Paul Johnson time frame.

[jacketup]

Holy crap man, stop with this last 9 years or last 3 years crap. Either look at his entire tenure here or just look at the individual season. Also, don't give me the "he won with Gailey's players" crap. Last time I checked, Gailey wasn't here to coach those guys up.

Johnson hasn't had two consecutive winning seasons vs FBS with his own recruits since those first 2 years. Why can't he coach his own recruits up?
He was 17-7 vs FBS his first 2 years and hasn't come close to that kind of record in any 2 year period since.
So you tell me--did he need Gailey's better recruits to obtain that record or did he forget how to coach?
What is a bunch of crap is believing that 2008-2009 had nothing to do with the quality of players Gailey left behind---and which Johnson hasn't been able to match.
9 consecutive years of Johnson with his recruits is a pretty significant statistical measure. But keep ignoring the facts to make your point.

 

[lv20gt]

So if Tech winds up 9-4/8-5 are all you naysayers still calling for PJ to be fired?

If GT ends the regular season at 7-5 then yes, I'd still call for him to be fired because it likely means we lose to UGA, and from what I have seen I still expect it to be similar to the Clemson game.

Right now our best win, and only one against a decent opponent is VT who is sitting at 4-4. Otherwise we have Alcorn state who is an FCS school, a 1-7 bowling green, 1-7 UNC, and 2-7 UL. Now looking ahead, Miami is 5-4 and playing at home we should beat them. UVA will probably be 7-3 and playing at home I'd say we should beat them as well. If we are 7-5 with those as our wins, and especially if we lose big to UGA like last year, or Clemson this year, then I don't see a reason to not want him gone. Especially since he has stuck with Marshall longer than I think he should have, our offense has actually regressed in terms of passing to the point we don't even pretend to have one, and the defense has only been marginally better (no turnovers are not the only metric to go by). Even 7-5 with a bowl game doesn't make me think we are actually going anywhere as a program.

Now if we win out and beat UGA then that is moot and he should get another year. Not an extension, and if we don't improve next year he should be gone then because follwing up good years with missing a bowl every time isn't going to move the program forward.

 

[AE 87]

I consider fans who react emotionally and want to change head coaches based only on w-l of bad seasons without considering either the context or the good seasons to be that, emotional fans.

I consider fans who respond to wins by saying that we could still lose out to be bad fans or no fans at all.

If you can't enjoy a win over u[sic]nc for a few days, you may want to evaluate how you've let your life become so pathetic.

 

[smokey_wasp]

Could you define “turn around” as you see it?

At 7-5, I would have him back without reservations. At 6-6, I would say, fine, bring him back with an eye toward replacing him if next year isn't better. I am not factoring in bowl games because I think there is a lot of "luck of the draw" in those lesser bowls.

 

[Southpaw13]

If we finish 7-5, that means we went 6-2 over the last 8... I'll be very very happy with that. A bowl win would be icing on the cake. He absolutely deserves to come back if we go 7-5, considering how Oliver would likely be so instrumental in the turnaround.

 

[ibeattetris]

If we finish 7-5, that means we went 6-2 over the last 8... I'll be very very happy with that. A bowl win would be icing on the cake. He absolutely deserves to come back if we go 7-5, considering how Oliver would likely be so instrumental in the turnaround.

I think this is important. Going 7-5 after starting 5-0 is different than start 1-4. It proves the team hasn't given up on him and it shows that the staff is able to coach the team.

 

[jacketup]

I feel he is a great coach irrespective of how the season winds up. Since he's in his 11th season and is 80-58 to date I think he's done rather well and we won't even bring up his prior record that for some reason we have folks that think that means nothing. As for who his teams have played I would put their schedule up against the vast majority of P5 schools. So oh great oracle, do you feel that Tech cannot beat anyone left on their schedule? In that case why play them? Right? I love how you naysayers claim that anyone who is supportive of PJ are somehow accepting of mediocrity, I assure you in my case that is so far from the truth it's absolutely laughable.

Denying that his one game over .500 record vs. FBS for the last 8 3/4 seasons is mediocre is what is laughable.
That 80 wins includes 13 FCS wins. No Tech coach has come close to playing that many per year. To your point about schedules, Gailey had 3 FCS games in his 6 seasons, for example. Most Big10 teams don't play FCS teams. Notre Dame doesn't.
He's a great FCS coach no doubt. But we aren't FCS, at least not yet.
As usual, I find myself throwing out facts that the mediocrity lovers can't refute and will ignore, while they throw out opinions to advance their unsupportable position.

 

[Southpaw13]

Exactly. Winning cures all.... say what you want, blame who you want... but we had a TERRIBLE run with TQM as QB. There's a shot in the arm for the program with Oliver under center... we need to see where that leads.

 

[Vespidae]

Denying that his one game over .500 record vs. FBS for the last 8 3/4 seasons is mediocre is what is laughable.
That 80 wins includes 13 FCS wins. No Tech coach has come close to playing that many per year. To your point about schedules, Gailey had 3 FCS games in his 6 seasons, for example. Most Big10 teams don't play FCS teams. Notre Dame doesn't.
He's a great FCS coach no doubt. But we aren't FCS, at least not yet.
As usual, I find myself throwing out facts that the mediocrity lovers can't refute and will ignore, while they throw out opinions to advance their unsupportable position.

Its major surgery to replace a head coach. Best to hang on and plan for an orderly transition.

 

[THWG]

Johnson hasn't had two consecutive winning seasons vs FBS with his own recruits since those first 2 years. Why can't he coach his own recruits up?
He was 17-7 vs FBS his first 2 years and hasn't come close to that kind of record in any 2 year period since.
So you tell me--did he need Gailey's better recruits to obtain that record or did he forget how to coach?
What is a bunch of crap is believing that 2008-2009 had nothing to do with the quality of players Gailey left behind---and which Johnson hasn't been able to match.
9 consecutive years of Johnson with his recruits is a pretty significant statistical measure. But keep ignoring the facts to make your point.

I never said that it had nothing to do with the players that he left behind. I said that Gailey wasn't here to coach those players up. Johnson did that and he won those first 2 years with players that were recruited for a different offense. Honestly, the defense wasn't spectacular in 2009 which is where most of those highly rated players were.

 

[tmhunter52]

You gotta believe that the dwags will be looking way past us this year as they get ready for the rematch with Alabama.

 

[OldJacketFan]

You gotta believe that the dwags will be looking way past us this year as they get ready for the rematch with Alabama.

I think that's very possible and no Roqaun Smith!!!

 

[GT_05]

Denying that his one game over .500 record vs. FBS for the last 8 3/4 seasons is mediocre is what is laughable.
That 80 wins includes 13 FCS wins. No Tech coach has come close to playing that many per year. To your point about schedules, Gailey had 3 FCS games in his 6 seasons, for example. Most Big10 teams don't play FCS teams. Notre Dame doesn't.
He's a great FCS coach no doubt. But we aren't FCS, at least not yet.
As usual, I find myself throwing out facts that the mediocrity lovers can't refute and will ignore, while they throw out opinions to advance their unsupportable position.

One more fact...Gailey never beat UGA.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MWBATL]

So if Tech winds up 9-4/8-5 are all you naysayers still calling for PJ to be fired?

The basic problems aren't CPJ's ...firing him was always (imho, anyway) a scapegoat type move. The Hill remains the issue for being truly competitive.

BUT, to be honest, I remain a naysayer about his offense, which until these last 2 years I have been a strong supporter of. Our wins have been over truly poor football teams. We honestly have not beaten anyone of significance. VT is a shadow of their normal team. Louisville, UNC, Bowling Green and Alcorn??? PLEASE!!

When we start winning games against teams we appear to be level with (nominally) such as Duke, USF, Pitt.....only then will I become satisfied with CPJ and his offense again.

This was a year where we could easily have gone 10-2 or 9-3. The Coastal teams are all quite average, none are powers. Our non-conference opponents were not that challenging. We simply are NOT on the level of Clemson and Georgia and I can forgive losing to them if we win the other games we should win. To be struggling at 5-4 is still not anything that excites me very much.

if we finish 8-4, I will forgive the poor losses early in the year. Otherwise, spare me the glorious headlines.

 

[MWBATL]

Firing him now would be a total disaster...

A.) The season has turned around
B.) The structure is in place for a great season next year. Great OL returns, QB returns, 3 good BBacks return, A-Backs will be good.

G-Tech has a 9+ win team coming back next season.

Hope springs eternal....people were saying that about *this* year's team, remember?

 

[AE 87]

Denying that his one game over .500 record vs. FBS for the last 8 3/4 seasons is mediocre is what is laughable.
That 80 wins includes 13 FCS wins. No Tech coach has come close to playing that many per year. To your point about schedules, Gailey had 3 FCS games in his 6 seasons, for example. Most Big10 teams don't play FCS teams. Notre Dame doesn't.
He's a great FCS coach no doubt. But we aren't FCS, at least not yet.
As usual, I find myself throwing out facts that the mediocrity lovers can't refute and will ignore, while they throw out opinions to advance their unsupportable position.

I appreciate your passion. However, I suspect that you have not been in a successful business where it was your responsibility to evaluate performance and make hiring decisions. I hope I'm right on that suspicion.

When evaluating the job performance of a coach, you have to evaluate past performance in view of the likelihood of obtaining the performance you desire in the future.

In the case of CPJ and GT, a rational evaluation would have to take into account that in his first 10 years he won coach of the year 3 times which is more than any other coach in the conference over that time.

Over those ten years, while CPJ has also served as Offensive Coordinator, GT's offense has been top 10 nationally in scoring efficiency (points/drive versus BCS AQ or Pwr5 opponents).

Even though GT's D has under-performed, Tech still played in the conference championship game three times. Of Coastal teams, only VPI with 4 times has played in more than one.

Furthermore, recognizing that our D was under-performing, CPJ has changed coordinators 3 times (with reported interferance/involvement of AD). We've had coaches in the past who stayed pat with poor coordinators for too long.

With GT's limited budget, an AD has to decide what is more feasable, finding and affording a new HC, OC, and DC as well as other assistant coaches or finding a DC who can make it work alongside CPJ.

Without knowing for sure how much influence outsiders had in the hiring of past DC's, I still think the rational decision would be to give CPJ a chance with CNW for another year regardless. CNW is the only DC we've had under CPJ which seems to be his first choice.

 

[684Bee]

When we start winning games against teams we appear to be level with (nominally) such as Duke, USF, Pitt.....only then will I become satisfied with CPJ and his offense again.

This was a year where we could easily have gone 10-2 or 9-3. The Coastal teams are all quite average, none are powers. Our non-conference opponents were not that challenging. We simply are NOT on the level of Clemson and Georgia and I can forgive losing to them if we win the other games we should win. To be struggling at 5-4 is still not anything that excites me very much.

if we finish 8-4, I will forgive the poor losses early in the year. Otherwise, spare me the glorious headlines.

You correctly note we are not on the level of Clemson and Uga. What you miss is that, according to recruiting rankings and/or $, we are also not on the same level as any of our Coastal opponents. It’s not a given that we should beat UNC, UVA, VT, Pitt, or Duke.

 

[Southpaw13]

Absolutely... I think all parties involved deserve a little time to see what Woody can do, as well as the effects of increasing the recruiting staff/budget and how that will play out the next few years.

As I said before, winning cures all. CPJ needs to win vs. Miami this week and then find a way to split UGA and UVA.

 

[hwdgeplague]

Johnson hasn't had two consecutive winning seasons vs FBS with his own recruits since those first 2 years. Why can't he coach his own recruits up?
He was 17-7 vs FBS his first 2 years and hasn't come close to that kind of record in any 2 year period since.
So you tell me--did he need Gailey's better recruits to obtain that record or did he forget how to coach?
What is a bunch of crap is believing that 2008-2009 had nothing to do with the quality of players Gailey left behind---and which Johnson hasn't been able to match.
9 consecutive years of Johnson with his recruits is a pretty significant statistical measure. But keep ignoring the facts to make your point.

 

[Cam]

I am feeling much better about our future after going 4-1 in the last 5 games. We've looked good under Oliver and I wonder if Lucas Johnson hadn't gotten injured if he would have taken over the reigns early in the season. The defense has improved as of late and should be even better next year. And if you look at our recruiting, 14 of our top 20 players are underclassmen. The program seems to be trending upward, and we all know that whoever is the coach the next few years will be reaping the rewards of the new apparel deal, new locker rooms/facilities, and the new recruiting staff members. Outside of Clemson, our losses have mostly been the result of beating ourselves. If we can continue any positive momentum and IF CPJ can win two of the remaining three games, I think we are in a great spot moving forward.

Frankly, I don't really see a REALISTIC candidate that will be a solid improvement over CPJ at this point either. None of the names I've seen mentioned would be an unquestionable upgrade for the same or less price that we are paying Johnson. It'd have to be some scenario where a school fires a proven coach with a big buyout and they come to work here for cheap (e.g. Malzahn).