Top Georgia Tech Teams Modern Era: 1992-present

RickStromFan

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Best Coach of Era:
Paul Johnson (2008-2018)
11 seasons, 83-61 overall, 52-37 in ACC, 3-6 in bowl games
ACC Championship—2009
Three ACC Coastal Division Championships—2008, 2009, 2014
Three-time ACC Coach of the Year—2008, 2009,2014
CBS Sports National Coach of the Year—2008

Should be in "Coaches in the Modern Era: 1992-Present" thread?
 

Augusta_Jacket

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Augusta, Georgia
1998 Team
Wins

#23 NC State, #7 UVA, #12 Georgia, UnRanked New Mexico State, UNC, DUKE, Maryland, Wake Forest, Clemson
Losses
#6 FSU (7-34) {Also direct loss to ACC Champs} & Unranked Boston College
Bowl Game
Beat #17 Notre Dame in Gator Bowl

2009 Team
Wins
#22 UNC, #4 VT, UnRanked Jacksonville State, Miss Sate, Vanderbilt, Clemson, FSU,UVA, Wake Forest, Duke
Losses
#20 Miami & Unranked Georgia
ACC Title Game
Beat #25 Clemson
Bowl Game
Loss #10 Iowa in Orange Bowl

2014 Team
Wins
#19 Clemson , #9 Georgia, UnRanked NC State, UVA, Pitt, Miami, VT, Georgia Southern, Tulane, Wofford
Losses
Unranked Duke & UNC
ACC Title Game
Loss #4 FSU
Bowl Game
Beat #7 Miss State in Orange Bowl

Call me lazy, but I ranked by ACC Championships
2009 ACC Champs
1998 ACC Co Champs
2014 Loss to ACC Champs (FSU 37-35)

I can agree with your logic. I somewhat disagree with the final rankings, but I would rank the top 3, in order, as 2014, 2009, and 1998. I do this by looking at several things. First, the SoS. 2009 had the best, 1998 had the worst. What drives the nail for me is record in one possession games. One really useful indicator of how good a team actually is is it's record in these games. If a team breaks even in these games, then their record is solid. If they skew heavily in either direction, it either indicates they overachieved or had more "lucky bounces" than normal or that they underachieved or had more bad breaks. For instance, compare the two recent 3-9 teams. In 2019, we were 3-2 in these games, which is a pretty even distribution. We were legitimately a 3-9 team. In 2015 we were 1-6 in these games, indicating we were a 5-6 win team that caught some bad breaks. As you can see in the chart below, we slightly overachieved in '98 and '09 but had a dead even split in '14. Given that and the SOS/record vs top 30, I'd give the nod to the 2014 team.

upload_2020-4-13_20-53-42.png
 

GTFLETCH

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I can agree with your logic. I somewhat disagree with the final rankings, but I would rank the top 3, in order, as 2014, 2009, and 1998. I do this by looking at several things. First, the SoS. 2009 had the best, 1998 had the worst. What drives the nail for me is record in one possession games. One really useful indicator of how good a team actually is is it's record in these games. If a team breaks even in these games, then their record is solid. If they skew heavily in either direction, it either indicates they overachieved or had more "lucky bounces" than normal or that they underachieved or had more bad breaks. For instance, compare the two recent 3-9 teams. In 2019, we were 3-2 in these games, which is a pretty even distribution. We were legitimately a 3-9 team. In 2015 we were 1-6 in these games, indicating we were a 5-6 win team that caught some bad breaks. As you can see in the chart below, we slightly overachieved in '98 and '09 but had a dead even split in '14. Given that and the SOS/record vs top 30, I'd give the nod to the 2014 team.

View attachment 8205
This is really Good Stuff...
 

jacketup

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1,551
Inconsistent QB play but Reggie wasn't helped by an AWFUL offensive coordinator

True. Ball wasn't any better as a senior than as a freshman. That's not his fault.

Chan was a good head coach. His mistake was that he would not let go of the OC role, which is why he wanted someone like Nix as OC. Gailey didn't understand college offenses--more particularly, he didn't understand how to exploit college defenses whose weaknesses change from week to week/opponent to opponent.

He should have let go of the OC reins, spent money on a quality OC (we had the money then) and focused on being a HC. He would have been here a long time.
 

jacketup

Helluva Engineer
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1,551
Best Coach of Era:
Paul Johnson (2008-2018)
11 seasons, 83-61 overall, 52-37 in ACC, 3-6 in bowl games
ACC Championship—2009
Three ACC Coastal Division Championships—2008, 2009, 2014
Three-time ACC Coach of the Year—2008, 2009,2014
CBS Sports National Coach of the Year—2008


Look how often you cite 2008 and 2009. Who recruited those kids? Gailey. A BIG part of being a head coach is recruiting. Exhibit A: Dabo. As Urban Meyer said during bowl season 2019, college football begins and ends with recruiting.

When you look at what he walked into (post Lewis), what he developed and what he left behind O'Leary was a much better coach.
5 straight AP top 25 finishes, 3 straight wins over Georgie. Johnson's record isn't close to that, even with the benefit of walking into a great talent situation.
 

Gold1

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True. Ball wasn't any better as a senior than as a freshman. That's not his fault.

Chan was a good head coach. His mistake was that he would not let go of the OC role, which is why he wanted someone like Nix as OC. Gailey didn't understand college offenses--more particularly, he didn't understand how to exploit college defenses whose weaknesses change from week to week/opponent to opponent.

He should have let go of the OC reins, spent money on a quality OC (we had the money then) and focused on being a HC. He would have been here a long time.
so true. He had our recruiting rolling. I wonder where we would be as a program if we beat Wake Forest in the ACC championship
 

GTFLETCH

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2,639
Look how often you cite 2008 and 2009. Who recruited those kids? Gailey. A BIG part of being a head coach is recruiting. Exhibit A: Dabo. As Urban Meyer said during bowl season 2019, college football begins and ends with recruiting.

When you look at what he walked into (post Lewis), what he developed and what he left behind O'Leary was a much better coach.
5 straight AP top 25 finishes, 3 straight wins over Georgie. Johnson's record isn't close to that, even with the benefit of walking into a great talent situation.
I am sorry that Coach Gailey couldn't take the program where Coach Johnson did. Why is that anyone’s fault but Coach Gailey's? Just because you do not like option football doesn't mean Coach Johnson did not give it his all at Georgia Tech. I am thankful for what he has done on the flats... 3 ACC Title Games, 2 Orange Bowls... I can't wait for another coach to do that. I hope it is sooner than later. I mean it was a long time from Coach Dodd to Coach Johnson for an Orange Bowl Win at Georgia Tech.


For the record so everyone knows where I stand.

I loved Coach Bobby Ross era
I hate Bill Lewis era as much as I hate Georgia
I love Coach O’Leary era until he left for ND than I just really liked the era...
I was always left wanting under Coach Gailey ers... Every season .... I was surprised and dissappointed that 2005 & 2006 were not better seasons... I still do not know why...
I enjoyed Coach Johnson era

I am excited for the Geoff Collins Era. Love his recruiting and hope his gameday coaching improves, was not impressed how the offense transitioned from flexbone to CDP Scheme
 

GTFLETCH

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2,639
Should be in "Coaches in the Modern Era: 1992-Present" thread?
Here ya go...

Modern Era (1992-Present) Coaches at Georgia Tech


Geoff Collins
1 Season 3-9 overall 25%, 2-6 in ACC, 0-1 in COFH, 0-0 in bowl games
Top 25 Final Rankings in both AP/Coaches Poll: None
vs Top Ten Opponents - 0-2
vs Top Twenty-five Opponents - 0-2

Paul Johnson
11 Season 83-61 overall 57%, 52-37 in ACC, 3-8 in COFH, 3-6 in bowl games
Top 25 Final Rankings in both AP/Coaches Poll: Three (2008{22 &22},2009{13,13}, 2014{8,7})
vs Top Ten Opponents - 6-11
vs Top Twenty-five Opponents - 14-26
ACC Championship—2009
Three ACC Coastal Division Championships—2008, 2009, 2014
Three-time ACC Coach of the Year - 2008, 2009, 2014
CBS Sports National Coach of the Year - 2008


Chan Gailey
6 Season 44-32 overall 57%, 28-20 in ACC, 0-6 in COFH, 2-6 in bowl games
Top 25 Final Rankings in both AP/Coaches Poll: NONE
vs Top Ten Opponents – 1-6
vs Top Twenty-five Opponents – 6-15
ACC Coastal Division Championships - 2006

George O’Leary
7 Season 52-33 overall 61%, 36-22 in ACC, 3-5 in COFH, 3-5 in bowl games
Top 25 Final Rankings in both AP/Coaches Poll: Three (1998{9 &11}, 1999{20,21}, 2000{17,19})
vs Top Ten Opponents – 2-7
vs Top Twenty-five Opponents – 10-15
ACC Co-Championship—1998
Two-time ACC Coach of the Year—1998, 2000
Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year—2000


Bill Lewis
2 3/4 Season 11-19 overall 36%, 7-15 in ACC, 0-2 in COFH, 0-0 in bowl games:
Top 25 Final Rankings in both AP/Coaches Poll: None
vs Top Ten Opponents – 0-5
vs Top Twenty-five Opponents – 2-10
 
Last edited:

gtstinger776

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565
Gail
True. Ball wasn't any better as a senior than as a freshman. That's not his fault.

Chan was a good head coach. His mistake was that he would not let go of the OC role, which is why he wanted someone like Nix as OC. Gailey didn't understand college offenses--more particularly, he didn't understand how to exploit college defenses whose weaknesses change from week to week/opponent to opponent.

He should have let go of the OC reins, spent money on a quality OC (we had the money then) and focused on being a HC. He would have been here a long time.
Gailey’s program was very good at talent development. We had a lot of 3* recruits that developed into NFL draft picks - >50% of def starters on the 05-06 teams signed NFL contracts. I hadn’t considered the offensive misgivings in that light - there wasn’t a lot of nuance week to week. I felt like we could’ve utilized Reggie Ball differently or given someone else a legit shot. Gailey just got too conservative - wouldn’t nuance his offense to utilize Reggie’s strengths, and wouldn’t give guys like Threet and Bennett a fair shot.
 
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Gail

Gailey’s program was very good at talent development. We had a lot of 3* recruits that developed into NFL draft picks - >50% of def starters on the 05-06 teams signed NFL contracts. I hadn’t considered the offensive misgivings in that light - there wasn’t a lot of nuance week to week. I felt like we could’ve utilized Reggie Ball differently or given someone else a legit shot. Gailey just got too conservative - wouldn’t nuance his offense to utilize Reggie’s strengths, and wouldn’t give guys like Threet and Bennett a fair shot.
And in some games wouldn't even throw to Calvin
 
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