Friends, let's talk about our Football Coach

[Ugasux]

I was very happy when we hired PJ. I am a firm believer that his system gives us the best chance to compete with the big boys considering the tough recruiting restrictions Tech faces. Those first couple of years had me on cloud nine. Then began a steady descent in our play where we were very clearly out manned, not to mention how sloppy we played at times. I totally bought into the Vad hype, but like almost everyone else was disappointed with those results. Going into this year I found myself really questioning myself as to if PJ could get it done at Tech. Well what a difference with a perfect fit at QB in JT and the team all buying in makes. I have that feeling back from 08 and 09. This years recruiting class looks great if they stay committed. I am very proud of this team and the coaching of PJ.

 

[GPD]

Thanks for the original post, but I have to say, these kind of things just seem to float with whatever the results of the last couple of games have been. We won the last two so people are happy. As Jeff said, two weeks ago all we could talk about was "should CPJ be offered an extension?" I know this sounds very "coach-ish", but we need to focus on the games at hand and worry about our coaching situation in the off season. Emotions run so high in this sport it is almost impossible to have a rational discussion on the topic mid-season.

You're probably right Boomer... Discussions about retention and/or extensions for coaches are best saved for off season... My comments are more about my personal observations of our coaches and players, though I guess one could reasonably glean from those comments that I will be supportive of an extension if that happened.

Short of a total catastrophic collapse, which will not happen based on the character of this team, my thoughts will not change based on the W/L results of our next 4 games.

I believe we're headed in the right direction and have the leadership required to ramp it on up

 

[GPD]

Recruiting has always been my issue with CPJ. Hopefully the recruiting class will be as good as advertised, and I will jump off the fence for good. I've never doubted his prowess, and I thoroughly enjoy our offense.

BTW, is it just me, or do the Clemson and UGa games seem a lot less daunting than they did even three weeks ago?

Honestly Spandex, those last few games do feel as daunting as they did. Those two teams are significantly ahead of us today recruiting wise and we "should" lose those 2 games all things being equal.

The main thing going on for me right now is that I am confident that, win or lose, our team will compete. They will be well coached and compete with confidence. I bet THEY don't feel like they on paper "should" lose.... I honestly don't believe PJ thinks we should lose to them either. I doubt he ever thinks we're going to lose.

Biggest difference for me now... I'm happy competing while we recruit and build depth because I believe in the leadership and direction of the program's future... It's a heck of a good feeling. Felt that way right before GOL left for ND... Mojo feels right.

 

[Boomergump]

You're probably right Boomer... Discussions about retention and/or extensions for coaches are best saved for off season... My comments are more about my personal observations of our coaches and players, though I guess one could reasonably glean from those comments that I will be supportive of an extension if that happened.

Short of a total catastrophic collapse, which will not happen based on the character of this team, my thoughts will not change based on the W/L results of our next 4 games.

I believe we're headed in the right direction and have the leadership required to ramp it on up

That is nice to know. I agree that the next four games are not really the "be all end all" either.

 

[GT Man]

He is the anti-richt. He doesn't do commercials, he doesn't coach at a factory school, he doesn't get top 10 recruiting classes every year, he knows how to manage the clock quite well and he does more with the talent he has. We have a better coach than the mutts and that feels good

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I was skeptical of the hire but was impressed immediately with what I saw him doing. My support has not wavered but I thought we might have to let him go because of the impatience of Tech fans. I continue to be convinced that most problems with the team have little to do with the head coach and more to do with systemic issues at the institution. Now that CPJ has been able to negotiate more recruiting staff, bargain for academic exceptions and slowly find coaches who can do the job all at discount prices, I believe he can be one of Tech's best coaches ever. Coaching at Tech is harder now than it was even 10 years ago but I believe we have the man for the job.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

That is nice to know. I agree that the next four games are not really the "be all end all" either.

Absolutely agree with all of this. He has already "proven" all he needs to this season to convince me we are headed in the right direction regardless of the win/loss results from here on out.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

This. Let's just suppose that we beat NC State but end up losing to Clemson, UGA and the bowl game. I will wager that at 8-5 with 3 losses to end the season, things won't be quite so rosy on this board or any of the other boards, for that matter.

Let the season play out and make long term decisions at the end of the season.

Agree, but by the same token, the naysayers need to hold their tongues till the offseason, too.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I was skeptical of the hire but was impressed immediately with what I saw him doing. My support has not wavered but I thought we might have to let him go because of the impatience of Tech fans. I continue to be convinced that most problems with the team have little to do with the head coach and more to do with systemic issues at the institution. Now that CPJ has been able to negotiate more recruiting staff, bargain for academic exceptions and slowly find coaches who can do the job all at discount prices, I believe he can be one of Tech's best coaches ever. Coaching at Tech is harder now than it was even 10 years ago but I believe we have the man for the job.

We have a new AD, too, who might be helping along those lines.

 

[swampsting]

I've known PJ a long time. Believed in him from day one when he took over at Southern. It helped that some mutual acquaintances sang his praises to me, and then I met him and came away convinced. Haven't changed my opinion nearly 18 years later.

 

[swampsting]

He is the anti-richt. He doesn't do commercials

Well, I think he might if he got asked. For the right price. PJ ain't afraid to make a dollar.
He's done well in the stock market. Sometimes, he's done well on the golf course - and sometimes not so well. He used to go to bank board of directors meetings in Statesboro in his loafers with no socks, with a can of Copenhagen in his back pocket (he gave up dipping several years ago).

 

[gtpi]

Recruiting has always been my issue with CPJ. Hopefully the recruiting class will be as good as advertised, and I will jump off the fence for good. I've never doubted his prowess, and I thoroughly enjoy our offense.

BTW, is it just me, or do the Clemson and UGa games seem a lot less daunting than they did even three weeks ago?

not sure why recruiting would be an issue with cpj. from what i have read he has been asking for a bump in the number of people on the recruiting staff since he got here. SEVEN YEARS AGO. your issues should have been with the AD.

unless i am mis remembering the numbers/facts... up until last year we had 2 people on the recruiting staff. one was fired for hanky panky. since last year we now have 5 on the retooled staff... one is a former gt player who has sent letter after letter after letter to cpj trying to gain a position with tech. we have added hamilton, cook, roof, pelton to our staff. all are good recruiters. we graduated 15 of 16 last year.

the results of the changes over the last year speak for themselves. the graduation rate under cpj is OUTSTANDING and something any parent would love!

finally you do know that the staff of 2 we had was competing with 20+ staffers that programs like uga and bama have. given all that why on earth would you point the finger at cpj?

 

[iceeater1969]

navy convinced me by his analysis that we should wait till next year on major action in this regard.
We have a season to finish and baring a miracle run we then have another signing day for very promising class , offseason drama / attrition, and a very tough schedule in 2015 where we could be embarrassed - in 2015 8-4 with close losses next would seal the deal with me.
I feel we need to do something big in regard to coach and gt football so will need all of 2015 to decide. What ever we do it should be big.
I continue to say this offseason coach got his swagger back. In recent past coach let problems continue with a passive management style - but now he is no more the steady as we go leader . A very special season in 2014 is still possible!
Let's swarm the Tar Heels!

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

not sure why recruiting would be an issue with cpj. from what i have read he has been asking for a bump in the number of people on the recruiting staff since he got here. SEVEN YEARS AGO. your issues should have been with the AD.

unless i am mis remembering the numbers/facts... up until last year we had 2 people on the recruiting staff. one was fired for hanky panky. since last year we now have 5 on the retooled staff... one is a former gt player who has sent letter after letter after letter to cpj trying to gain a position with tech. we have added hamilton, cook, roof, pelton to our staff. all are good recruiters. we graduated 15 of 16 last year.

the results of the changes over the last year speak for themselves. the graduation rate under cpj is OUTSTANDING and something any parent would love!

finally you do know that the staff of 2 we had was competing with 20+ staffers that programs like uga and bama have. given all that why on earth would you point the finger at cpj?

Point that finger at DRad. He was the one who wouldn't agree to an increased recruiting staff. Damned if I know why though.

 

[daBuzz]

Agree, but by the same token, the naysayers need to hold their tongues till the offseason, too.

I don't disagree with this. I just think that it's still football season. During the season, you support the team. You worry about the financial stuff long term after the season is over.

 

[collegeballfan]

I was skeptical of the hire but was impressed immediately with what I saw him doing. My support has not wavered but I thought we might have to let him go because of the impatience of Tech fans. I continue to be convinced that most problems with the team have little to do with the head coach and more to do with systemic issues at the institution. Now that CPJ has been able to negotiate more recruiting staff, bargain for academic exceptions and slowly find coaches who can do the job all at discount prices, I believe he can be one of Tech's best coaches ever. Coaching at Tech is harder now than it was even 10 years ago but I believe we have the man for the job.

Well said Stinger, well said. You are correct in the statement that "Coaching at Tech is harder now than it was even 10 years ago...". There is the world of colleges that function academically as NFL camps and there are colleges that function as academic institutions. GT is the latter. Most of our opposition is the former. And that is not going to change.

And now we have the paying of SA on the horizon. How will GT fit in that environment?

 

[daBuzz]

Point that finger at DRad. He was the one who wouldn't agree to an increased recruiting staff. Damned if I know why though.

It's pretty simple why not.

Many people have bought into the fallacy that Radakovich was a bad AD for us. But while he wasn't perfect, he did an admirable job for Tech. He inherited a financial dumpster fire in the GTAA from Dave Braine. If you will recall, we were saddled with two horrible contracts for Hewitt and Gailey, one of which we still have two more years to pay on. The facilities had fallen into disrepair and needed to be upgraded and our debt structure was becoming burdensome.

Dan chose to invest heavily in facilities and infrastructure and try to restructure long-term debt before investing heavily in increased recruiting budgets. I had a few discussions with him about his long-term plans and he said many times that he intended to invest in increased recruiting budgets when it made financial sense.

In the end, I don't think DRad was our best AD ever but he certainly wasn't our worst one either. As a matter of fact, his financial decisions and the moves he made are part of the reason why MBob was able to expand the recruiting staff. Because we are in a better financial state right now than we were when Radakovich took over.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

It's pretty simple why not.

Many people have bought into the fallacy that Radakovich was a bad AD for us. But while he wasn't perfect, he did an admirable job for Tech. He inherited a financial dumpster fire in the GTAA from Dave Braine. If you will recall, we were saddled with two horrible contracts for Hewitt and Gailey, one of which we still have two more years to pay on. The facilities had fallen into disrepair and needed to be upgraded and our debt structure was becoming burdensome.

Dan chose to invest heavily in facilities and infrastructure and try to restructure long-term debt before investing heavily in increased recruiting budgets. I had a few discussions with him about his long-term plans and he said many times that he intended to invest in increased recruiting budgets when it made financial sense.

In the end, I don't think DRad was our best AD ever but he certainly wasn't our worst one either. As a matter of fact, his financial decisions and the moves he made are part of the reason why MBob was able to expand the recruiting staff. Because we are in a better financial state right now than we were when Radakovich took over.

Not trying to put you down on that, but there's a certain amount of convoluted logic there. If you increase the recruiting staff first, you stand the chance of building a better program. That in turn should bring in more money which can at least augment that which he was obviously able to raise from other sources. I guess what I am saying is that he seems to have focused solely on one approach to "building," whereas I think Tech would have been better off overall if he had merged the two efforts. He took the "if you build it, they will come" approach, when I think an "if they come, you can build it" approach, or a mixture of the two might have done better.

 

[daBuzz]

Not trying to put you down on that, but there's a certain amount of convoluted logic there. If you increase the recruiting staff first, you stand the chance of building a better program. That in turn should bring in more money which can at least augment that which he was obviously able to raise from other sources. I guess what I am saying is that he seems to have focused solely on one approach to "building," whereas I think Tech would have been better off overall if he had merged the two efforts. He took the "if you build it, they will come" approach, when I think an "if they come, you can build it" approach, or a mixture of the two might have done better.

The problem I see with that logic is that facilities have more of an impact on recruits than an extra 2 or 3 people helping to do the recruiting will. Like it or not, Oregon and Oklahoma State changed the whole face of recruiting years ago. Phil Knight and T. Boone Pickens' donations were used to upgrade facilities at those schools and recruits from all over the country would come back from a trip to one of those 2 schools talking about "man, their facilities are night and day better than anything anybody else has". Other schools started to upgrade their facilities and, if you were one of the schools who didn't have what the other schools had, then you were facing an uphill battle in recruiting. It became very much a "keeping up with the Joneses".

I happen to know a few of the players in this upcoming recruiting class and have had the opportunity to speak with them and congratulate them on their commitment to Tech. All three of them mentioned the top notch facilities at Tech when we spoke, so the upgrades to the weight room, the meeting rooms, the players' lounge, the cafeteria, etc...all of those things are paying dividends now.

You also have to remember that it wasn't just football getting facilities upgrades under DRad. We also upgraded the baseball field, built a softball stadium, built an indoor practice facility for football, and renovated the basketball arena.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

The problem I see with that logic is that facilities have more of an impact on recruits than an extra 2 or 3 people helping to do the recruiting will. Like it or not, Oregon and Oklahoma State changed the whole face of recruiting years ago. Phil Knight and T. Boone Pickens' donations were used to upgrade facilities at those schools and recruits from all over the country would come back from a trip to one of those 2 schools talking about "man, their facilities are night and day better than anything anybody else has". Other schools started to upgrade their facilities and, if you were one of the schools who didn't have what the other schools had, then you were facing an uphill battle in recruiting. It became very much a "keeping up with the Joneses".

I happen to know a few of the players in this upcoming recruiting class and have had the opportunity to speak with them and congratulate them on their commitment to Tech. All three of them mentioned the top notch facilities at Tech when we spoke, so the upgrades to the weight room, the meeting rooms, the players' lounge, the cafeteria, etc...all of those things are paying dividends now.

You also have to remember that it wasn't just football getting facilities upgrades under DRad. We also upgraded the baseball field, built a softball stadium, built an indoor practice facility for football, and renovated the basketball arena.

I don't disagree with that at all, but I would be willing to bet you that Oregon and Ok State both already had sizable recruiting staffs to begin with.