Neville and Cabrera outline the plan for GT Athletics moving forward

ATLANTA- Georgia Tech president Ángel Cabrera and interim athletic director Frank Neville addressed the media on Tuesday to outline the plan and the vision for Yellow Jacket athletics moving forward following the termination of athletic director Todd Stansbury and football coach Geoff Collins on Monday.

Cabrera spoke first and did not take questions from the media, but he made clear points about his expectations for the football program and Tech athletics overall.

"This was a difficult but necessary decision," Cabrera said about the changes. "I have a great appreciation for both... I particularly want to thank Todd for his unwavering commitment to the success of our signature total person approach to athletics and his love of his alma mater, but ultimately the results haven't been there and a new approach is necessary to return our program to where it belongs. Our student-athletes deserve an opportunity to compete at the highest level. Our very loyal Yellow Jacket fan base that has stuck by this team no matter what deserves better."

The short four to five-year span for student-athletes was something else Cabrera pointed to as the team has won just 10 games through three seasons and a third another.

"These student-athletes give so much of themselves to this program and only get a handful of years to grow and develop with us on and off the field. We owe it to the players and to their families who put their trust in us to give them an athletic program and a collegiate experience they can be proud of."

Cabrera expressed his desire for the athletic programs led by the most public piece, the football program to be as competitive nationally as the academic arm of the school is on the national stage.

"We are top ranked on many academic lists," Cabrera said. "We are very proud of that and athletics is no different. We want to be among the best just like we are in everything we do. That is why we have made these changes. New leadership will give our athletes, coaching staff, and program a necessary change in focus. direction and an opportunity to win. We want to return our program where it belongs amongst the best in the conference and among the best in our country."

Neville who is Cabrera's Chief of Staff is also on the Georgia Tech Atheltic Board is charged with helping run the day-to-day operations, but he is also going to be heavily involved in the search for the next athletic director as well.

"We will be moving forward with our search to identify the permanent athletic director and we have already launched that search and we have engaged Parker Executive Search to help us with that. We will be asking that athletic director to make a decision on the future of the football program and naming of a permanent football coach."

Neville said he is also focusing on helping the student-athletes as much as possible during the transition and he spent Monday and will spend the rest of Tuesday meeting with most of the football team as well as supporting coach Key and his staff moving ahead.

The new Edge Building and other projects spearheaded by Stansbury will continue as well. However, helping the football program remains a key priority during this change.

"We need to all dig in and help the football program get back on track. We believe deeply in these players and we are going to do everything in our power to support them," Neville said. "These are Georgia Tech students and they all have resilience, fight and they are not quitters and we cannot quit on them. Secondly, we have a tremendous amount of confidence in Coach Key's leadership. I met with him multiple times yesterday and I got to meet the football staff yesterday as well as the players and we will do everything we can to support him and the rest of the staff."

Cabrera said his role in the transition is helping find the next athletic director and allowing that person to make the call on the next football head coach. His final comments echoed something said by many Georgia Tech fans in this constantly changing environment of college athletics these days.

"My primary focus is to recruit our next athletic director and to equip our next athletic director with whatever resources they need to turn this program around," he said. "I am personally committed to building and maintaining a world-class athletic program. I am a proud Georgia Tech alum and this is personal to me."

Neville said that they have an idea of what they are looking for and the ever-changing landscape of college football and flexibility to adapt to that will be a chief priority in the search for a new athletic director.

"First and foremost we want somebody who represents the values of Georgia Tech as a foundational point. I think secondly we need somebody who understands the complicated and fluid nature of the college athletics landscape. We have seen so many tumultuous changes in the past year with NIL and the transfer portal and that has an impact on how everyone does their jobs. We need someone who understands that and can navigate that. Number three, somebody that knows about college football and can lead the football program," Neville said.

There has been speculation that Tech may look at a non-traditional athletic director candidate, but Neville said that could be a possibility but there is a major learning curve with how quickly things move these days in college football and they likely need someone with experience in that field currently.

"One thing I've learned is that you don't restrict your options, but having said that, this is a complicated business and it is becoming more of a business. So someone outside that will have a higher hurdle and it will be much harder from someone who hasn't proven they can do it, especially in regards to the search for a new football coach," he said. "I think you are going to need deep experience in those areas."

Neville confirmed JOL's report that they plan to hire the athletic director first and then hire a football coach. He said they would like to have an athletic director hired as soon as they can.

"We want to have this sequential and that is our plan," Neville said when asked about the hiring order. "I hate to give timetables, but our planning hypothesis is to do this quickly in order to get a new athletic director time to see this current football season and our talent."

Finances remain a hot topic in college football as well and Neville said the university plans to invest in the product and create a sustainable financial model for the athletic department.

"I think the question of investment in college athletics is a moving target and I want to emphasize our goal is to have a competitive program. Our goal is to invest in order to make this program that," he said. "We are looking at the financial model for this year, for next year and how do we increase our sources of revenue? How do we mobilize our community who support the program to be able to make the financial investments necessary to do that."

Given the staggering amount of money other programs have at their disposal in the direct areas around Tech, Neville said he believes Georgia Tech can compete with the right plan and support.

"We've seen programs turn themselves around very quickly," Neville said. "Tennessee is an example of a program that really flipped things around and things can change if you bring in the right people and create the right support around the program. We are also starting a 2 billion dollar capital campaign of which athletics will be a prominent part of. We have very generous donors who have supported us with facilities like the Performance Center (The Edge) so it is about giving people reasons to support you and creating excitement and engagement."