23 wins

[CHE90]

Last year sucked but it made this season all the more sweeter bouncing back! Every program can have a down year cept for bama. Look what Michigan state and ND did this year. Johnson proved the haters wrong that he was done!

And Michigan State, just like us in 2015, had an injury riddled year this year. Just goes to show it can happen to any program.

 

[InsideLB]

Hate to rebuild but if it gets you big years the glory is worth it.

Hoping recent incremental recruiting improvement will modulate, promote more up years & not as severe down years. ACC's gotten tough.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

We never have done better on a consistent basis so why do you think we should now?

Why should we do better in any endeavor we undertake?

Seems if we are asking an Institute employee to accomplish the impossible, said employee should have the highest salary on campus.

 

[cuttysark]

But here is the Best Season for Chan at 9 and 5, that in my opinion was worse than the CPJ 3 and 9 2015 season:

Chan starts out with a loss to open the season to Notre Dame 14 to 10, and the only other loss being 31 to 7 at Clemson. Then the train goes off the rails with the absolute WORST Three consecutive Games of Coaching in the history of Football College OR the NFL.

He loses in Athens to the Mutts who go the length of the field in the last couple of minutes to pull out a 15 to 12 win based on Chan's conservative let's run out the clock approach to football; followed by the unwatchable Loss to Wake Forrest 9 to 6 in the ACC Championship where he thought Calvin Johnson was radioactive and not allowed to have a football thrown to him after the First Quarter; and Finally the Gator Bowl Loss to West Virginia 38 to 35 after being up by at least 3, if not 4 TD's in that game!!

To me that final 3 game stretch in 2006 rendered that 9 and 5 final outcome Worse than the CPJ 2015 season which was understandable based on the volume of injuries sustained.

I'd rather watch competitive football and wind up at 3 and 9, then HORRIBLE Coaching with a never forget 9 and 5 Disaster season like 2006!

 

[dressedcheeseside]

And Michigan State, just like us in 2015, had an injury riddled year this year. Just goes to show it can happen to any program.

Attrition killed us in 2015, by injury, for sure, but also by graduation of key players.

 

[bke1984]

But here is the Best Season for Chan at 9 and 5, that in my opinion was worse than the CPJ 3 and 9 2015 season:

Chan starts out with a loss to open the season to Notre Dame 14 to 10, and the only other loss being 31 to 7 at Clemson. Then the train goes off the rails with the absolute WORST Three consecutive Games of Coaching in the history of Football College OR the NFL.

He loses in Athens to the Mutts who go the length of the field in the last couple of minutes to pull out a 15 to 12 win based on Chan's conservative let's run out the clock approach to football; followed by the unwatchable Loss to Wake Forrest 9 to 6 in the ACC Championship where he thought Calvin Johnson was radioactive and not allowed to have a football thrown to him after the First Quarter; and Finally the Gator Bowl Loss to West Virginia 38 to 35 after being up by at least 3, if not 4 TD's in that game!!

To me that final 3 game stretch in 2006 rendered that 9 and 5 final outcome Worse than the CPJ 2015 season which was understandable based on the volume of injuries sustained.

I'd rather watch competitive football and wind up at 3 and 9, then HORRIBLE Coaching with a never forget 9 and 5 Disaster season like 2006!

While I agree with your general points, you're memory of the Gator Bowl is a bit hazy. We never had a lead bigger than 18 (twice). Still three scores, but quite frankly, (and I'm a huge CPJ fan) Johnson's teams have blown some of the highest leads in school history.

That game hurt, but Pat White was an incredible player and we just didn't close out.

 

[cuttysark]

While you are probably referencing the loss to the Tar Heels after being up 21 points, CPJ hasn't had anything close to that three game stretch of Chan's in 2006.

But I do remember some pretty Memorable comeback wins over the Mutts under CPJ. Losses that the Mutts will NEVER FORGET!

 

[JacketFromUGA]

CPJ's salary is in the 30's of public school coaches. Why then do you expect him to place higher than that?

 

[bke1984]

While you are probably referencing the loss to the Tar Heels after being up 21 points, CPJ hasn't had anything close to that three game stretch of Chan's in 2006.

But I do remember some pretty Memorable comeback wins over the Mutts under CPJ. Losses that the Mutts will NEVER FORGET!

Three in a row...no, but since you asked...this is the first year since 2011 where we didn't surrender a three score lead.

2012 Miami (17 pts)
2013 Georgia (20 pts)
2014 Georgia Southern (28 pts)
2015 North Carolina (21 pts)

I know we beat Southern, but we still let them take the lead after being up 28...that was almost the most disgusting thing I had ever seen...then the season turned out magical so it ended up ok.

However, two of those are the biggest two blown leads in school history, and Southern would have been the biggest...

I think we are improving on defense now to the point where this shouldn't be too much of an issue anymore...and to your point, that stretch under Gailey was terrible...and I was NEVER a fan of his conservative style...

 

[TechTravis]

An interesting question. To me, the road to a good/great season lies with the mythical "Big 5" UGA, Clemson, Miami, Virginia Tech, and UNC. Win 3 of those and you can pretty much take it to the bank it will be a good year. Win 4 or 5 and it is 2014 all over again. Beat UGA and lose everything else and that makes for a successful year IMHO. To my knowledge, this has never happened in the entire history of Clean Old Fashioned Hate. In 1969, we had a losing record, seems like it was something like 3-6 going into the game and we managed to beat them 6-0. This was the year after they slaughtered us 48-7 in Athens. One of the best Georgia teams I ever saw. Somehow they managed to squander all that talent by losing to Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. Some things never change.

I'd put Dook in over UNC, but that's me. I think you're right on with the rest, though. With Gailey, even when we beat some of those teams, it felt flukish. Other than Clemson the last two years, I've gone into the "big 5" games expecting to compete, if not win outright. That wasn't the case before.

 

[Sideways]

I'd put Dook in over UNC, but that's me. I think you're right on with the rest, though. With Gailey, even when we beat some of those teams, it felt flukish. Other than Clemson the last two years, I've gone into the "big 5" games expecting to compete, if not win outright. That wasn't the case before.

Quite so, for those of us "long in the tooth" Duke is a much more traditional rival than UNC. I put those "cheaters" in because whatever their other problems may be, a lack of talent is never the problem at UNC. FWIW I agree with you that to me, Duke is a bigger game to most Tech fans because we have played them for a long time extending back to pre Dodd days. They were actually pretty good back in the Dodd era at times.

 

[Skeptic]

So I was thinking about something this morning. We won 11, 3 and 9 games the last 3 years. That's 23 wins and 23 divided by 3 averages out to 7.67 per year. Historically, over the Gailey years and front end of the CPJ years, that was right around our average (might as well have called Chan "7-win Chan").

Here's my question, would you rather us have won 7, 8, and 8? Or would you take the agony of the 3-win season instead to enjoy the fruits of the 9 and 11 win seasons?

Personally, I'd rather have one sucky year (especially knowing a lot of it was due to injuries and a gauntlet schedule) and 2 great years than 3 mediocre years.

Shows the fallacy of averages.

 

[Vespidae]

What amazed me about Dodd's record is that he only had a few sub 0.500 years. He would bounce around 6-5 and then, BAM ... 11-0.

You have to have enough consistency to continuously attract kids. I don't mind 6-5 every 3 years or so if you balance it with some ten win seasons. Don't like the 3 win years very much.

Totally doable.

 

[Sideways]

What amazed me about Dodd's record is that he only had a few sub 0.500 years. He would bounce around 6-5 and then, BAM ... 11-0.

You have to have enough consistency to continuously attract kids. I don't mind 6-5 every 3 years or so if you balance it with some ten win seasons. Don't like the 3 win years very much.

Totally doable.

I understand your point, which is a good observation but if you were a fan in those days it really was not so amazing. Dodd could sell sand to an Arab and got good players from across the South on a pretty much continuous basis. Players in those days from the rural South wanted badly to come to Atlanta and he had their parents eating out of his hand in no time worth mentioning. He was also a pretty good game day coach according to no less authority than Bear Bryant who said many times that Dodd was the best. Dodd's main problem was...wait for it... Calculus. Not to mention pending integration, the Falcons, and a host of other problems he did not want to deal with. He was a great football coach and a wonderful leader of young men but an absolute disaster as a athletic director. IMHO

 

[Vespidae]

He was a great football coach and a wonderful leader of young men but an absolute disaster as a athletic director. IMHO

I agree. In fact, it was after he stopped coaching and became AD full time that the program went into a coma.

That's why I hope TStan is focused on rebuilding the program and not cabanas.