Paul Johnson recruiting Q&A with AJC

GTNavyNuke

Helluva Engineer
Featured Member
Messages
10,066
Location
Williamsburg Virginia
I'm glad I just read the article before I checked out this thread. To me, CPJ was straightforward and actually informative. He isn't a great salesman -the type who will piss on you and tell you it is raining. He just says it like it is.

I learned some things from this interview about recruiting and position evaluation. Not to say I think CPJ coaches well enough to win Coastal, but as a man of integrity, I respect him. He is what he is. And refreshingly he doesn't try to be something that others want him to be (salesman, cheerleader). I think his discussion about the kid who transferred to Iowa was appropriate since he often can't get his side of the story out. A bit more here from a different view point: http://bleacherreport.com/tb/dcqWq?...newsletter&utm_campaign=georgia-tech-football
 

slugboy

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,504
[quote Techster, post: 34495, member: 360"]CPJ sure didn't mince words on how he felt about Taylor.

I think CPJ could have been more diplomatic about things, but at the same time, if he wins none of it matters. The key is to win more.

His comments about Taylor I thought weren't proprofessional. Even if a recruit slams you and your program you don't have to rip them in that manner, that's what I mean by gracious.[/quote]
I can see how those quotes happened in a conversational interview. He didn't force the kid to commit, he didn't force him not to take visits, he said "if you're still looking, we'll keep looking too". I don't think he was ripping him at all about the visits. He was calling BS about the "not contacting me" comments, because a) it wasn't true and b) it hurts our recruiting.

It's easy enough to read something that someone posts here the wrong way. Imagine if someone talked to you and posted their version of your thoughts here--how do you think you'd come off? That's not much different than Carvell picking and choosing quotes to put in an article. I wouldn't read them for hidden agendas.
 

awbuzz

Helluva Manager
Staff member
Messages
12,106
Location
Marietta, GA
The report from the DMR (Nuke's link above) was definitely shaded to trash CPJ. PJ didn't say anything that wasn't true. The recruits can pretty much say anything they want about who offered, etc. and the schools can't say diddly about it. Taylor "pooped" all over GT and pretty much has been politely called a liar regarding not having contact with the coaches. Now maybe he didn't get the communication he hoped for, but good for him to have somewhere that he feels more comfortable and that we have that slot open.
 

Squints

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,254
The report from the DMR (Nuke's link above) was definitely shaded to trash CPJ. PJ didn't say anything that wasn't true. The recruits can pretty much say anything they want about who offered, etc. and the schools can't say diddly about it. Taylor "pooped" all over GT and pretty much has been politely called a liar regarding not having contact with the coaches. Now maybe he didn't get the communication he hoped for, but good for him to have somewhere that he feels more comfortable and that we have that slot open.

It was a bleacher report article. It's lower than worthless.
 

dressedcheeseside

Helluva Engineer
Messages
14,220
My take is that the coach has the right and responsibility to protect his reputation, especially when it comes to recruiting and the ripple affect that bad publicity has on your ability to recruit. If Taylor had just kept his trap shut, CPJ never would have had to set the record straight in the first place. But it didn't go down that way. Taylor was all over social media and the fan boards and that got to the print media as well. It was a huge black eye against CPJ and how he handles recruits and the worst part about it is it damages our ability to recruit. Now CPJ could have chosen his words better, but I think he had to say something to protect the program.
 

GT Man

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
898
What do you expect? I, for one, am damn glad he refuses to cower to and lick the boots of the media who ask him the same damn questions year after year after year. They already know the answers, they just want to goad him into saying something controversial. Douche bag media.

The media loves guys like PJ. He's candid and has a good amount of wit
 

GT Man

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
898
He always tell recruits and the media "If you're still looking, we're still looking." That means if a kid commits then goes on visits, his spot is not safe. It's open for any other recruit with an offer at the same position to take. If someone else commits at his position, he no longer has an offer.

It's a good policy, not just for the program, but for other kids who want to have a chance to play for GT!
 

Eric

Retired Co-Founder
Messages
12,734
LongforDodd post: 34861 said:
When did Taylor commit to us and when did he take his Official Visit.

He was our first commit so it was early on...took his OV to GT Jan 17th.
 

GTRX7

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,524
Location
Atlanta
They just scrounge the web and find articles already written and provide links... why is that worthless? Just asking...

Others will know more about Bleacher Report than I, but I don't think that is how it works. I think that most of the material on the site is original. Bleacher Report has grown quite a bit over the last few years and was eventually purchased by CNN. However, in its early days, I believe that it had at least the reputation as having articles written by fans with no journalist background and with little to no editing/fact checking/oversight. I think that has changed, and they have actually been able to hire on a few writers with established reputations. That said, there is still a lot of trash on there and the articles generally still make you click through 25 links just to read a single article (thus generating more ad revenue for them).
 

ATL1

Helluva Engineer
Messages
7,377
This is so funny because Bleacher Report wrote and unflattering article of CPJ they are BS, mularky, worthless, ect..
I agree with CPJ on being able to address an attack on his program, but there is decorum and tact in doing so, particularly as a leader and face of a program and as I said before he failed in doing so.
 

awbuzz

Helluva Manager
Staff member
Messages
12,106
Location
Marietta, GA
The Bleacher Report giving CPJ crap about Taylor pointed to the Des Moines Register web site. Also has links to the AJC and Macon Telegraph fairly regularly. Granted there are plenty of the wantabe reports that they link to too.

I just let their spider crawl around to find some "news" that like all news needs to be filtered appropriately. :D
 

GT Man

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
898
This is so funny because Bleacher Report wrote and unflattering article of CPJ they are BS, mularky, worthless, ect..
I agree with CPJ on being able to address an attack on his program, but there is decorum and tact in doing so, particularly as a leader and face of a program and as I said before he failed in doing so.

ah screw decorum! I got no problem with what coach said. Takes 1 PHONE CALL to get the facts straight, but the media don't care about no facts. You'd think a self-respecting newspaper like Des Moines Register wouldn't just take some high school kid's story as gospel but...
 

LongforDodd

LatinxBreakfastTacos
Messages
3,198
He was our first commit so it was early on...took his OV to GT Jan 17th.

Eric: This is not directed at you but I'm using your reply to put this out to the board.

He was an early commit...our first if I recall. These quick and early commits are done much in advance of January. Someone can surely let us know when he committed. Paul, in the article, ties the week before his OV as evidence that the kid's primary excuse, i.e. "the staff never kept in touch", was bogus. And yet a significant length of time could very likely have passed without any contact with the kid. Unless someone can tell us how much time has passed between his contacts, there may be some validity to the kid's excuse. This being said, it doesn't seem like the staff really cared to continue to sell the kid and didn't mind that he didn't sign.
 

swampsting

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,868
ah screw decorum! I got no problem with what coach said. Takes 1 PHONE CALL to get the facts straight, but the media don't care about no facts. You'd think a self-respecting newspaper like Des Moines Register wouldn't just take some high school kid's story as gospel but...

Then again, PJ really can't say anything about the kid, one way or the other, even after he commits to another school, until that kid signs. So until the name is on a NLI, only one side gets out because only one side of the story can get out.
 

Bigb

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
395
This is so funny because Bleacher Report wrote and unflattering article of CPJ they are BS, mularky, worthless, ect..

Bleacher Report is among the most worthless sites on the internet. It's crappy sports writing by fans who don't know how to write or about sports.

I'm not a Paul Johnson fan either
 

Squints

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,254
This is so funny because Bleacher Report wrote and unflattering article of CPJ they are BS, mularky, worthless, ect..

That has absolutely nothing to do with it. It has to do with the content of the site which has been terrible for years. If you bring up bleacher report in any arena of semi-serious sports discussion you will be absolutely laughed at.

Way to backdoor accuse me of a non-existent bias.
 
Last edited:
Top