The Vote of Confidence is in...

[armeck]

“Obviously, going from the Paul Johnson system to any other system, we knew was going to take time,”

I understand the PR need for a public statement of support, especially given fan outrage after such a bad loss, but why oh why bring up Paul Johnson? It is really difficult to get behind Todd and this coaching staff when they continue to make these tacitly disparaging comments about a former head coach whom most of us appreciate and respect.

Todd should realize that it isn’t even the losses that are the most maddening for a lot of fans; it’s the behavior of the staff and the manner in which these games are lost. It shouldn’t take this long to field a competent and disciplined team. And Paul Johnson’s offensive system has nothing to do with the absence of these qualities thus far. To imply otherwise is disingenuous.

I wonder how many current players are CPJ's recruits? Wouldn't the vast majority of the kids playing have been personally selected by Geoff?

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

At what point is it ok to stop blaming CPJ and his system? 3 years? 4 years? 5 years? Just asking......

I didn't take it as "blaming" CPJ or his system, but rather an admission that transitioning from that system was going to take time. I said years ago that when CPJ left, should we transition from the option, it would take 5-7 years before we would be a competent team again. With the advent of new transfer portal rules, that timeframe should now be 4-5 years. We need to be realistic about what it takes to transition.

1. A completely different type of QB than what we had on the roster. Of the QBs CGC inherited, the only one with another P5 offer to play QB was Graham, and that was from Kentucky. He was a highly recruited ATH that was projected to play WR at this level. Our other QBs were ATH that were good #o QB candidates, but did not possess the skill set for this new offense. (Note: Yates, who committed to CPJ prior to the coaching change was a Rivals 4* DT QB, but was a true freshman for CGCs first year)

2. Completely different OL. Our OL was recruited for a completely different style of play. They were the completely wrong body types to run the new kinds of blocking schemes.

3. WRs/TEs were insufficient. We had no TEs and the WRs we recruited were not all suited to play in this offense. Some, (Camp), excelled anyways, but we needed to revamp the position.

4. RBs had too many on the team. There was no real home for most of our ABs in the new offense.

5. Building depth in all of these positions takes years in order to keep class separation so we don't end up back at square one in a few years.

To address these issues, we've leaned heavily on the transfer portal. While the transfer portal is a crutch, it is not a magical healing pill for depth and talent on a team. For the most part, the transfer portal is filled with people not good enough to start on their previous team. It's merely a way to get bodies on the team for depth and keep class separation. In two years you won't (hopefully) see nearly the amount of transfers coming in as we do now. The biggest issue with depth is on the OL. Of all the areas where you need years of working together, OL is it. We don't have that yet. It's looking a LOT better than it did in 2019, but it needs another year or two to mature into the OL we need to maintain going forward. Some of our issues against NIU were due to the OL being gassed at times from lack of depth.

QB is still developing for us as well. Sims is a promising young QB, but he is still young. He came out flat Saturday and got hurt before the coaches could get him settled down. I have confidence he will improve drastically this season, and now we have the bonus of having a proven backup behind him in Yates.

The next argument we hear is that CGC should have run the offense to suit the players he had. I understand the idea behind that, but I disagree. The absolute best thing he could have done was to begin running his new offense. CDP ran a limited playbook for two years. We saw real progress from year one to year two. Sure, the win total stayed the same, but we looked a whole lot better on the field last year. Had we run an modified option to suit our players, we might have won 4-5 games each year, but we'd be no closer to improving with our new offense. I will not fault CGC for his decision there, and neither should you.

It's easy to find fault in a team that has 6 wins over the course of 2+ seasons. It's even easier if you allow emotion to overrule intellect. There is a LOT I am concerned about with CGC. It's fair to begin to hold him accountable for some of these things, but we also need to be reasonable and understand exactly what it takes to transition.

There. You guys have forced me to defend CGC once again. Don't get me wrong, I have real doubts about his ability to succeed here long term, or even short term, but I can't so far fault the route he's chosen to take and I can agree that the obstacles he faces are far steeper than any other coach hired in the last few years. One of those obstacles shouldn't be a fan base that refuses to use logic and reason though. This season is far from over, and it's entirely possible we can salvage a season that will make all of us feel a lot better. Step one is this weekend. We WILL win that game.

 

[stech81]

Look, I may be way wrong. The consensus of the Board may be right. N. Illinois may be the beginning of the end. However, things can absolutely turn around. We just have better talent across the board due to good recruiting and the transfer portal. In 1989, Bobby Ross was 0-3 against NC State, South Carolina and Virginia, Fans wanted Coach Ross gone. We went 7-4 the rest of the way and beat UGA in Atlanta. The next year 1990 with players like Shawn Jones, William Bell and Marco Coleman --- Tech wins the National Championship. I say you have to have talent to play the long game. The coaches need to pick it up. I am not going to panic. Go Jackets!

I understand how you feel, but Coach G**** C****** is no Coach Ross . Coach G**** C****** is a joke he can't coach the players up look at our DB . He can't and won't answer any questions.

 

[RonJohn]

I didn't take it as "blaming" CPJ or his system, but rather an admission that transitioning from that system was going to take time. I said years ago that when CPJ left, should we transition from the option, it would take 5-7 years before we would be a competent team again. With the advent of new transfer portal rules, that timeframe should now be 4-5 years. We need to be realistic about what it takes to transition.

1. A completely different type of QB than what we had on the roster. Of the QBs CGC inherited, the only one with another P5 offer to play QB was Graham, and that was from Kentucky. He was a highly recruited ATH that was projected to play WR at this level. Our other QBs were ATH that were good #o QB candidates, but did not possess the skill set for this new offense. (Note: Yates, who committed to CPJ prior to the coaching change was a Rivals 4* DT QB, but was a true freshman for CGCs first year)

2. Completely different OL. Our OL was recruited for a completely different style of play. They were the completely wrong body types to run the new kinds of blocking schemes.

3. WRs/TEs were insufficient. We had no TEs and the WRs we recruited were not all suited to play in this offense. Some, (Camp), excelled anyways, but we needed to revamp the position.

4. RBs had too many on the team. There was no real home for most of our ABs in the new offense.

5. Building depth in all of these positions takes years in order to keep class separation so we don't end up back at square one in a few years.

To address these issues, we've leaned heavily on the transfer portal. While the transfer portal is a crutch, it is not a magical healing pill for depth and talent on a team. For the most part, the transfer portal is filled with people not good enough to start on their previous team. It's merely a way to get bodies on the team for depth and keep class separation. In two years you won't (hopefully) see nearly the amount of transfers coming in as we do now. The biggest issue with depth is on the OL. Of all the areas where you need years of working together, OL is it. We don't have that yet. It's looking a LOT better than it did in 2019, but it needs another year or two to mature into the OL we need to maintain going forward. Some of our issues against NIU were due to the OL being gassed at times from lack of depth.

QB is still developing for us as well. Sims is a promising young QB, but he is still young. He came out flat Saturday and got hurt before the coaches could get him settled down. I have confidence he will improve drastically this season, and now we have the bonus of having a proven backup behind him in Yates.

The next argument we hear is that CGC should have run the offense to suit the players he had. I understand the idea behind that, but I disagree. The absolute best thing he could have done was to begin running his new offense. CDP ran a limited playbook for two years. We saw real progress from year one to year two. Sure, the win total stayed the same, but we looked a whole lot better on the field last year. Had we run an modified option to suit our players, we might have won 4-5 games each year, but we'd be no closer to improving with our new offense. I will not fault CGC for his decision there, and neither should you.

It's easy to find fault in a team that has 6 wins over the course of 2+ seasons. It's even easier if you allow emotion to overrule intellect. There is a LOT I am concerned about with CGC. It's fair to begin to hold him accountable for some of these things, but we also need to be reasonable and understand exactly what it takes to transition.

There. You guys have forced me to defend CGC once again. Don't get me wrong, I have real doubts about his ability to succeed here long term, or even short term, but I can't so far fault the route he's chosen to take and I can agree that the obstacles he faces are far steeper than any other coach hired in the last few years. One of those obstacles shouldn't be a fan base that refuses to use logic and reason though. This season is far from over, and it's entirely possible we can salvage a season that will make all of us feel a lot better. Step one is this weekend. We WILL win that game.

I do realize that "transitioning from 3O" has more to do with players suited for the system than with a general quality of the athletes. I don't take the "transitioning" statements as direct digs at the former coach or system.

However, the OL players who were left from the previous system should have been able to block NIU effectively. In the game on Saturday, the quality of athletes was heavily in GT's favor. If this was the result from a game against Duke, then maybe "transition" would be a defense. Against NIU our linemen were taller, heavier, and faster than the NIU linemen, but we still got pushed around. It seems disingenuous to use "transition" as an excuse for being pushed around by a team whose recruiting rankings are on the opposite side of FBS football than ours. I think I read that including transfers, GT is around 33 and NIU is somewhere in the 110s.

 

[CheCha54]

I didn't take it as "blaming" CPJ or his system, but rather an admission that transitioning from that system was going to take time. I said years ago that when CPJ left, should we transition from the option, it would take 5-7 years before we would be a competent team again. With the advent of new transfer portal rules, that timeframe should now be 4-5 years. We need to be realistic about what it takes to transition.

1. A completely different type of QB than what we had on the roster. Of the QBs CGC inherited, the only one with another P5 offer to play QB was Graham, and that was from Kentucky. He was a highly recruited ATH that was projected to play WR at this level. Our other QBs were ATH that were good #o QB candidates, but did not possess the skill set for this new offense. (Note: Yates, who committed to CPJ prior to the coaching change was a Rivals 4* DT QB, but was a true freshman for CGCs first year)

2. Completely different OL. Our OL was recruited for a completely different style of play. They were the completely wrong body types to run the new kinds of blocking schemes.

3. WRs/TEs were insufficient. We had no TEs and the WRs we recruited were not all suited to play in this offense. Some, (Camp), excelled anyways, but we needed to revamp the position.

4. RBs had too many on the team. There was no real home for most of our ABs in the new offense.

5. Building depth in all of these positions takes years in order to keep class separation so we don't end up back at square one in a few years.

To address these issues, we've leaned heavily on the transfer portal. While the transfer portal is a crutch, it is not a magical healing pill for depth and talent on a team. For the most part, the transfer portal is filled with people not good enough to start on their previous team. It's merely a way to get bodies on the team for depth and keep class separation. In two years you won't (hopefully) see nearly the amount of transfers coming in as we do now. The biggest issue with depth is on the OL. Of all the areas where you need years of working together, OL is it. We don't have that yet. It's looking a LOT better than it did in 2019, but it needs another year or two to mature into the OL we need to maintain going forward. Some of our issues against NIU were due to the OL being gassed at times from lack of depth.

QB is still developing for us as well. Sims is a promising young QB, but he is still young. He came out flat Saturday and got hurt before the coaches could get him settled down. I have confidence he will improve drastically this season, and now we have the bonus of having a proven backup behind him in Yates.

The next argument we hear is that CGC should have run the offense to suit the players he had. I understand the idea behind that, but I disagree. The absolute best thing he could have done was to begin running his new offense. CDP ran a limited playbook for two years. We saw real progress from year one to year two. Sure, the win total stayed the same, but we looked a whole lot better on the field last year. Had we run an modified option to suit our players, we might have won 4-5 games each year, but we'd be no closer to improving with our new offense. I will not fault CGC for his decision there, and neither should you.

It's easy to find fault in a team that has 6 wins over the course of 2+ seasons. It's even easier if you allow emotion to overrule intellect. There is a LOT I am concerned about with CGC. It's fair to begin to hold him accountable for some of these things, but we also need to be reasonable and understand exactly what it takes to transition.

There. You guys have forced me to defend CGC once again. Don't get me wrong, I have real doubts about his ability to succeed here long term, or even short term, but I can't so far fault the route he's chosen to take and I can agree that the obstacles he faces are far steeper than any other coach hired in the last few years. One of those obstacles shouldn't be a fan base that refuses to use logic and reason though. This season is far from over, and it's entirely possible we can salvage a season that will make all of us feel a lot better. Step one is this weekend. We WILL win that game.

I can agree with what has been pointed out in this post as it applies to most of our opponents. For Citadel, Syracuse, and NIU these excuses don't fly. This is what makes the "cool aid" difficult to swallow.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

After reading post after post I find myself angry all over again. No matter how “rational” any of us try to be we are slowly drawn back into a CPJ vs CGC controversy. I’m angry about this because it didn’t have to be this way. Certain myths were planted as markers for the transition and these myths were repeated over and over until they became truth. I won’t repeat these myths because then we start the cycle all over again. But the point is, the AD and new coach relied way too much on denigrating the CPJ legacy to buy good will for the new regime.

So here we are. No one seems capable of defending CGC without eventually talking about CPJ recruits and personnel. I’m angry because we are caught in a perpetual feedback loop of coaching wars. The transition should not be this hard. To say otherwise is misleading at best.

So, this is how I wish the conversation would go. If you are defending CGC please do not mention CPJ, his recruits or his system. After 3 years these are red herrings. I’ve never known any other transition in system in college ball to take this long.

Most of us want to know why we can’t kick a field goal, why punt and kick returns are so hair raising, why extra points are an adventure, why we can’t manage timeouts, why substituting is so chaotic, why the defense has not improved, why QB play is sub par, and why we keep losing to teams Tech normally beats.

I can just about guarantee you that every time CPJ gets trotted out one more time to explain this team’s poor performance in all these areas another group of fans exits the stadium for the foreseeable future.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I can agree with what has been pointed out in this post as it applies to most of our opponents. For Citadel, Syracuse, and NIU these excuses don't fly. This is what makes the "cool aid" difficult to swallow.

Bad losses happen to any program eventually. I agree that the Citadel loss was horrendous, but it was in year one. Of the three, the Syracuse is the easiest to forgive, but it was ugly as well. NIU shouldn't have happened either, but it did.

I was, and still am, a huge CPJ fan, but he lost to MTSU and several bad Duke teams, and found ways to lose games against mediocre Pitt teams and others as well. Yet I was much more willing to forgive them. Why?

It's because he earned my trust as a coach. CGC hasn't earned that here yet, and though a good bit of that is his fault, some is not. We have burdened him with some unfair expectations that he should be able to transition this with no bad losses and minimal pain and suffering. That was never going to happen and several of us on here have been trying to say this for two plus years now, only to be labeled as enablers. It's going to take time. Before this season I said we were at best a likely 4 win team this year. Now we are at best a likely 3 win team. But our real test comes next year. At that point CGC will have a good bit of upperclassmen in his program and the depth should be much improved. If he is unable to win 6 games next year he is most likely gone by the uga game.

 

[BonafideJacket]

Most of us want to know why we can’t kick a field goal, why punt and kick returns are so hair raising, why extra points are an adventure, why we can’t manage timeouts, why substituting is so chaotic, why the defense has not improved, why QB play is sub par, and why we keep losing to teams Tech normally beats.

I can just about guarantee you that every time CPJ gets trotted out one more time to explain this team’s poor performance in all these areas another group of fans exits the stadium for the foreseeable future.

This. Coaching acumen is completely independent of talent level or scheme transition excuses. In fact, it shows up best when the team has few, if any, other advantages over an opponent. For CGC, it simply hasn't shown up at all.

Setting aside anything about the transition, many of us have had doubts about CGC and his coaching ability since his first few games that had nothing to do with talent or scheme. For instance, the consistent misrepresentation of facts like taking credit for recruiting some of Rhule's guys at Temple or the level of Tech's success when he was "growing up," or the time-out debacle late in the game against Citadel where he either lied or was inexplicably confused about what the ref announced, or the burning of one of Yates' redshirt games for a late 2PT conversion attempt down three scores against Duke. The red flags have been there for awhile, but they were constantly swept under the rug by the hubbub about CPJ and talent and scheme. It was tiresome then and doubly so now.

 

[WreckinGT]

I didn't take it as "blaming" CPJ or his system, but rather an admission that transitioning from that system was going to take time. I said years ago that when CPJ left, should we transition from the option, it would take 5-7 years before we would be a competent team again. With the advent of new transfer portal rules, that timeframe should now be 4-5 years. We need to be realistic about what it takes to transition.

1. A completely different type of QB than what we had on the roster. Of the QBs CGC inherited, the only one with another P5 offer to play QB was Graham, and that was from Kentucky. He was a highly recruited ATH that was projected to play WR at this level. Our other QBs were ATH that were good #o QB candidates, but did not possess the skill set for this new offense. (Note: Yates, who committed to CPJ prior to the coaching change was a Rivals 4* DT QB, but was a true freshman for CGCs first year)

2. Completely different OL. Our OL was recruited for a completely different style of play. They were the completely wrong body types to run the new kinds of blocking schemes.

3. WRs/TEs were insufficient. We had no TEs and the WRs we recruited were not all suited to play in this offense. Some, (Camp), excelled anyways, but we needed to revamp the position.

4. RBs had too many on the team. There was no real home for most of our ABs in the new offense.

5. Building depth in all of these positions takes years in order to keep class separation so we don't end up back at square one in a few years.

To address these issues, we've leaned heavily on the transfer portal. While the transfer portal is a crutch, it is not a magical healing pill for depth and talent on a team. For the most part, the transfer portal is filled with people not good enough to start on their previous team. It's merely a way to get bodies on the team for depth and keep class separation. In two years you won't (hopefully) see nearly the amount of transfers coming in as we do now. The biggest issue with depth is on the OL. Of all the areas where you need years of working together, OL is it. We don't have that yet. It's looking a LOT better than it did in 2019, but it needs another year or two to mature into the OL we need to maintain going forward. Some of our issues against NIU were due to the OL being gassed at times from lack of depth.

QB is still developing for us as well. Sims is a promising young QB, but he is still young. He came out flat Saturday and got hurt before the coaches could get him settled down. I have confidence he will improve drastically this season, and now we have the bonus of having a proven backup behind him in Yates.

The next argument we hear is that CGC should have run the offense to suit the players he had. I understand the idea behind that, but I disagree. The absolute best thing he could have done was to begin running his new offense. CDP ran a limited playbook for two years. We saw real progress from year one to year two. Sure, the win total stayed the same, but we looked a whole lot better on the field last year. Had we run an modified option to suit our players, we might have won 4-5 games each year, but we'd be no closer to improving with our new offense. I will not fault CGC for his decision there, and neither should you.

It's easy to find fault in a team that has 6 wins over the course of 2+ seasons. It's even easier if you allow emotion to overrule intellect. There is a LOT I am concerned about with CGC. It's fair to begin to hold him accountable for some of these things, but we also need to be reasonable and understand exactly what it takes to transition.

There. You guys have forced me to defend CGC once again. Don't get me wrong, I have real doubts about his ability to succeed here long term, or even short term, but I can't so far fault the route he's chosen to take and I can agree that the obstacles he faces are far steeper than any other coach hired in the last few years. One of those obstacles shouldn't be a fan base that refuses to use logic and reason though. This season is far from over, and it's entirely possible we can salvage a season that will make all of us feel a lot better. Step one is this weekend. We WILL win that game.

I don't disagree with all of this but it is the kind of post you should see if you just went 5-7 in year 3 with some ups and downs along the way. It doesn't really fit after a loss to a MAC team that went winless last year. We were favored by 19 for a reason. Duke and Louisville weren't great teams last year by any stretch, but they were better than this NIU team and we beat them handily. You can't beat them the way they did, and then blame a loss the next season to a worse team on the transition. If the transition was this hard then we should be winless in the CGC era right now.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

After reading post after post I find myself angry all over again. No matter how “rational” any of us try to be we are slowly drawn back into a CPJ vs CGC controversy. I’m angry about this because it didn’t have to be this way. Certain myths were planted as markers for the transition and these myths were repeated over and over until they became truth. I won’t repeat these myths because then we start the cycle all over again. But the point is, the AD and new coach relied way too much on denigrating the CPJ legacy to buy good will for the new regime.

So here we are. No one seems capable of defending CGC without eventually talking about CPJ recruits and personnel. I’m angry because we are caught in a perpetual feedback loop of coaching wars. The transition should not be this hard. To say otherwise is misleading at best.

So, this is how I wish the conversation would go. If you are defending CGC please do not mention CPJ, his recruits or his system. After 3 years these are red herrings. I’ve never known any other transition in system in college ball to take this long.

Most of us want to know why we can’t kick a field goal, why punt and kick returns are so hair raising, why extra points are an adventure, why we can’t manage timeouts, why substituting is so chaotic, why the defense has not improved, why QB play is sub par, and why we keep losing to teams Tech normally beats.

I can just about guarantee you that every time CPJ gets trotted out one more time to explain this team’s poor performance in all these areas another group of fans exits the stadium for the foreseeable future.

I think you and I agree on probably 99% of items regarding GT football and like you, I am an ardent supporter of CPJ. So please understand me when I say that ignoring the transition and just pretending it isn't an issue is just window dressing. It's no knock against CPJ to note that the transition is a major cause of temporary grief. I mean, every college football expert out there acknowledges it. 90% of those experts also acknowledge that CPJ was a brilliant coach and that his system was extremely effective. These two facts are not mutually exclusive. We need to quit seeing this as an insult but rather as a truth that simply has to be addressed.

As CPJ always said, things are never as good or bad as they seem. Taking him at his word, I think that the NIU loss, while inexcusable, overshadows some real positives for the program. Let's just be patient and see how the rest of the year turns out.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I don't disagree with all of this but it is the kind of post you should see if you just went 5-7 in year 3 with some ups and downs along the way. It doesn't really fit after a loss to a MAC team that went winless last year. We were favored by 19 for a reason. Duke and Louisville weren't great teams last year by any stretch, but they were better than this NIU team and we beat them handily. You can't beat them the way they did, and then blame a loss the next season to a worse team on the transition. If the transition was this hard then we should be winless in the CGC era right now.

Its disingenuous to use the argument that we should beat NIU because they were winless last year if you also expect us to win more than 3 games. Everyone is allowed to improve from year to year.

Also, the transition is never the sole reason for any loss, but it's a major factor in it.

 

[pbrown520]

I don't like Geoff at all, but it is possible that he can get the team to be half decent by year end. The NIU game looked like a train wreck to me in almost all phases of the game - just from the standpoint of everything seemed difficult. Difficult to get lined up in time, difficult to get play calls in, difficult to kick a field goal, etc. If Collins can eek out 4-5 wins, there is reason to be optimistic about winning 6-7 games a year going forward. I have seen nothing to suggest to me that we will ever be competing at the highest levels however.

 

[pbrown520]

Its disingenuous to use the argument that we should beat NIU because they were winless last year if you also expect us to win more than 3 games. Everyone is allowed to improve from year to year.

Also, the transition is never the sole reason for any loss, but it's a major factor in it.

At this point I wholeheartedly disagree that the transition was a major factor in that loss. I can't really think of one tangible reason that that loss could be attributed to a transition.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I predicted a 7 win season. I know it seems terribly naive now but this was based on several things. The first two years I accepted that CGC was trying to teach the team to have fun, play loose and play with good emotion. I assumed he did not want them overthinking and thus was even willing to squander wins against teams like Citidel and Syracuse to make sure he didn’t over fill their heads with game plans. He was not trying to throw away those games but he was trying to not sacrifice the loose play and staying out of head games.

I thought this year we would lose to Miami, Clemson, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Georgia just because of talent disparity. But I thought we would win the rest of our games by playing crisp disciplined football and eliminating costly mistakes. Also everyone seemed to agree that our recruiting and transfer talent was exceptional. I realize we may be walking that back a smidge now.

When CGC announced that the transition was over and it was time to “win in 21” I said hallelujah. I believed him.

As I said on another post somewhere else, if a team is not used to winning it usually takes 2 or 3 wins in a row to develop that muscle memory for winning. Losing to NIU puts us off schedule for getting that winning pattern established. And coaching in that one particular game was the worst I can remember seeing at Tech in a long time.

KSU, unless we lose, will not to tell us much about where the program is headed. Clemson is down this year, as I predicted, so we should not lose by 10 touchdowns. A smart game plan and good execution should normally keep us within 17 points or better.

 

[WreckinGT]

Its disingenuous to use the argument that we should beat NIU because they were winless last year if you also expect us to win more than 3 games. Everyone is allowed to improve from year to year.

Also, the transition is never the sole reason for any loss, but it's a major factor in it.

If this is the case then you think it's possible that NIU, a winless team from a year ago with a talent composite of 114th may have improved so much that they passed another improving team in a bigger conference, that had some P5 wins last year with a talent composite of 33rd. If you do think this is possibly true then you still have to feel pretty bad about our situation, right?

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I think you and I agree on probably 99% of items regarding GT football and like you, I am an ardent supporter of CPJ. So please understand me when I say that ignoring the transition and just pretending it isn't an issue is just window dressing. It's no knock against CPJ to note that the transition is a major cause of temporary grief. I mean, every college football expert out there acknowledges it. 90% of those experts also acknowledge that CPJ was a brilliant coach and that his system was extremely effective. These two facts are not mutually exclusive. We need to quit seeing this as an insult but rather as a truth that simply has to be addressed.

As CPJ always said, things are never as good or bad as they seem. Taking him at his word, I think that the NIU loss, while inexcusable, overshadows some real positives for the program. Let's just be patient and see how the rest of the year turns out.

You are a gentleman so I will not belabor the argument about how hard the transition should or should not be. Of all the things I could wish for for Tech football it would be that I am completely wrong about my reservations about this coach and he brings us back to winning football and bowl games.

 

[bobongo]

You are a gentleman so I will not belabor the argument about how hard the transition should or should not be. Of all the things I could wish for for Tech football it would be that I am completely wrong about my reservations about this coach and he brings us back to winning football and bowl games.

There's still hope. At least, I hope there is.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

If this is the case then you think it's possible that NIU, a winless team from a year ago with a talent composite of 114th may have improved so much that they passed another improving team in a bigger conference, that had some P5 wins last year with a talent composite of 33rd. If you do think this is possibly true then you still have to feel pretty bad about our situation, right?

I think it's entirely possible for them to be improved enough to beat a team that, while talent laden, is still extremely young and lacks quality depth. Saddle that with suspect coaching and you have a recipe for the disaster we witnessed.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Of all the things I could wish for for Tech football it would be that I am completely wrong about my reservations about this coach and he brings us back to winning football and bowl games.

I mean, that's the branch I am clinging to right now. Otherwise I've got to go through two more years before we can fire him with no hope at all...

 

[takethepoints]

I think how we practice has something to do with this. Having fun, having the DJ, getting the players engaged shouldn’t be totally incompatible with lining up quickly, getting quick reps in, and learning disciplined playing practices.

This team has most of the players who lost to The Citadel and to Syracuse. We’ve had two seasons of more losses than wins. I don’t understand how you don’t come out against a team like NIU with your hair on fire looking for a win.

Bingo. It all comes down to practice. The college team I was on back in the Jurassic was dead serious at practice. Everything was game speed. Nobody talked unless talked to. If you weren't in a drill, you watched and got ready for your rep. The games were actually a relief of sorts; we just went out and did what we did in practice and things worked out.

Having fun was winning.