How do we fix this nightmare....

[UgaBlows]

Support the team?

 

[56JacketDE]

So he could win the coastal yet lose to uga again (6 straight) and keep his job?

FWIW
All my friends (guys like Ron Rogers) that finished the year before me and didn't beat uga or win the acc, have told me they would've rather beat uga than win the acc if given the choice

 

[Mack]

you're not going to have a problem here. ATL1 was here ahead of a large influx of members from another board. His approach to solving our football team's issues was different that most of the posters at that time, and he caught some heat. Since then, many more like-minded members have joined, so it's been an adjustment.

I personally think ATL1 brings some good questions to the forum. I'd prefer a little more "positivity", but that's just me.

Man I'd love to hear what yall have. I'm on the keep Johnson bandwagon but every solution I can think of I'm like, "Nah, CPJ wouldn't go for that."

I'd love for the offense to resemble what we ran under Fridge. That wouldn't be too much of a stretch would it?

Now that would be fun for young and old fans........see the different sets and the defense looking at each other like"what the hell is going on"

 

[Mack]

So he could win the coastal yet lose to uga again (6 straight) and keep his job?

FWIW
All my friends (guys like Ron Rogers) that finished the year before me and didn't beat uga or win the acc, have told me they would've rather beat uga than win the acc if given the choice

I agree ....you got to beat your rivals to help you in recruiting and as I have said before...beat Georgie and you probably have a good enough team to win the ACC. Editorial in Augusta paper today and gosh it costs to get rid of PJ and anybody else.........He is here for a while I think.

 

[56JacketDE]

Mack......time will tell

 

[ATL1]

PJ has one more year to show and prove.
His buyout will be more manageable and
Hewitt and Gailey should be off the books within the next 2 years.

Anyway heres to hoping adjustments are made.

 

[BigDaddyBuzz]

If we beat VT and Miami and win the coastal he keeps his job. I'm not saying I agree with this. I hate UGA and want to beat them more than anything. I'm just saying that is what is going around amongst insiders.

 

[John]

A lot of you guys posting the end result you would like to see instead of suggesting a "fix" that hasn't been already suggested.

We're getting very close to a lot of other "we're now just beating the dead horse" threads I've had to lock.

 

[ATL1]

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)

I would personally love for Friedgen to come back but I think if he was I'd rather have a young Goose Godsey as the head coach.

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

Unrealistic expectation. I think 8-4 with losses to the usual suspects is more realistic anything less is fireable.

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.

The last two lines recruited are bigger. If this class holds the line coming in has the POTENTIAL to be bigger as well.

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

NOT Happening. Still not sold that it is even necessary. With that said, more money would be required to increase the geographic footprint for which Tech would need to recruit, with more resources given to recruiting, if no adjustments are made with exceptions and admissions.

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%

What happened to the concerts? Be more apart of the community with radio giveaways. Give tickets to area middle and highschools and youth leagues across the metro. (Could wind up helping recruiting too.)

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)

This should have been done 5 years ago. Blanket the city and social media with these ads and slogans too.

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%

Yep

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%

Yep broadcast it live online and radio. Blast out the podcast. Like I've stated the internet and social media marketing sucks and it's really puzzling considering this is a technical school.

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%

Yep Ditto:"Yep broadcast it live online and radio. Blast out the podcast. Like I've stated the internet and social media marketing sucks and it's really puzzling considering this is a technical school. "

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.

Damn Good Post. I responded to a lot of your points good read.

 

[Stinger90]

So he could win the coastal yet lose to uga again (6 straight) and keep his job?

FWIW
All my friends (guys like Ron Rogers) that finished the year before me and didn't beat uga or win the acc, have told me they would've rather beat uga than win the acc if given the choice

I bet Keith Brooking felt the same as well. BOY! Those two were awesome and would knock your **** in the dirt.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

Change the offense to look more like what AllBarn's so that we can attract more playmakers. Change the blocking to a combination of stand-up & cut, with not so much emphasis on the cuts.

This should have happened 2-3 years ago, but better now than never. We cannot afford to NOT have better recruiting classes going forward, or we with sink into the abyss for many years to come, IN MY OPINION. It may be too little, too late.

 

[mqpayne]

The GT Board of Trustees need Pres Peterson to state clearly and publicly that he is commited to helping GTAA get back to winning championships and beating our rivals in all sports especially football and basketball. He communicates the academic curriculum that is now in place that is broad for students and student/atheletes and competitve with Stanford. Progress at our Business school, biomedical programs, Ivan Allen School, (we are keeping this a secret from the outside world). In other words Communicating and Marketing. Unless he is not commited! If he is then our AD can continue making changes especially showing certain people on the hill that helping SAs would be healthy. Continuing to upgrade coaches such as offensive line coach etc. Next, one try at charm school including media relations consulting from Wes Durham or someone. Let's start at the top of GT and see if the commitment is there and if not we can proudly boast that we have the oldest and largest Lacrosse stadium in the country.

 

[Matt E]

For the O-Line: spend 4 dedicated periods each day on pass protection. If that means practice is 30 minutes longer, make it happen. The QB and receivers can work on the 2 minute drill during this time EVERY day.

 

[56JacketDE]

Good points

We need work on both

 

[Boss Ross]

Good points

We need work on both

Good points

We need work on both

 

[4shotB]

Support the team?

fwiw, my support of the team has been at a constant level since the middle 70's. during that time, we have won a MNC and have had 1 win seasons as well. YMMV. So supporting the team (from my perspective) correlates rather poorly with the team's W-L record.My theory is that people who read/post/lurk on these boards already support the team. To attract new fans, we have to fix the things about our program that are broken. which goes back to the OP.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

fwiw, my support of the team has been at a constant level since the middle 70's. during that time, we have won a MNC and have had 1 win seasons as well. YMMV. So supporting the team (from my perspective) correlates rather poorly with the team's W-L record.My theory is that people who read/post/lurk on these boards already support the team. To attract new fans, we have to fix the things about our program that are broken. which goes back to the OP.

Are those several things or just one thing? (Fire PJ)

 

[Dirty Jacket]

See if I can rescue this thread:

I. With the assumption of CPJ staying
1. CPJ hire and offensive coordinator
1. the offense gets more balanced and the run pass ratio goes to 60/40 or min 65/35
2. scrap the a back/b back for a more tradition slot WR and running back titles and get a damn TE
3. the triple option becomes part of the offense instead of the base of the offense
4. more pistol, diamond, and spread formations designed to get skill position players in space.
5. the OLine scraps much of the cut blocks in favor of zone blocking with more power run and pass protection principles.

2. CPJ falls back and allows Roof to be more of the face of the program when dealing with the media and marketing. (someone more personable and charismatic)
3. Design a better strong marketing program for the athletic department
4. Give tickets to area schools and football rec leagues to get young people to fill up the nose bleeds and ect
5. Recruit recruit recruit. Make recruiting a top priority.

Why would you want Paul Johnson to remain coach if you are suggesting we become a team with a totally different offensive identity? I dislike Johnson as our coach very much, but asking him to call more pass plays seems dangerous. Have you seen our routes? And by "routes" I am referring the the straight lines our receivers run down the field. Scratch the A-back, B-back? This is Paul Johnson's bread and butter. Get rid of cut blocks?

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, suggested above says that Paul Johnson should not be our head coach. You are not suggest Johnson make adjustments to fit his personnel, you are suggesting Paul morph into a totally different coach. And you want CPJ to hire an OC? Haha.

I do like you idea of tickets to youngsters to fill up the nosebleeds. Love that idea. Will solve two problems -- fills the stadium, but significantly more importantly, will turn some youngsters into Tech fans. Excellent idea. The problem is, our AD thinks there is a formula that's yet to be discovered that will suddenly sell 15,000 more tickets a Saturday.

 

[ATL1]

Why would you want Paul Johnson to remain coach if you are suggesting we become a team with a totally different offensive identity? I dislike Johnson as our coach very much, but asking him to call more pass plays seems dangerous. Have you seen our routes? And by "routes" I am referring the the straight lines our receivers run down the field. Scratch the A-back, B-back? This is Paul Johnson's bread and butter. Get rid of cut blocks?

Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, suggested above says that Paul Johnson should not be our head coach. You are not suggest Johnson make adjustments to fit his personnel, you are suggesting Paul morph into a totally different coach. And you want CPJ to hire an OC? Haha.

I do like you idea of tickets to youngsters to fill up the nosebleeds. Love that idea. Will solve two problems -- fills the stadium, but significantly more importantly, will turn some youngsters into Tech fans. Excellent idea. The problem is, our AD thinks there is a formula that's yet to be discovered that will suddenly sell 15,000 more tickets a Saturday.

The AD needs to think out the box. Instead of empty seats and no revenue from merchandise and vendors. Filled seats with the possibility & the opportunity for revenue from merchandising and vendors.

As far as with Paul Johnson it is what it is.

 

[Boss Ross]

I think the main problem is a lack of a playmaker at the QB position both mentally and physically .
I thing the O line play needs to improve and if these two areas were improved all GT fans would like the results.
I think to do this CPJ is going to have to make some coaching changes and to play the best QB on the team and not play someone just because they are not his favorite.
John Davis I want to know what you think ? GO JACKETS !!!!