How Good Was Coach Johnson at Tech?

[GTFLETCH]

Quick Glance of what CPJ has done compared to other Coaches at Tech from 1980 on....

Coach Johnson
11 years...83 wins... avg 7.5 wins per year
Finished top 25 three times (2008, 2009, 2014)
1 Acc Title
3 Coastal Champs (2008,2009, 2012,2014)
2 Orange Bowls (1 win -2014)
1 Peach Bowl
2 Eleven win seasons (2009, 2014)
5 Eight win Seasons (2008, 2009, 2011,2014,2016)
3 wins vs Georgia

Coach Gailey
6 years...44 wins... avg 7.3 wins per year
1 Coastal Champs (2006)
1 Eight win Seasons (2006)
Never finished in Top 25
Zero ACC Titles
Zero Double digit win seasons
Zero wins vs Georgia

Coach O'leary
7 years...55 wins... avg 7.4 wins per year
Finished top 25 five times (1997-2001)
1 Acc Title
1 Peach Bowl
1 Ten win seasons (1998)
3 Eight win Seasons (1998-2000)
3 wins vs Georgia

Coach Ross
5 years...31 wins... avg 6.2 wins per year
Finished top 25 one times (1990)
1 Natty
1 Acc Title
1 Ten win seasons (1998)
2 Eight win Seasons (1990-1991)
2 wins vs Georgia

Coach Curry
7 years...31 wins... avg 4.4 wins per year
Finished top 25 one times (1985)
Zero ACC Titles
Zero Double digit win seasons
1 Eight win Seasons (1985)
2 wins vs Georgia

 

[OldJacketFan]

Quick Glance of what CPJ has done compared to other Coaches at Tech from 1980 on....

Coach Johnson
11 years...83 wins... avg 7.5 wins per year
Finished top 25 three times (2008, 2009, 2014)
1 Acc Title
3 Coastal Champs (2008,2009, 2012,2014)
2 Orange Bowls (1 win -2014)
1 Peach Bowl
2 Eleven win seasons (2009, 2014)
5 Eight win Seasons (2008, 2009, 2011,2014,2016)
3 wins vs Georgia

Coach Gailey
6 years...44 wins... avg 7.3 wins per year
1 Coastal Champs (2006)
1 Eight win Seasons (2006)
Never finished in Top 25
Zero ACC Titles
Zero Double digit win seasons
Zero wins vs Georgia

Coach O'leary
7 years...55 wins... avg 7.4 wins per year
Finished top 25 five times (1997-2001)
1 Acc Title
1 Peach Bowl
1 Ten win seasons (1998)
3 Eight win Seasons (1998-2000)
3 wins vs Georgia

Coach Ross
5 years...31 wins... avg 6.2 wins per year
Finished top 25 one times (1990)
1 Natty
1 Acc Title
1 Ten win seasons (1998)
2 Eight win Seasons (1990-1991)
2 wins vs Georgia

Coach Curry
7 years...31 wins... avg 4.4 wins per year
Finished top 25 one times (1985)
Zero ACC Titles
Zero Double digit win seasons
1 Eight win Seasons (1985)
2 wins vs Georgia

Careful now, you'll be accused of not supporting CGC

 

[Jerry the Jacket]

Coach Johnson did well. I think he had a good run but it was time for a change for both parties. I appreciate what he accomplished and establishing a hard nosed tough minded football team. To serve a decade at one school is more and more uncommon in the modern era. Truth be known, that is probably as long as anyone should coach at one place. Always need to inject new ideas and a fresh outlook from time to time. It's rare that you find one guy who can sustain a program for longer than a decade.

Will remember Coach Johnson for the way he handled his departure. Leaving on his own terms was a credit to him and enormously helpful to Georgia Tech.

Go Jackets!

 

[Coloradojacket]

Quick Glance of what CPJ has done compared to other Coaches at Tech from 1980 on....

Coach Johnson
11 years...83 wins... avg 7.5 wins per year
Finished top 25 three times (2008, 2009, 2014)
1 Acc Title
3 Coastal Champs (2008,2009, 2012,2014)
2 Orange Bowls (1 win -2014)
1 Peach Bowl
2 Eleven win seasons (2009, 2014)
5 Eight win Seasons (2008, 2009, 2011,2014,2016)
3 wins vs Georgia

Coach Gailey
6 years...44 wins... avg 7.3 wins per year
1 Coastal Champs (2006)
1 Eight win Seasons (2006)
Never finished in Top 25
Zero ACC Titles
Zero Double digit win seasons
Zero wins vs Georgia

Coach O'leary
7 years...55 wins... avg 7.4 wins per year
Finished top 25 five times (1997-2001)
1 Acc Title
1 Peach Bowl
1 Ten win seasons (1998)
3 Eight win Seasons (1998-2000)
3 wins vs Georgia

Coach Ross
5 years...31 wins... avg 6.2 wins per year
Finished top 25 one times (1990)


CPJ will go down as one of the best Tech coaches and will be in the College Football hall of fame.......and something tells me he aint done yet. Just hope he doesn't play us.
1 Natty
1 Acc Title
1 Ten win seasons (1998)
2 Eight win Seasons (1990-1991)
2 wins vs Georgia

Coach Curry
7 years...31 wins... avg 4.4 wins per year
Finished top 25 one times (1985)
Zero ACC Titles
Zero Double digit win seasons
1 Eight win Seasons (1985)
2 wins vs Georgia

 

[Techster]

Also keep in mind, average number of wins is a bit skewed. We play 1-2 more games now than we did back then.

Think about it. In our National Championship year, we went 11-0-1. 12 games.

In 2014, the year we won the OB, we went 11-3. 14 games.

This year, we're 7-5, with another game to go. 13 games.

For me, it's win percentage, and obviously championships and big bowl games.

Also, in fairness to Ross and O'Leary, they both inherited bad situations. Gailey and CPJ had the luxury of inheriting bowl eligible teams.

 

[GTFLETCH]

Georgia Tech Coaches by Wins
1 Bobby Dodd 165
2 William Alexander 134
3 John Heisman 102
4 Paul Johnson 83
5 George O'Leary 52
6 Chan Gailey 44
7 Pepper Rodgers 34
8 Bobby Ross 31
9 Bill Curry 31
10 Bud Carson 27

Georgia Tech Coaches by Wins %

John Heisman .764
Bobby Dodd .713
George O'Leary .612
Paul Johnson .585
William Alexander .580
Chan Gailey .579
Bobby Ross .543
Bill Fulcher .543
Pepper Rodgers .522
Bud Carson .500

 

[gtg936g]

CPJ is easily my favorite GT coach since following the team in the 90s. The main reason is the impact he had on the players, the graduation rates, and the success he brought to GT on the field. The first two things outweigh the third in my estimation. He did things the right way, even in his departure.

I think he grew weary of the uphill fight and recognized it. He is probably one of the best X and O minds in college football. I will always be a fan of CPJ.

I also think Todd got it right with CGC. Collins is correct about brand and culture and it is important that Todd has those as priorities as well. It will enable them to work together to secure funding and compete in the arms race that is CFB.

As we transition offense and defense we are going to be in a rebuilding period, but the cupboard is not bare. We have a lot of talent on our football team, but there are a ton of things to work out between now and Clemson next year.

 

[Techster]

I support CGC..... I like that he started with CGO... However if we win the Quick Crapper bowl and finish 8 wins... CPJ avg wins goes to 7.6, and his Eight win season goes to six.... Which would mean that out of the 11 years...6 of those GT finished with 8 wins or more.... or around 50%....

That being said I think we can agree that the CPJ stuggled with Recruiting and we are about to find out is it really Academics or his scheme (I think it was his scheme) and he struggled with Defense & Special Teams..... I think CGC is a great hire becuase he is a DC and Special Teams guy and a solid recruiter.... So it would appear he can fill the holes CPJ could not while trying to transition out the Flexbone Offense

I think what we lose in offense (let's be real, CPJ had some REALLY good offenses) we make up in defense and special teams. Those two sides were our achilles heal at times.

I've said it in another thread, I'll be OK if GT can be in the 20's-30's in defense and in the 30's-40's on offense. That's usually a recipe for an 8+ win season. I believe the best CPJ ever did on the defensive side was 2015 (50's DFEI), but unfortunately our offense was ravaged by injuries and graduation.

 

[stech81]

CPJ was the right coach for Tech , he did great things for Tech and his players. But he is gone and I thank him for what he did at Tech. Now it's time to move on and support CGC .

 

[BleedGoldNWhite21]

He did a very good job. As he said himself, we did a lot of things under him that we hadn’t done here since the 1960s. His highs at Tech are better than just about anyone at Tech’s Post-Dodd with the exception of 1990. It would have been nice to see what he could have done with a competent AD his whole tenure, but it also may be a blessing we had him during the Sasquatch years because with a worse coach, the football program could have been a dumpster fire under Sasquatch.

I mentioned the highs, but I also have to mention the lows. The struggles on defense and special teams held us back, but aside from a few programs, most coaches have their strengths and weaknesses. When was the last time LSU fielded a good offense? Their talent is loaded(I never heard of OBJ at LSU), but their identity isn’t in their offense and their offense hasn’t been very good. You could say the same about, say, the defense at Big 12 teams, so I don’t think being a one-sided team is that rare in college football. He wasn’t perfect, so it’s worth mentioning, but again, something along those lines can be said about most coaches/programs. Either they excel at offense or defense or they are average at both. Not sure the results would be better being average at both at Tech. It was good we had an identity and we were above average on one side of the ball.

Speaking of the offense, if CPJ could have sold his offense better, things could have been even better. There was an unfair stigma against his offense that our own fans bought into. The results don’t back it up, but CPJ and Tech should have realized recruits and media perception didn’t care about just the results, as wrong as it may be. We could have and should have “Branded” the option better. If everyone tells you something is “boring”, people go in expecting it to be boring. It’s s self fulfilling prophesy. I can speak of this firsthand. I used to teach a class on classic cinema and my first year the students came in thinking black and white films are boring, stiff, outdated etc.(sound familiar?) I felt my passion for the material could win some people over, and it mostly didn’t. The next year, I changed my strategy. I came in and told the students “hey I know most of these films are boring, stuff and outdated. However, I’m going to show you some classic films that AREN’T like that. Citizen Kane uses modern camera and acting techniques. Casablanca doesn’t have a traditional happy ending yada yada etc.”....The results changed. My students were open minded and were much more interested in the films I was showing, even though I was showing the exact same films from the previous year. Same results the next year. And the next. You could argue my first class just wasn’t into classic films, but I’d argue my approach of specifically acknowledging the stigma and building my teaching around it allowed the students to quit looking at the movies as “old movies” and started to look at them at face value. If CPJ and GT could have figured out a way to get kids to quit looking at the offense as an “option offense” and just look at it at face value as an offense, I think we could have pulled more kids. If you look at the offense at face vaule, there’s not much to not like. It got in the end zone more times than not.


From a Gameday perspective, I think he was the best Gameday coach we’ve had since Dodd.

 

[stylee]

Great post, Bleed. Totally agree about branding.

 

[knoxjacket]

Winning % vs opponents with the same number of scholarship players (no FCS):

GOL: .602
CCG: .561
CPJ: .539

CPJ had a losing record against FBS opponents in 5/11 seasons. He got fat and happy against lower tier competition.

 

[GTFLETCH]

Georgia Tech Coaches by Championships
1. William Alexander 1 Natty (1928) 8 Conference Championships (1920-22,27,28,39,43,44)
2. John Heisman 1 Natty (1917) 3 Conference Championships (1916-18)
3. Bobby Dodd 1 Natty (1952) 2 Conference Championships (1951 & 1952)
4. Bobby Ross 1 Natty (1990) 1 Conference Championships (1990)
5. George O'Leary 1 Co-Conference Championships (1998)
6. Paul Johnson 1 Conference Championships (2009) 4 Division Championships (2008,2009,2012,2014)
7. Chan Gailey 1 Division Championships (2006)

Georgia Tech Coaches by Big Bowls (NY6 Bowls)
1. Bobby Dodd 6-1 (OB, Sugar, Cotton)
2. William Alexander 3-2 (Rose, OB, Sugar, Cotton)
3. Paul Johnson 1-2 (OB. Peach)
4. George O'Leary 0-1 (Peach)
5. Pepper Rodgers 0-1 (Peach)
6. Bud Carson 0-1 (Peach)

 

[lv20gt]

Johnson was the right coach back in 2008 and overall a great offensive mind, but just a good head coach. People always point to 2009 and 2014 but we went 6-7 in 2010 and 3-9 in 2015. Johnson never could capitalize on the success of seasons either in building momentum the following year nor in recruiting. Ultimately that inability to capitalize will relegate Johnson to being a good head coach here instead of a great one imo.

 

[alagold]

Georgia Tech Coaches by Wins
1 Bobby Dodd 165
2 William Alexander 134
3 John Heisman 102
4 Paul Johnson 83
5 George O'Leary 52
6 Chan Gailey 44
7 Pepper Rodgers 34
8 Bobby Ross 31
9 Bill Curry 31
10 Bud Carson 27

Georgia Tech Coaches by Wins %

John Heisman .764
Bobby Dodd .713
George O'Leary .612
Paul Johnson .585
William Alexander .580
Chan Gailey .579
Bobby Ross .543
Bill Fulcher .543
Pepper Rodgers .522
Bud Carson .500

To REALLY be fair we need to dig WAY deeper--too deep probably.See what the opponents win % was for each yr to compare. ugg--. lol

 

[GTFLETCH]

Johnson was the right coach back in 2008 and overall a great offensive mind, but just a good head coach. People always point to 2009 and 2014 but we went 6-7 in 2010 and 3-9 in 2015. Johnson never could capitalize on the success of seasons either in building momentum the following year nor in recruiting. Ultimately that inability to capitalize will relegate Johnson to being a good head coach here instead of a great one imo.

Agree 100%.... Also his revolving DCs do not help... Good not Great for Sure!!

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Thanks for the post. I think you mistyped on coach Ross however. He did not have a ten win season and he did not coach in 1998.

But love the comparisons and the conversation.

 

[Boaty1]

Careful now, you'll be accused of not supporting CGC

Not at all. Facts are always good to discussion and in fact necessary. Avg wins per years is not a good number to look at however. We played at least an extra game annually during the Johnson era and often times that was a patsy.

There are other numbers that indicate Johnson did a very good job. Multiple Orange Bowls is a great indicator for this. Overall Johnson’s time here should be looked at as positive and I thank him for what he did.

I do have concerns about the transition away from him and unfortunately that will be part of his legacy as well.

 

[OldJacketFan]

Not at all. Facts are always good to discussion and in fact necessary. Avg wins per years is not a good number to look at however. We played at least an extra game annually during the Johnson era and often times that was a patsy.

There are other numbers that indicate Johnson did a very good job. Multiple Orange Bowls is a great indicator for this. Overall Johnson’s time here should be looked at as positive and I thank him for what he did.

I do have concerns about the transition away from him and unfortunately that will be part of his legacy as well.

The transition is going to hinge on who CGC brings in as his OC, the cupboard is not bare but needs to be utilized in a system that maximizes what is there. O line will have to be better pass blocking and the tackles will need to get bigger but both of those can be accomplished in in the off season/Spring. D line is thin but there is talent in the same way there is talent at LB. Coaching is going to be huge going forward in CGC 1st season or two

 

[Madison Grant]

Not at all. Facts are always good to discussion and in fact necessary. Avg wins per years is not a good number to look at however. We played at least an extra game annually during the Johnson era and often times that was a patsy.

There are other numbers that indicate Johnson did a very good job. Multiple Orange Bowls is a great indicator for this. Overall Johnson’s time here should be looked at as positive and I thank him for what he did.

I do have concerns about the transition away from him and unfortunately that will be part of his legacy as well.

O'Leary played an 11 game regular season. He also finished 2nd twice in the ACC, which might have gotten him a division championship or 2 and an extra game 99-01 with the conference as it is. Yeah, the ACC is deeper now, but the Coastal has not been strong in years.