Ye olde coachinge debates

smathis30

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
732
ehh ill go ahead and give my two cents on the whole debate.
At the end of the day, he had a (well i guess technically vacated) ACC championship, two BCS bowl appearences, which is really solid.

However, my concern with how paul johnson did was never with what he did, it was with what he didnt do.
Looking at just the Gailey Era vs CPJ era, which is really all we can do, as that is the modern ACC makeup, especially since 2004.
Looking at the big 4.

1. UGA Gailey played 6 teams that finished ranked in 6 years, with only 1 team outside the top 10. CPJ also played 6 ranked uga teams, with 7 teams outside the top 10, and 5 unranked, including the first unranked p5 team to have 10 wins and finish unranked due to a weak schedule. Paul Johnsons uga's teams that finished unranked is the lowest perentage since the 70s and first coach since dodd to play 5 unranked uga teams.
2. Miami. Gailey had 2 ranked teams in 4 years. Johnson had 3!!! ranked teams in 11 years.
3. Virginia Tech. Gaily was 4/4. Paul Johnson was 6/11
4. Clemson: Gailey was 3/6, CPJ was 8/11. Noticeably harder, especially post reallignment in 2013, and have been on a roll.

In general, the four teams that should present a challenge to GT for its path to success have been at historic lows (in terms of UGA and Miami) recent lows (VT) and only one had been at a historic high.
This resulted in Coastal wins in 2009 (as some would argue, due to Gailey's players) 2012 (iffy, as it was a 3-way tie with UNC and Miami, who both had the tie breaker over GT due to a better coastal record, but both vacated it due to NCAA sanctions, which im not even gonna talk about how much of a blessing that was lmao) and an outright no possible arguments against it in 2014. This is 2/3 out of 11, which is, no matter how you look at it, worse than Gailey's 1/3.

Given the differences in schedules, i think it is entirely reasonable to assume that Paul Johnson should have been able to do more.

Recruiting.

Won't touch too much here as its a touchy subject. But i will say its a different game than the last two tenures. Yahoo bought out Rivals for millions of dollars, and CBS bought out 247 and scout. They have money behind them now, and have become a different beast, especially since 2014. For that reason, its really hard to compare the two websites for time frames that far back, so comparing the two eras, in my oppinion, is apples to oranges due to what people are able to obtain and do now. What has changed though, is social medias impact on recruiting. Its important, and creates a level of transparency and information that simply wasn't available too far back. With transfer rules and what not, its become more mainstream and more accurate. You can argue semantics of high 3s and low 3s all you want, but in general, star systems are relatively accurate and a good indicator of talent, especially as it translates to the NFL. Thats all i will say about that. Its more important now, and more accurate now.

State of the program itself.

8 All ACC players on the 2007 team, with 3 returning. 10 future draft picks. Georgia Tech definitely underperformed with that, but anyone acting like CPJ didnt have a great inherited situation roster wise is just wrong. Now we have two spread scross 2 all ACC teams instead of 3, and one of them isnt returning. Which puts GT second to last for All ACC picks. Literally a flip flop. Every season with 9 wins CPJ had there was a returning first team ALL player. Facilities arm race is also a big factor, and GT never caught up. Most of that falls on the A.D, but its also your job to communicate those needs to the A.D. in a positive way. Fighting with (albeit ****ty) A.D.s never was good for the program, and im not talking about GT here, im talking about FSU. Fisher left due to FSU not being able to keep up with Clemson and not seeing change. However, i think this is overstated for GT (same with ~~LimITed MajOR seLecTion~~) due to the triple option

Triple option itself.

In 2008, the triple option was definitely one of the attractive ways for little dogs to compeat with big dogs. Based off 2008 and 2009 vs Gaileys last few years, you can make a relativelt safe argument it worked. However, in 2013 i think everything changed.
Two major things happened, reallignment, which more or less killed the big east and made the power confrences what they are. Also led to the playoff and the importance of P5 football, moreso than any other point in college football, due to scheduling. The other big event that happened was Chip Kelly being hired to the NFL. Success or not, it showed a passing spread offense was being eyed in the NFL. This meant that the tacky label associated with it wasn't exactly vaild, and it now could be argued that the spread offense was a pure NFL offense. In 2013, it may have seemed weird, but in 2019, thats the state of the NFL.
Triple option never had the recruiting advantadge, and now it was entirely gone.
Triple option aims to win by increasing variability be increasing potential plays on the fly to exploit matchups, limiting possesions (lol @ everyone asking for an agressive defense, it gives their defense more time to figure out the triple option) Wears out defensie front 7s with cut blocks to keep them literally moving up and down and having offensive lineman go to the second level by handing it off quickly or getting the ball out wide for a sprint. Runs low possesion games as strategy and other teams lack of adjustments is king.
Spread offenses aim to do so by using HUNH concepts and quick releases to try to make blitzing near useless. Once they are worn out, get time in the pocket and hit someone deep. Uees 1 on 1 matchups to try to either abuse size or speed match ups and create holes in coverage. Usually runs high possesion games and endurance and 1 on 1 matchups are king.

In short, although both are tacky offenses, rule changes and the NFL taking a chance on a unique offense gave passing spread options that ability to recruit at the same level as everyone else, starting in 2013. GT made two BCS bowls, but so did Baylor and TCU made 3 in that same time window. Even in its highest ranked season in 2014, both Baylor and TCU finished higher than GT.

TL:DR
Its the bottom of the 9th one out. Left fielder is straight up asleep, runner on third. CPJ gets a fastball right down the middle and hits a sacrifce fly to right field.
 
Augusta_Jacket

Augusta_Jacket

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,890
Location
Augusta, Georgia
RickStromFan said:
whether or not we were in the 'wrong play' is directly correlated to the quality of our opponent. Not surprisingly, we never had any first-play-TDs against teams that were worth a damn. Those plays occurred against the FCS trash on the schedule. Whooppity do.
Click to expand...

If memory serves correctly, we had them against ACC opponents as well. In either 2012 or 13 Tevin threw a 60-70 yd TD pass to laskey on our first play from scrimmage. Pretty sure we had a couple more against ACC/FBS opponents as well.
 

GT Tennessee

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
239
Can we all attest to our new strength staff. Just looking at the before and afters of our guys from the Twitter pictures shared, shows how bad we looked with the last staff. Nothing against CPJ, love the guy, but wow what a neglect.
 
Augusta_Jacket

Augusta_Jacket

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,890
Location
Augusta, Georgia
images
 
dressedcheeseside

dressedcheeseside

Helluva Engineer
Messages
14,044
This is another in a long line of threads where appreciation for the new staff could easily get bent into a bash on the old. Lets not do that guys.
 
Top