Paul Johnson's job

[TheSilasSonRising]

we've made the final top 25 eight times in last 50 years, but keep going ahead and thinking it's realistic to be a perennial top 25 team. Just not going to happen. Not with our lack of commitment from school and our academic standards that require athletes to take courses of calculus and several lab sciences.

Then get the azzwipes who will not commit to making our school great in every endeavor as far away from ATL as possible. Starting at whatever level it takes.

Most of them did not go to GT, do not love GT, and think GT owes them something.

**** them.

 

[Vespidae]

What is the failure? Recruiting.

This what Lou Holtz had to say about the Triple Option and it's weakness in recruiting:

"All of a sudden, you couldn't get the dominant quarterback because you weren't going to throw the football and get him ready for the NFL," Holtz said. "You couldn't get the dominant left tackle, because you weren't going to teach him to pass-block. You couldn't get the dominant running back, because he wasn't going to be featured enough.

"Now, you can still win with the option even if you don't get those people, but if you're not getting those top recruits, the alumni start to think you're losing and you're not exciting enough," Holtz said.

Sound familiar?

Interestingly, I was looking at Willie Fritz from his time at Georgia Southern and his point was that he won 91% of his games when he got 1 more yard rushing than his opponent. Running well yourself and shutting down the run were critical. The TO struggles without a D.

 

[4shotB]

. The TO struggles without a D.

as does any other system fwiw.

 

[pbrown520]

I've liked having CPJ and he has done a decent job, but the competition in the ACC is getting stronger and we aren't. JT gave us a lot of hope in 2014 but he's as good as a QB as you could get for this offense and instead of building a national prominence the past 2 seasons it looks like we're gonna have 2 of our worst seasons since CPJ got here and next we'll be breaking in a new QB. I've defended CPJ for years but I don't think we can go 6-6 and make it to the ACCCG anymore or go 6-6 on a down year which this year wasn't suppose to be a down year. I appreciate everything he has done and we've had a few good years 08,09,14 was awesome to watch but we don't have 5-6 gaurenteed win seasons anymore.

I'm not sure that Justin is as good as you can get for this offense. JT is good, but I don't think he's the best that's out there. Your point is taken though and I pretty much agree.

 

[danny daniel]

What if we agree our talent level is 45 to 65 (out of 127 or so) in the nation most years. That puts us at a w-l expectations, based on talent, at 5-7, 6-6, or 7-5. How do we feel about our coaches' performance with those expectations? Or with our current talent level what should be our expectations?

My expectations are to win those games we can, but lately that has not happened. So I am temporarily upset with our performance the last two games so the natural cause must be our coaches? O improvement seems to be arriving. Let's hope some scheme changes are made to our D and we will soon see some uptick there. Let's continue to support our players and coaches. We have half a season to go. There is still a chance for a good season, and if we beat the Dawgs it will seem like a really good season...regardless.

 

[Captain killem]

Good coaches coach talent up that's a fact like it or not.

 

[GTonTop88]

I'm not sure that Justin is as good as you can get for this offense. JT is good, but I don't think he's the best that's out there. Your point is taken though and I pretty much agree.

JT is as best as we've had in 9 years and won't come around very often. I would take Lamar or Deshaun over JT but there's very few people out there better for this offense. I'm not tryin to start another tangent on who else could run this offense better, but just sayin finding another JT isn't gonna be easy and we've underperformed while having him. What about after JT. I'm sure CPJ gets another year no matter what, but next year without JT is probably not gonna be good. Tennessee is the first game of the year on Monday night in the new Falcons stadium. Both teams with have a new QB and they might embarrass us.

 

[GTFLETCH]

I have no clue what the issue is as CPJ is untouchable in modern GT football era... 2 Orange Bowls, 1 Peach Bowl, and an ACC Title, and 4 ACC Coastal Divisional championships. Only coach since 1952 to have two 11 plus win seasons in GT History (2009 & 2014)

Tech is on the academic level with the countries best learning institutions. You don't see Cal Tech , MIT or Harvard fielding competitive D1 football teams. Stanford does a good job and we are 2 and 0 against them. I wish more attention were given to the fact that our coach is doing it the right way. I know winning is the ultimate goal for a football program, but considering this is COLLEGE football, it would be nice to get some recognition for doing right by our STUDENT athletes. People tend to forget that when they are surrounded by SEC schools. But CPJ has recruited, is it his fault that Travis Custis, Myles Autry did not work out?? What about the students who were dismissed??? Below are two issues I see that CPJ has had to deal with that other coaches may not want any part of!

1. Georgia Tech had its NCAA probation extended two years, to June 13, 2017. I'll give Paul Johnson credit. You don't hear him complain publicly much about recruiting restrictions brought on by the NCAA or the hill - not that you would expect him to. That would get him in hotter water than losing games. Still, if you read between the lines it's nice to know that he understands and agrees with most GT fans that better players are needed, and is pressing an agenda to attain such and the new AD seems to have is back per the radio interview!

2. There are only 34 majors at Georgia Tech and add to that the fact that 76% of undergraduate degrees GT awards annually are in STEM majors and the disparity becomes even more stark. This is a real problem because the great high school players who considers college nothing more than "the NFL minor league" are looking for the easiest route to that ultimate goal, the NFL, are not going to wrestle with the academic rigors at GT. It is what it is.

Links below:

Georgia Tech's probation extended
GT had its NCAA probation extended two years, to June 13, 2017.

Link
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story...n-extended

Johnson hopeful about admissions changes
Also, notice what "academic exceptions" means for Tech: the requirements that all other schools have to abide by. For MOST (not all) other schools, an "exception" means that the student does not meet NCAA minimum requirements.

Link
http://georgiatech.blog.ajc.com/2014/03/...s-changes/

 

[Captain killem]

The 3 schools you mentioned caltech no football mit div3 Harvard FCS so if that's how it is ................. well

 

[g0lftime]

Until we improve on defense, it won't matter a whole lot how great our QB is. This TO offense is not good for coming from behind and the current rules favor a passing game. We would be better offensively if we had a better passing attack to go with our running game but ultimately we have to get some 3rd down stops. We have been really bad at that with the defenses under PJ. In 2014 we had UNC beat with that reverse by Smelter for a TD with about 3 minutes to go but we could not make a stop on their final drive. This year and last year we just have not been able to force turnovers. Does TR just hope the other team will make a mistake and mishandle the ball for us. We sure don't seem to cause any fumbles.

 

[GTFLETCH]

The 3 schools you mentioned caltech no football mit div3 Harvard FCS so if that's how it is ................. well

I also mentioned Stanford... But to your point, it is very amazing that Georgia Tech can be on the academic level of the schools you highlighted from my post and also play college sports at the highest level and have won the OB in 2014... Truly amazing... I am sure when non athletic students choose Tech over MIT, CAL TECH, Harvard that is a reason why they come... But great high school players who considers college nothing more than "the NFL minor league" are looking for the easiest route to that ultimate goal, the NFL, are not going to wrestle with the academic rigors at GT, thus choose to play somewhere else!!

 

[tmhunter52]

Usually, our offense is acceptable. Rarely is our defense acceptable. When you put a defense on the field in which the head coach has confidence, he won't being going for 4th and one on his own 34 with a minute and a half remaining in a tied game.

 

[pbrown520]

JT is as best as we've had in 9 years and won't come around very often. I would take Lamar or Deshaun over JT but there's very few people out there better for this offense. I'm not tryin to start another tangent on who else could run this offense better, but just sayin finding another JT isn't gonna be easy and we've underperformed while having him. What about after JT. I'm sure CPJ gets another year no matter what, but next year without JT is probably not gonna be good. Tennessee is the first game of the year on Monday night in the new Falcons stadium. Both teams with have a new QB and they might embarrass us.

I agree with what you are saying. To call the offense a disappointment these last two years would be an understatement. I think I'm disappointed in it because I expect us to be explosive or to be able to death march the hell out of it and we just can't.

 

[jacketup]

"Paul Johnson is part of the problem too. He has not placed the emphasis on recruiting that he should, shown by where he recruits and the staff he hired."

But, isn't the reason for that the fact that he doesn't get the funding to do much different?

I might be inclined to agree that statement except that when he took the job he brought a staff with him that was very weak--and that is probably putting in mildly---in recruiting at the P5 level generally and P5 recruiting in the heart of SEC country specifically.

His recruiting has been worse than O'Leary or Gailey. The evidence is that he was 17-7 with Gailey's recruits (FBS 2008-09) and has a losing FBS record since with his own recruits. You can't say that the administration supported Gailey better than they supported Johnson. Johnson either forgot how to coach after 2009 or he hasn't recruited well. The answer to that is pretty obvious.

 

[jacketup]

I have no clue what the issue is as CPJ is untouchable in modern GT football era... 2 Orange Bowls, 1 Peach Bowl, and an ACC Title, and 4 ACC Coastal Divisional championships. Only coach since 1952 to have two 11 plus win seasons in GT History (2009 & 2014)

Really?

Johnson is 3 games under .500(FBS) since 2010 when he no longer had Gailey's recruits to count on.

For 5 1/2 of the last 6 1/2 seasons. Johnson is 10 games under .500 (FBS).

His FBS win % at GT is lower than Gailey's.

He is 5-21 since 2010 against VT, Miami, Clemson and UGA--and if you take out 2014, he is 1-21 against those teams. That's 1/3 of every season's schedule in which we really aren't competitive.

He has no conference championships. If I am wrong, go the GTAA and take a picture of the trophy for me.

He has only one real division championship (not 4), and we play in what most people consider the weakest Power 5 division. It is getting stronger as our results of 2015 and 2016 (so far) show. Not only are we behind Miami and VT in our division, we are behind UNC and Pitt, and even possibly Duke. UVa's new coach will take them past us too unless something changes.

George O'Leary put up 5 consecutive AP top 25 finishes. How has Johnson had better success than Ross and O'Leary? Or was that not the modern era to you?

Calculus is not required for liberal arts majors at GT (unless you count "Survey of Calculus"). Let's put that myth to rest too.

He plays 2 or 3 more games a year than coaches of the 70's and 80's. He has coached against 10 FCS teams in the last 8 years (many prior coaches had none; Gailey only played 3 FCS teams in 6 years). Saying he won 11 games twice in 8years so he is the greatest coach in modern GT history is the pinnacle of a misleading statistic. Look at his FBS %, It is among the worst in GT history.

(I apologize to John for pasting from another thread, but this one deserved a response).

 

[Vespidae]

I recently read the GTAA Strategic Plan. I do hope there's more to it ... just 28 pages. Half are pictures.

Is it CPJ? Or is it the lack of direction from GTAA? If the document I read is the whole thing ... I would say we have a leadership problem. That's why I'd like to see what Todd is going to do. He's saying the right things ... now we need to identity and prioritize the actions and support the team.

Regardless of who is coach.

 

[jacketup]

we've made the final top 25 eight times in last 50 years, but keep going ahead and thinking it's realistic to be a perennial top 25 team. Just not going to happen. Not with our lack of commitment from school and our academic standards that require athletes to take courses of calculus and several lab sciences.

I'm not the only one who disagrees with you. So did Kim King:

"Do I think that Tech can compete for a national championship under the current setup. No, not really. So I was a shocked as anybody at what happened in 1990. Do I think that Tech has a chance to be a really good team and finish in the Top 10, Yes I do. Maybe not year in and year out, But I do think they could be a regular Top 25 team and compete for the ACC on a regular basis. And I still think that's the case at Tech."


And liberal arts majors at GT take something called Survey of Calculus, not the calculus I took. And not "several lab sciences." Only two to be exact, and there is a wide array to choose from, some of which are not so hard.

WR want to catch balls, not block every down. RBs want to carry the ball, not block most of the time. QB's want to throw the ball, not run and get tackled every play. OL want to pass block, not hurt their shoulders cut blocking. This is not FCS football. The offense is more of an impediment to recruiting than academics. Friedgen's offense proved that.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

If it really all starts at the top shouldn't we fire Peterson? Let's just quit football while we are at it. Too many of y'all get too hurt by losses. We need some safe zones for you. Some emotional distress counseling would be good too.

I didn't get to see the game and haven't seen replays. The D must have fallen apart. Which is disappointing considering we made some small strides before this. I'm willing to bet some of Pitts success was due to them making plays on their end at times. Announcers in first half indicated so anyway.

The product on the field is not the same as last year. We are a better team. We might beat Pitt 2/3 times but lost a gut wrencher to them yesterday.

We have youth on D that will prove better than our current upperclassmen. I have no doubt. But it's a bit insane to expect them to play like upper classmen now. Recruiting the last 2 years has improved. That will pay bigger dividends in the next few years than it does today. We have some nice talent committed so far now too. Will Swillings still come if Roof is fired? Have you genius fire Roof, fire Paul folks thought of that one yet?

We have been to two Orange Bowls since the Dodd era. I can handle a rare bad year, 15, and some competitive non champ years...how many teams compete for nattys year after year? How many coastal teams compete for the division year after year (the two Techs have more than the others I believe)?

Can we be a top 25 team annually or biannually? Yes. With our current coaching staff? Yes. With the current level of support from the administration? Hell no.

There is plenty to play for still. You folks that express certainty of our final record (5-7!!!!) just amaze me.

 

[Ibeeballin]

Glad to see @jacketup has come out of his shell

 

[dressedcheeseside]

And liberal arts majors at GT take something called Survey of Calculus, not the calculus I took. And not "several lab sciences." Only two to be exact, and there is a wide array to choose from, some of which are not so hard.

A couple points:
1. 95% of today's NFL or bust, look at me, blue-chip factory players still can't or still won't go for that.
2. The STEM curriculum defines GT from a cultural standpoint as well as an academic one. What I mean by cultural is small fanbase, small stadium, lack of girls, the "nerd" label.... all these things are a direct or indirect result of our curriculum. The players mentioned above don't want any part of this, either.