The cold hard facts of GT Offense, Defense, Head Coaches

Bibb Stinger

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
16
All:

New poster, diehard fan. Reading these posts comparing HC, win percentages, bowl games, ACC titles, appearances etc., it’s interesting to discuss until Collins starts, then we have new topics.

Bottom line: GT has enjoyed substantial success three times since 1980’s.
Bobby Ross- God bless Homer Rice and Bobby Ross- named my dog after him. A Ross among dozens of Herschels.
George O’Leary- There's more to the story.
Paul Johnson.

Post after post comparing head coaches, who’s the best, who won more, who had injures, who won with someone else’s talent, O’Leary slightly ahead of Johnson, Gailey did a decent job. My head starts exploding.

The two best coaches at Georgia Tech, since Pepper- Ralph Friedgen and Paul Johnson. That’s it , that’s the list.
Yes, Ralph was not a head coach. Just an unquestioned offensive genius. Problem is, we didn’t know to what extent he carried programs, until a few years after he left for Maryland. A bit of history:
Ross / Friedgen- 3 ACC titles at Maryland, National Championship at Tech, Super Bowl appearance with Chargers
O’Leary / Friedgen- One of the best 4 year runs in Tech history. 34-14, 3 and 1 in the season ending non-conference game.
Friedgen leaves for Maryland, 10-2 initial season, wins 27 COY awards, O’Leary goes 7-5 and leaves for Notre Dame.
O’Leary record at Tech without Ralph- 18-16 (not counting 0-3, to finish BL season).
Why do you think Notre Dame changed its mind on O’Leary? A 20 year old fib on his resume? Come on now.

Friedens’s career as a coordinator and head coach;
Maryland- 3 consecutive ACC titles
Tech- National Championship
San Diego Chargers- Super Bowl appearance
Tech/O'Leary- 4 year run: 34-14 Co- ACC title

Leaves for Maryland, officially known as the dumpster fire. One winning season in the past 10 years.
Year 1- 10-2 Orange Bowl
Year 2- 11-3 Peach Bowl. Maryland first bowl win in 15 years
Year 3- 10-3 Gator Bowl win
In four years at ‘Dumpster Fire’, Ralph set the record for wins in ACC (for a 4 year period)

Overall record at Maryland 75-50. Ralph was fired after going 9-4 and a bowl game win. Apparently, the AD thought Maryland was now Nebraska. Last and not least for all of us. Ralph’s record versus the Mutts: 5 and 4. ‘Nugh said. Build a statue.

So on my Mount Rushmore of Georgia Tech Head Ccoaches:

Bobby Dodd
Bobby Ross- absolutely won a National Freaking Championship
Paul Johnson- Offensive genius, Sideline genius, improved the academic performance every year he was here.
#4- Open to debate. But it ain’t O’Leary.

All this to highlight there is more to the numbers than wins, percentages, titles, especially for Tech. Tech will not win consistently with defense and special teams. Tech football for the past 40 years, we have only won with tremendous offensive innovators. We won a National championship with good/greet defense and a offensive innovator.

Great defenses have to be great at the point of attack, wherever that may be. Coach Collins won’t be great everywhere. Not at Tech. He must have an offensive innovator who can wrong foot a defense, set up plays that grab big chunks of yards. Keep the ball and score, consistently.
Collins will improve recruiting, defense, special teams. That bar is set low. More than likely the offense will not improve, but take a step back.
But if Collins wins similar to Johnson, 11 years in, 82-59, 3 ACC championship appearances, 11 win season, etc.
Will we be satisfied, after his considerable upgrade in talent? Improved recruiting, increased expectations.
 

dressedcheeseside

Helluva Engineer
Messages
14,218
Welcome to the board! Well thought out and supported. The word innovation has been bantered about a lot lately. It's something TStan said was critical. It's something CGC says he'll implement. We shall see. We know CPJ was innovative, everybody knew it. His problem was Jimmies and Joes and a lot of his struggles there were (and still are) institutional/GT related, not scheme related. Good luck Geoff, you're gonna need it.
 

Madison Grant

Helluva Engineer
Messages
2,276
I'm fine with these posts that want to say that Paul Johnson isn't getting enough respect from fans, and that he's better than he's getting credit for. What I don't care for is the "we can't this", "we can't that" stuff, putting limitations on the new coach before he's coached a game. To say that a guy who's had successful defenses as a coordinator at two SEC schools and as a HC can't have a successful defense here because "Tech can't do that" is way premature. John Tenuta had success at Tech by being innovative defensively.
 

charles

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
168
It always gets back to the Jimmies and Joes; Every coach has tried to emulate the success of Dabo and Clemson with minimal success; And these schools notably all of the schools presently in the ACC with none of the recruiting and academic restrictions of GT; So with this said Good Luck; To me 7 and 4 running a spread is the same as 7 and 4 running the flexbone
 

Deleted member 2897

Guest
All:

New poster, diehard fan. Reading these posts comparing HC, win percentages, bowl games, ACC titles, appearances etc., it’s interesting to discuss until Collins starts, then we have new topics.

Bottom line: GT has enjoyed substantial success three times since 1980’s.
Bobby Ross- God bless Homer Rice and Bobby Ross- named my dog after him. A Ross among dozens of Herschels.
George O’Leary- There's more to the story.
Paul Johnson.

Post after post comparing head coaches, who’s the best, who won more, who had injures, who won with someone else’s talent, O’Leary slightly ahead of Johnson, Gailey did a decent job. My head starts exploding.

The two best coaches at Georgia Tech, since Pepper- Ralph Friedgen and Paul Johnson. That’s it , that’s the list.
Yes, Ralph was not a head coach. Just an unquestioned offensive genius. Problem is, we didn’t know to what extent he carried programs, until a few years after he left for Maryland. A bit of history:
Ross / Friedgen- 3 ACC titles at Maryland, National Championship at Tech, Super Bowl appearance with Chargers
O’Leary / Friedgen- One of the best 4 year runs in Tech history. 34-14, 3 and 1 in the season ending non-conference game.
Friedgen leaves for Maryland, 10-2 initial season, wins 27 COY awards, O’Leary goes 7-5 and leaves for Notre Dame.
O’Leary record at Tech without Ralph- 18-16 (not counting 0-3, to finish BL season).
Why do you think Notre Dame changed its mind on O’Leary? A 20 year old fib on his resume? Come on now.

Friedens’s career as a coordinator and head coach;
Maryland- 3 consecutive ACC titles
Tech- National Championship
San Diego Chargers- Super Bowl appearance
Tech/O'Leary- 4 year run: 34-14 Co- ACC title

Leaves for Maryland, officially known as the dumpster fire. One winning season in the past 10 years.
Year 1- 10-2 Orange Bowl
Year 2- 11-3 Peach Bowl. Maryland first bowl win in 15 years
Year 3- 10-3 Gator Bowl win
In four years at ‘Dumpster Fire’, Ralph set the record for wins in ACC (for a 4 year period)

Overall record at Maryland 75-50. Ralph was fired after going 9-4 and a bowl game win. Apparently, the AD thought Maryland was now Nebraska. Last and not least for all of us. Ralph’s record versus the Mutts: 5 and 4. ‘Nugh said. Build a statue.

So on my Mount Rushmore of Georgia Tech Head Ccoaches:

Bobby Dodd
Bobby Ross- absolutely won a National Freaking Championship
Paul Johnson- Offensive genius, Sideline genius, improved the academic performance every year he was here.
#4- Open to debate. But it ain’t O’Leary.

All this to highlight there is more to the numbers than wins, percentages, titles, especially for Tech. Tech will not win consistently with defense and special teams. Tech football for the past 40 years, we have only won with tremendous offensive innovators. We won a National championship with good/greet defense and a offensive innovator.

Great defenses have to be great at the point of attack, wherever that may be. Coach Collins won’t be great everywhere. Not at Tech. He must have an offensive innovator who can wrong foot a defense, set up plays that grab big chunks of yards. Keep the ball and score, consistently.
Collins will improve recruiting, defense, special teams. That bar is set low. More than likely the offense will not improve, but take a step back.
But if Collins wins similar to Johnson, 11 years in, 82-59, 3 ACC championship appearances, 11 win season, etc.
Will we be satisfied, after his considerable upgrade in talent? Improved recruiting, increased expectations.

Well, technically right now Maryland is indeed Nebraska. Maybe he saw the future.
 

knoxjacket

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
855
George O’Leary won a fiesta bowl at UCF. He won 8 or more games there seven different seasons. He won a National Championship as a Defensive Coordinator.

Evaluating him on the pre-Fridge years is silly given what he pulled our program out of.

If we’re gonna say O’Leary was nothing without Fridge let’s talk about how crappy of a Coach Johnson was without Gailey’s players.

Your post is straight up nonsense.
 

gthxxxx

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
150
If we’re gonna say O’Leary was nothing without Fridge let’s talk about how crappy of a Coach Johnson was without Gailey’s players.

Your post is straight up nonsense.

Are you saying the players were Fridge's players and not O'Leary's? Or that Gailey's players were coaching themselves instead of Johnson?

Your post is straight up nonsense.

[Edited to refine quote selection]
 

GTL

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
255
Why do you think Notre Dame changed its mind on O’Leary? A 20 year old fib on his resume? Come on now.
ND knew of The Fridge and his effect on O'Leary's record before he was hired; that's certainly not why ND changed its mind. A 20 year old exaggeration on O'Leary's biography gave an opening for a contingent of ND boosters who were adamantly against GO'L from the start to demand his resignation.
 

Bibb Stinger

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
16
Hey Knox thanks for the debate. I've never understood the Johnson without Gailey's players thing. Nesbitt was a second string tight end under Gailey.
Gailey would not have beaten UGA in anther 10 years. He never had a second team QB ready to play, hamstrung Calvin Johnson's college career with mediocare QB play, and we all look back fondly on the loss to Wake.
Gailey wasn't winning with Gailey's players. How does the Gailey player thing fit into Johnson's the 11-3 season? Blind squirrel?
Your going to give credit to O'Leary for pulling us out of the BL mess, but call Gailey's program a Porsche ready to be driven?
 

knoxjacket

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
855
Are you saying the players were Fridge's players and not O'Leary's? Or that Gailey's players were coaching themselves instead of Johnson?

Your post is straight up nonsense.

[Edited to refine quote selection]

No I’m saying that’s silly to say a coach is lesser because he makes great hires. That is literally the coach’s job. CPJs inability to hire a good DC is an indictment of his coaching ability. Johnson never attracted anywhere near the coaching. Staff that GOL did.
 

jeffgt14

We don't quite suck as much anymore.
Messages
5,879
Location
Mt Juliet, TN
2osr9o.jpg
 

knoxjacket

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
855
Hey Knox thanks for the debate. I've never understood the Johnson without Gailey's players thing. Nesbitt was a second string tight end under Gailey.
Gailey would not have beaten UGA in anther 10 years. He never had a second team QB ready to play, hamstrung Calvin Johnson's college career with mediocare QB play, and we all look back fondly on the loss to Wake.
Gailey wasn't winning with Gailey's players. How does the Gailey player thing fit into Johnson's the 11-3 season? Blind squirrel?
Your going to give credit to O'Leary for pulling us out of the BL mess, but call Gailey's program a Porsche ready to be driven?

2008-09 were probably the most talented Tech Teams since 2000. Maybe the most talent since 1990. Who knows what Gailey would’ve done with them.

Nesbitt was used like Justin Fields his freshman year by gailey. Not sure where you’re getting this TE crap from.

CPJ faced significantly easier uga competition for most of his tenure than CCG did. CCG was facing top 10 Ugag teams 5/6 years. CPJ lost to multiple unranked ones. He lost to an unranked one with a loaded with talent orange bowl team. He lost to one with a losing record!

CPJ had a worse record against FBS competition than either GOL or CCG. Five of eleven years he had a losing record against the FBS. How does that square with him being a better coach?
 

AlabamaBuzz

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,020
Location
Hartselle, AL (originally Rome, GA)
No I’m saying that’s silly to say a coach is lesser because he makes great hires. That is literally the coach’s job. CPJs inability to hire a good DC is an indictment of his coaching ability. Johnson never attracted anywhere near the coaching. Staff that GOL did.


There is a lot of truth to this, although I really think most of the OP's original synopsis is fairly on point. No doubt, as MANY have stated, the OC hire will make or break CGC. I realize this is an opinion, but I believe it will play out. Defensively, we can get better, but probably not enough without a UNIQUE offensive system and/or play caller.
 

gthxxxx

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
150
O’Leary record at Tech without Ralph- 18-16 (not counting 0-3, to finish BL season).

If we’re gonna say O’Leary was nothing without Fridge let’s talk about how crappy of a Coach Johnson was without Gailey’s players.

Your post is straight up nonsense.

No I’m saying that’s silly to say a coach is lesser because he makes great hires. That is literally the coach’s job. CPJs inability to hire a good DC is an indictment of his coaching ability. Johnson never attracted anywhere near the coaching. Staff that GOL did.

So I'm trying to following this train of thought; Was O'Leary not a good coach during the years without Ralph since he didn't make/maintain a great hire? Was CPJ a great coach because of the results produced with Gailey's players that weren't there before he arrived?

Lastly, I don't believe anybody in previous threads said a coach is lesser because he makes great hires.
 
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