Notes and quotes from new AD Ryan Alpert's 680 the Fan interview on Friday

New Georgia Tech athletic director Ryan Alpert was a guest on 680 the Fan Friday as part of the Cellini and Dimino show as he answered several questions about his new job and the vision for Yellow Jackets’ Athletics now and in the future by Tech’s flagship radio station.

Here are some notes and quotes from that interview, which can be listened to fully at this link.

Alpert started by saying he was excited to be on because “rumor has it” that Cellini and Dimino are “the GOATs” of sports radio to which the duo jokingly replied was a lot of pressure.

Alpert was first asked why Georgia Tech was right situation for him despite being in good situation at his previous job at Tennessee…

“Things were great in Knoxville and proud of our time there, but when you look at opportunities for me, obviously I want to be an athletic director. I want to be the CEO and lead the program,” said Alpert. “Where Georgia Tech has been, where it is now, the alignment with Dr. (Angel) Cabrera and the belief in investing in athletics to compliment this extremely high level education and what we do at The Institute…to have complimentary athletics at the highest level, that was extremely exciting for me. To see where the program is now with Brent (Key) and all of our coaches and the success we’re having…14 of our 17 teams made the postseason last year…so things are in a really good spot, and I thought of it as an opportunity for me to come in and take it to the next level.”

When asked about what an athletic director job entails now, Alpert said he’s a “revenue generator at heart.” He went on to say it’s about bringing corporate business tactics to grow revenue or “grow the pots” and be able to invest back into the programs and coaches to give them competitive resources. He mentioned player acquisition and player retention is as important as ever in the college game. He sees his job as also wanting to balance everything with a great culture as far as student-athlete experience and welfare while they are at Tech and be able to put them in the best position to succeed in college and after college. Overall, he said his job is putting together a strategic business plan in place to help Georgia Tech win.

Alpert went on on to say he is only as good as the people around him.

“I’m only as good as our people, and that’s another thing that really attracted me to this job,” said Alpert. “Not only on the coaching side but our administration, we’ve got great people here.”

Alpert complimented previous Tech AD J Batt and the job he did building a great foundation.

“Now it’s my job to listen and learn, but then begin to implement some changes and see some opportunities,” said Alpert.

Alpert was asked about fan experience and building around that at Georgia Tech like he did at Tennessee where that was a big priority of his job. He said it’s important to generate revenue, but they have to provide a great experience for fans…pre-game, getting through the gates, in-game, concessions, fireworks…all critical to success with that.

“We’re in the winning and building teams and giving our coaches the tools to be successful business, but we’re also in the entertainment business and that’s a critical component to our success as well,” said Alpert.

When the subject came up of working within the ACC, Alpert said he’s got some great friends in the ACC as ADs at other schools so he looks forward to working with them to help “pave the path forward.” He said he will always go through the lens of having GT first but also help make a path forward for the ACC and college sports.

Alpert was asked about his quote from his introductory press conference on Wednesday about punching above their weight class at Georgia Tech.

“We need to always punch above our weight classes,” said Alpert. “I’ve said that to our staff for the expectation of where we are and where we’re going and to our coaches. But at the same time our investment level does have to have some correlation to where the expectations are.”

When he was asked about where Georgia Tech is financially, Alpert said he thinks the program is “fairly well-situated” to grow in revenue based on where GT was five years ago to now to where they want to be in five years. He said he wants to put together a plan with influences from several different groups on campus from athletics to academics to students, etc.

Lastly, Alpert was asked about setting up schedules in the future with conferences changing and out of conference schedule importance. He responded by saying as far as football, he and Key are aligned in how they want to set up the schedules and how they look toward the future. He said that TV viewership is important, but he also knows that winning 8, 9 or 10 games and competing for conference titles and playoff spots is also something that has to be a priority.

The interview wrapped up with Alpert offering Cellini and Dimino an “open invitation” to stop by the office at Georgia Tech anytime in order to meet face-to-face and see what he and Jackets Athletics is about up close.