“I think that Wreck is going to be growing a lot for the rest of the season. This is a great start and I’m really excited to see how our players are going to develop even more and being able to see how Wreck can compete with national caliber teams,” Ajdari said.

Technique: How did you get involved in athletic administration and why did you choose that path?

Bobinski: It wasn’t something that I intended to do. When I was a college student I had a 100% focus on having a business career. That’s what I majored in and it’s what I actually began in when I first started. I spent my first five years in the working world, post-college in public accounting for a few years and the finance division with the Walt Disney Company.  I was headed where I thought I was headed and purely by chance I heard of an opening back in the athletic department in Notre Dame. Back in 1984 I began my career in intercollegiate athletics. Actually running the ticket office. That was my first job in the business and I sort of progressed from there.

Technique: What attracted you to Georgia Tech?

Bobinski: As I wrapped up a term as the chairman of the men’s basketball committee for the NCAA. I had been at Xavier for such a long period of time. Then I thought about places that fit me and my philosophy and how I believe intercollegiate athletics should be conducted, and that’s not a very deep list. A very concise list of schools that fit me. Given the places that I had been: Notre Dame, Naval Academy, Xavier. All places that are very much principled in academics and athletics.

When the Georgia Tech job became available. When I was first approached about possibly being interested, that’s the first thing that came to mind. This is one of those places that fits where academics are first and foremost. Being able to compete in the ACC and national level in athletics. Unique combination and one that really appealed to me.

Technique: What was it like being the head of the NCAA selection committee? How many basketball games did you watch?

Bobinski: I tried to keep track of that one year. You spend five years on the committee and was fortunate enough to be selected by my peers to be chair in my final year. I would tell you that I probably watched on average 30 games a week over the course of the season. It was in the 300 plus range. Maybe not every game wire to wire but enough chunks of games or portions where I could get a real feel in the teams what I was really interested in.

When I got off the committee it was definitely a bittersweet feeling. There’s nothing like being on it and one of those bucket list things for folks in my profession. Every AD in the country would tell you if they have a chance to be on it they would. You miss it when you’re off it but you get back a chunk of time. My first year out, other than our own basketball games I didn’t watch anyone play. I was washed out at that point.

Technique: Next year we’re playing your alma mater, Notre Dame, in South Bend. How excited are you for the game?

Bobinski: I think for our team to have a chance to play in that environment up in Notre Dame will be a great experience for our guys. This new scheduling alliance that Notre Dame has with the ACC where they play five games a year is a really positive thing for us in the ACC. I know our team and our fans that are able to make the trip up there will enjoy the game day experience at Notre Dame. It’s got a great feel, it’s a unique environment and one you don’t see every day. That part excites me and it will excite me even more if we go up there and beat them.

Technique: Do you think Notre Dame will ever become a full time member in the ACC?

Bobinski: Notre Dame’s football independence is sort of in their DNA. They guard that fiercely and they value that greatly. It’s a big deal to them and I understand that. However, as intercollegiate athletics changes and evolves I don’t think you get Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame athletic director today to say that it would never happen or could never happen. As circumstances change and evolve, if access to the college football championship is improved by being a full time member of the conference. Then that is something you would have to think about. I think it’s possible, but I would certainly tell you it’s not going to happen in the next couple of years.

Technique: You’ve made several new editions to your staff including Brett Daniels who was in charge of brand management for the Dallas Cowboys. How important is brand management to the success of an athletic program?

Bobinski: Brett is a great addition to our staff as is Marvin Lewis, Chris Yandle and Lee Hendrickson. We’ve been able to add some really talented people to our staff. Brett spent 25 years with the Cowboys and obviously one of the most powerful brand organizations and name associations in the world. He understands that at a very high level and I think it’s something that important to us.

It’s important to Georgia Tech as an Institute. Having that clear identification and sense of who you are, who you want to be and how you want to be perceived is really important. How we manage our brand and it’s not just a visual image, it’s a deeper picture then that. When you say the name Georgia Tech in the athletic world you want it to mean something. That’s what your brand really is. People need to associate that with high quality academics, high integrity programs, great student athletes and successful teams. That’s what I want people to think about when they think of Georgia Tech.

It’s important when we’re thought of in the athletic world that we are with the people we should be seen with. That is the Notre Dame’s of the world, the Duke’s, the Vanderbilt’s, Stanford. That’s who we are as an academic institution, as an athletic organization and we need to help people make that connection so that’s who and how they see us going forward.

Technique: Last year was arguably the best football season at Tech since 1990. How exciting was that in your second year as athletic director and how exciting do you feel like the future is for Tech football is.

Bobinski: The 2014 football season was absolutely a terrific one. Especially as you think about how the season evolved. The first three games we didn’t play our best football and we were able to come back and find a way to win. Through that process our team grew closer, came together and started to believe in each other on a pretty high level.

To me the Miami game here was the best moment in terms of sort of the possibilities for Georgia Tech football I’ve seen since I’ve been here. The energy the crowd, the unbelievable student support that evening and the postgame celebration with the students and our team. We came out of that game and two weeks later we stumble. Lose two in a row.

The resiliency of this team for them to be able to continue and really finish the year at a really high level was an awesome thing.

In 30 years I’ve been around of a lot of teams and that was right up there with the best I’ve been a part of, in terms of watching a group of people come together and really truly be a team. In the dictionary next to team it ought to say 2014 Georgia Tech football. We were truly a team and that was a great thing to see.

As far as the future what a season like that does is just really reinforce what the possibilities are. For those to say it can’t happen at Georgia tech then take a look at 2014 and tell me it can’t happen at Georgia Tech. It sets the stage for exciting years ahead. It sets us standard of performance and excellence that you now know is in us. Nothing but good came out of that season. I couldn’t be more excited for our coaches, players and everyone else involved.

Technique: What are your thoughts on the College Football Playoff and do you think it should be expanded to 8?

Bobinski: I’m personally fine with four. I think it should be really hard to get into the playoffs. There is always going to be another team or teams that think they could have and should have been in that mix. Only the best of the best should be in the playoff in my mind. I’m comfortable with where it is right now. The interest level, the television ratings, everything was at a record unbelievably high levels.

Technique: Outside of your job, what are your hobbies?

Bobinski: I’ve never been bitten by the got-to-play-golf-every-waking-moment bug. It’s a great game, and I play on occasion, mainly at work related events. I would tell you that I need to have more hobbies. I don’t have a whole heckuva lot. This job is one that takes up a lot of time. We have events in the evening and events on the weekend, and there is a lot that goes in this. I haven’t really done a great job developing it. When I do have free time, I love being on the water, I love reading books, I love music. There are a lot of things I like, none of which I spend enough time doing. But those would be my choices if I had a chance.

Technique: What’s your favorite place or restaurant in Atlanta?

Bobinski: I’m an equal opportunity restaurant person. There are a lot of great restaurants in the Atlanta area, and I love this area for a lot of reasons. I think there’s a great energy in Atlanta, and that’s part of what helps Georgia Tech be the place it is. There’s this great entrepreneurial spirit; there’s a lot of economic activity and energy. There’s tremendous unmatched diversity and healthy diversity in the Atlanta area that I really like.

From a restaurant perspective, Chops is pretty darn good for a steakhouse. Bones is pretty darn good. They’re like 1 and 1a. I’m kind of a traditionalist with that, but I’ve also eaten at some other great places. I love food, and I love a good meal, and there are a lot of great offerings in town.

Technique: What is your favorite Tech memory so far?

Bobinski: It’s hard to beat the Orange Bowl. The postgame, being on the field at midnight on New Year’s Eve in the Orange Bowl. Celebrating that victory is hard to top. That was a pretty special moment watching our players and that sense of accomplishment and pride they had earned because we didn’t sneak by Mississippi State. That feeling and watching them enjoy that moment was something that would be at the top of my list. We were flat out the better team.

However, beating the team from Athens wasn’t too shabby either. That was a really special moment to see 90,000 plus people go dead silent at the end of the game. That was a heck of a thing and a great moment for our football team, but to cap it off with a bowl win on New Year’s Eve is the top of the mountain for me so far.

This year, there are many new faces on the basketball team, and that includes graduate student Demarco Cox who enrolled at Tech for his last year of eligibility after completing his degree at Ole Miss.

Cox plays center on the basketball team and is studying building construction and facility
management.

Cox is from Yazoo City, Mississippi, and was rated a top 100 basketball by player by several recruiting services.

Not only was he a star on the basketball court but also was heavily recruited as a football prospect by several SEC schools.

Like many athletes, his favorite player is Lebron James, and he enjoys fishing and mud riding.

At Ole Miss, Cox was a productive player off the bench, but this year he is playing the most minutes per game in his career. Last year, Cox played against Tech in the Barclays Classic during Thanksgiving break in 2013.

He was named MVP of the tournament and scored 15 points and had 13 rebounds in Ole Miss’s victory vs. Tech.

Cox is now fully adjusted to living in Atlanta, which is a completely different city from where he went to school in Oxford, Mississippi.

“It wasn’t too big, but kind of because I lived in more of a college town compared to the big city. It’s a little different when you talk about traffic and parking. A lot of times, you have to pay to park here, but in Mississippi, you never have to pay to park,” Cox said.

Adjusting to Tech’s academics for a new student can always have its challenges, but Cox has always had a very good strategy in dealing with academics and his professors he has for class.

“First day of class, I always go talk to the teachers and let them know who I am, what I expect out of the class, tell them I play a sport and that I hope to have a great year in class. Make them feel like I’m interested in being there,” Cox said.

Not many students establish relationships with their teachers, especially at Tech, but Cox believes that doing that is a big part of being able to succeed.

Cox’s role is very important and even though he will only play one year, his impact to the younger players on the team is very important for future success.

Since the start of conference play, he has been the team’s most effective post player and scored a career high 17 points against Notre Dame.

Through 19 games, Cox is averaging 8.6 points and 5.9 rebounds. He is the only center who plays meaningful minutes, and if Cox is in foul trouble, it is a bad sign for the team’s chance of winning the game.

Because of his status as a veteran college basketball player, Cox has looked for more of a leadership role. He is a roommate with two of the younger players on the team, Josh Heath and Tadric Jackson. Jackson is playing in his first year at Tech, and Cox is doing his best to help smooth his transition into the college game.

Cox has begun to take more of a leadership role on the team and be more vocal as ACC play has now been kicked into full gear.

“I’m going to start opening my mouth more. I’ve been quiet, but coach has told me I need to start saying something,” Cox said.

Cox is seeing more touches on the block and has shot a great percentage on low post moves.

“I’m working with the coaches a lot before practice. Me and the bigs coach will do a series around the basket and trying to work on fundamentals. Just working with him to try and get my game where it needs to be,” Cox said.

The last 10 minutes of the second half have not been kind to Tech’s offense. The Jackets struggle to put the ball in the hoop and have a tendency to force a shot. Tech has been in many close games this new year and are just a way from winning an ACC game.

“I just feel like everybody needs to relax. We need to relax and just keep playing how we know we can,” Cox said.

Cox ended up helping  Tech win their first ACC game of the year scoring 10 points and grabbing seven rebounds.

Cox had said earlier that if the team wins one game he feels several more would follow.

Tech is still looking for their first home win of the 2015 calender year. The team has several more chances and will take out on North Carolina State this Saturday in McCamish Pavilion

The largest sports club on campus is the Georgia Tech Crew team. Founded in 1986, the team has roughly 90 students participate.

Its varsity team competes with the best crew teams in the country despite only being recognized as a sports club at Tech and, therefore, is unable to offer scholarships specifically for crew.

Along with men’s and women’s varsity teams, crew also has men’s and women’s novice teams for beginners. Men’s teams are broken up into heavyweight and lightweight divisions.

Rowing crew is a demanding sport, and practices and workouts are held nearly every day of the week. Crew uses the CRC ergometers the fifth floor track to practice the motions of rowing and train themselves to have the endurance and strength to compete at such a high level.

For their on-water training, crew also has a boathouse located on the Chattahoochee River in Roswell, Georgia.

Novices who row for a season are promoted to varsity the following season, and many of the rowers are beginners to the sport: freshman orientation is one of their biggest recruiting tools.

Crew season lasts all year, and the team competed in a number of events during the fall season. The fall races are endurance races, and the spring events are sprints.

This past fall, the men’s varsity team won the points trophy for both the Head of the Chattanooga and Head of the South and will start their spring season with great momentum.

Third year IE Alec Kaye got involved with crew during his first year at Tech and was brand new to the sport at the time. He now rows on the varsity team and helped the lightweight team medal in many events in the fall.

“I went to FASET and was walking around, and I pretty much grabbed flyers from everyone,” Kaye said. “I instantly felt the connection with the other coach we had at the time, a graduate student at Tech, Ben Loeffler. Novices for the most part, we just stayed mostly on the ergs, building up endurance and strength. Just a wonderful way to get in shape and make friends.”

Another position in crew that is often overlooked is the coxswain. The coxswain is in charge of giving commands and can be described as the spiritual leader of the boat. They are generally small in stature and steer the boat.

“It’s just a special sport. There’s nothing else like it, especially the role of the coxswain,” said third year CE and coxswain Chiki Robaina. “You’re the coach when there is no coach. You’re the motivation when they want to quit, and you’re the person who’s literally steering the boat.”

Robaina has been a coxswain for the men’s varsity team the last three years, and the training to be a coxswain is vastly different than the training rowers receive.

Coxswains can make a major difference in whether the team finishes first or second during a tight race.

“When you do have that one race and when you win by 0.3 of a second… [and] they don’t declare you the winner until they review the footage for 15 minutes and getting off the water and the coach is saying your coxswain called the perfect race. There’s nothing better than that,” Robaina said.

Rowing can be very demanding during the race, but Kaye has never had a race where he felt like giving up and credits the teams’ endurance and coaching for always having the power to fight through to the very end.

The crew team has an action-packed spring schedule ahead and will get to travel all over the country to compete in events including the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia, PA.

“My personal goal is to bring home Georgia Tech’s first medal in the men’s varsity 8+ division at Dad Vail,” Chiki said.

“Five… four… three… two… one,” recited the 2014 Tech football team from the stage in the middle of Sun Life Stadium as the New Year was counted down.

Fireworks began to go off, and many Tech players proudly threw oranges into the crowd as the celebration in honor of winning the 2014 Capital One Orange Bowl commenced.

Tech beat the formerly ranked No. 1 Mississippi State Bulldogs 49-34 in front of thousands of ecstatic fans that made the trip to Miami to witness Tech’s biggest postseason bowl win in 24 years. The win was a validation of head coach Paul Johnson, his philosophy and the entire Tech football program.

“I couldn’t be prouder of our players, the program, the assistant coaches and everybody involved,” Johnson said. “It was quite a year, but the credit goes to these guys sitting up here. They’re the ones who did it.”

Sophomore quarterback Justin Thomas won Orange Bowl MVP with a dazzling performance. Thomas threw for 125 yards and a touchdown on 12 attempts, and he ran for 121 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries. As a team, Tech’s offense ran for 452 yards and averaged 7.4 yards per rush.

After getting the ball on a very early interception by junior Chris Milton, Tech scored on their first possession in just four plays. The drive was topped off by senior B-back Synjyn Days’ three yard rushing TD, in which he plowed into the end zone to give Tech a 7-0 lead.

Upon scoring, Days celebrated by performing a majestic kick resembling King Leonidas’ kick in the beginning of the movie 300. Days had indeed kicked the door open for the Tech offense, and the cheers of Jacket fans drowned out the waning clangs of cowbells.

Two possessions later, Tech scored on a 41 yard pass from Thomas to senior wide receiver Darren Waller to give Tech a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter. Waller finished the game with 5 receptions for 114 yards and a touchdown, all occurring in the first half.

MSST proceeded to score 13 straight points while Tech’s offense temporarily hit a rough patch, but Tech answered back when Thomas ran in a 13 yard TD, diving for the pylon to make the score 21-13 with 30 seconds left in the half.

Miraculously, MSST scored on the last play of the first half. Prescott’s 42 yard Hail Mary pass was tipped into the hands of wide receiver Fred Ross to make the score 21-20 at halftime.

“After the Hail Mary happened, nobody was down,” junior safety Jamal Golden said. “If they don’t score again, they can’t beat us. So we just took that mentality into the second half, and tried to keep them out of the end zone and let our offense do their thing.”

Tech’s first drive of the second half set the tone for the rest of the game. Days trounced MSST defenders and scored on a 69 yard touchdown run, breaking four tackles.

The Jackets’ offense then took advantage of more stops by the Tech defense, and Thomas scored once again on a beautiful 32 yard dash, where he made the juke move of the century giving Tech a 35-20 lead.

Four plays later, MSST attempted to run the option themselves, but safety Jamal Golden blew up MSST running back Josh Robinson in the backfield to force a fumble. It was one of the hardest hits of the year for Tech and Golden did what he has done best this year: make plays.

Tech’s offense was now running like a well-oiled machine. Led by senior 1st team All-American offensive guard Shaq Mason, Tech’s offensive line was dominating MSST’s defensive line.

The rout was on as Thomas scored his third rushing TD to give Tech a 42-20 lead, and on the next Tech drive, Days scored his third TD of the game and the seventh and final TD for Tech that day. Days finished the game with 21 carries for 171 yards and 3 touchdowns.

“I have to give thanks to [the offensive line] and Coach Johnson, trusting me with the ball in my hands. Just blessed. Just really blessed for this opportunity,” Days said.

Senior B-back Zach Laskey had several big runs in the fourth quarter and passed 2000 yards for his career, becoming the 14th player in school history to do so.

“You couldn’t have written a better script,” Laskey said. “To beat all the teams I never beat my senior year, beat Georgia and come out and beat another Bulldog team from the SEC West is just awesome.”

With the ball and time running out, the players gave Coach Johnson a Gatorade bath to celebrate their 11th win of the year.

Tech president G.P. “Bud” Peterson was celebrating with the team outside the locker room as well and had high praise for Thomas, Coach Johnson and the entire program.

“It’s a great win for Georgia Tech. An 11 win season. I think the fifth one in school history,” Peterson said. “Justin is a great quarterback. He runs the option extremely well. He’s a sophomore, he’s got two more years. We’re excited. He’s a terrific young man. Glad he’s had such a successful year and looking forward to having him back next year.”

Thomas and his teammates proved that great players win games no matter what the offensive scheme is.

This season was arguably Johnson’s best during his tenure as head coach and possibly the best at Tech since 1990.

The offense led by Thomas is one of the best and most efficient in NCAA history, but will not get the recognition it deserves due to national perception and Tech’s lack of preseason hype.

“On our goal board now it says ‘Win the Orange Bowl,’ and to see all that unfold and come true, it’s amazing,” Mason said.

Mission accomplished. Eleven months after setting that goal, it’s January, 2015, and the Tech football team ended their season just as they hoped and knew they would.

This past weekend, Tribe, Tech’s men’s ultimate team, competed in Classic City Classic (CCC) in Athens, Georgia.

The tournament was hosted by UGA’s ultimate team and is one of the premier tournaments in the country, featuring seven teams that went to college nationals this past season.

Tribe was seeded 13th for the tournament and was placed in a pool with Dartmouth and Central Florida who both participated in nationals last year. Tribe’s first game was against UCF, and they won 8-7 on universe point, upsetting the number five seed at the tournament.

Tribe’s first three games were won on universe point including a 10-9 victory over the fourth seed, Dartmouth. At 3-0, it put Tribe into the driver’s seat going into the pool, which they ultimately won. They finished 4-1 on the day, beating Auburn 11-8 to clinch pool D.

“One of our biggest goals was to break seed. [We] came in ranked 13th and wanted to prove ourselves against some of the biggest teams and play them at their level, and we accomplished that,” said grad student captain John Dugan.

The following day, Tribe moved onto the winner’s bracket where they lost a 15-14 game against Michigan who finished fifth last year at Nationals and lost the following game to UNC 15-11, who were national runner ups. Tribe won the 7th place game against Auburn 9-6.

CCC, being one of the top tournaments in the fall, gave Tribe a great chance to test themselves against some of the best competition in the country. It presented more of a challenge than Tribe’s first tournament of the year, Itchfest, which they won without losing a game.

College ultimate allows five years of eligibility, which means that graduate students are very common in college ultimate. Tribe has always had several key graduate students, and this year, Nathan White and Andreas Gabrielsen have joined the program.

White is from UC Davis, and Gabrielsen was a captain at Rowan University.

White, who led the team with 25 assists and scored 11 times, has had a major role on this year’s team, and his versatility allows him to play every position. Dugan praised the two new players saying that their experience will help the team succeed next spring.

Tribe also returned many key players from last year’s team including fourth year captains Devon Rogers and Stephen Burkot as well as fourth years David Egbert and Patrick Panuski.

Rogers and Panuski tied for the lead in scoring at CCC with 13 scores each.

The team is hoping their experiences at CCC will help them this spring.

“I do feel like our performance at CCC will be positive momentum going into next spring because we performed much better than most other teams were expecting, and we proved that there weren’t any teams there that were significantly better than us,” said second year EE Michael Tillitson.

Tillitson, who was a former high school basketball star, is 6-foot-7. His height and athletic ability make him a very tough matchup for opposing teams, and being only a second year, he has great potential at Tech.

“I feel I played well but still need to further improve my throws and defensive footwork,” Tillitson said.

Dugan believes that the identity of the team has changed since he’s been at Tech. In previous years with former stars Nick Lance and Jay Clark, the team was very reliant on them and their ability to out-athlete their opponents. Dugan thinks that the team is more well-rounded than in the past and isn’t reliant on one player to have a part in every play.

Like Dugan, Tillitson is excited for the spring season as both are confident that Tribe will have a great shot to make Nationals next May.

Tribe is currently ranked #21 in the country by USA Ultimate.

Paul Johnson is currently in his seventh year as head coach at Tech and has compiled a 55-34 record, which is the third best winning percentage in Tech history.

Only John Heisman and Bobby Dodd have a higher winning percentage at Tech and both of those coaches won national championships and have statues outside the football stadium.

In the days of Chain Gailey, Tech football was the definition of mediocrity. Gailey only won more than seven games once and Gailey was nicknamed “Mr. 7-5” by Tech fans. Despite having Calvin Johnson, who is on the of the greatest receivers of all time, Gailey’s teams struggled to win big games with him there.

Johnson’s first season trumped anything Gailey had accomplished at Tech. He finished the regular season at 9-3, including a 48-42 win in Athens over Georgia. It was the first time Tech had beaten UGA in eight years.

The next season Tech won 11 games and the ACC Championship, the most wins in school history and Tech’s first outright ACC Championship in 19 years. Johnson trumped all expectations in his first two years, which might had been some sort of a curse as fans began to expect these kinds of results every year.

2010 was a bad year for Johnson and Tech football, but alot had to do with losing their top running back, wide receiver, defensive end and satety early to the NFL. Another big factor in that season was star quarterback Josh Nesbitt breaking his arm in a game at Virginia Tech when Tech was dominating. Tech ended up losing that game and without Nesbitt the season was a lost cause.

Recruiting also began to catch up to Tech and hiring Al Groh as defensive coordinator set the program back a couple of years.

This year, Tech has the most talented player at quarterback since Joe Hamilton, the 1999 Heisman runner up. Justin Thomas is only a sophomore and has proven he has what it takes to succeed at the quarterback position.

Currently Tech is 8-2 including wins against Virginia Tech and Miami. Tech beat both Virginia Tech and Miami in the same year for the first time since 2006.

Tech is also ranked #22 in the nation and have the best and most efficient offense in the entire country. Recruiting has also turned around as Tech’s 2015 class is the best it’s been in almost a decade.

Johnson’s contract should be extended and it should be a no brainer. Blowing up the whole thing because Johnson has struggled versus Miami and Virginia Tech and is 1-5 against UGA is asinine. UGA is a football factory. They get the best talent in the country and have the best player in America.

All they care about in Athens is football and they currently have Todd Gurley, who is the best football player in college.

Tech isn’t a university, it is an Institute of Technology and is restricted by majors, calculus requirements and academic qualifications that no other D-1 school has.

You don’t see MIT or Cal Tech having successful football programs.

Tech has had major success on the national level in the past 25 years, but 2014 Tech is a completely different Tech than the 1990 Tech that had a national champion football team.

The 1990 team was also an once in a generation team led by Bobby Ross who is one of the few football head coaches that has won a national championship and coached in a Super Bowl.

Tech fans and alumni need to appreciate the consistency the program has had over the past two decades. 18 straight bowl appearances, 20 seasons without a losing record in ACC play and an 11-9 record over Clemson.

Whenever Johnson leaves, it should be on his own terms because if he isn’t kept around next year you can count on about five seasons of being one of the worst teams in the ACC.

Johnson has two giant games left this regular season. A win versus Clemson this weekend should guarantee an extension.