New defensive coordinator bring back Jon Tenuta

[cpf2001]

Gonna quote this part separately just to emphasize how much more we used to be able to play the money game with the big boys:

[Jimbo] Fisher isn't the only one cashing in. Georgia Tech defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta will make $400,000 this year. Texas will pay offensive coordinator Greg Davis more than $350,000 per year, according to the Dallas Morning News, and co-defensive coordinators Larry Mac Duff and Duane Akina will earn $300,000 each.

Don’t bring back Tenuta. Bring back the ability to pay for a guy in his prime.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I don’t think that’s accurate - I think all the big upset wins of the Gailey era and many of the “should’ve had them” close losses like UGA were close games where the defense carried the day.

I’m not been rechecking all the scores but I don’t remember any 41-10 blowouts of name brand programs under Gailey or even 41-38 type wins.

There was only one hope for his teams to win: hold the opponent under 20 or so with defense.

2007 overall kinda sucked - by his GT team standards - and was still basically as good as anything we’ve had since.

Offenses weren’t as high powered in general then but on the flip side, our offense was so anemic that other teams got lots of chances to go again and again at our D. A bend and don’t break D for Gailey would’ve caused us to lose more games because it certainly wouldn’t have put more points on the board.

He was very very good at GT for a few years, he never adjusted, he was also a ****, the end.

But don’t forget the good. There was a reason we paid him enough to get referenced in articles like this - https://www.espn.com/college-football/preview07/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&id=2967046

(Imagine if we could financially compete like that today still…)

This part is confusing to me…

“2007 overall kinda sucked - by his GT team standards - and was still basically as good as anything we’ve had since.”

 

[cpf2001]

This part is confusing to me…

“2007 overall kinda sucked - by his GT team standards - and was still basically as good as anything we’ve had since.”

I mean 2007 was a bad year. Defense regressed. Offense was still bad even without everyone’s favorite scapegoats, Reggie Ball and Pat Nix. Got less competitive against UGA. Blown out by VT. Fell back to 4-4 after being 5-3 and then 7-1 in ACC play.

But as Techster mentioned above, even in a meh year where points allowed per game bounced up to 21 (most of his tenure here, tied with 2002), his DFEI was nearly as good as anything we’ve seen for the next 17 years.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I mean 2007 was a bad year. Defense regressed. Offense was still bad even without everyone’s favorite scapegoats, Reggie Ball and Pat Nix. Got less competitive against UGA. Blown out by VT. Fell back to 4-4 after being 5-3 and then 7-1 in ACC play.

But as Techster mentioned above, even in a meh year where points allowed per game bounced up to 21 (most of his tenure here, tied with 2002), his DFEI was nearly as good as anything we’ve seen for the next 17 years.

OK, I see. You were talking about DFEI not wins.

 

[cpf2001]

OK, I see. You were talking about DFEI not wins.

Not really, that’s just the cross reference.

Tenuta’s defense won us way more games than it lost us. Especially when it comes to the games that got those teams noticed. Fewer in 2007, the whole team regressed that year, there’s a reason the coach got fired.

Give a defense as good as the 05/06 one the 2009, 2014, or 2023/4 offense and you’d have something special.

 

[stinger78]

But it’s a zero-sum game. Under CCG, almost all the top recruits ended up on D. Guys like Anoai, Wrotto, Walker, Johnson, Reis, Burnett, et all were good 2-way players, but played D at GT. Donley was one of the few who bucked that trend. We did tend to keep RB’s on O and we always had at least 1 good WR, and OL was a challenge at times. Still, the biggest issue on O was QB. RB was a gamer but just didn’t have quite enough, IMPO. When CCG anointed him #1 as a tFR, I knew it was history for 3 years.

 

[RonJohn]

But it’s a zero-sum game. Under CCG, almost all the top recruits ended up on D. Guys like Anoai, Wrotto, Walker, Johnson, Reis, Burnett, et all were good 2-way players, but played D at GT. Donley was one of the few who bucked that trend. We did tend to keep RB’s on O and we always had at least 1 good WR, and OL was a challenge at times. Still, the biggest issue on O was QB. RB was a gamer but just didn’t have quite enough, IMPO. When CCG anointed him #1 as a tFR, I knew it was history for 3 years.

I don't remember the CCG offense that way. I remember sitting in the stands watching Calvin Johnson lined up with a Duke 5'-10" CB by themselves very wide, and the offense running the ball right up the middle. Even if you believe that the QB wasn't good, (which I do not believe). If he had thrown the ball to Johnson it would have either been big gains almost every play, or the defense would have started double teaming him. If they started double teaming him, then running the ball would have worked better. I remember far too many times that mismatches appeared obvious, but the play calling refused to take advantage of them.

 

[cpf2001]

I don't remember the CCG offense that way. I remember sitting in the stands watching Calvin Johnson lined up with a Duke 5'-10" CB by themselves very wide, and the offense running the ball right up the middle. Even if you believe that the QB wasn't good, (which I do not believe). If he had thrown the ball to Johnson it would have either been big gains almost every play, or the defense would have started double teaming him. If they started double teaming him, then running the ball would have worked better. I remember far too many times that mismatches appeared obvious, but the play calling refused to take advantage of them.

The best offense of those years was 2006 which was very much Calvin oriented like that. Honestly it may have backfired some though. There’s a strong argument to be made that Reggie regressed through his career because the offensive coaching couldn’t figure out anything to do beyond “let Calvin do everything” in the passing game. Became a crutch.

The OL play was generally pretty good. The RB room was stacked. The QB was talented but mis-used. WRs… well we all know how that was. It wasn’t just an issue of all the good talent going to D.

 

[Techster]

2007 overall kinda sucked - by his GT team standards - and was still basically as good as anything we’ve had since.

Funny enough, the first year Offensive FEI was calculated, GT's OFEI in 2007 was #26.

Looking at the schedule that year, GT offense wasn't anything special, but neither were college offenses overall back then.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 2007 Regular Season NCAAF Schedule - ESPN

ESPN has the full 2007 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Regular Season NCAAF schedule. Includes game times, TV listings and ticket information for all Yellow Jackets games.

www.espn.com

As they say, nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems.

 

[stinger78]

The best offense of those years was 2006 which was very much Calvin oriented like that.

The OL play was generally pretty good. The RB room was stacked. The QB was talented but mis-used. WRs… well we all know how that was. It wasn’t just an issue of all the good talent going to D.

First, I don’t think I said “all,” but CJT definitely got the pick of the litter. we could have used Michael Johnson at TE, where he was rated a 4*, but he went to D. Anoai was also a FB. Imagine him in that slot? DT. Burnett was a WR, too. We needed those in 2007, but he went D. Donley, however, was better as a DB but went to WR. It happened. Wrotto actually played DL until we had to use him on OL.

Second, nowhere did I say RB wasn’t any good. He would have been a very good RPO QB, except he had accuracy issues throwing off the run. The problem was CCG telling the world he had his QB as a tFR. We could hardly recruit a backup for three years. 2007 with Nesbitt and Threat was the first year after 2003 that we got one.

OC position was an issue, but we were paying our DC so much it was hard to pay one. That and CCG had a bit too high an opinion of himself in that slot.

 

[slugboy]

But it’s a zero-sum game. Under CCG, almost all the top recruits ended up on D. Guys like Anoai, Wrotto, Walker, Johnson, Reis, Burnett, et all were good 2-way players, but played D at GT. Donley was one of the few who bucked that trend. We did tend to keep RB’s on O and we always had at least 1 good WR, and OL was a challenge at times. Still, the biggest issue on O was QB. RB was a gamer but just didn’t have quite enough, IMPO. When CCG anointed him #1 as a tFR, I knew it was history for 3 years.

What makes it a zero sum game?

Yes, we got great players on defense, but that’s because we had a solid defense that people wanted to play in and good recruiters.

We had Calvin Johnson, PJ Daniels, Tashard Choice, and other offensive players that went pro. The recruiting issue was sanctions, but we recruited really well. The offensive coaching was a tasty as cardboard, though.

Nobody took our best QB and put him on defense—Gailey even had a gamer in Ball, but he never got an ace QB recruit until he got fired. Nothing to do with “putting the best players on defense”

Funny enough, the first year Offensive FEI was calculated, GT's OFEI in 2007 was #26.

Looking at the schedule that year, GT offense wasn't anything special, but neither were college offenses overall back then.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 2007 Regular Season NCAAF Schedule - ESPN

ESPN has the full 2007 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Regular Season NCAAF schedule. Includes game times, TV listings and ticket information for all Yellow Jackets games.

www.espn.com

As they say, nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems.

The 2007 team had enough talent to win big. They underachieved that year.

———-

Defense was good under Tenuta. Some years it was stellar, and it was never bad. Defense is different now. He could probably still coach a great game, though. There’s probably a 30-40 year old Tenuta out there now who would do great here. I’d hope we had that coach.

 

[stinger78]

What makes it a zero sum game?

Yes, we got great players on defense, but that’s because we had a solid defense that people wanted to play in and good recruiters.

We had Calvin Johnson, PJ Daniels, Tashard Choice, and other offensive players that went pro. The recruiting issue was sanctions, but we recruited really well. The offensive coaching was a tasty as cardboard, though.

Nobody took our best QB and put him on defense—Gailey even had a gamer in Ball, but he never got an ace QB recruit until he got fired. Nothing to do with “putting the best players on defense”


The 2007 team had enough talent to win big. They underachieved that year.

———-

Defense was good under Tenuta. Some years it was stellar, and it was never bad. Defense is different now. He could probably still coach a great game, though. There’s probably a 30-40 year old Tenuta out there now who would do great here. I’d hope we had that coach.

A player only plays one side or the other, generally. It was much discussed at the time what was happening. You are free to disagree.

Yes, he was a good DC. I’ve noted that a couple times. He was extremely hard to work with though. He gambled and won many times. He also gambled and lost a couple times a season. Overall, he was good, but he was given lots to work with.

 

[cpf2001]

Funny enough, the first year Offensive FEI was calculated, GT's OFEI in 2007 was #26.

Looking at the schedule that year, GT offense wasn't anything special, but neither were college offenses overall back then.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 2007 Regular Season NCAAF Schedule - ESPN

ESPN has the full 2007 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Regular Season NCAAF schedule. Includes game times, TV listings and ticket information for all Yellow Jackets games.

www.espn.com

As they say, nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems.

Wow. That’s weird.

The running game must have been VERY good because sub 50% completions with 6 TDs to 9 INT was a meh-to-bad stat line even for the time.

I wonder if the stats like the 2005 or 2006 O even more then. Maybe they were better than given credit for but merely “fairly consistently above average” when we needed something with a higher ceiling.

I guess the ACC was also somewhat better then.

 

[cpf2001]

Only nitpick about some of the players is that we definitely shouldn’t have put Michael Johnson at TE since I don’t think we knew we were allowed to throw to them. (I’m not sure the D knew other teams were, either.)

 

[Techster]

Wow. That’s weird.

The running game must have been VERY good because sub 50% completions with 6 TDs to 9 INT was a meh-to-bad stat line even for the time.

I wonder if the stats like the 2005 or 2006 O even more then. Maybe they were better than given credit for but merely “fairly consistently above average” when we needed something with a higher ceiling.

I guess the ACC was also somewhat better then.

It's actually not weird...it's completely wrong.

Not sure what I was looking at when I came up with OFEI of #26 that year. It was actually #62 that year....maybe I'm dyslexic...

 

[cpf2001]

That makes a lot more sense haha

 

[stinger78]

Only nitpick about some of the players is that we definitely shouldn’t have put Michael Johnson at TE since I don’t think we knew we were allowed to throw to them. (I’m not sure the D knew other teams were, either.)

This is my thinking, too. He would have excelled in either slot. I would love to have seen Joe A in that FB slot a time or two. Ha!

 

[slugboy]

Only nitpick about some of the players is that we definitely shouldn’t have put Michael Johnson at TE since I don’t think we knew we were allowed to throw to them. (I’m not sure the D knew other teams were, either.)

Seriously, we did well at TE. Colin Peek was our #4 receiver at TE in 2007 and transferred to Bama when Johnson showed up.

The TE problem is that we were loaded at receiver. Matthews and Cooper were there before. JP Foschi before that.

Our issue wasn’t lack of talent on offense (except maybe QB), but recruiting restrictions impacting OL numbers

 

[alagold]

An interesting name I'll throw out there: Navy's PJ Volker.

In his first season as Navy's DC, their DFEI was #78, then in 2024, Volker improved Navy's DFEI to #49. Helped Navy to a 10-3 record, and Commander and Chief trophy. Spent time at GA State as a recruiting coordinator and LB coach, so he's familiar with GA and the Southeast...plus, he must have been a good recruiter. He's developed some really good LB during his time, and that's a position GT definitely needs.

We all know the limitations of Navy, so those numbers are actually impressive.

yep, the Navy def this year was surprisingly nasty.

 

[MWBATL]

An interesting name I'll throw out there: Navy's PJ Volker.

In his first season as Navy's DC, their DFEI was #78, then in 2024, Volker improved Navy's DFEI to #49. Helped Navy to a 10-3 record, and Commander and Chief trophy. Spent time at GA State as a recruiting coordinator and LB coach, so he's familiar with GA and the Southeast...plus, he must have been a good recruiter. He's developed some really good LB during his time, and that's a position GT definitely needs.

We all know the limitations of Navy, so those numbers are actually impressive.

Eh, their schedule was so weak….i’m honestly not that impressed