The walk from Bobby Dodd Stadium to the practice facility can be a long one for Georgia Tech players, so in an effort to provide a special benefit to players while also incentivizing what they demand as a program - and more specifically as a defensive staff - they've created the "Gold-Blooded #CHAOScruzer."
After a recent practice, defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker explained the new incentive for GT players, and it all started over spring break with an idea.
Coach Thacker took his young kids to two Targets and two Walmarts before finding a cruiser-type bicycle at the second Walmart stop. Since it was black with red tires, Thacker had to disassemble it, spray paint it gold, and then reassemble it to remake it into the #CHAOScruzer.
The first picture that was shared of the whip shows that nice gold paint, but the tires are still red, and Thacker explained that he was quickly reminded that the color red has no place at Georgia Tech.
That was changed, and the latest picture shown from yesterday's practice shows the new version of the #CHAOScruzer.
Here's how Thacker explains the thought process behind the CHAOScruzer (Starting at about the 9:50 mark of the video):
"So we've deemed that, that is the CHAOScruzer, so it has everything to do with effort. So a Chaos Creator is everything that we talk about as a program, it is an effort based program, and beyond scheme, we are an effort based defense. So that's one thing. We always talk about incentivizing what we're emphasizing. So we emphasize effort, and we emphasize takeaways as well, so that Chaos Creator is a mixture of that, most importantly, whoever had the best practice based on effort."
"We've got a pretty good stretch from the building - Bobby Dodd - over here to the practice facility, so whoever the chaos creator is - the most valuable player based on their effort - the next practice, they get to ride the cruiser to practice. Everybody else has to carry their stuff over individually- take their helmet, take the cleats, take their shoulder pads of whoever is the Chaos Creator - and then they get to ride Gold Blooded, that's the name, they get to ride that over to practice."
"Again, it's a way to incentivize what we talk about ad nauseam - this is an effort based program, and this is an effort based defense more than anything, so it's just a small way to be able to incentivize that."
More and more programs are finding creative ways like this to incentivize what they emphasize in an effort to connect with their players. For Georgia Tech, a program with a multi-million dollar budget, all it took was some out-of-the-box thinking, a trip to Walmart, and some spray paint.
What's your program's excuse again?
https://youtu.be/5HoX6KsemKI?t=590