Paul Johnson time frame.

[Boaty1]

Same

There was no negative spin. I said 2007 was remarkable recruiting, and it certainly helped our 2008 and 2009 success under CPJ. We have zero evidence that 2008 would have been a great class under Gailey because he was not there to complete it. People decommit from schools all the time. I am not saying it was going to be bad. I am saying that it didn't happen, so we will never know.

The one who ended up at UNC? That was a rough one to lose for sure, but you can't say you are 100% positive he doesn't decommit anyways. You *assume* he wouldn't, and you are probably right. It is still just an assumption though. All we have to go off of is what actually happened, not what you think would happen.

Just wow. Seriously. It doesn’t matter if it’s politics or sports it’s really difficult for some people to have objective discussions. The fact that you say I’m guessing as to the state of our recruiting in 08 is supremely frustrating but it is what it is. You don’t know me and I’m sure we could have a much more productive conversation in person. I don’t just make things up. Message boards suck but my wife is gone to the movies with friends and I’m bored so I can’t stop.

 

[ibeattetris]

Just wow. Seriously. It doesn’t matter if it’s politics or sports it’s really difficult for some people to have objective discussions. The fact that you say I’m guessing as to the state of our recruiting in 08 is supremely frustrating but it is what it is. You don’t know me and I’m sure we could have a much more productive conversation in person. I don’t just make things up. Message boards suck but my wife is gone to the movies with friends and I’m bored so I can’t stop.

Our class may have been looking good, but it never happened. I never said it didn't have the potential to be good. At the end of the day, it never actually occurred. The best we can do is assume no one decommits from the class and it ends high. That is still just an assumption though.

I don't understand why there is a disconnect.

 

[Boaty1]

Our class may have been looking good, but it never happened. I never said it didn't have the potential to be good. At the end of the day, it never actually occurred. The best we can do is assume no one decommits from the class and it ends high. That is still just an assumption though.

I don't understand why there is a disconnect.

Because recruiting was going better in December of 07 when Gailey was fired than any December since Johnson has been here. 08 was proving 07 not to be a complete abberation. While it was not shaping up as strongly it was miles better than Gailey pre 07. He had figured something out.

What does that mean? It means the 2 immediate predecessors had figured out how to recruit at a level that Johnson has not been able to approach. They figured out ways to overcome the limited curriculum, the calculus requirement and the smaller fan base so maybe these issues aren’t as big of a deal as fans make them out to be. Why were they able to figure it out and not Johnson?

Sure the resources gap has widened. And that should be considered. But this crap I hear about GT never recruiting better than this is just crap. In spurts we have done better and I view the goal to be the ceiling and not the table. The question I ask myself is can Johnson maximize GT’s potential. Which certainly isn’t what FSU or Bama’s is. But it is also more than Duke, WF, Pitt, BC, etc. I’ve seen some of our fans arguing Duke is a better job than GT to justify losing to them consistently. That is preposterous.

Ultimately I don’t think Johnson is as good as we can tdo and I view settling for Johnson as essentially waving the white flag and acknowledging inferiority to a level our program shouldn’t have to do. We just came off an 18 year bowl streak spanning 3 coaches. We are a solid program capable of winning with any style offense. We don’t have to limit ourselves. We are better than that.

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

Ive said the same thing. This could've been a special year

I had hopes the defense would pick up the new scheme faster, but in hindsight it went as expected. We also in general put a few balls on the ground early in the season. The combination of the two really hurt us. But at least we now have a lot of the new defense growing pains behind us. We can only go up from here.

But then again next year we have a less experienced QB (Lucas please come back at full speed) and we lose some good DL talent.

 

[slugboy]

Um no, you have not seen as much football as I have. CPJ is the most successful coach Tech has had since Dodd.

I like a lot of what he’s done, but I can’t put him ahead of Ross, and I wouldn’t put him ahead of the O’Leary/Friedgen combo. I’ll put him ahead of O’Leary with O’Brien though.

He’s been a great coach, but he’s responsible for some of the difficulties he faces. Not all of them by any stretch, but defense and special teams have been a problem for his entire tenure, and he’s created a rep as a grumpy curmudgeon. If instead he had a reputation as a good old boy, I think high school coaches would like his offense more and we’d get more support from them.

I’m not entirely sure why grumpiness hurts him so much. O’Leary wasn’t the cuddliest guy on Earth, and James Franklin has a jerk reputation but recruits like gangbusters.

I hope he’s finally turning the defense around.

The Orange Bowl years are definitely to his credit. But, the years where we lost in bowl games or stayed home are negatives.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Cam]

I've never understood why people complain about offensive recruiting. In the last 11 years (including this year), our offensive FEI rankings is 21 (average of 27). Who cares if we aren't pulling 5* offensive recruits when we've put up a top 25 offense in 8 of 11 years? I mean, it would fun if we got a couple 4* RBs or QBs and they could probably take us to being a consistent 2014 level offense, but the product on the field is an enviable one for a lot of teams with better talent.

Now, you could definitely say that better defensive talent could make up for some deficiencies we have there. But if you look at our 10 most highly rated recruits, 8 are on defense. Most importantly, ALL but Anree Saint-Amour (ranked 10th) are underclassmen. We're trending upward on that side of the ball and if even half of them reach Anree's level, we're going to have something very good. Wait for Jordan-Swilling, King, Henderson, Tre Swilling, Dingle, Chimedza, and Charlie Thomas to develop. Hell, Tariq Carpenter and Juanyeh Thomas are proving to be great underrated steals who are only going to get better as well.

 

[MountainBuzzMan]

I like a lot of what he’s done, but I can’t put him ahead of Ross, and I wouldn’t put him ahead of the O’Leary/Friedgen combo. I’ll put him ahead of O’Leary with O’Brien though.

He’s been a great coach, but he’s responsible for some of the difficulties he faces. Not all of them by any stretch, but defense and special teams have been a problem for his entire tenure, and he’s created a rep as a grumpy curmudgeon. If instead he had a reputation as a good old boy, I think high school coaches would like his offense more and we’d get more support from them.

I’m not entirely sure why grumpiness hurts him so much. O’Leary wasn’t the cuddliest guy on Earth, and James Franklin has a jerk reputation but recruits like gangbusters.

I hope he’s finally turning the defense around.

The Orange Bowl years are definitely to his credit. But, the years where we lost in bowl games or stayed home are negatives.


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I partially agree with the defense comment. I believe that defensive coaching makes a big difference and the limited cash available for assistants has probably hurt us by one to two games a year. Just look how much better the DL is playing with a coach who is actually coaching them. Now special teams, he owns that. No excuse there to be almost the worst in the country. We should be at least around our recruiting rankings 40-50

For me the most frustrating thing is the limited cash for football. Probably need about $1.5 to $2M per year for assistant coaches and about another $5o0K to $1M for recruiting assistants.

 

[LibertyTurns]

It seems like a winning 61% of your games is more successful than winning 58% to me. Anyone have a calculator?

Man, we have some weird revisionist history on here don’t we?

Ross won a championship. You can’t top that.

I liked O’Leary a lot but he had 3 good seasons out of 7. He was ranked 5 yrs in at least 1 poll but nowadays a 7-5 ACC team would never be ranked. Hell a 9-4 GT team in 2016 that beat 3 big bad SEC teams couldn’t even get ranked.

I also like Johnson. He has 4 maybe 5 good years out of 10 with a chance for another good year this year.

Chan- I can’t believe the love for that man. He had 1 good year in six. Squandered a ton of NFL talent. For the anti-mediocrity crowd why they like him is quizzical.

Curry- 1 good year in 7. Up the middle, up the middle, up the middle, punt. Need I say more? Yes, he brought us back from the dead.

Carson- 1 good year in 5. Fulcher after 2 season of which 1 was good quit due to all the BS surrounding desegregation. Pepper Rogers had maybe 1 good season.

Then we’re back to Dodd, a legend. Can’t compete with that.

 

[ibeattetris]

I've never understood why people complain about offensive recruiting. In the last 11 years (including this year), our offensive FEI rankings is 21 (average of 27). Who cares if we aren't pulling 5* offensive recruits when we've put up a top 25 offense in 8 of 11 years? I mean, it would fun if we got a couple 4* RBs or QBs and they could probably take us to being a consistent 2014 level offense, but the product on the field is an enviable one for a lot of teams with better talent.

Now, you could definitely say that better defensive talent could make up for some deficiencies we have there. But if you look at our 10 most highly rated recruits, 8 are on defense. Most importantly, ALL but Anree Saint-Amour (ranked 10th) are underclassmen. We're trending upward on that side of the ball and if even half of them reach Anree's level, we're going to have something very good. Wait for Jordan-Swilling, King, Henderson, Tre Swilling, Dingle, Chimedza, and Charlie Thomas to develop. Hell, Tariq Carpenter and Juanyeh Thomas are proving to be great underrated steals who are only going to get better as well.

This is exactly how I feel. I will never argue with someone who says CPJ needs to go because he hasn’t fielde a defense. It’s true that he hasn’t. He certainly is trying, and hopefully, this DC will prove successful.

Blaming him for the offense when we’ve had multiple top 10 offenses and even more in the top 25 is laughable.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

The question I ask myself is can Johnson maximize GT’s potential. Which certainly isn’t what FSU or Bama’s is. But it is also more than Duke, WF, Pitt, BC, etc. I’ve seen some of our fans arguing Duke is a better job than GT to justify losing to them consistently. That is preposterous.

When all of these schools with the exception of WF spend more on football, and athletics in general, than us, why should we expect better results than them? This is not a coach issue, it's an athletic department issue. And CPJ has never lost to BC or WF. Gaily, however, did.

 

[Animal02]

Because recruiting was going better in December of 07 when Gailey was fired than any December since Johnson has been here. 08 was proving 07 not to be a complete abberation. While it was not shaping up as strongly it was miles better than Gailey pre 07. He had figured something out.

What does that mean? It means the 2 immediate predecessors had figured out how to recruit at a level that Johnson has not been able to approach. They figured out ways to overcome the limited curriculum, the calculus requirement and the smaller fan base so maybe these issues aren’t as big of a deal as fans make them out to be. Why were they able to figure it out and not Johnson?

Sure the resources gap has widened. And that should be considered. But this crap I hear about GT never recruiting better than this is just crap. In spurts we have done better and I view the goal to be the ceiling and not the table. The question I ask myself is can Johnson maximize GT’s potential. Which certainly isn’t what FSU or Bama’s is. But it is also more than Duke, WF, Pitt, BC, etc. I’ve seen some of our fans arguing Duke is a better job than GT to justify losing to them consistently. That is preposterous.

Ultimately I don’t think Johnson is as good as we can tdo and I view settling for Johnson as essentially waving the white flag and acknowledging inferiority to a level our program shouldn’t have to do. We just came off an 18 year bowl streak spanning 3 coaches. We are a solid program capable of winning with any style offense. We don’t have to limit ourselves. We are better than that.

As usual, you ignore the facts to advance your narrative. CG only had to deal with the very being of the AP requirements....and nothing like what was stiffened in 2011. You hand wave away all the other issues that impact recruiting simply because of your dislike of the coach and the offense. Thankfully, very few buy the crap sandwich your are trying to sell.

 

[Animal02]

When all of these schools with the exception of WF spend more on football, and athletics in general, than us, why should we expect better results than them? This is not a coach issue, it's an athletic department issue. And CPJ has never lost to BC or WF. Gaily, however, did.

Those facts don't fit his narrative.

 

[Coloradojacket]

Oh my. O’Leary had 5 straight top 25 finishes. What are you talking about?

No, he did not. In 2001 his last year we were not ranked. We were ranked in 98 and 2000. 99 we finished 8-5

 

[MikeJackets1967]

When all of these schools with the exception of WF spend more on football, and athletics in general, than us, why should we expect better results than them? This is not a coach issue, it's an athletic department issue. And CPJ has never lost to BC or WF. Gaily, however, did.

George O'Leary opened the 1998 season seeing his GT team losing 41-31 to Boston College

 

[Coloradojacket]

I like a lot of what he’s done, but I can’t put him ahead of Ross, and I wouldn’t put him ahead of the O’Leary/Friedgen combo. I’ll put him ahead of O’Leary with O’Brien though.

He’s been a great coach, but he’s responsible for some of the difficulties he faces. Not all of them by any stretch, but defense and special teams have been a problem for his entire tenure, and he’s created a rep as a grumpy curmudgeon. If instead he had a reputation as a good old boy, I think high school coaches would like his offense more and we’d get more support from them.

I’m not entirely sure why grumpiness hurts him so much. O’Leary wasn’t the cuddliest guy on Earth, and James Franklin has a jerk reputation but recruits like gangbusters.

I hope he’s finally turning the defense around.

The Orange Bowl years are definitely to his credit. But, the years where we lost in bowl games or stayed home are negatives.


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Funny thing about Ross, we only think of 1990 but forget 1987, 1988 and 1991. CPJ has eclipsed Bobby Ross in many ways, in a much tougher time. Ross did not have to deal with FSU and Miami.

 

[Boaty1]

No, he did not. In 2001 his last year we were not ranked. We were ranked in 98 and 2000. 99 we finished 8-5

My friend we did finish ranked in 5 straight years. It’s just a fact. I may say something you disagree with, but I rarely say something that is factually incorrect. Just save yourself peace of mind and take me at my word.

 

[Boaty1]

George O'Leary opened the 1998 season seeing his GT team losing 41-31 to Boston College

Mike Cloud ran for a million yards. We then went on to only lose 1 more game the rest of the year.

 

[Boaty1]

Funny thing about Ross, we only think of 1990 but forget 1987, 1988 and 1991. CPJ has eclipsed Bobby Ross in many ways, in a much tougher time. Ross did not have to deal with FSU and Miami.

Are you related to Johnson? Maybe a childhood friend?

 

[stech81]

I'm not taking sides I'll just put this here if you want to look

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/georgia-tech/index.html

 

[Coloradojacket]

My friend we did finish ranked in 5 straight years. It’s just a fact. I may say something you disagree with, but I rarely say something that is factually incorrect. Just save yourself peace of mind and take me at my word.

So you are correct. But Oleary won 61% of his games and CPJ has won 60% of his, and I would say the CPJ years had tougher schedules