ATHENS — Tennessee Tech coach Bobby Wilder was in full view Tuesday afternoon as he sat in Cookeville, Tennessee, with his feet propped on his desk while fielding questions on the Ohio Valley Conference’s weekly coaches’ video conference call. Not pictured but in the room at the time was “Khaleesi.”
Khalessi is a 5-year-old English plott hound that Wilder’s oldest son, Derek, bought for Wilder during his last year as head coach at Old Dominion. The Monarchs went 1-11 that season.
“Got him right before I got fired,” Wilder said with a chuckle. “(Derek) thought I needed a dog, a puppy of all things.”
Khalessi has been Wilder’s constant companion ever since. She was with him for that fateful final season at Old Dominion and for Wilder’s four-year hiatus from coaching that followed. It wasn’t meant to be a sabbatical, per se. Wilder said he very much wanted to stay in the game; he just couldn’t get hired as a head coach.
After taking a swipe at “professional development,” Wilder went back to what he knew best. He became a private coach for middle-school and high-school kids. He said trained about 225 individuals and “had a blast doing it.” He also played “a lot of golf.”
Finally, in December, Wilder convinced Tennessee Tech President Phil Oldham and Athletic Director Mark Wilson that he was the man to lead their FCS program into the future. The 60-year native of Maine agreed to a 5-year contract that pays him $250,000 a year.
It was in that first meeting with Tennessee Tech leadership that Wilder found out that his first team would have to face Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs in Game 2 of his first season with the program.
“If I was being honest, I would tell you I’m not thrilled to be headed to Athens, Georgia, this weekend,” Wilder cracked Tuesday. “So, I’ll be dishonest and say I’m very excited to be playing Georgia at Sanford Stadium in front of 93,000.”
According to the contract the schools signed in 2019, UGA will pay Tennessee Tech $550,000 for playing the Bulldogs on Saturday (2 p.m., SEC Network-plus). That’s a small payday compared to what Georgia doles out for FBS opponents. That tends to be $2 million or more.
But for the Golden Eagles, a half-million or so represents a significant pay day that will go toward funding several sports, not just football.
Such a transaction is nothing new for Wilder. He played pay-for-play games in 13 seasons at Old Dominion and at Maine before that. But it is a proposition he’d like to see go away.
“Truthfully, it’s about paying the athletic department’s bills,” Wilder said. “This new scheduling model, as everybody knows, has FCS programs taking it in the teeth when it comes to paying bills.”
The competitive gap, he said, is greater than ever. And not just between FCS and FBS, but Group of Five and the Power Four.
Wilder said he understands Georgia’s NIL budget held by the Classic City Collective to pay players is $20 million a year. Tennessee Tech’s entire athletic department budget is $17 million annually. Such a financial difference translates onto the field of play.
“Look at the scores from this past weekend, like Oklahoma 51, Temple 3; that’s G5 and P4,” Wilder said. “Now look at the gap with the FCS. Credit to those (Power Four) schools and those kids; I’m truly excited those kids are receiving additional stipends and compensation. I love it. … But the gap it has created is insurmountable. So, we’re still playing these games to pay bills, but we’re working to change that model here at Tennessee Tech.”
The schools have met two other times, in 1943 and 2009, with Georgia winning both by the combined score of 105-0. Depending on how Smart and Georgia choose to play it, the Bulldogs could match that in this game alone.
The Golden Eagles (0-1) might stand a better chance of being competitive against No. 1-ranked Georgia (1-0), winners of two of the past three College Football Playoff championships and 47 of its past 49 games overall, had they not lost their starting quarterback in the season opener last week.
Dylan Laible, a transfer from Missouri, went down early on the road against Middle Tennessee. With sophomore Jordyn Potts taking over at QB, Tennessee Tech actually played very well. But after storming back to take a 25-24 lead late in the game, coach Derek Mason’s Blue Raiders executed a 75-yard drive to score the winning touchdown with 16 seconds remaining in a 32-25 decision.
That unfortunate result aside, Wilder said his team will arrive at Sanford Stadium far from forlorn or resigned to their fate.
“My basic thoughts are there are 5.9 billion people in the world, and there is a tiny, tiny percentage of them that can ever say they had the opportunity to play the best in the world in their sport at their age group,” Wilder said. “That’s what we have the opportunity to do this weekend.”
The 31-year coach added that he’s not exaggerating the point of Georgia being the best in the world at football.
“This is the best football team in the country,” Wilder said of the Bulldogs. “They’re not just sound in every area; they’re excellent in every area. In my opinion, Kirby Smart is the best coach in college football. I believe he’s the voice of college football now with Nick Saban retiring. You need a strong voice that carries himself in a professional manner that younger coaches can look up to and emulate and follow. I’ve felt that way about Kirby a long time, even when he was the D-coordinator at Alabama.”
As for Khalessi, Wilder’s loyal companion won’t be making the trip to Athens. One of the fastest breeds of dog in the world, the Eagles’ coach wouldn’t mind putting her in a jersey and getting her to carry the football against Georgia. As it is, Tennessee Tech must rely from afar on the powers that come with the dog’s special name.
Those who are fans of the TV series “Game of Thrones” and House of Dragon will recognize the name Khalessi. Quite obviously, Wilder is a fan.
“I had to have an original name,” he said. “It couldn’t be ‘Rover’ or whatever. I was a big Game of Thrones fans, she’s a female and I thought, ‘she’s Khalessi, the mother of dragons; she’s Khalessi of the Great Grass Sea; she’s the breaker of chains.’”
It may take more than the powers of Khalessi to have a chance Saturday. But the pay’s good.
