Thank you, Paul

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The Doddfather

The Doddfather

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You were always the smartest guy in the room. You were the master at your craft and I appreciate your genius. The spread (triple) option offense was always the great equalizer and I will always be in awe of how you could analyze plays from a field level and send plays in without a play sheet. The last 11 years I spent watching Tech football were amazing. You will be missed. HOF
 
cuttysark

cuttysark

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It will be quite ironic that a year from now CPJ gets back into coaching. I can see him taking over at Army as Monkey will be hired by a Power 5 school. CPJ will miss coaching as it's embedded in his blood.
 

Skeptic

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SteamWhistle said:
Doubt Monken wants/would get a Power 5 shot.
Click to expand...
Look, the reality is this, even by those of us who think the option offense is the last thinking man's offense: it had its shot in P5 football, and along the way had some great success: Orange Bowls, COY, conference championship, division championships, huge rushing numbers and some startling big play moments. In the end though the results were mediocre, Johnson could not recruit a QB for the most demanding offense in football -- Marshall proved again in Detroit that he was no QB -- and his defense could never shore up the weaknesses. In short, you won't see it in a P5 program again. Neither Monken nor Johnson will take it there. Too bad because I love the offense but not enough people do. Monken, meanwhile, made more than $1 million this season and if it is not the multiples at major colleges, it is big for Army and probably about as much as he can reasonably expect. On top of that, lest we grow scaly-eyed, a million bucks is a lot of money in any league. Johnson can't stay away, but it will be back in a lower league. And that scandalous sendoff his team gave him in Detroit will be a big incentive. Georgia Tech became the USC of Kiffin and the Sun Bowl.
 

Skeptic

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SteamWhistle said:
Doubt Monken wants/would get a Power 5 shot.
Click to expand...
Look, the reality is this, even by those of us who think the option offense is the last thinking man's offense: it had its shot in P5 football, and along the way had some great success: Orange Bowls, COY, conference championship, division championships, huge rushing numbers and some startling big play moments. In the end though the results were mediocre, Johnson could not recruit a QB for the most demanding offense in football -- Marshall proved again in Detroit that he was no QB -- and his defense could never shore up the weaknesses. In short, you won't see it in a P5 program again. Neither Monken nor Johnson will take it there. Too bad because I love the offense but not enough people do. Monken, meanwhile, made more than $1 million this season and if it is not the multiples at major colleges, it is big for Army and probably about as much as he can reasonably expect. On top of that, lest we grow scaly-eyed, a million bucks is a lot of money in any league. Johnson can't stay away, but it will be back in a lower league. And that scandalous sendoff his team gave him in Detroit will be a big incentive. Georgia Tech became the USC of Kiffin and the Sun Bowl.
 

RamblinRed

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While I agree with the sentiment about thanking Coach Johnson as he brought us some incredible highs, some of the statement just isn't true.

He thought he was always the smartest guy in the room, sometimes he wasn't though.

More importantly, the idea that the option was a great equalizer is just straight out false.
Over his last 5 seasons- which includes the Orange Bowl GT was 14-16 against Coastal competition, 20-21 against ACC teams. Forget about it being some great equalizer, GT wasn't even winning 50% of its games against pretty similar competition.

While it definitely helped us on offense with prospects that were considered 'lesser' players, the issues included that it seemed to hurt us on defense (or the HC did) and Johnson never seemed to care about ST.

I think he will coach again in a year or 2, but it is unlikely to be at a P5 level. it is more likely to be at a G5 school or FCS.
After what happened at AZ last year it is hard to see any school other than maybe a really bad P5 giving any thought to hiring an under center option coach.
 

grandpa jacket

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RamblinRed said:
While I agree with the sentiment about thanking Coach Johnson as he brought us some incredible highs, some of the statement just isn't true.

He thought he was always the smartest guy in the room, sometimes he wasn't though.

More importantly, the idea that the option was a great equalizer is just straight out false.
Over his last 5 seasons- which includes the Orange Bowl GT was 14-16 against Coastal competition, 20-21 against ACC teams. Forget about it being some great equalizer, GT wasn't even winning 50% of its games against pretty similar competition.

While it definitely helped us on offense with prospects that were considered 'lesser' players, the issues included that it seemed to hurt us on defense (or the HC did) and Johnson never seemed to care about ST.

I think he will coach again in a year or 2, but it is unlikely to be at a P5 level. it is more likely to be at a G5 school or FCS.
After what happened at AZ last year it is hard to see any school other than maybe a really bad P5 giving any thought to hiring an under center option coach.
Click to expand...
Truly a great evaluation
 
The Doddfather

The Doddfather

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RamblinRed said:
While I agree with the sentiment about thanking Coach Johnson as he brought us some incredible highs, some of the statement just isn't true.

He thought he was always the smartest guy in the room, sometimes he wasn't though.

More importantly, the idea that the option was a great equalizer is just straight out false.
Over his last 5 seasons- which includes the Orange Bowl GT was 14-16 against Coastal competition, 20-21 against ACC teams. Forget about it being some great equalizer, GT wasn't even winning 50% of its games against pretty similar competition.

While it definitely helped us on offense with prospects that were considered 'lesser' players, the issues included that it seemed to hurt us on defense (or the HC did) and Johnson never seemed to care about ST.

I think he will coach again in a year or 2, but it is unlikely to be at a P5 level. it is more likely to be at a G5 school or FCS.
After what happened at AZ last year it is hard to see any school other than maybe a really bad P5 giving any thought to hiring an under center option coach.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your opinion and detailed breakdown. I was hoping we could just have a thread to thank Paul after his last game and not turn it into anything else.
 
4shotB

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RamblinRed said:
More importantly, the idea that the option was a great equalizer is just straight out false.
Over his last 5 seasons- which includes the Orange Bowl GT was 14-16 against Coastal competition, 20-21 against ACC teams. Forget about it being some great equalizer, GT wasn't even winning 50% of its games against pretty similar competition.

I think he will coach again in a year or 2, but it is unlikely to be at a P5 level. it is more likely to be at a G5 school or FCS.
After what happened at AZ last year it is hard to see any school other than maybe a really bad P5 giving any thought to hiring an under center option coach.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%. the 20-21 record I think summarizes the whole thing pretty well. If that represented an elevation of the program (say he achieved that at Indiana vs. Big 10) it would be one thing. I think CPJ proved that his offense could work at this level. But I don't believe his system is beneficial to the overall health of the program (recruiting, D, ST, etc.) as the data suggests. Or perhaps CPJ was just better as an OC rather than as a CEO of a program. I think the takeaway from his tenure here is that the system IS a unique advantage in the short term but in the long term the negatives outweigh the positives.

So, I don't think a really bottom feeder (kansas, indiana, Oregon State, etc.) would take a chance on CPJ at his age. And I don't think Monken or Ken at Navy would leave their situations for one of those opportinities.

Which leads to the conclusion that the Quick Lane Bowl may have been the final curtain call for this system in major CFB.
 
jacketup

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I wish Coach Johnson well, but I am glad to close this chapter of Tech football. There was an exciting Orange Bowl win (thanks in part to FSU getting into the playoff and Geoff Collins resigning from MSU) but also a loss to a Kansas team that ended up 3-9 and a thrashing by MTSU at Grant Field.

The last 9 years averaged out to mediocrity. I believe we can do better. I am excited about our new enthusiastic coach. I just hope people wait until at least the end of the 2021 season to make judgments about him-- although that is unlikely to happen.
 
slugboy

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Candeto logged his thanks

@CoachCandeto: Humbled to have been a part of such a storied football program. Thanks to the GT family for making our time on The Flats special. Thanks to @GTPaulJohnson, our staff, and players for making GT our home. Thanks to my QBs/Bs. I love you guys + always will. God's good, all the time!

For me, the flexbone was a chance to watch football a new way. Johnson brought some excitement, especially in his first few years , that the flats had been sorely missing.

I hope the upcoming years are as or more interesting and innovative (in all three phases this time) as you started off here.

Thanks Paul!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Coloradojacket

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4shotB said:
I agree 100%. the 20-21 record I think summarizes the whole thing pretty well. If that represented an elevation of the program (say he achieved that at Indiana vs. Big 10) it would be one thing. I think CPJ proved that his offense could work at this level. But I don't believe his system is beneficial to the overall health of the program (recruiting, D, ST, etc.) as the data suggests. Or perhaps CPJ was just better as an OC rather than as a CEO of a program. I think the takeaway from his tenure here is that the system IS a unique advantage in the short term but in the long term the negatives outweigh the positives.

So, I don't think a really bottom feeder (kansas, indiana, Oregon State, etc.) would take a chance on CPJ at his age. And I don't think Monken or Ken at Navy would leave their situations for one of those opportinities.

Which leads to the conclusion that the Quick Lane Bowl may have been the final curtain call for this system in major CFB.
Click to expand...

LOL....I believe if you go back and look at Gailey's and O'Leary's records against the ACC you will find them very similar. CPJ also had to face a better ACC with the addition of Va Tech, Pitt and Miami. What he did was be able to beat Fla State and Georgia and put together a few big winning years, something that the previous 2 coaches only did once 1998.
 
4shotB

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Coloradojacket said:
LOL....I believe if you go back and look at Gailey's and O'Leary's records against the ACC you will find them very similar.
Click to expand...

You are exactly right! Which is why I said his numbers did not represent an elevation from what had been previously achieved by his peers. LOL. An elevation in the context here means 'to improve upon" or "go higher". I am taking the long view. yes, there were some things he did that were noteworthy. But i don't feel like the program is any better than what he inherited. In fact, it may be slightly worse now than what he did inherit based on watching our last 2 games.
 
Cam

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I'll say this, in Paul Johnson's 11 seasons we won every single cross-division ACC game. Amazing considering our horrendous 2015 team played an undefeated FSU and we still won that one too. As far as being an equalizer goes, we were generally pretty good at beating teams that didn't regularly see our offense. But I think in recent years, teams within our division started scheduling more option programs or requesting byes before us and (coupled with seeing us yearly) we lost that uniqueness advantage. But it was nice getting that one game a year where an Atlantic foe was panicking about having to play GT. Those were fun games.
 
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