This has been my biggest disappointment with CGC. He came in known as a defensive specialist, but his defenses have been close to abysmal (in terms of defensive FEI):
2019: 93
2020: 88
2021: 94 (*Through 8 games)
To his credit, he's increased the talent on our roster. You can say that increase in talent has been wasted with no appreciable improvement in performance. In fact, at this rate, with the 5th most talented roster in the ACC according to 247 recruiting service, we are on track to have the worst DFEI in CGC's 3 years at GT.
How bad has our defense been? The worst season we had since the Bill Lewis was the HC is CPJ's 2015 2-9 season. That year our DFEI was 48. That was under Ted Roof. Remember Roof? GT fans' favorite punching bag until he left for Appalachian State. Roof actually had multiple DFEI seasons in the 40's and 50's. Ted Roof also had less talent to work with.
IMO, if you have a calling card, but you're no longer good at what your calling card is, then we have a problem. This is like if CPJ came in and our rushing offense was horrendous.
When we beat UNC early this season, and we put on one of the most dominant defensive performances GT has had in a long time, I thought we may have turned the corner. Maybe it finally clicked for our guys and we would get similar results going forward. Unfortunately, it's looking more and more like fool's gold.
I REALLY want this to work out for CGC because that's what's best for GT. Transitions from one coach to another is difficult...and costly (BTW, this is another reason GT fans should be grateful with how CPJ handled leaving GT). However, as each week passes, my confidence that CGC will be able to turn the ship in the right direction erodes. It's just very difficult for me to imagine how he can do it. Maybe he cleans house with coordinators and some position coaches and those new coaches figure out how to coach the 5th most talented roster in the ACC.
I hope I'm wrong about this...and I would be happy to be wrong.