ESPN: Too Negative at Georgia Tech?

[Atomic Jacket]

People outside of Tech do not see Tech as capable of being a top tier football program and think its fans ought to be content with its lot in life. Tech fans think Tech is just on the verge of being a top tier football program, if only it could get past setbacks that always seem to come up every year. With outsiders, Tech is living up to its potential. With Tech fans, there is a gap between expectations and performance. That's why Tech fans are unusually negative and outsiders are confused as to why they are that way.

Note that in this context I am considering Johnson an "outsider," which may seem strange since he's the head of the football program. But if you think about it, most of us have invested much more of our lives in following Tech and rooting for its success than Johnson has. Johnson could uproot and become part of another football program at a moment's notice, whereas most of us will never stop being a Tech fan over being a fan of any other school. By that standard, Johnson could be considered an "outsider" and thus be expected to fall into the camp of those who seem confused over the negativity of Tech fans.

 

[Squints]

If Bobinski extends CPJ's contract purely on the basis of going at least 6-6 then Bobinski should be fired. At the end of the season, Johnson has one more year on his contract, so he would already be on contract for the next year.

Any further extensions should be earned by doing something greater than just going to a bowl game.

Seriously? Make it to the absolute worst of the bowls and he gets a year added on? Even it it means a 6-6 record?

If he's going to coach the team next year you have to give him at least a one year extension. And I think he's gonna be here unless this year is a train wreck. You can't have a coach out there recruiting with only a year on his contract. That's a recipe for disaster.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

After hiking the Peaks of Otter off the Blue Ridge parkway this morning and about 20 miles south of Charlottesville, I'm going to decommit from GT and become a UVa fan. (tic)

Talked with a long time VT fan who is sure their team is going to be a dumpster fire this year. But the VT fans take comfort in the fact that the UVa dumpster fire burned out long ago.

It Alabama were to be consistently ranked about 40th a decade from now, do you think their fans would be happy?

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Allow me to throw this out knowing that it probably has been said by somebody before.

My impression from the start when CPJ arrived is that he is highly competitive and does not suffer fools gladly. At the same time he is the exact opposite of compulsive. Everything he does involves a thoughtful process.

If this is the case then he would be one coach I would want to give a lot of extra time to as he continues to teak his program. It has taken him a while, due to his deliberative approach, but this is what he has done: He has worked on balancing the recruiting classes. Gotten rid of coaches and staff who are not cutting it. Tried to look at private schools and other regions of the country to find guys who will succeed at Tech academically and athletically. Improved the defense. Hired a special teams coach. Convinced the administration to give him more latitude with his program, both in which students he tries to get into Tech and in the hiring of extra recruiting staff.

He does not stand pat and he is not satisfied with mediocrity. But for some fans his progress will seem too slow or non-existent.

 

[alaguy]

Allow me to throw this out knowing that it probably has been said by somebody before.

My impression from the start when CPJ arrived is that he is highly competitive and does not suffer fools gladly. At the same time he is the exact opposite of compulsive. Everything he does involves a thoughtful process.

If this is the case then he would be one coach I would want to give a lot of extra time to as he continues to teak his program. It has taken him a while, due to his deliberative approach, but this is what he has done: He has worked on balancing the recruiting classes. Gotten rid of coaches and staff who are not cutting it. Tried to look at private schools and other regions of the country to find guys who will succeed at Tech academically and athletically. Improved the defense. Hired a special teams coach. Convinced the administration to give him more latitude with his program, both in which students he tries to get into Tech and in the hiring of extra recruiting staff.

He does not stand pat and he is not satisfied with mediocrity. But for some fans his progress will seem too slow or non-existent.

NE,
I agree he has done a bunch to improve but he has to work like h--- just to stay in same place as he keeps shooting himself in the foot - losing multiple guys off team incl his anointed prince at QB AND the opponents are getting better(see unc and dook this yr but with the same killers there-uga,vt,clem and uM.

 

[alaguy]

People outside of Tech do not see Tech as capable of being a top tier football program and think its fans ought to be content with its lot in life. Tech fans think Tech is just on the verge of being a top tier football program, if only it could get past setbacks that always seem to come up every year. With outsiders, Tech is living up to its potential. With Tech fans, there is a gap between expectations and performance. That's why Tech fans are unusually negative and outsiders are confused as to why they are that way.

Note that in this context I am considering Johnson an "outsider," which may seem strange since he's the head of the football program. But if you think about it, most of us have invested much more of our lives in following Tech and rooting for its success than Johnson has. Johnson could uproot and become part of another football program at a moment's notice, whereas most of us will never stop being a Tech fan over being a fan of any other school. By that standard, Johnson could be considered an "outsider" and thus be expected to fall into the camp of those who seem confused over the negativity of Tech fans.

wow, very thoughtful analysis

 

[Northeast Stinger]

NE,
I agree he has done a bunch to improve but he has to work like h--- just to stay in same place as he keeps shooting himself in the foot - losing multiple guys off team incl his anointed prince at QB AND the opponents are getting better(see unc and dook this yr but with the same killers there-uga,vt,clem and uM.

I can hardly fault him for letting players go who are unhappy or undisciplined. Since he has been at Tech, we have lost players to the program at 1/3 the rate as uga.

 

[daBuzz]

Extend his contract for 10 years if it makes you happy, just don't add a penny to his buyout. But if you are in favor of rewarding a 6-6 record with a contract extension and also extending the buyout for one more year, then you and I are 180 degrees apart on our thinking.

 

[GTBME]

I might be way off but it seems that we have to take bigger risks (academics and character) to stay competitive with recruiting and winning more games.
Resulting in losing more players than we did in the past.

 

[Bert kitchen]

Am I the only one that thinks we have just been extremely unfortunate the last 4 years? If we can get out of our own way CPJ can win 9 games a year

 

[tugdog235]

Am I the only one that thinks we have just been extremely unfortunate the last 4 years? If we can get out of our own way CPJ can win 9 games a year

Why would Orwin Smith get a safety on a kick-off? Why?
That play alone could've made me quit being a football fan altogether.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Why would Orwin Smith get a safety on a kick-off? Why?
That play alone could've made me quit being a football fan altogether.

It all started with Demaryius Thomas's dropped pass.

 

[Bloodbuzz]

Seriously look at the teams record since Thomas dropped that pass

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Yall are making me remember something I have tried very hard to suppress. Stop bringing it up!!

 

[Atomic Jacket]

Am I the only one that thinks we have just been extremely unfortunate the last 4 years? If we can get out of our own way CPJ can win 9 games a year

That can be said for just about every mediocre team out there. There's always an excuse. The closer you follow a team, the more it seems that that team is unique in that it's just on the verge of breaking through. But the fact is, it's not unique. It's that way with all the mediocre teams out there.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

And then one of them happens to get the breaks in their favor and turn things around tremendously. Kinda like Aubie last year

 

[daBuzz]

And then one of them happens to get the breaks in their favor and turn things around tremendously. Kinda like Aubie last year

It has been my experience as a coach that really good teams tend to get "luckier" than mediocre teams more often than not because they either have better athletes or do a better job of being in the correct position to make that lucky play.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I hear ya dabuzz....good teams more often take advantage of their good breaks, I agree. But did you pay attention to Aubie last year? That UGA 4th down tip drill TD pass was not the only crazy lucky play they had.

 

[AE 87]

That can be said for just about every mediocre team out there. There's always an excuse. The closer you follow a team, the more it seems that that team is unique in that it's just on the verge of breaking through. But the fact is, it's not unique. It's that way with all the mediocre teams out there.

You are factually wrong. GT has averaged a top 20 O (F/+) over CPJ's tenure, even over the last three years. Name another "mediocre" team that can say that about O or D.

 

[danny daniel]

I hear ya dabuzz....good teams more often take advantage of their good breaks, I agree. But did you pay attention to Aubie last year? That UGA 4th down tip drill TD pass was not the only crazy lucky play they had.

Just a little Dodd luck!