A question for ex players or serious fans

[4shotB]

please do not respond if you have ever used the phrase "accept mediocrity" in a serious fashion and/or are a teenager. The question, and it's sincere one, when you evaluate our play, do you see signs that this team is well-coached? Or is it the opposite? I am extremely curious on this. I can spot the obvious mistakes - turnovers, penalties, etc. and I imagine most of us who watch/post regularly can do the same. If you say, yes or no, can you elaborate? (and I don't mean by pointing to the scoreboard. There was a glaring and obvious talent gap between the two that accounts for some of that.) Was our plan and schemes good? Did we adjust? Where there things available to us that we did not take advantage of? Or was it "iiwii" due to Jimmy and Joe's?

Again, if you are an idiot, please do not respond. I don't need one more in this thread.I am looking for the ex-GT FB players (or others who have played at this level), guys who have coached at above middle school levels, or even a guy like longestday who just enjoys breaking down the film and studying the game at a deeper level than most. I appreciate any sincere replies.

 

[SteamWhistle]

When your LBs dive at RBs knees that’s coaching, When your LBs get ran over that’s jimmy and joes. Most of the time we dive at knees, but sometimes we get ran over. I️ guess my answer is, we have enough talent to be good if we don’t make mistakes, but when we make mistakes we are not good enough to rely on our talent to make up for it. Tech could be good if they wanted to, if we made the school easier to get into you would see a HUGE jump in recruiting.

 

[TheTechGuy]

Would like to add on to OP's question, hope that's OK.

Why do we seem to be so vanilla on defense in our alignment? Specifically, we seem to always be in the same alignment at the snap of the ball. I understand that some of that is based on our style of D, but I watch other teams play and the better defenses seem to be much more versatile in their pre-snap alignment. Seems like it would be a good way to disguise coverages and blitzes, but I may be out of my depth.

 

[tech_wreck47]

It's a little of both imo. CPJ knows what he's doing and coaches kids up. The one hit on him imo is giving kids the ability to cut or drive block and it be their own decision . I think it needs to be taught to mix it up. When you do one or the other 100 percent of the time it's easier to defend. I think that in itself would change our blocking majorly, especially with the Abacks on the perimeter. On the D I'm going to hold back from comment.

 

[GTThor]

Georgia Tech has always appeared to be very well coached. There is a difference in the athletes that Tech puts on the field and the ones we face each week.
The problem that surfaced last week was that our kids quit. Paul Johnson hinted at this as well when he was comparing this group to the 2015 group.
Paul Johnson is a very good football coach, but if the kids quit on him, there has to be some changes. He has to get rid of kids, make changes to his staff, or he needs to step down. I hope he just runs off what might be cancers in the locker room.

 

[iceeater1969]

I have heard coach say he has no idea what motivates kids these days.
It's the smart players we have! Another excuse for coach - g t academic requires smart players who are difficult to motivate.
I say 1O YEAR coach is paid to solve problems NOT FIRE PLAYERS.

 

[4shotB]

Georgia Tech has always appeared to be very well coached.

what do you see that makes you feel this way? Again, I am not saying the opposite, just wanting to know how the casual fan can distinguish good coaching from bad apart from just looking at W's & L's.

 

[GTThor]

Some people here don't want to admit that Tech doesn't and won't ever have the same type of athletes as UGA. Saying that they have been able to compete with and beat them recently.

Many here like to attack the play of the offensive line, but if you watch them closely, they have been pretty good during Paul Johnson's tenure here. The QB's missed reads can make them look bad at times. I have seen our QB pull the ball when he should have given it. The center and the backside guard will have the nose blocked, the play side guard and tackle will have the LBer blocked. The 4/5 technique runs up field. We pull the ball. If we give the ball to the B back, he scores. This has happened quite a bit.

So you say we aren't coaching the QB up. This play happens so fast. I have always wanted us to back the B back up just a yard, this would allow the QB a little more time to read his key.

I don't think we have always been very good at blocking on the perimeter, but there have been years where we have been. That tells me that the method of coaching is fine. Sometimes the players just can't do it.

On defense, the first thing you have to look at is can we get lined up to the offensive formations.
We can. Then look at the players stance. Look at his head and look at what he's looking at. I have watched many games that Ted Roof has coached, going back to the O'Leary years. I think our guys can get lined up, can get in a good stance, and know who they are supposed to key. Getting off blocks comes down to the weight room and athletic ability.

Yes. I think we are very well coached.

 

[4shotB]

Yes. I think we are very well coached.

Thanks. I do appreciate the perspective. FWIW, I am not saying otherwise. just asking how to evaluate coaching apart from the W-L record. And, also fwiw, I for one do not think our athletes are the same as Uga's. Very noticeable difference across the board.

 

[Captain killem]

Strength and conditioning matters.

 

[GTThor]

Strength and conditioning

That would be one of the first areas that I would evaluate. See if we could do something better. Many lessons can be learned in the weight room. Kids need to be uncomfortable and need to overcome discomfort. Especially this group.

 

[Matt E]

Strength and conditioning matters.

That should also be evaluated. We may need youth and energy in the S&C area. Look at some of our guys that came in at 240ish as freshmen playing on the DL. They havent gained jack squat in good weight in 4 years? How is this possible?

 

[FlakJacket]

That should also be evaluated. We may need youth and energy in the S&C area. Look at some of our guys that came in at 240ish as freshmen playing on the DL. They havent gained jack squat in good weight in 4 years? How is this possible?

Steak and potatoes > curry rice and tofu

 

[Gray Fox]

The large talent gap can't be overstated. Doesn't matter how well you coach, 2*s can't be coached up to compete against 4*s on a regular basis. You'll get a win against the VTs, Clemsons, Miamis and UGAs every few years....which is exactly what GT gets on average over the long term.

Not sure if this team had much player leadership. No one talking about that either.

Team is probably coached as well it can be given the roster.

 

[CornerBlitz]

I believe we are pretty well coached to the fundamentals of our schemes. It’s the schemes that concern me the most.

Enough has been said about our D, but in summary, we play a bend-don’t-break 4-2-5 with very, very soft coverage. Our blitz schemes are incredibly vanilla and not the least bit creative. They are also easy to spot. Our DLine play has been very bad. This would not impress me if I was a discerning recruit.

Overall, I really like the offensive run scheme. It is incredibly intricate, especially the blocking schemes. What I don’t understand is why we cannot advance our passing game beyond using it as a counter punch to our run game. Our route tree and subsequent combinations are extremely vanilla and generally slow developing. Improving our pass schemes would likely benefit recruiting as well.

I think our roster is in a real predicament with this staff. While our 10-85 at times is better than GT has had in a long time, with some exceptions we struggle landing playmakers in our 1-10 ( think Calvin, BeBe, Morgan Burnett, JoeHam, Brooking, etc.). A complete overhaul of our recruiting approach is needed. At a minimum, we need more resources. Maybe a hungry, younger coordinator could bring some new energy if given opportunity and support.

I love GT and do believe CPJ is a great coach and want him to be extremely successful. Old school guys like him can be pretty gruff when things go bad, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t care or have anything short of a burning desire to win. I generally like his directness, but could really do away with the GT history lessons he often gives to defend his performance. While I think he’s accurate, it comes across incredibly defensive and arrogant.

 

[MWBATL]

My concern with coaching this year is that the team seems to have regressed over the course of the season.

Further, I can understand us being beaten by the jimmies and joes of the football factories., I expect to have long shots at beating Clemson, FSU, UGa....but I expect to compete and compete hard against UVa, Duke, Pitt, and UNC. This year we started well...but fails miserably as the season wore on, with terrible performances against Virginia, Duke, and Georgia. Somewhere int his season, I think the coaches lost this team....or at the very least, could not figure out how to keep them motivated. Giving p 40 to Virginia and 43 to Duke are simply ridiculous performances, imho, and are indictments of the coaching this year.

Over the longer haul, I am not as critical of the offense, as we do seem to be able to compete there with the Virginia's and Dukes (most of the time).

My evaluation is performance. But I am not a former player, so perhaps my observations are just silly fan fantasies.

 

[GTFLETCH]

Well I think when Derrick Mills was dismissed everyone predicted like 4 or 5 wins....

Not sure if the lack of leadership is due to D. MILLS being dismissed or what...

I also wonder if the Coaching staff lost the locker room this year as it seemed as the year went on, Tech's play and effort were worse, I mean the Duke and UGA games were poor player efforts towards the end of the season, it was as if they did not care...horrible

 

[4shotB]

I think our roster is in a real predicament with this staff. While our 10-85 at times is better than GT has had in a long time, with some exceptions we struggle landing playmakers in our 1-10 ( think Calvin, BeBe, Morgan Burnett, JoeHam, Brooking, etc.). A complete overhaul of our recruiting approach is needed. At a minimum, we need more resources. Maybe a hungry, younger coordinator could bring some new energy if given opportunity and support.

.

I agree with this. Most years I can identify at least a couple of guys who could start for Uga if they had chosen to go there. This year i don't think we have a single 1. And many who wouldn't make the 2 deep.

 

[Jacketman1]

I agree with this. Most years I can identify at least a couple of guys who could start for Uga if they had chosen to go there. This year i don't think we have a single 1. And many who wouldn't make the 2 deep.

Harvin, probably. Maybe AJ Gray.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

When your LBs dive at RBs knees that’s coaching, When your LBs get ran over that’s jimmy and joes. Most of the time we dive at knees, but sometimes we get ran over. I️ guess my answer is, we have enough talent to be good if we don’t make mistakes, but when we make mistakes we are not good enough to rely on our talent to make up for it. Tech could be good if they wanted to, if we made the school easier to get into you would see a HUGE jump in recruiting.

Sometimes athleticism shortcomings lead to tackle attempts aimed at the hips appear instead to be aimed at knees or ankles. Athleticism matters and lack of same lead to missed tackles.

That said. We have more inconsistencies than I think we should on D. Guys that will play fundamentals sound one play and not the next. It is kinda maddening but I don't pretend to know the exact causes or where the blame most soundly sits.

On O this year. I think a lot of our problems on the line were due to lack of....again depth. Injuries took a toll. On top of that we had a 2st year starting QB absolutely shine at times when rushing. But he also made some bad reads, didn't attack the option defender as aggressively as he should at times. More importantly though he struggled to make as many completions as we needed.

I'm no expert and never claimed to be. I think most of our resident experts, steebu-Flea-Vamos-ballin, have taken a break from the forum. Probably something I should do also. But I appreciate op's post and honest inquiry. Just don't expect the convinced non experts to not chime in. Others have and so did I.