How Coach Johnson Stacks up among former YellowJacket Coaches!

[Northeast Stinger]

We struggled for a few years with problems with poor special teams, poor recruiting (in no small part due to lack of support and high coaching staff turnover), and of course finding a D-coordinator worth a damn.

But Johnson was actively trying to fix the problems (e.g. canning DC's w/quick hook, hiring ST coordinator, recruiting kickers, hiring better recruiters for the staff, bugging whoever would listen for recruiting support, etc.). Meanwhile there were other aspects going well--academic progress, kids staying out of trouble, offensive success, etc. Given the cost of tearing down and the fact that we had a coach who was trying a lot of different ideas to get stuff fixed it made sense to me to stick with the guy...particularly in light of the promise 2008 & 2009 showed.

And today it appears a lot is fixed. Roof has the D playing physically and generating turnovers. Kicking game is decent and special teams are markedly improved. The offense was crazy good and the offensive line looks well-stocked. We have TWO more years of JT. Our staff has recruiting support and is recruiting well....guys like Lamar Owens, Brian Cook, Andy Mac, Mike Pelton, & Ted Roof are making very strong impressions on kids. We have had zero coaching staff turnover which is key for GT. We are a top APR program, and kids continue to represent GT extremely well.

Oh yeah, almost forgot...we are coming off an 11-3 season, a UGA win, and an Orange Bowl Championship.

I don't really care where Johnson compares with history and all that, or think the guy walks on water or whatever. But I do think he's a pretty good coach who has worked his tail off to build a GT program that is winning and is known for integrity on the recruiting trail, in the classroom, and off the field. Add it all up and I'm pretty psyched!

Wish I could like this about 10 more times.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

We struggled for a few years with problems with poor special teams, poor recruiting (in no small part due to lack of support and high coaching staff turnover), and of course finding a D-coordinator worth a damn.

But Johnson was actively trying to fix the problems (e.g. canning DC's w/quick hook, hiring ST coordinator, recruiting kickers, hiring better recruiters for the staff, bugging whoever would listen for recruiting support, etc.). Meanwhile there were other aspects going well--academic progress, kids staying out of trouble, offensive success, etc. Given the cost of tearing down and the fact that we had a coach who was trying a lot of different ideas to get stuff fixed it made sense to me to stick with the guy...particularly in light of the promise 2008 & 2009 showed.

And today it appears a lot is fixed. Roof has the D playing physically and generating turnovers. Kicking game is decent and special teams are markedly improved. The offense was crazy good and the offensive line looks well-stocked. We have TWO more years of JT. Our staff has recruiting support and is recruiting well....guys like Lamar Owens, Brian Cook, Andy Mac, Mike Pelton, & Ted Roof are making very strong impressions on kids. We have had zero coaching staff turnover which is key for GT. We are a top APR program, and kids continue to represent GT extremely well.

Oh yeah, almost forgot...we are coming off an 11-3 season, a UGA win, and an Orange Bowl Championship.

I don't really care where Johnson compares with history and all that, or think the guy walks on water or whatever. But I do think he's a pretty good coach who has worked his tail off to build a GT program that is winning and is known for integrity on the recruiting trail, in the classroom, and off the field. Add it all up and I'm pretty psyched!

So much truth in all of this. I would only add that the roster was pretty weak after '09 and that was more a reflection on Chan than himself. In 2010, the 4th and 5th yr guys were all Chan's and just about all the good ones were gone. The 3rd yr guys were partially his and partially Chan's because that was the transition class ('08). The second and first year guys were all his, but how much contribution do you expect from those guys.

The first year where the entire roster was his was '13. The second year was magic!

 

[JorgeJonas]

I often wonder how differently we'd feel about Johnson had we beat UGA in 2009, 2010, and 2013 (all one possession games). Hell, if we had even just won one more, I wonder how differently he'd be perceived.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I often wonder how differently we'd feel about Johnson had we beat UGA in 2009, 2010, and 2013 (all one possession games). Hell, if we had even just won one more, I wonder how differently he'd be perceived.

For me, personally, you are preaching to the choir. All I ever needed for evidence was to see that the man has been a winner wherever he has coached. I frequently found myself arguing with people who some how wanted to discount his success in 2009-2008 and who also were convinced that for some magic reason he was never going to win again. Even in hindsight that position still baffles me. The man knows how to win, pure and simple. To somehow take a few of his worst years and extrapolate that into evidence that discounts his entire opus just never made sense.

 

[bke1984]

I often wonder how differently we'd feel about Johnson had we beat UGA in 2009, 2010, and 2013 (all one possession games). Hell, if we had even just won one more, I wonder how differently he'd be perceived.

I completely agree. He's 2-4 against those guys and could easily be 4-3 with wins in '09 and '13. '09 was tough...I still don't understand why we started throwing bombs on that last possession instead of just ramming it down their throats. '13 still might be the worst loss I've ever been through as a Tech fan. So many things had to go wrong for us to lose. I mean even at the end of regulation all we had to do was get a first down and we could have won with a field goal. It was just tough to watch...

 

[bke1984]

I completely agree. He's 2-4 against those guys and could easily be 4-3 with wins in '09 and '13. '09 was tough...I still don't understand why we started throwing bombs on that last possession instead of just ramming it down their throats. '13 still might be the worst loss I've ever been through as a Tech fan. So many things had to go wrong for us to lose. I mean even at the end of regulation all we had to do was get a first down and we could have won with a field goal. It was just tough to watch...

However, I will also add that Gailey may have been perceived differently as well with wins over Georgia in '04, '05, and '06. '06 was just sad, actually. With Calvin being as good as he was it's pretty ridiculous that we only managed 12 points.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I completely agree. He's 2-4 against those guys and could easily be 4-3 with wins in '09 and '13. '09 was tough...I still don't understand why we started throwing bombs on that last possession instead of just ramming it down their throats. '13 still might be the worst loss I've ever been through as a Tech fan. So many things had to go wrong for us to lose. I mean even at the end of regulation all we had to do was get a first down and we could have won with a field goal. It was just tough to watch...

Small, small, very small consolation for me is that because of those losses I know exactly how uga gans felt last year. A lot of them are still playing the "what if" mental mind torture over that one.

 

[PBR549]

Let's tee it up!

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I give Gailey credit for hiring a good D coordinator and letting him run things. I'll give him credit for recruiting a few guys, mostly skill players, that kept us competitive. The rest was not good. Our O was putrid. I didn't hate Gailey then and don't hate him today. He was a decent coach. Not a good one, not a great one.

Flip the scrip to today. We have one of the best offensive minds in the game today. He has also shown to be good manager and steward of the program. @InsideLB summed that up nicely. The strides we have made increasing talent is significant. Many of the issues we were having on ST and D have been resolved or improved upon significantly.

I seriously doubt we could find anyone better able to steer the ship than CPJ. Things are and will continue to be good for us fans so long as he is here. Last year was great and we have a shot at some more tastes of that with a few good breaks here and there.

Thanx CPJ.

 

[bke1984]

I give Gailey credit for hiring a good D coordinator and letting him run things. I'll give him credit for recruiting a few guys, mostly skill players, that kept us competitive. The rest was not good. Our O was putrid. I didn't hate Gailey then and don't hate him today. He was a decent coach. Not a good one, not a great one.

Flip the scrip to today. We have one of the best offensive minds in the game today. He has also shown to be good manager and steward of the program. @InsideLB summed that up nicely. The strides we have made increasing talent is significant. Many of the issues we were having on ST and D have been resolved or improved upon significantly.

I seriously doubt we could find anyone better able to steer the ship than CPJ. Things are and will continue to be good for us fans so long as he is here. Last year was great and we have a shot at some more tastes of that with a few good breaks here and there.

Thanx CPJ.

I agree, I just think that his perception would have been a bit different had we beat Georgia a few times. He also probably would have been here longer and we wouldn't have Johnson.

I've been a CPJ supporter from day one. I think he's an incredible coach and that we have some good years ahead of us. I'm glad he made it through those few tough years because we could be in a pretty bad place had they let him go.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I give Gailey credit for hiring a good D coordinator and letting him run things. I'll give him credit for recruiting a few guys, mostly skill players, that kept us competitive. The rest was not good. Our O was putrid. I didn't hate Gailey then and don't hate him today. He was a decent coach. Not a good one, not a great one.

Flip the scrip to today. We have one of the best offensive minds in the game today. He has also shown to be good manager and steward of the program. @InsideLB summed that up nicely. The strides we have made increasing talent is significant. Many of the issues we were having on ST and D have been resolved or improved upon significantly.

I seriously doubt we could find anyone better able to steer the ship than CPJ. Things are and will continue to be good for us fans so long as he is here. Last year was great and we have a shot at some more tastes of that with a few good breaks here and there.

Thanx CPJ.

I agree. However, he hit a home run with JT. Our future success depends on his "slugging percentage" at the QB spot.

 

[AE 87]

I agree. However, he hit a home run with JT. Our future success depends on his "slugging percentage" at the QB spot.

I think our future success depends much more on developing a reliable above ave D. 2011 and 2012 w/o an elite qb would've been ~10 win seasons with just an above ave D.

 

[JorgeJonas]

For me, personally, you are preaching to the choir. All I ever needed for evidence was to see that the man has been a winner wherever he has coached. I frequently found myself arguing with people who some how wanted to discount his success in 2009-2008 and who also were convinced that for some magic reason he was never going to win again. Even in hindsight that position still baffles me. The man knows how to win, pure and simple. To somehow take a few of his worst years and extrapolate that into evidence that discounts his entire opus just never made sense.

Dude won at Navy. NAVY.

One thing I think we've all kind of grown accustomed to is the quality time management. How often are we out of timeouts with 8:00 left in the first quarter? Go back to the Southern game. We managed the clock perfectly at the end. These are issues that other teams fight constantly. Perhaps comparing Johnson to his contemporaries strays a bit from the original topic, but I believe it's important to discuss because it highlights his value. I think most of us agree that we won't roll out a team as talented as Alabama, but we compete because of the coaches' creativity and the players' buy-in and hard work. Those are things that should reflect well on Johnson and should be addressed when discussing his performance against past Tech coaches.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I agree. However, he hit a home run with JT. Our future success depends on his "slugging percentage" at the QB spot.

The Oline was even more important than JT, and I think JT is an elite college Qb and star. Last year's team with byerly would have been very good also. Tevin and JN would have had better stats / success with last year's Oline in front of them also.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

The Oline was even more important than JT, and I think JT is an elite college Qb and star. Last year's team with byerly would have been very good also. Tevin and JN would have had better stats / success with last year's Oline in front of them also.

I'll buy that.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I think our future success depends much more on developing a reliable above ave D. 2011 and 2012 w/o an elite qb would've been ~10 win seasons with just an above ave D.

I agree. I also think it's easier to achieve than scoring a star qb every few years. Match the two and we have a title contender.

 

[Skeptic]

Dude won at Navy. NAVY.

One thing I think we've all kind of grown accustomed to is the quality time management. How often are we out of timeouts with 8:00 left in the first quarter? Go back to the Southern game. We managed the clock perfectly at the end. ....

That's because Johnson's phobia about punts extends to calling timeouts.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I agree, I just think that his perception would have been a bit different had we beat Georgia a few times.

Funny thing about that, the whole time Gailey was here I never felt any confidence during the Georgia games. Not sure what that is about but, conversely, even when Tech was behind in 2008 I felt strangely optimistic that Tech would win. Every year with CPJ I feel like maybe, just maybe, we may win this thing. Again, not sure what that is about.

 

[JacketFromUGA]

Funny thing about that, the whole time Gailey was here I never felt any confidence during the Georgia games. Not sure what that is about but, conversely, even when Tech was behind in 2008 I felt strangely optimistic that Tech would win. Every year with CPJ I feel like maybe, just maybe, we may win this thing. Again, not sure what that is about.

after 2002 (51-7) when I was in middle school and it was prime Pick on the Tech fan years I never had any confidence in COFH. Now I do (thought I still think we'll find a way to lose like 2013)

 

[croberts]

I often wonder how differently we'd feel about Johnson had we beat UGA in 2009, 2010, and 2013 (all one possession games). Hell, if we had even just won one more, I wonder how differently he'd be perceived.

If you read anything I post, it doesnt take long to realize how much of a PJ fan I am. Last year the wins ( Ga, Clemson, Va Tech, and Miss State) were so very important. Much more important to the 30% of fans that wanted to support Paul but needed evidence that he was the man and that what the talking heads and 10% of our fan base were harping on wasnt reality. If we had pulled off the wins you mentioned, I would not be posting this comment and we would only know about the 10%. I have been smiling ever since the Golden interception and return in the Clemson Game!