I feel like we have officially entered bizarro world with this thread. Am I reading this correctly? Is the allegation that our defenses under CPJ were no good because (1) he controlled his defensive coordinators and schemes too much and (2) that he forced them not to be aggressive? Someone please please please tell me I am reading that wrong and not understanding this thread.
For ten years, there was one consistent criticism of CPJ and it sure as heck wasn't that he was too controlling of his defense. It was, over and over and over, "CPJ doesn't care about the defense, he may be a good offensive coordinator, but we hired him as a head coach not offensive coordinator, and he needs to worry about the whole team."
As for facts the way I have always understood them:
(1) CPJ did not always get his first choice D coordinator while at Tech, largely due to funds.
(2) When CPJ did hire a D coordinator, he repeatedly said in the media that he let his D coordinators coach that side of the ball the way they wanted to and that he did not micromanage and did not get involved unless/until there were clear problems late in their tenure (like with Groh before he got let go). [[For example, " “I hire guys to coach defense and I’m going to treat them the way I want to be treated myself,” Johnson said. “Let me do what I do and at the end of it, you evaluate what happens, just like you do with anything. I’m not going to micromanage everything they do or second-guess every call. … I’ve got enough confidence in our guys on defense to let them try to coach.”
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(3) If anything, CPJ's complaints were virtually always, and repeatedly, that his D coaches were not coaching aggressive enough. That they were not blitzing enough and not creating negative plays. Not the opposite. [[For example, "Anyone who has heard Johnson in recent seasons expound for any length of time about his vision for the Yellow Jackets’ defense knows his priority on creating negative plays, whether it’s turnovers or tackles for loss. “The biggest statistic is the scoring defense, but in my mind, I don’t think you can play defense in today’s game unless you’re getting negative plays,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to be able to get some sacks and tackles for loss.”
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To sum up my opinion:
Is it fair to criticize CPJ for not being involved enough in the defense (i.e., he was head coach, not just offensive coordinator)? Sure.
Is it fair to criticize CPJ for being TOO involved or somehow instructing his D coordinators to not be aggressive? Not remotely.
