Offense transition

[Northeast Stinger]

My thoughts exactly. My second thought was the negative quotes were probably not from Clemson. I am pretty sure the parameters, inferred from other comments on other teams, were that they were limited to in conference. Thus, no Dwags. So, at least we can't blame this on them. I wonder if Athlon pays a small stipend for their thoughts or maybe they just make it all up. I also wonder if the SID or head coach decides who gets to be quoted or even if the quotes actually might come from the SID and not an assistant at all. We will never know but they are kind of interesting to the casual fan. They do SEEM to have the ring of authenticity. FWIW

My thoughts exactly. Dabo was always very complimentary of the program and CPJ. It makes sense on his part not to kick a sleeping dog but always makes me wonder about underlying motivation. The last two Uga coaches made it clear they hated preparing for Tech's offense and wanted a different coach.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Except he didn't quite get entirely 'starved of recruiting resources'. For starters, it's now becoming clear that, from the words of numerous HS coaches in the metro area, we had almost no local HS presence during most of PJ's tenure. There's absolutely no excuse for that, since you don't need any money to announce your presence and recruiting costs are literally the cost to fill up gas tanks.

Additionally, PJ griped and DID get at least one thing in 2011 - an 88,000 sq. foot indoor practice facility literally billed to "provide a recruiting edge". At the time, it was considered to be one of the best indoor facilities in the southeast. As we've all often stated, we aren't a Factory and aren't going to generate IPTAY money. That PJ got exactly what he'd asked for here is proof that the spigots weren't entirely turned off during his tenure.

https://www.ajc.com/sports/college/...ovide-recruiting-edge/QiesehC4QE0uId7I77SbjP/

I don't argue that PJ was resource-limited from recruiting outside our SE region but pretending that the guy literally asked for and didn't receive recruiting resources is Revisionist History, at best.
Nor do I argue about our academic restrictions (I actually mentioned those in the post you responded to, I think). Perhaps it's just the internet, which makes all quotes visible in ways that (ex) Boss Ross never dealt with but I don't recall any coaches prior to PJ bellyaching about academics. Additionally, it's not like he wasn't a tad familiar with such a restrictive atmosphere, having spent years at Navy. Rare was the time when PJ said anything that built up GT. While some here like that sort of candor, others find it asinine to kick the school that's hired you to win games the way he occasionally did.
I think his scheme worked against recruiting as much as the other mentioned restrictions did. I also thought the lack of a recruiting bump after 2014 was telling, as was the fact that 2017 & 2018 occurred with players recruited after 2014. It was clear we needed a change and I'm happy of the one we made. It's nice to see some positivity down on the Flats again.

I take a back seat to no one in my heartfelt appreciation and admiration for the job Coach Johnson did during his time on the Flats. That said, "...from the words of numerous HS coaches in the metro area we had almost no local HS presence during most of PJ's tenure." If this is true, then it is confounding and absolutely inexcusable and can only be explained by inattention and/or laziness on the part of the staff. The development of relationships between our coaches and the local high schools should be our number one priority especially given that unlike 30 years ago, the Atlanta area schools are a hot bed of talent. We should never be in a position of begging for players from metro Atlanta. I t is past time, to recognize the importance of the whole "404 culture" thing as a foundation for our recruiting.

 

[flounder]

I take a back seat to no one in my heartfelt appreciation and admiration for the job Coach Johnson did during his time on the Flats. That said, "...from the words of numerous HS coaches in the metro area we had almost no local HS presence during most of PJ's tenure." If this is true, then it is confounding and absolutely inexcusable and can only be explained by inattention and/or laziness on the part of the staff. The development of relationships between our coaches and the local high schools should be our number one priority especially given that unlike 30 years ago, the Atlanta area schools are a hot bed of talent. We should never be in a position of begging for players from metro Atlanta. I t is past time, to recognize the importance of the whole "404 culture" thing as a foundation for our recruiting.

I agree, but I think it wasn't laziness as much as lack of resources.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

I agree, but I think it wasn't laziness as much as lack of resources.

Could be and I am willing to concede that especially as we refused to pay for more recruiting resources but damn how hard is it to get in the car and go to Woodward Academy or Archer or Brookwood or even Gainesville?

 

[iceeater1969]

In the h74 -72 7 overtime game between Texas A M verses LSU, TAM ran number of under center alignments. Both teams ( in the OT had the qb run on designed plays - some ti.es w counter tre blocking. In these rpo schemes a star wr is a difference maker. TAM wr # 13 was 6-5 & could not be contained.
At wr I am optimistic we can get it done by committee. At qb i think our ability run will be something we are good at on day one.




.

 

[iceeater1969]

I agree, but I think it wasn't laziness as much as lack of resources.

Wouldn't u become disheartened if your alumni says they really want u to beat their arch rival, but they only donate and buy tickets at a out 1/= 4 the rate of the arch rival. ?

Sure we are putting $$ more into the recruiting effort , but thats not saying much.

We are spending at about the same on coaches. For example the dl , which is the greenest position group, has 2 assistant coaches who also have very very little coaching experience.

Hope cgc can find some new fans who will bring $. A single uga nd ticketc is only 3 times the price of a cheap ga tech season ticket. Our lack of resources starts w a lack of enthusiastic fans. Plenty of complainers.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Wouldn't u become disheartened if your alumni says they really want u to beat their arch rival, but they only donate and buy tickets at a out 1/= 4 the rate of the arch rival. ?

Sure we are putting $$ more into the recruiting effort , but thats not saying much.

We are spending at about the same on coaches. For example the dl , which is the greenest position group, has 2 assistant coaches who also have very very little coaching experience.

Hope cgc can find some new fans who will bring $. A single uga nd ticketc is only 3 times the price of a cheap ga tech season ticket. Our lack of resources starts w a lack of enthusiastic fans. Plenty of complainers.

And this is why we almost didn't have a 199o championship season. Ross was ready to quit he was so tired of how difficult recruiting was at Tech coupled with carping fans.

 

[stech81]

Could be and I am willing to concede that especially as we refused to pay for more recruiting resources but damn how hard is it to get in the car and go to Woodward Academy or Archer or Brookwood or even Gainesville?

Misleading trick question , what time of the day rush hour (s) do suck around here.

 

[stech81]

And this is why we almost didn't have a 199o championship season. Ross was ready to quit he was so tired of how difficult recruiting was at Tech coupled with carping fans.

It was also hard on him to follow a players coach which was not the way he coached. Discipline which many players had a hard time after Curry who was a players coach.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

It was also hard on him to follow a players coach which was not the way he coached. Discipline which many players had a hard time after Curry who was a players coach.

Other than poor old Bud Carson who had the unenviable task of following the "Tall Gray Fox", Coach Curry probably had the most difficult transition. Coach Collins does have roster challenges exacerbated by the triple option but in every other way he is stepping into a far better situation than any coach I can think of in modern times on the Flats.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Misleading trick question , what time of the day rush hour (s) do suck around here.

I may be forgiven a lack of perspective. A traffic jam in Albany consists primarily of being behind a tractor on the bypass. But since I grew up in Atlanta I can only imagine the logistics of trying to get to say, Milton High School from Tech at 2:00 in the afternoon. I guess that is what the chopper was all about.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Other than poor old Bud Carson who had the unenviable task of following the "Tall Gray Fox", Coach Curry probably had the most difficult transition. Coach Collins does have roster challenges exacerbated by the triple option but in every other way he is stepping into a far better situation than any coach I can think of in modern times on the Flats.

Carson was treated shabbily but had material. He was an excellent coach but Georgia fans goaded Tech fans every year that he was not a Tech man and should leave.

Each coach since Dodd has had a special challenge. Gailey was received with a great deal of enthusiasm. I still remember vividly press articles about how he had better connections with high school coaches than anyone we had seen at Tech. He also was going to attract kids who wanted his pro experience. Most of all we were going to get great quarterbacks and a pro style offense. Couldn't beat Georgia though and utterly folded in ACC championship.

The best looking athletes I ever saw at Tech were brought in by Rodgers but he seemed to have the same kind of scheduling jinx on his teams that CPJ had.

 

[ncjacket79]

Carson was treated shabbily but had material. He was an excellent coach but Georgia fans goaded Tech fans every year that he was not a Tech man and should leave.

Each coach since Dodd has had a special challenge. Gailey was received with a great deal of enthusiasm. I still remember vividly press articles about how he had better connections with high school coaches than anyone we had seen at Tech. He also was going to attract kids who wanted his pro experience. Most of all we were going to get great quarterbacks and a pro style offense. Couldn't beat Georgia though and utterly folded in ACC championship.

The best looking athletes I ever saw at Tech were brought in by Rodgers but he seemed to have the same kind of scheduling jinx on his teams that CPJ had.

What scheduling kind are you talking about?

 

[iceeater1969]

What scheduling kind are you talking about?

One great scheduling advantage that Coach had but cgc wont have is the cross acc game . iirc, Coach won 100% - an average team that saw the TO as called by ""Coach"" had little to no chance. Our offense was dominant unless it was FSU. With that 1 game advantage and w 2 crummy teams we only needed to win 3 of the remaining 9 games to be 500. With NCST and the Syracuse in 19/20 cgc has his work cut out. Also in 20 besides Cuse we play ND and ucf. I think se will know about our OC by end of that year.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

What scheduling kind are you talking about?

I assume you are talking about Carson since we have discussed endlessly on here how certain ACC teams were give off weeks to prepare for CPJ's offense. Year after year.

Dodd retired the year before some serious schedule changes went into effect. Tech, now playing as an independent, added Miami and Notre Dame to a schedule that already included Auburn, Clemson, Georgia and Tennessee. A couple of years later Southern Cal, FSU and Michigan State were swapped in. Tech did not have the kind of depth to handle that many heavy hitters and lost lots of starting players including All American running back Lenny Snow. Carson's last season Tech lost a heartbreaker to an 11-1 Georgia team. The Tech players voted to not go to a bowl game but Carson made them accept the Peach Bowl because fans were attacking him and he felt like he needed one more win to keep his job. Tech players decided to throw the game and Carson was gone.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

As to Rodgers, the schedule once again "flipped" in time for his coaching debut. In addition to the usual Auburn, Tennessee and Georgia type teams, Notre Dame was added back in and Pittsburgh was put on the schedule. Later FSU and Miami were added back in and toward the end of his time Florida and Alabama were added.

He ran what he called "pure vanilla wishbone" which was fun when it worked but again the scheduling made it difficult to develop any kind of momentum during the season.

 

[BurdellJacket]

I assume you are talking about Carson since we have discussed endlessly on here how certain ACC teams were give off weeks to prepare for CPJ's offense. Year after year.

Dodd retired the year before some serious schedule changes went into effect. Tech, now playing as an independent, added Miami and Notre Dame to a schedule that already included Auburn, Clemson, Georgia and Tennessee. A couple of years later Southern Cal, FSU and Michigan State were swapped in. Tech did not have the kind of depth to handle that many heavy hitters and lost lots of starting players including All American running back Lenny Snow. Carson's last season Tech lost a heartbreaker to an 11-1 Georgia team. The Tech players voted to not go to a bowl game but Carson made them accept the Peach Bowl because fans were attacking him and he felt like he needed one more win to keep his job. Tech players decided to throw the game and Carson was gone.

Very interesting, Northeast, and I'm not debating anything you've said but how do you know the players decided "to throw the game"? That is absolutely amazing.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Very interesting, Northeast, and I'm not debating anything you've said but how do you know the players decided "to throw the game"? That is absolutely amazing.

Read it years ago from some former players. I was even at the game and saw some things that, as a teenager, baffled me at the time. One example was a Tech defender who handed a ball to a Mississippi receiver in the end zone for a touchdown. According to what I read, the players decided to "lay down" the first half and then play up to their ability in the second half. Perhaps some other posters can recall the source and more details. That was a long time ago.

 

[TechBurn]

I agree with you, Northeast!! I was at the game, on the field, (not as a player) It was well known that the players had voted not to be there, and their whole performance on the field was lackadaisical at best! No real effort was seen,, Ole Miss was fired up, & wanted to win! Not one of our finest hours to say the least!!!

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

As to Rodgers, the schedule once again "flipped" in time for his coaching debut. In addition to the usual Auburn, Tennessee and Georgia type teams, Notre Dame was added back in and Pittsburgh was put on the schedule. Later FSU and Miami were added back in and toward the end of his time Florida and Alabama were added.

He ran what he called "pure vanilla wishbone" which was fun when it worked but again the scheduling made it difficult to develop any kind of momentum during the season.

It was ridiculous. Rockne in his prime could not have won against teams like Notre Dame, Pitt (with Tony Dorsett), UGA, Auburn, Tennessee, Miami, Christ alone knows who else. Pepper did the best he could but had virtually no alumni support and simply could not recruit enough good players, though he got some very good ones from time to time like Eddie Lee Ivery, Lucious Sanford, Freeman Colbert, Reggie Wilkes, Danny Myers, Steve Raible among others. One year we averaged 400 yards a game on the ground.