Georgia Tech will close practices
Following an unfortunate trend in college athletics, Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson has decided to close all football practices to the media and public.
The Yellow Jackets begin practice on Thursday.
Practices were open throughout August during Johnson’s first season two years ago. The first two weeks were open last season.
Johnson isn’t the first coach to walk down this path. Mark Richt at Georgia has closed their practices, for example.
But it does strike me as odd.
In a business that is growingly full of contol-focused men, Johnson has always had a refreshingly practical view of the job and sport.
He also has seemingly never been concerned about other’s views of him or his offense, saying things like “it doesn’t matter what system, it’s about beating the guy in front of you,” or “they’ve got 20 years of film, and they haven’t stopped it yet.”
No reason was given, but I’m sure Johnson will be asked on Thursday.
I would assume that growing social-media trend (youtube, twitter facebook, blogs) is a factor in his decision.
Do you care that practices are closed?
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165 comments Add your comment
bonnie raitt
August 3rd, 2010
5:31 pm
Ewww… that’s just not right… nobody wants to see that…
anybody but gt
August 3rd, 2010
5:41 pm
No one wants to see that high school crap offense anyway. It is what you run when you don’t have players and you can’t coach. Also when your coach is a negative jerk who says nothing positive about anybody.
Paul in RDU
August 3rd, 2010
5:47 pm
Doug – I don’t mean to be argumentative, but agents were all over USC’s practices.
http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/03/30/usc-finally-ban-agents-and-financial-advisors-from-practice/
BuzzGT
August 3rd, 2010
5:53 pm
I wish that UGA would open their practices. Then all of the UGA fans that love to hover around the GT boards would have something else to do.
POAD
August 3rd, 2010
5:53 pm
I guess UGA is going to run buses to the downtown Athens bars to get drunks to watch Parctice and Pee and crap on the field to make the UGA players feel at home just like on game day.
POAD
August 3rd, 2010
5:55 pm
UGA did oprn their practices but the fans have to stan in t 2 foot ditch so A MURRY will look tall.
POAD
August 3rd, 2010
5:56 pm
Red Panties will be free to hide your eyes when A Murry throws a pass.
DawgBone
August 3rd, 2010
6:41 pm
Does playing football at GT come with an instruction book for each player??
Tim
August 3rd, 2010
6:49 pm
Just like Bear Bryant closed practices readying for UCLA he surprised the Bruins with the wishbone….. never mind.
sad little bees
August 3rd, 2010
7:33 pm
it’s funny how one victory in forever makes an acc team feel like they are somehow relative. maybe johnson is installing the single wing. such new ideas that come out of top secret practices. how “get smartish.” maybe next will be the cone of silence. lmao
Athens, Georgia
August 3rd, 2010
7:41 pm
.
Nesbitt for Heisman
.
richard cranium
August 3rd, 2010
7:46 pm
To heck with the media. If PJ wants to keep an element of surprise, let him do it – makes sense to me, especially with this years scheming.
Uh oh, now the media will turn on PJ like Bo (brainless) Bock did a few years back. GT didn’t give him access, so then he started spewing bad things about GT.
Hey, here’s some info… IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU MR. MEDIA DICK …!!!
Go cover the Clarke County Correctional Institute in Athens. There’s a 70% chance of an arrest tomorrow.
Trash.
THWG.
Reality
August 3rd, 2010
7:55 pm
So many ugag folks here. So much jealously. Try to win your own division this year, okay? Maybe then you can ‘woof’ and it’ll mean something other than amusing for everyone else.
wesleywhatwhat
August 3rd, 2010
9:01 pm
nesbitt for heisman
http://twitpic.com/2be0py
no. 9 says “why do we need to hold open practices?”
south eastern chumps
August 3rd, 2010
9:20 pm
good for CPJ..because it is nobody’s B I Z N E S S, dogpoops. And you media types can go write about the quarterbacks in the sec and good luck with that cr@p
Triple Option Back
August 3rd, 2010
9:45 pm
Reality, I doubt you were amused while hearing the “woofing” the last time GT played UGA… And what means more than a head to head victory? UGA won your conference last year. South Carolina was the runner-up.
Doug the Jacket
August 3rd, 2010
9:51 pm
No. Good move, new wrinkles will be installed. Go Jackets!
GT Rich
August 3rd, 2010
9:56 pm
I’ll miss stopping by after work, but I imagine it is his desire to keep building on the playbook and to keep the 3-4 under wraps. We should cruise by SC St and Kansas, so these new wrinkles will have more impact for UNC.
Time Out
August 3rd, 2010
11:13 pm
Paul Johnson needs to punch himself in the face. The guy is a complete tool.
wiggy
August 3rd, 2010
11:39 pm
Time out, the fool is you. P.J. is your worst nightmare, book it. He has your number. One more time like the last time between the hedges.
frank james
August 3rd, 2010
11:45 pm
I would close practice just because that is the way it is suppose to be. Media can talk before or after practice. Practice should be just the team.
wiggy
August 3rd, 2010
11:47 pm
I guess all you UGAG fans have passed out. Great to be number one in party schools. The football team will never reach the lofty status you have set. Go p???s in the streets like always.
Tokyo jacket
August 4th, 2010
12:24 am
John Jackson, you’re way off dude. The officials will actually be helping us this year. They did a piece on it where they trained refs NOT to call incidental contact chop blocking (i.e. when one lineman cut blocks LOW, and another’s shoulder accidentally brushes the D lineman while he’s on his way to make a second level block). This is good news for Tech.
The rule change is that you can no longer come back toward the line of scrimmage to make a blindsided block. Those are dangerous and generally take a player out of the game with a “neck stinger” (which is actually a mild form of whiplash). Tech rarely does that. The last one I remember was from 5 years ago.
Tokyo jacket
August 4th, 2010
12:30 am
By the way, I would have liked to get daily reports from practice. However, if CPJ thinks it’s best, I can agree with whatever he thinks. He’s the head coach, he wins, and he makes the right adjustments both during the game and during the offseason.
Conyers Yellow Jacket
August 4th, 2010
4:17 am
I do not believe it matters (open or closed practices) except to fans
who may truly like to watch them. As for the media, they can get and report
info. that the coaches want the public to know about AFTER practices.
Al Groh
August 4th, 2010
6:01 am
Al Groh infuence
And the winner is.........
August 4th, 2010
6:35 am
So Coach Johnson close the practices? Guess he wants to simulate game day situations with half empty stadiums.
Old Gold
August 4th, 2010
7:17 am
Doug,
Stop whining. So it makes your job a little harder. The rest of us trust that if CPJ thinks it’s best for the team, then so be it. Go get an “easier” job if you don’t like it.
GaTech is irrelevent
August 4th, 2010
8:17 am
a nothing story about a nothing school
GSP Informant
August 4th, 2010
8:22 am
CPJ just got arrested fo DUI. When the cops pulled him over, he had Al Groh’s depends in his lap!
Bill
August 4th, 2010
8:42 am
Open practice is a distraction to the players. Good for Coach Johnson. Maybe Richt will too.
Obama
August 4th, 2010
8:44 am
GSP wanna be…not in your life time, idiot.
calhoundawg
August 4th, 2010
8:47 am
Unless they’re changing a lot from last year, we’ve already seen it anyway …Go Dawgs !!!!!!!
Fire Paul Bewitt
August 4th, 2010
8:53 am
Thats already been said by Coach Johnson “calhoundawg” . GT’s not doing it for U puppies…was Richt doing it for GT ? Don’t believe that trash!
LMFAO
August 4th, 2010
9:10 am
Word is CPJ didn’t want all two of the reporters that normally come to Tech’s practice bothering them.
GTman
August 4th, 2010
9:41 am
One thing you can be sure of is that he is not doing it to keep other people from seeing what we are working on. CPJ doesn’t care that the D knows what we are going to do. He says “here is what we are running now see if you can stop it”.
With all that has gone on with agents, parties, and other outside distractions, I think he is trying to limit that contact with our players that will get them and the team in trouble.
Whatever the reason, you can bet CPJ makes his decisions based on what is best for GT football!
In God I trust. In CPJ I trust for doing what is best for GT football.
Go Jackets!
buffaloe springfield
August 4th, 2010
10:08 am
Paranoia cuts deep, it starts when you’re always afraid.
dawgfan
August 4th, 2010
10:58 am
Just remember, there’s nothing dumber than a Georgia Bulldog.
GSP Informant
August 4th, 2010
11:02 am
Word is Damon Evans’ wife forces him to wear red panties now with a big Georgia G on them as punishmnet for his indiscretion and a reminder that he went to a crappy school.
GSP Informant
August 4th, 2010
11:05 am
Oops I thought I was on a Dawg blog. Disregard my post
UGA DAWG 1978
August 4th, 2010
11:06 am
EVERYONE already knows what you are running. Why close practices. The nerds want to see so they can all yank each others junk in front of CPJ.
LMFAO
August 4th, 2010
11:07 am
GTman – don’t worry no agents are trying to talk with GT players. Maybe some High School coaches who are trying to figure out how to run the option better.
DawgsGiveGoodBJ's
August 4th, 2010
11:10 am
CPJ is obviously not too worried about people seeing his offense. People have been running this offense for YEARS…ever since the game of football was invented. With the athletes that CPJ is now bringing in, our offense will be putting up HUGE numbers! Another defensive scheme with players that have a great deal of talent! It still cracks me up to hear UGA fans talk about what they did 2 yrs ago (oh wait….45-42..nevermind) 8 yrs ago, 12 yrs ago, 39 yrs ago, etc. Swimdawg68…take your redneck, cousin lovin’, gay bark elsewhere…we don’t care to hear it. THWG!!
DawgsGiveGoodBJ's
August 4th, 2010
11:12 am
Or even last year! Oh wait the Dawgs ran all over us last year. 30-24! Nevermind!
UGA DAWG 1978
August 4th, 2010
11:19 am
Nesbitt for Heisman is an absolute hilarity. The boy doesn’t have the numbers to even be considered. Makes me laugh.
KeithB
August 4th, 2010
11:23 am
Close them. I can’t go watch anyway…..
Dawg Days
August 4th, 2010
11:31 am
CPJ closed practices because he doesn’t want the world to see how bad the techies are, not because he may be installing a new wing on the chicken bone offensive scheme….cluck, cluck go the bumble bees, and you can’t sees me practice anymore!
BayAreaJacket
August 4th, 2010
11:33 am
I would imagine the things CPJ is trying to protect are on the defensive side of the ball which is new this year. I don’t think he cares too much about the offense being revealed. Strange that Doug didn’t pick that up in his commentary. You pup fans are hilarious BTW.
Morpheus
August 4th, 2010
11:54 am
Good point BayArea. It is surprising that Doug didn’t mention your point. It’s not surprising at all that the Dawg fans missed the obvious; they’re usually clueless to begin with and just want to find a way to insult.
calhoundawg
August 4th, 2010
11:58 am
Whatever …GT is a third-rate team in a second -rate conference. Who cares?