Johnson

[southernhive]

We don't recruit the same players that Ross and O'Leary recruited due to changes in academic standards.

Talent pool may be large for other programs with less academic rigors, but not for GT.

On your last paragraph, I totally agree. Freidgen ran an option based offense with more passing, but again, the Fridge had better players with fewer academic restrictions.

 

[upwgdrb]

This eeyore attitude from GT fans is just disgusting to me. We finished in the AP top 25 for five consecutive years under O'Leary. Not that long ago, Won a National Championship not long before that.

Talent pool? When we stop fishing for marlin in the local pond, maybe things will change. That's another way of saying that when half of our recruits are from more than 300 miles from campus, then we can talk about "talent pool". Go check out where the 1990 two deep was from. People roll out the Academic Excuse (tm) while we recruit some of the worst academic areas in the country.

I will agree on two points. When Homer Rice was AD, the AA was on solid financial footing. Braine came in and turned things around. In a bad way. The two successors to Braine have not improved the situation. If I was on the Athletic Board, I'd make some changes at the AA, starting at the top. But, for now, we don't have money, which is not likely to change under this administration.

The other point I will agree on is that we can't do the same things as other programs. That's why we need a more diversified offense like Friedgen ran. Smart GT kids should be able to run everything from 4 wide to wishbone--and Friedgen literally did that. And a wide open offense would help recruiting.

I have been wanting to say this for a while. There is no reason we cannot be a top 25 team every year and make a run at the national title every four to five years.
CPJ is an offensive genius..not being sarcastic here. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect him to have our teams at this level. I do think he could learn a thing or two from Big Ralph and Big Bee about how to win consistently at Tech, of course you have to swallow your pride and pick up the phone to do that.

I firmly believe varied sets and having skill players with speed is the long term key to success at Tech.

 

[upwgdrb]

We don't recruit the same players that Ross and O'Leary recruited due to changes in academic standards.

Talent pool may be large for other programs with less academic rigors, but not for GT.

On your last paragraph, I totally agree. Freidgen ran an option based offense with more passing, but again, the Fridge had better players with fewer academic restrictions.

This is not true. CPJ is allowed exceptions..

 

[GTRX7]

Wake me up when CPJ tells the Tech fan base specifically what he is going to do to turn things around.

I would hope we would fire any coach that would announce personnel decisions to the fan base before notifying staff or that was stupid enough to explain detailed scheme adjustments to opposing coaches.

 

[Tech93]

This eeyore attitude from GT fans is just disgusting to me. We finished in the AP top 25 for five consecutive years under O'Leary. Not that long ago, Won a National Championship not long before that.

Talent pool? When we stop fishing for marlin in the local pond, maybe things will change. That's another way of saying that when half of our recruits are from more than 300 miles from campus, then we can talk about "talent pool". Go check out where the 1990 two deep was from. People roll out the Academic Excuse (tm) while we recruit some of the worst academic areas in the country.

I will agree on two points. When Homer Rice was AD, the AA was on solid financial footing. Braine came in and turned things around. In a bad way. The two successors to Braine have not improved the situation. If I was on the Athletic Board, I'd make some changes at the AA, starting at the top. But, for now, we don't have money, which is not likely to change under this administration.

The other point I will agree on is that we can't do the same things as other programs. That's why we need a more diversified offense like Friedgen ran. Smart GT kids should be able to run everything from 4 wide to wishbone--and Friedgen literally did that. And a wide open offense would help recruiting.

Well said

 

[AE 87]

This is not true. CPJ is allowed exceptions..

You miss the point, imo. APR is not about getting guys in but getting them thru. They need to make progress toward graduation which wasn't required until 2003.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

Wake me up when CPJ tells the Tech fan base specifically what he is going to do to turn things around.

Um, we're not his employer, he doesn't need to tell us squat.

 

[JorgeJonas]

This eeyore attitude from GT fans is just disgusting to me. We finished in the AP top 25 for five consecutive years under O'Leary. Not that long ago, Won a National Championship not long before that.

Talent pool? When we stop fishing for marlin in the local pond, maybe things will change. That's another way of saying that when half of our recruits are from more than 300 miles from campus, then we can talk about "talent pool". Go check out where the 1990 two deep was from. People roll out the Academic Excuse (tm) while we recruit some of the worst academic areas in the country.

I will agree on two points. When Homer Rice was AD, the AA was on solid financial footing. Braine came in and turned things around. In a bad way. The two successors to Braine have not improved the situation. If I was on the Athletic Board, I'd make some changes at the AA, starting at the top. But, for now, we don't have money, which is not likely to change under this administration.

The other point I will agree on is that we can't do the same things as other programs. That's why we need a more diversified offense like Friedgen ran. Smart GT kids should be able to run everything from 4 wide to wishbone--and Friedgen literally did that. And a wide open offense would help recruiting.

This is absurd, and it perpetuates the meathead position that says doing anything different is a gimmick. It's no different than the A's or Rays in baseball, who are competing against teams with financial advantages they can't overcome allocating significant funds to free agents. Instead, they have to find players whose value isn't seen by the market at large (think Ben Zobrist). We should embrace creativity and not run from it.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

This eeyore attitude from GT fans is just disgusting to me. We finished in the AP top 25 for five consecutive years under O'Leary. Not that long ago, Won a National Championship not long before that.

Talent pool? When we stop fishing for marlin in the local pond, maybe things will change. That's another way of saying that when half of our recruits are from more than 300 miles from campus, then we can talk about "talent pool". Go check out where the 1990 two deep was from. People roll out the Academic Excuse (tm) while we recruit some of the worst academic areas in the country.

I will agree on two points. When Homer Rice was AD, the AA was on solid financial footing. Braine came in and turned things around. In a bad way. The two successors to Braine have not improved the situation. If I was on the Athletic Board, I'd make some changes at the AA, starting at the top. But, for now, we don't have money, which is not likely to change under this administration.

The other point I will agree on is that we can't do the same things as other programs. That's why we need a more diversified offense like Friedgen ran. Smart GT kids should be able to run everything from 4 wide to wishbone--and Friedgen literally did that. And a wide open offense would help recruiting.

If you don't think there is an academic hurdle recruiting GT, I can't argue with you. Btw, how many of our academic peers, and I'm talking STEM research institutes, even field division 1 teams much less power 5 teams? I'll tell you, one, Stanford, and they just barely qualify as a STEM peer.

They have to be above 50% of total degrees issued per year are STEM fields to qualify in my book.
http://www.usnews.com/education/blo...universities-that-grant-the-most-stem-degrees

 

[Techster]

The other point I will agree on is that we can't do the same things as other programs. That's why we need a more diversified offense like Friedgen ran. Smart GT kids should be able to run everything from 4 wide to wishbone--and Friedgen literally did that. And a wide open offense would help recruiting.

I've always shook my head when some on here have said "CPJ's system is the only system that will give GT an edge versus other programs". That's simply not true, and your Friedgen example is proof of that. I don't think GT can run the a "pro style offense" and hope to compete on a top 25 level every year (though Gailey was competitive with it), but a system like Gus Malzahn's, Art Briles, Urban Meyer, Bobb Stitt, Willie Fritz...their systems would most definitely work at GT, and they could pull in talent with it. Friedgen didn't get top level offensive recruiting classes, but he got really good recruits and sprinkled it with top tier guys. I can guarantee you that a guy with Art Briles system can pull in good enough QBs, WRs, and RBs to replicate the big numbers they're putting up at Baylor, and we would get more interest from top level QBs and WRs.

The point is, GT can't be like the "pro style" schools, but if we get a coach with a good system like the ones I mentioned above, we can be every bit as good as we have been under CPJ.

 

[JorgeJonas]

If you don't think there is an academic hurdle recruiting GT, I can't argue with you. Btw, how many of our academic peers, and I'm talking STEM research institutes, even field division 1 teams much less power 5 teams? I'll tell you, one, Stanford.

They have to be above 50% STEM degree to qualify in my book.
http://www.usnews.com/education/blo...universities-that-grant-the-most-stem-degrees

I agree with all of this, but there are also cultural challenges we face here. If you wanna play in front of 80,000 people, Tech sure ain't the place for you.

 

[JorgeJonas]

I've always shook my head when some on here have said "CPJ's system is the only system that will give GT an edge versus other programs". That's simply not true, and your Friedgen example is proof of that. I don't think GT can run the a "pro style offense" and hope to compete on a top 25 level every year (though Gailey was competitive with it), but a system like Gus Malzahn's, Art Briles, Urban Meyer, Bobb Stitt, Willie Fritz...their systems would most definitely work at GT, and they could pull in talent with it. Friedgen didn't get top level offensive recruiting classes, but he got really good recruits and sprinkled it with top tier guys. I can guarantee you that a guy with Art Briles system can pull in good enough QBs, WRs, and RBs to replicate the big numbers they're putting up at Baylor, and we would get more interest from top level QBs and WRs.

The point is, GT can't be like the "pro style" schools, but if we get a coach with a good system like the ones I mentioned above, we can be every bit as good as we have been under CPJ.

Baylor has lost their last two bowl games. If you give a team more than a week to prepare they can be stopped.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

I've always shook my head when some on here have said "CPJ's system is the only system that will give GT an edge versus other programs". That's simply not true, and your Friedgen example is proof of that. I don't think GT can run the a "pro style offense" and hope to compete on a top 25 level every year (though Gailey was competitive with it), but a system like Gus Malzahn's, Art Briles, Urban Meyer, Bobb Stitt, Willie Fritz...their systems would most definitely work at GT, and they could pull in talent with it. Friedgen didn't get top level offensive recruiting classes, but he got really good recruits and sprinkled it with top tier guys. I can guarantee you that a guy with Art Briles system can pull in good enough QBs, WRs, and RBs to replicate the big numbers they're putting up at Baylor, and we would get more interest from top level QBs and WRs.

The point is, GT can't be like the "pro style" schools, but if we get a coach with a good system like the ones I mentioned above, we can be every bit as good as we have been under CPJ.

How many of those guys would be able to stay eligible with today's APR? Joe Hamilton?

 

[GaTechfan06]

True story...straight from the the father of a recruit. Johnny was dead set on committing to Tech and loved the place. When asked what do you want to major in, the response was Education. I want to be a coach. GT laid out a plan that included some type of history major at GT and an additional year at Ga St. for the education requirements. The 5yr plan scared him off and he signed with an SEC school and was later drafted.
There may be "exceptions" for admissions, but not majors. This is why it's not even realistic to compare us with Stanford and ND

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

I've always shook my head when some on here have said "CPJ's system is the only system that will give GT an edge versus other programs". That's simply not true, and your Friedgen example is proof of that. I don't think GT can run the a "pro style offense" and hope to compete on a top 25 level every year (though Gailey was competitive with it), but a system like Gus Malzahn's, Art Briles, Urban Meyer, Bobb Stitt, Willie Fritz...their systems would most definitely work at GT, and they could pull in talent with it. Friedgen didn't get top level offensive recruiting classes, but he got really good recruits and sprinkled it with top tier guys. I can guarantee you that a guy with Art Briles system can pull in good enough QBs, WRs, and RBs to replicate the big numbers they're putting up at Baylor, and we would get more interest from top level QBs and WRs.

The point is, GT can't be like the "pro style" schools, but if we get a coach with a good system like the ones I mentioned above, we can be every bit as good as we have been under CPJ.

FWIW (and all here know I'm a huge CPJ fan) the right coach can run any scheme and have success at Tech...including the "pro style". I think being different can help...but honestly....there are a ton of different schemes out there. It ain't hard to be different in college....NFL is all copy cat but not so much in college. But yeah...I think our current scheme helps offset our talent deficiencies better than most. What GSU did to Bama....a Bama D mind you....proved it if nothing else does.

 

[Techster]

How many of those guys would be able to stay eligible with today's APR?

How many of those guys would NOT have stayed eligible with today's APR? You don't know any more than I do...APR is a convenient excuse for not recruiting better talent. There is elite talent willing to do the work, and capable of doing the work. We just need to get them.

For instance, a QB like Josh Dobbs (Tennessee's starter), a 4 Star dual threat QB and an Elite 11 QB, that prepped 20 minutes up I-400 LOVED GT's aerospace engineering program wanted to come here for the academics, but GT's offense didn't fit him. You think a talent like that would play in a system like Art Briles or Gus Malzahns that uses the option to complement the vertical passing game? Guys like Dwyer, Nesbitt, Sean Renfree (a commit under Gailey, now an NFL QB), Calvin Johnson, Demaryius Thomas, etc...all got through GT's academics.

The point is, there are enough guys who can get into GT and do the work, and enough top tier guys, that saying "CPJ's system is the only system that will make GT successful" is false. There are plenty of top level recruits that can and will do the work at GT...GT just needs to give those recruits a reason to come here. We're not going to get a line of elite guys lining up to play here, but we can get our fair share, and we have before. I agree recruiting ain't easy, but having CPJ's system makes it harder. I'm saying that as someone who actually likes CPJ's system.

 

[Whiskey_Clear]

Justin Thomas.

 

[Techster]

FWIW (and all here know I'm a huge CPJ fan) the right coach can run any scheme and have success at Tech...including the "pro style". I think being different can help...but honestly....there are a ton of different schemes out there. It ain't hard to be different in college....NFL is all copy cat but not so much in college. But yeah...I think our current scheme helps offset our talent deficiencies better than most. What GSU did to Bama....a Bama D mind you....proved it if nothing else does.

So you're saying GSU under Monken runs CPJ's offense better than CPJ?!

I think CPJ's system definitely gives us an advantage...but there are systems out there that would give us a similar advantage. Personally, I'm not buying that CPJ's system is the only system that would do that for GT as some others believe. Just my personal opinion.

 

[Techster]

Baylor has lost their last two bowl games. If you give a team more than a week to prepare they can be stopped.

And CPJ lost how many bowl games before he won his first one? ALL offenses can be stopped...but that's not the discussion I was having.

 

[WreckinGT]

This eeyore attitude from GT fans is just disgusting to me. We finished in the AP top 25 for five consecutive years under O'Leary.

While I don't really want to disparage the accomplishments of O'Leary, the game has changed since then. It is pretty rare for any team with 5 losses to make the top 25 these days and it is nearly impossible for a non factory. At least two of his teams would have little chance of being in the top 25 and likely a third would be questionable. Just looking at wins and losses and who they were against, O'Leary wasn't much better than CPJ and was probably behind him before this disastrous season.