Gee, I get tired of this. You'd think that Paul had a really lousy record at Tech instead of what he did do here.
Sooooooo … is he right? Is Tech a "sleeping giant"? And is Collins the coach to prove it? Well, maybe. But to make the "sleeping giant" part come true Tech must do something it hasn't done yet and probably won't: lower academic standards. We can get good scholar-athletes at Tech; we've been doing it for years. But the real question is can we get enough of them at current standards to contend regularly in the ACC (yes, we were doing that already) and get ranked in the top 25 every year (probably not). If we can get back to the sort of records we had under Paul, then Collins will be a success, provided the fanatics around here are satisfied. Frankly, that's what I'm expecting and I hope Collins can deliver on it.
Then it'll be up to the folks who want us to beat Clemson every other year.
Here we go. But I’ll play.
CPJ averaged 7.8 wins at Tech
He won 8 or more games 5 times in 11 years
He won 7 or fewer games 6 times in 11 years
He went 3-6 in bowl games
He went 1-1 in the ACCCG
He went 51-37 in ACC play
His teams finished the season ranked 3 times
Those are
very average numbers for a P5 program. I’d be willing to be that Tech was among the most average P5 programs in the country over PJs tenure. Most of PJs biggest years happened early in his tenure, as we all know. 3 of his 5 8+ win seasons occurred in the
first 4 years of his tenure. 3 of his 6 <=7 win seasons occurred in the
last 4.
If we
only judged PJ on his first 7 years as HC, then yeah, it’s fair to say that achieving that level of success would be adequate for what Collins was hired to do. But if you look at PJs entire body of work, it was pretty unimpressive.
What Late Kick, and many others, believe is that while PJs first 7 years were solid and made GT somewhat relevant, those 7 years can become the norm for GT. Playing in the ACCCG, finishing the year ranked, beating UGA, spending multiple weeks per year in the Top 25, playing in NY6 games.... those can be achieved much more regularly than a couple times every 11 years.
I don’t think anybody is expecting GT to become the next Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Oklahoma, etc. But many think that GT
can get to the level of places like Auburn, Michigan State, Washington, Wisconsin, Utah, etc. Places that are regularly ranked, challenge their bigger rivals, play for conference championships, and have an outside shot to get into the CFP every year. Recruiting in the top 20 consistently is a very achievable goal. I don’t think Tech will ever recruit in the Top 7 or so, but a great class can get to the 8-15 range. The 2022 class has potential to get that range.
The point is, nobody is saying CPJ wasn't a great coach, or didn’t do great things at Tech. I wish people would get that out of their heads. The point is that CPJ’s most successful years are attainable on a consistent basis, and not sporadically over a decade or so.
