How do we fix this nightmare....

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Whiskey_Clear

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No 56....I'm not a billionaire and I'm not talking to the people you and John are....with all due respect.
The biggest achilles for Tech under CPJ has been defense and ST...not the offense. There seems to be a general consensus on this board that the D and ST is in better hands and is expected to improve. (I'm personally very worried about pass rush next year but feel confident Roof will get the most out of the guys he has)
So basically the big problems have been "fixed" and one year of sub par offensive performance is a "nightmare"? Pretty sure you guys will want CPJ gone if we win ten next year.
For that matter answer that if you will please. What level of success next year would cause you guys to throw down the pitch forks and torches?
 

56JacketDE

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Beat UGA as one of at least 8 wins and I would hope we can also win one of the other big 4 (Clem, Vt, Miami)

First 3 games are wofford, ga southern Tulane so those are 3 easy wins.

I don't care who the coach is. However I won't support getting bLown out by Mtsu at home and losing to uga every year
 

AE 87

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This thread is starting to go off topic as expected.

Are there any other solutions not already suggested here?

How do you define or understand the nightmare to be since you see this as a valid thread and solutions as a valid topic?
 

Whiskey_Clear

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Whiskey then how can you forget 3 in a row over uga? 5 straight top 25 finishes (97-01)?

They're not that similar

Paul has one win over uga
2 top 25 finishes
And didn't inherit 5-6,5-6,1-10 teams
Whiskey then how can you forget 3 in a row over uga? 5 straight top 25 finishes (97-01)?

They're not that similar

Paul has one win over uga
2 top 25 finishes
And didn't inherit 5-6,5-6,1-10 teams

I'll never forget those 3 in a row my friend. Those were sweet wins and I savored each one. My biggest diss appointment thus far in CPJs tenure has been the lack of wins vs UGA. We coulda shoulda but didn't beat them this year and same in 09. And I didn't say CPJ has done better, or even as good as GOL...what I pointed out was the conference records for each and how the W/L is comparable...I stand by that.
 

John

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How do you define or understand the nightmare to be since you see this as a valid thread and solutions as a valid topic?
Everyone has a right to an opinion. I'm fine to disagree with said opinion but I'm not going to censure them for having an opinion.

On the other hand, if the topic strays off topic (as it has been within the past few posts) then I'll have no choice but to lock it.
 

Whiskey_Clear

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Beat UGA as one of at least 8 wins and I would hope we can also win one of the other big 4 (Clem, Vt, Miami)

First 3 games are wofford, ga southern Tulane so those are 3 easy wins.

I don't care who the coach is. However I won't support getting bLown out by Mtsu at home and losing to uga every year
Not unreasonable at all and exactly what I hope to see as well. I hope we are both very satisfied next year.
 

ATL1

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Win 10 games or more a year.
Win the ACC
Win the NC
Nightmare Over.
 

daBuzz

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Here are my thoughts, rambling though they may be:

With all due respect to those who claim "we are close" or "the main problem has been xxx or yyyy", it's much simpler than that. Like it or not, our program is struggling. I don't think calling it a nightmare is wrong at all. Just think about the following question: when was the last time we were ranked in the top 25? I'm not talking about the best of the best and the top 10....but just the top 25. With Ross we won a national championship. With Lewis we sucked. With O'Leary, we were a consistent top 25 team and finished in the top 10 a few times. With Gailey, it was a pendulum. Sometimes in the top 25, sometimes we sucked. With Johnson, the first 2 years were nice, but after that, we sniffed the top 25 a few times early in the season, only to lose once we started playing stronger teams.

No matter the reason why we lose, the fact is we just are not very good when we play FCS teams. BYU beat us two years in a row! WTF? MTSU blew us out at home. WTF? We lost bowl games to Utah and Air Force? WTF?

Our redshirt sophomore starting QB, who had 2 years of eligibility left and took 95% of the snaps just transferred because he didn't like the offense. A guy who was uninjured, by the way. Name me one other time that has happened because I certainly cannot think of it ever happening. So yeah, I think nightmare isn't that much of a stretch.

So the question of this thread is, what do we do? How do we fix it?

Well, 3 things require fixing, in my opinion....coaching, the relationship between coaching & the Hill, and fans.

COACHING
1. There is talk...quite frankly a LOT of talk in recent days...among some of the bigger dollar guys about what it would take to get rid of Paul. Those guys seem to be split about half and half, but the question was recently floated....what would happen if Paul was offered next year's buyout figure this year? Could we survive the season by letting Ted Roof take over as head coach on a "prove you can earn it" basis? One guy even went so far as to put out feelers and seems to believe that Friedgen would be more than willing to come back and serve as OC for Ted if that happens.
Likelihood of it happening: 10% (interesting though because I would have said 0% last week...certainly trending towards at least a possibility now)

2. Those same guys are saying that anything less than winning the Coastal next year is unacceptable. Anything less and Johnson is gone.

3. When that happens, I would personally like to see us bring in a young and dynamic head coach whose forte is a true spread offense. Go recruit some WR's and another couple of RB's and go from there. It will take 2 - 3 years to really be successful because I think one of the biggest issues we have now is the size of the OL we recruited. We need some beef on the lines to be able to contend with the UGA's, Miami's and Clemson's consistently.

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE HILL
Honestly, I'm not sure how much can be done here as long as Bud is the president. Hopefully, the new coach will be a very forceful personality type like an O'Leary, who will be able to use his bully pulpit as the very "visible in the public eye" head coach to influence Bud into making decisions that are more athletic friendly. My own observations of the man are that I think he's an idiot.

Why else would you willingly sign over media rights to the ACC in exchange for nothing until the year 2020? I understand the whole "we want the ACC to succeed & stay together" thing, but any business exec who made such a move hamstringing his company would be fired and it would be with good reason. He is a yes man that caves into pressure from whomever is the most forceful in the room. Unfortunately for us, that happens to John Swofford and/or the academic side of the house right now....depending on which set of negotiations we're talking about at the moment.

Likelihood of happening: <0% at the moment

FAN EXPERIENCE
1) I honestly think CPJ might take a buyout at next year's rate (in other words - $5.25 mill instead of the $7.768 of this year). If I'm the AD, I would have an "unofficial" representative of GT ask if this is possible.
Likelihood of happening: < 10%

2) Have current & past NFL players from GT make advertisements for the school....Calvin Johnson, Demaryius Thomas, John Davis, Pat Swilling, Vance Walker, Stephen Hill, Morgan Burnett, etc. I'd play short versions of them during basketball games as the advertisements, but most importantly they'd play on the Jumbotron for recruits as they come on OV's.
Likelihood of happening: 10% (makes too damn much sense so they won't do it)

3) Open up spring & fall practices again for fans. It isn't like we're fooling anyone with what we run anyway. At least, maybe we can get some fan support going again.
Likelihood of happening: 1%

4) Throw a major big deal at signing day. Allow all the coaches to answer questions. Send out emails to season ticket holders about the event 2 weeks ahead of time and letting them know the schedule. Again, try to get some fan support going
Likelihood of happening: 0%

5) Invite all former GT lettermen and players to come to a special "reunion" reception. Have the AD and the coaches meet with those guys, listen to their ideas on what can be done to help GT and how they can be helpful in future endeavors. GT has such a rich history & tradition that is just sitting there and not being used that it is criminal. Make it an invitation only event for the first hour, then invite all season ticket holders to come and take part in a dinner where current players awards are given out in front of the lettermen. How cool do you think it would be for a player to be awarded an Iron Man trophy by Calvin Johnson for the receivers or John Davis for the linemen? In front of a couple of hundred adoring fans (who each paid $50 a plate to come attend the event)? And make it an annual event that grows every year. What a way to increase fan support.
Likelihood of happening: 5%

By the way, like him or not, Danny Hall does this every year for GT baseball and uses it as a fundraiser for the program. They have a hell of a silent auction with some incredible sports memorabilia available.

Anyway, given time I could think of more. But these would be a nice start towards changing the way things are working on the Flats.
 

AE 87

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Everyone has a right to an opinion. I'm fine to disagree with said opinion but I'm not going to censure them for having an opinion.

On the other hand, if the topic strays off topic (as it has been within the past few posts) then I'll have no choice but to lock it.
I appreciate that John. You've said it before. However, please answer my questions so that we know what "off topic" is.
 

Rodney Kent

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How do we fix it. That is easy, win by using the right system for the athletes we get at Tech. It can be done regardless of the naysayers, who claim we cannot get qualified athletes. I challenge everyone to look at all the teams in the nation that are winning and see if all of them are outrecruiting Tech. I can already give you the answer. No! Many teams are winners each year who do not outrecruit Tech. We are a well-known School in a big City, have one of the best States for recruiting, and have several States around us who have good qualified athletes. If some of these athletes like the job market in a big city, big city life, a good education, and a well-known school, GT is it.

An athlete is attracted to a winning coach of which they like his charisma and they like the school. It is an absolute fact that there are many qualified athletes we recruit, but they choose to go somewhere else because they like the coach or system better elsewhere. To say, we cannot get good athletes is a lame excuse.

Also, Dabuzz is correct about making practices friendly to the fans who would like to attend. The coaches and players should always be friendly to fans. The fans and boosters pay the salaries of the coaches and provide for the education of the athletes. I, for one, do not care to attend the practices, nor have closeness with the coaches and team, but there are many who do.
 
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John

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I appreciate that John. You've said it before. However, please answer my questions so that we know what "off topic" is.
I think you are smart enough to figure it out AE but I feel you want to get across your agenda which is fine too.

People are free to express their opinion as to what they think needs fixing.

If this thread drifts off course to the point I don't know what people are talking about anymore, the mods will either clean it up and/or lock it.
 

collegeballfan

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After reading threads for the past several months on football I would say that the consensus is that the problem is not the offense but the defense and recruiting. The defense took a large step in the right direction this past season under Roof. Recruiting appears to have taken a large step in the right direction under an enhanced recruiting "department", but still has a very long way to go.

My personal is that the key to more success is recruiting. What play you are running is not as important as who is running the play.
 

Rodney Kent

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Why do topics stray? It is natural when we are discussing the reasons for losing. There are many reasons, and posters give their opinions. It may not have anything to do with the original topic, but does have something to do with the reason for losing. Someone may suggest an icon of their's for the coach, and someone else debates a reason that coach should not be considered. It is natural for some posts to stray. However, it would be better if each of us opened a new post or topic. I often reply to a statement made in a post that is off-topic, but since it is already strayed, I reply rather than opening another post on the same subject. I don't think the rules should be too strict on off-topic comments, but it is wise by the mods to lock certain posts for various reasons.
 

daBuzz

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FWIW, more & more people connected to the AA are starting to say there are, in fact, negotiations going on with CPJ's people. I don't know how true they are but, when I start hearing the same thing from 4 different people, I begin to believe the "where there's smoke there's fire" analogy just might apply. A lot of people may need to apologize to Feldman if this turns out to be true after all.
 

flounder

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I agree that the problem isn't the type of offense we run. Like all schemes it has its pluses and minuses. We could switch to the Air Raid, the Wing-T or the A-11 and it won't magically make our o-line able to pass block or our WRs able to catch or our QB able to make a good throw. The problem with this team is the number of mental errors we make and the lack of execution. When we play, we don't look like a well coached team, and with the gap in talent against the teams we play that's a recipe for disaster.

That's the root issue we have to solve. Either CPJ needs to find a way to fix that, or we need to go in a different direction.
 

BigDaddyBuzz

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DaBuzz- I would be shocked if something happens this year. It would take Johnson agreeing to accept a lower buy-out. He is just way to stubborn to accept it IMHO. I have heard multiple places its win the coastal or he's out next year.
I am very interested in seeing how we do this year getting back to running the TO with a better defense and special teams. We realistically could win 9 games and win the coastal.
 
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