What needs to happen for you to want to keep CPJ?

[GPD]

You and I both know that the administration will never reveal anything until the moment a change happens. If a recruit and his family want to judge the stability of a coach's future, one of the few resources they have to go on is public opinion. Let's say you were a parent of a recruit, and it was important for you and your son for him to go to a school with a particular style of offense, and it looks like you've found it at a certain college. You meet with the coach and the school and nothing leads you to believe his job is in jeopardy. Then you look in the news media and see some negative articles, but you know that decisions are generally made on the basis of the customer, which is the fan base. You look on message boards, and it seems that there is nothing but positive messages for coach. Little do you know, but there is a massive undercurrent of discontent with the coach, fans are not buying tickets, and the school is losing money from the top donors. Your son signs with the school, and then shortly thereafter, the coach is fired. A new guy comes in and your son gets pushed aside because he's not a fit for the new coach. If you'd only known about the massive discontent, you might have considered that, but because someone decided to suppress this discussion, you are now left in the lurch. You'd be furious at the guys who hid that information from you. This is a big decision these recruits are making, and the more information, the better for everyone involved.

Ok Atomic.. if one draws a reasonable conclusion from your comments it might read like this:

"Dear prospects and parents, I feel it my moral duty to inform you that my school, the one you are considering, currently has a head coach that is secure in his job. Support of his performance and job security has been reiterated numerous times by his employer. However, I want you to know that I, Atomic Jacket, have some concerns with our Coach and am intent upon garnering a groundswell of support opposing him in the near future. If I am successful in my efforts, my influence will result in the administration of my alma mater considering a coaching change. Should that happen, you, being incapable of making an informed decision on your own, can thank me, Atomic Jacket, for warning you of the dangers and risks of choosing Georgia Tech, my alma mater, for the educational and athletic future of your child."

I don't believe those are your actual thoughts, but that's the only logical conclusion that can be drawn from your comments.... that you want to warn all prospects that although it's not true, it "could" become true at some point in the future if you can create the "massive discontent" you forecast above.

"If" at some point that was true, then I would support your position... but it is not true and therefore I find it inappropriate and harmful with zero potential upside to the program.

 

[COJacket]

But the fact is that your statement that there is " massive discontent, you might have considered that, but because someone decided to suppress this discussion, you are now left in the lurch" You keep talking like there is. Just look at the poll. I would not call that massive discontent so quit making it sound like that.

 

[Atomic Jacket]

But the fact is that your statement that there is " massive discontent, you might have considered that, but because someone decided to suppress this discussion, you are now left in the lurch" You keep talking like there is. Just look at the poll. I would not call that massive discontent so quit making it sound like that.

I was giving a hypothetical situation, not describing our situation. I think right now there is rapidly building discontent with Johnson, but I don't think it's at the tipping point yet. By the end of this season, particularly after the Georgia game, I think it will be.

 

[AE 87]

Dead fish=those that bite when trolled.

 

[slugboy]

For me I keep CPJ.

...

[highlight=yellow]Defense...our defense is awful this year. One of the worst I can remember...[/highlight]I want to see what happens with a lot of guys returning, young guys adding more experience and getting Hunt-Days back and adding Whitehead to the fold.

I've watched the Falcons and the Jackets this year--both awful defenses, but there's a difference. While they're both having problems on defense, at least the Tech defenders don't look like they're being ruined--they're missing some key players. On the other hand, the Falcons defenders look like they're giving up or falling apart.

Be interesting to look at the film study this time around.

 

[91Wreck]

'91.. I respect your opinion... For me, it's very difficult to evaluate a leader of ANY organization by looking at any single event (or a couple of events) during the course of a year and determine "they should go"... GT Football is a business, pure and simple, and like any other business, leadership is evaluated on many things. You will never see a serious business evaluate senior leadership based on this weeks Staff Meeting, or this months sales performance. They are evaluated on the direction of the organization, their impact on team morale, their ability to specifically address the obstacles standing between current results and the company's stated goals.

I do not know PJ, have never met him, and have ZERO personal bias one way or the other with him... I believe that if we look at things objectively we might conclude that running him off would be a terrible idea for our program.

We act as if our program was performing at the highest level until PJ got here and wrecked it.... that is simply not true.

The players respect him, he is, I believe, a "winner"...he has a defiant, winning attitude, and respects the players by believing in their ability and DEMANDING their very best. That is respect, and it is appreciated by competitors. The opposite, for comparison, is "Oh, bless their hearts, they're trying but just aren't that good".... a weak and pathetic trait that I have NEVER seen exhibited by Coach Johnson.

-He saw the need to improve Special Teams and he did something about it.
-He saw the need to improve graduation rates and has been very successful raising those rates
-He saw the need to recruit a QB that fits the offense and he successfully found JT... JT is good now and will only be better the next 2.5 years
-He saw the need to improve defensively and made a legitimate effort by hiring Coach Roof... he has not yet been successful in this effort yet. This one is critical and MUST be addressed... it is a deal breaker if not fixed quickly (next year or two)
-He saw the need to ramp up recruiting across the board and by all accounts has been successful in gaining some level of support from the administration to broaden the pool of prospects we can recruit and enroll.. the value of this cannot be over stated... that support most likely came as the result of them having confidence in PJ and his demonstrated results in monitoring academic performance by the players and rising graduation rates. The 2015 class, I think we would all agree, is loaded. It represents demonstrated improvement and "payout" for his efforts in broadening our pool of approachable prospects.
-He has been consistent, fair, and DECISIVE in dealing with disciplinary issues... that, in any organization, builds trust, confidence, loyalty. Those things build winning organizations. It fills each individual contributor with a desire for the "team" to reach it's desired outcome.

For all our challenges and frustrations (many of which I share) we would make a significant mistake running off the leader of our organization right now. In fact, we are doing ourselves a disservice even talking about it.

I'm not sure what the results will be from our "enhanced" recruiting capabilities will be but early results are very favorable. Let a few cycles play out and let's evaluate then. I will be investing my energy and whatever money and influence I can towards the support of our program. I want that 5th NC and I genuinely believe we can achieve that in the next 3-5 years. My part is small, but all of our small parts are huge.

Hope you have a great Sunday my friend!

First of all GPD that was an excellent post, and I appreciate your civil tone!

In the interest of full disclosure, let me interject that I am not a big fan of CPJ, and I haven't been for a few years. However, I have no desire to see him fired. If he is fired, it means my beloved Jackets have once again performed below what I consider to be reasonable expectations. And I certainly believe that it is not too much to ask this team to win 8 regular season games with the relatively weak schedule we have this year. I would much rather this team take care of business in the next three games and get to the 8 win mark and see CPJ retained. But I cannot, in good conscience, support CPJ's continued employment if he has a 5 year stretch of games that is worse than the last 5 years of the previous coach.

I respectfully disagree that we are doing a disservice talking about firing him. On the contrary, I believe that all successful organizations must have a standard of excellence in order to succeed. If indeed we do finish 7-5, averaging seven wins over five seasons is not the standard of excellence I want. Sending a message to CPJ, his staff, the team, and future recruits that results are not acceptable is a good thing. We must let our players, fans, and most importantly, our competition know that we are serious about winning and winning the right way.

I believe that Bobinski has shown that he is willing to give our coaching staff the tools they need to compete. It is up to CPJ to pull this team together to get to that eight win mark. I believe he can do it, and I want him to do it.

And it is somewhat personal for me to want him to be retained. I have a daughter who is on the cheerleading squad. She bleeds white and gold, and she LOVES cheering on her Yellow Jackets! I cannot describe how happy it made me to see her after the Miami game. She was so excited about us winning. If CPJ is fired, it will absolutely crush her spirit because it will mean that we have had a bad season. So trust me, I am NOT one of those guys that would rather the program tank just so that we can get rid of a coach that I don't like. I love GT football too much for that!

 

[SidewalkJacket]

I finally used the ignore feature on a couple of folks. PLEASE follow suit.

 

[AE 87]

First of all GPD that was an excellent post, and I appreciate your civil tone!

In the interest of full disclosure, let me interject that I am not a big fan of CPJ, and I haven't been for a few years. However, I have no desire to see him fired. If he is fired, it means my beloved Jackets have once again performed below what I consider to be reasonable expectations. And I certainly believe that it is not too much to ask this team to win 8 regular season games with the relatively weak schedule we have this year. I would much rather this team take care of business in the next three games and get to the 8 win mark and see CPJ retained. But I cannot, in good conscience, support CPJ's continued employment if he has a 5 year stretch of games that is worse than the last 5 years of the previous coach.

I respectfully disagree that we are doing a disservice talking about firing him. On the contrary, I believe that all successful organizations must have a standard of excellence in order to succeed. If indeed we do finish 7-5, averaging seven wins over five seasons is not the standard of excellence I want. Sending a message to CPJ, his staff, the team, and future recruits that results are not acceptable is a good thing. We must let our players, fans, and most importantly, our competition know that we are serious about winning and winning the right way.

I believe that Bobinski has shown that he is willing to give our coaching staff the tools they need to compete. It is up to CPJ to pull this team together to get to that eight win mark. I believe he can do it, and I want him to do it.

And it is somewhat personal for me to want him to be retained. I have a daughter who is on the cheerleading squad. She bleeds white and gold, and she LOVES cheering on her Yellow Jackets! I cannot describe how happy it made me to see her after the Miami game. She was so excited about us winning. If CPJ is fired, it will absolutely crush her spirit because it will mean that we have had a bad season. So trust me, I am NOT one of those guys that would rather the program tank just so that we can get rid of a coach that I don't like. I love GT football too much for that!

Since you told a story and asked for trust, I thought I'd tell you that I don't believe or trust you.

 

[GPD]

First of all GPD that was an excellent post, and I appreciate your civil tone!

In the interest of full disclosure, let me interject that I am not a big fan of CPJ, and I haven't been for a few years. However, I have no desire to see him fired. If he is fired, it means my beloved Jackets have once again performed below what I consider to be reasonable expectations. And I certainly believe that it is not too much to ask this team to win 8 regular season games with the relatively weak schedule we have this year. I would much rather this team take care of business in the next three games and get to the 8 win mark and see CPJ retained. But I cannot, in good conscience, support CPJ's continued employment if he has a 5 year stretch of games that is worse than the last 5 years of the previous coach.

I respectfully disagree that we are doing a disservice talking about firing him. On the contrary, I believe that all successful organizations must have a standard of excellence in order to succeed. If indeed we do finish 7-5, averaging seven wins over five seasons is not the standard of excellence I want. Sending a message to CPJ, his staff, the team, and future recruits that results are not acceptable is a good thing. We must let our players, fans, and most importantly, our competition know that we are serious about winning and winning the right way.

I believe that Bobinski has shown that he is willing to give our coaching staff the tools they need to compete. It is up to CPJ to pull this team together to get to that eight win mark. I believe he can do it, and I want him to do it.

And it is somewhat personal for me to want him to be retained. I have a daughter who is on the cheerleading squad. She bleeds white and gold, and she LOVES cheering on her Yellow Jackets! I cannot describe how happy it made me to see her after the Miami game. She was so excited about us winning. If CPJ is fired, it will absolutely crush her spirit because it will mean that we have had a bad season. So trust me, I am NOT one of those guys that would rather the program tank just so that we can get rid of a coach that I don't like. I love GT football too much for that!

Congratulations '91 Wreck..! I know you are proud of your daughter... please thank her from all of us for the efforts and sacrifices they make to boost enthusiasm for our beloved Jackets.. they do a GREAT job!!

As I read your post what occurred to me is that I don't disagree with anything you're saying with regard to expectations... I enthusiastically share your desire for results. As I said earlier today, I believe we can win our 5th NC in the next 3-5 years... I sincerely believe that. Will not say that I "expect" it to happen as a condition of acceptable performance, but I do believe we can do it. In this age of college football I don't think I would say "NC or else" to any coach in any program... (as Bama fans shake their head in opposition to that notion)

Perhaps the only difference of opinion we have is that I am not convinced that PJ isn't the leader to get us there... He has not demonstrated to me that he cannot accomplish that goal.... Again, I do not know him, have never met him, and have no personal bias for or against our coach... I do, however, have EXTREME bias for GT and our football program... and at this point I believe PJ can lead us to where I want us to go.

The issues with our Defense MUST be addressed... given that I believe Coach Roof is competent and committed to GT, and that I see no lack of effort from our players, one can only conclude that the required improvement will come from adding more talent through recruiting. That seems to be improving but remains to be seen.

Without an improved Defense we cannot achieve our goals... subsequently, those failures would rest as the sole responsibility of our Head Coach... For me, those results, given our apparent recruiting enhancements, cannot be objectively evaluated today.

If it becomes reality that we cannot or don't demonstrate improved results, my opinion will change.

Thanks for your thoughts and all the best to you and your family!

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

I have another question:

How many coaches do we go through before we get back to the point where CPJ has us?

Just curious, but did you think the same about someone replacing ccg?

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

I can't wait to see what you have to say when the next guy pulls a Bill Lewis. Maybe we can get Muschamp, yeah, that's the ticket.

And there is no other alternative outcome?

 

[Essobee]

At the start of the season, I would have been happy to be 5 - 2 after seven games because it would have matched my optimistic expectation. After the first five games, however, it seemed we had some kind of mojo that could propel us to a magic season. I watched it unfold exactly that way in 1990, after all. Then after losing to the division champs and then to a team that drug ND up and down the field the preceding week, I merely came back down to earth.

Here are some things to consider:

(1)We lost a bunch of players preseason that total the near equivalent of a recruiting class.
(2) Our sports budgeting problems are gradually being overcome after (a) dismissing our former coach just after he had assembled a great freshman class and was on the way with another good recruiting year that included a fine QB who ultimately wound up at Duke and then the Falcons, (b) dismissing our basketball coach, and (c) paying down the debt on our revamped football stadium and new basketball arena.
(3) We are an enigma in the sports world...a world class technical university like MIT, but with a Division 1 football team.
(4) We haven't been blown out in a game since (you fill in the blank). We haven't had a losing season since (you fill in the blank). We haven't missed a bowl game since (you fill in the blank).
(5) I still see a head coach with fire in his belly and a good brain in his head.
(7) I still see a team that comes to win every game it plays.
(8) We see considerable recruiting improvement within the last several years, and our new defensive coordinator is actively recruiting perhaps the most lucrative county in Georgia for quality football talent.
(9) We see a former baseball player and sophomore QB putting up numbers and bringing thrills that have been missing since Calvin Johnson, along with some undersized running backs playing like their hair is on fire.
(10) We have the best academic performance among our player that I can recall in ages, if ever.

I am damn proud of our Team, and that includes the coaches and everyone else involved. We're going to win some and lose some, and everyone of our opponents are going to know that they have been in a football game.

 

[91Wreck]

Since you told a story and asked for trust, I thought I'd tell you that I don't believe or trust you.

You don't know me. I have been to every home game this season cheering on my team. I have been honest with my dislike of CPJ, but I still don't want him fired at this time. Even during the Ga southern game when we were losing near the end, I never once wanted us to lose so that he would be fired. And let's face it, if we lose that game most of CPJ's supportors would have abandoned him at that time, and he probably loses the locker room.

Now, have I wanted him fired at the end of the last two seasons? Yes I have. But once the season starts I never want to see him fired because it means we would have yet another mediocre season. And I cannot ever root for my team to lose. I and take offense to anyone implying otherwise. If you can't believe that, then please ignore my future posts.

Our program has always been bigger than any coach or any player. I am not convinced that CPJ is the right man for our program, but I am willing to give him a chance now that the season is underway. I have said that multiple times in multiple ways. I even said if he wins nine games I would support an extension. If you find something to the contrary, then post it.

And whatever I have said or done to you on any message board I apologize. Because it seems as though you take every opportunity to make personal negative comments - and I have no idea why. As far as I know, I have been civil with you on this board. I expect the same in return.

 

[Animal02]

At the start of the season, I would have been happy to be 5 - 2 after seven games because it would have matched my optimistic expectation. After the first five games, however, it seemed we had some kind of mojo that could propel us to a magic season. I watched it unfold exactly that way in 1990, after all. Then after losing to the division champs and then to a team that drug ND up and down the field the preceding week, I merely came back down to earth.

Here are some things to consider:

(1)We lost a bunch of players preseason that total the near equivalent of a recruiting class.
(2) Our sports budgeting problems are gradually being overcome after (a) dismissing our former coach just after he had assembled a great freshman class and was on the way with another good recruiting year that included a fine QB who ultimately wound up at Duke and then the Falcons, (b) dismissing our basketball coach, and (c) paying down the debt on our revamped football stadium and new basketball arena.
(3) We are an enigma in the sports world...a world class technical university like MIT, but with a Division 1 football team.
(4) We haven't been blown out in a game since (you fill in the blank). We haven't had a losing season since (you fill in the blank). We haven't missed a bowl game since (you fill in the blank).
(5) I still see a head coach with fire in his belly and a good brain in his head.
(7) I still see a team that comes to win every game it plays.
(8) We see considerable recruiting improvement within the last several years, and our new defensive coordinator is actively recruiting perhaps the most lucrative county in Georgia for quality football talent.
(9) We see a former baseball player and sophomore QB putting up numbers and bringing thrills that have been missing since Calvin Johnson, along with some undersized running backs playing like their hair is on fire.
(10) We have the best academic performance among our player that I can recall in ages, if ever.

I am damn proud of our Team, and that includes the coaches and everyone else involved. We're going to win some and lose some, and everyone of our opponents are going to know that they have been in a football game.

Wish I could like this post more than once.
Looking forward to cheering non the team this week in person. Will be proud of the Jackets win or lose.

 

[AE 87]

You don't know me. I have been to every home game this season cheering on my team. I have been honest with my dislike of CPJ, but I still don't want him fired at this time. Even during the Ga southern game when we were losing near the end, I never once wanted us to lose so that he would be fired. And let's face it, if we lose that game most of CPJ's supportors would have abandoned him at that time, and he probably loses the locker room.

Now, have I wanted him fired at the end of the last two seasons? Yes I have. But once the season starts I never want to see him fired because it means we would have yet another mediocre season. And I cannot ever root for my team to lose. I and take offense to anyone implying otherwise. If you can't believe that, then please ignore my future posts.

Our program has always been bigger than any coach or any player. I am not convinced that CPJ is the right man for our program, but I am willing to give him a chance now that the season is underway. I have said that multiple times in multiple ways. I even said if he wins nine games I would support an extension. If you find something to the contrary, then post it.

And whatever I have said or done to you on any message board I apologize. Because it seems as though you take every opportunity to make personal negative comments - and I have no idea why. As far as I know, I have been civil with you on this board. I expect the same in return.

You demanded a personal response by saying, "trust me" etc. I'm not personally offended or bothered. I just decided to let you know that I didn't.

 

[91Wreck]

You demanded a personal response by saying, "trust me" etc. I'm not personally offended or bothered. I just decided to let you know that I didn't.

I didn't demand anything. You chose to respond. You didn't have to. You apparently are bothered or offended. Again, if there is some legitimate as to why you feel this way, pm me and let's work it out.

 

[RussianOffense]

hello, I think number of wins in this season is not a good way to decide. It is better to decide on state and direction of football program and the chance of success in the future. Number of wins is only one indicator of that.

 

[Minawreck]

We win the next 2 games and people calling for his head hide away for a while. We win the next 3 and this whole discussion is moot. We win the next 4 and they are revealed as simpletons. We win the next 5 and they may just off themselves because they've been proven to be so wrong.

A lot of season left to play. Just win baby.

We said it many times prior to these games. We can beat and lose to every team on the schedule. Why are we so upset when the losing happens? We didn't really give this one away. I'd say we gave the Duke game away that was a tough one to swallow, but we've got a long way to go and can still have a great season.

 

[UgaBlows]

As I said, I believe Atomic has his own agenda and it stems from his abject hatred for Paul Johnson, Tech, or both. He sure seems like an unhappy person.

put him on ignore, your life will be better for it

 

[UgaBlows]

JT has renewed my interest in the triple option, it would be a real shame to fire
Paul now with the perfect quarterback and the offense working so well. Defense has got to improve obviously, give Ted time to get his players and develop them, he is an awesome recruiter and i think in 2-3 years our D will be something to be proud of once again.