Prominent Coaches' First Year Scares

[stech81]

Can he play OL though?

At 230 we could try it.

 

[WreckinGT]

The reaction would likely be different if we had beaten a terrible USF team soundly and if our offense didn’t look like a clown show. We have yet to have a positive game this year and so far it doesn’t look like we are improving. When we almost lost to Gardner Webb, we were 4-1 and blew out two power 5 teams the previous two games. When UGA nearly lost to Nicholls St, it was the week after beating a ranked team in a prime time game. Those teams didn’t lose, but even if they did it may look like a fluke based on what had already happened that season. Some good will was already built. I’m not so sure ours is a fluke. If we played Citadel again this weekend, I’m not sure we would win.

That said, he isn’t going anywhere. He has plenty of time to turn this around even if he goes 1-11 this year. If he starts winning, the fans will be there.

 

[GT Man]

Too much logic.

Realize also that NO 1st year coach in GT history inherited a roster as good as CPJ. At least 5 that went to the NFL.

Those "good" players were recruited for an entirely different offense. Not sure this point is valid.

 

[gtg391z]

What? Nesbit is arguably the best QB in the 11years. Dwyer was def. the best B-back, D. Thomas was the best receiver, Roddy and Peeples(sp) were the best a-back duo for the 11years of us running the 3o. Plus the defense was outstanding. There is nothing similar to CPJ first year to what CGC inherited.

 

[turfjacket]

I know that the loss yesterday still stings, but I think it's worth looking at it from a different perspective. Below I'll list a couple coaches' first seasons with new teams and some notable games.

Nick Saban @ LSU (2000): Lost to UAB 10-13 on Homecoming - a Conference USA team that finished 7-4.
Nick Saban @ Alabama (2007): Lost to Louisiana-Monroe 14-21 - a Sun Belt team that finished 6-6.
Kirby Smart (2016): Beat Nicholls State 26-24 in his first home game - an FCS team that finished 5-6.
Paul Johnson @ GT (2008): Beat Gardner-Webb 10-7 - an FCS team that finished 5-6.

Let's look at one last one. Gary Patterson has had a pretty great career at TCU and is entering his 20th season. He has a 169-63 record overall, has seven 10+ win seasons finishing in the top 10 (3 in the last 5 seasons), and is known as one of the best defensive minds in college football. He went 6-6 in his first year after the team finished 10-1 the previous season under the old coach. That first season for Patterson included several bad losses, most notably one to FCS Northwestern State on Homecoming with a score of 27-24 in OT. Sounds familiar.

The point is that these kinds of games happen everywhere in the first season and aren't indicative of the future success of a coach. You can argue "a win is a win" in Smart and Johnson's case, but that doesn't excuse the team performance in those games. I'm not saying that Collins will win a national championship in year 4 like Saban at LSU (or year 3 at Alabama), make the finals like Smart in year 2, or even win 9 games like Johnson. But transition years where we rank 119th in returning production aren't always a recipe for success, even against Citadel. I just ask to try to keep faith like our current and former players (Synjyn Days and Trey Braun) who are closest to the program and believe things are headed the right way despite the loss. The coaches and players will learn from this loss and build on it. Just hope they're building quickly.

Fantastic post! Well done Cam!

 

[pbrown520]

What? Nesbit is arguably the best QB in the 11years. Dwyer was def. the best B-back, D. Thomas was the best receiver, Roddy and Peeples(sp) were the best a-back duo for the 11years of us running the 3o. Plus the defense was outstanding. There is nothing similar to CPJ first year to what CGC inherited.

And those great players were really young and PJ got the most out of them. The OL was a complete patchwork (remember Austin Barrick playing OL?).

There is no doubt that this team has less talent, but 1 win with this team will be absurd and will be a terrible coaching job. The coastal is largely crap - hopefully he can eeke out a couple more wins.

Pnode to this point has been complete garbage. He hasn't been able to cover any of the offensive deficiencies that we have - which is what good coordinators are able to do. Find one thing we can do and build off that. Hopefully that changes next game and he finds something.

 

[Boaty1]

It’s what they do now that will cement their future near term and short term. It’s on them to get this program back to the level they received it, then improve from there.

They received a flat dumpster fire. You do realize virtually every prognostication picked us to finish dead last in the ACC don’t you? That is what this staff inherited.

 

[LibertyTurns]

They received a flat dumpster fire. You do realize virtually every prognostication picked us to finish dead last in the ACC don’t you? That is what this staff inherited.

And what year exactly didn’t the damn experts pick us to suck except the 1 or 2 they predicted us to win a lot and then we sucked? Yeah they nailed it this year. Who could even have imagined a group of people that were wrong 10 seasons in a row nailed it ahead of time how inept our coaching staff is? I wouldn’t have bet on those experts & in fact I didn’t.

 

[TheTechGuy]

You’re carefully forgetting all the offensive line problems that lead to inconsistency in QB play.
Even further, we aren’t privy to all the reps in practice. So, we can only come to conclusions without the full set of data available.

Well by God, Jordan Mason must be the best RB in the country considering how our fans are describing the OL. He's averaging almost 6 ypc behind the group. Not that Patenaude establishes the run with him, since it's a much better coaching decision to have LJ stand in a stagnant pocket.

 

[BleedGoldNWhite21]

They received a flat dumpster fire. You do realize virtually every prognostication picked us to finish dead last in the ACC don’t you? That is what this staff inherited.

They did the same in 2008. Did those same prognostications simply not realize CPJ inherited the ‘85 Bears?

 

[slugboy]

I think CPJ started in better shape, but his roster wasn’t loaded. He had more talent on defense and in the receiving corps than he usually did. There were gaps on the line. I also think that was the best coaching staff of his tenure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Boaty1]

They did the same in 2008. Did those same prognostications simply not realize CPJ inherited the ‘85 Bears?

Fair enough. Johnson inherited a program that had been ranked in the top at some point for 3 straight years and had a Sophomore class that was the best in 8 years.

Johnson handed his successor a program that hasn't been ranked since the second week of 2015. He handed his successor one of the youngest and least talented teams in power 5.

Johnson's best 2 year stretch came with the program he inherited. His worst 4 years were his last 4 years.

If you think Johnson left the program in as good of shape as he found it then we just disagree.