Ladies and gents: We introduce Chan Gailey … visionary?
Chan Gailey is way ahead of the curve, at least according to Buffalo quarterback Trent Edwards. (AP photo)
Remember how so many Georgia Tech fans would look at Chan Gailey and think, “Vanilla”? Well, Buffalo quarterback Trent Edwards looks at looks at Chan Gailey and thinks, “Bill Walsh,” and “Sid Gillman” and “visionary.”
Gailey generally has had a solid reputation as an NFL assistant. That reputation seldom carried over at Tech, where fans mostly grew weary of seven-win seasons, losing to Georgia and struggling to develop a quarterback. (I’ll post some offensive numbers in a moment.)
But Gailey, now the head coach of the Buffalo Bills after a stopover in Kansas City, is being lauded by Edwards. The quarterback told ESPN’s AFC East blogger, Tim Graham, “I’ll try to explain it as best as I can. I’ve never been around a guy that’s very conscientious of what offensive plays set up other plays. He’s doing a lot of motion and shifting, trying to disguise certain plays so it doesn’t look like the same plays to the defense.
“That’s what’s nice as a quarterback. You’re talking to him and he understands that certain formations we run a lot of the same plays. There’s coordinators that get pretty basic and pretty predictable. I feel like Chan isn’t going to be that predictable. It’s nice to keep the defense off-balance.”
I will grant you that this is Trent Edwards and not Tom Brady or Peyton Manning making the comments. Still, the comments are fairly staggering.
For what it’s worth, this is how Georgia Tech ranked in offense in the ACC during Gailey’s six seasons:
♦ 2002 (9 teams): fifth in total offense, seventh in scoring.
♦ 2003 (9 teams): ninth in total offense, eighth in scoring.
♦ 2004 (11 teams): eighth in offense, seventh in scoring.
♦ 2005 (12 teams): ninth in offense, 10th in scoring.
♦ 2006 (12 teams): third in offense, fifth in scoring.
♦ 2007 (12 teams): third in offense, fifth in scoring.
OK, questions for the masses: Were we missing something, is Edwards missing something, or is the truth somewhere in between
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124 comments Add your comment
The Tone
May 26th, 2010
1:45 pm
Buffalo is so bad TO was considered a breath of fresh air .
Dan
May 26th, 2010
1:47 pm
JB – fair enough. I understand that lots of UGA grads are successful. There is more than one way to skin a cat.
By the same token, you don’t have to play in a pro-style offense to get to the League. Let’s be real here – UGA has the best WR in the country. But he isn’t going to be a top 10 pick next April because of his production. He’s going to be a top 10 pick because of his ridiculous athleticism.
And fair point about the narrow curriculum at Tech. If you want to be a history or arts major, Tech isn’t the place for you. But you can’t say that Tech is a poor choice for a WR that wants to get to the NFL because the facts don’t support it.
Robert
May 26th, 2010
1:47 pm
Gailey sucks, he was an idiot and an embarrassment. He will drive the Bills all the way to Toronto. The only thing he knows about offense is how NOT to score. GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH.
Slick Willie
May 26th, 2010
1:48 pm
If PJ keeps getting thumped in bowl games, Tech fans may start pining for the good old Chan Gailey era!!
JUST MELLER TODAY
May 26th, 2010
1:54 pm
whats with all the hostility Gailey wasn’t that bad , he is just not a super hero like CPJ but there are very few like CPJ i predict he will be at tech 20 years and win 8 or 9 acc championships once he gets his own players.
Dan
May 26th, 2010
1:54 pm
JB – fair enough. I get that UGA grads are often successful. You may be one of them. I also understand that there is more than one way to skin a cat.
Along those lines, you can play in CPJ’s offense and still get to the League. Let’s be real here – UGA has the best WR in the country. But he’s not going to be a top 10 pick next year because of his production. He’ll be a top 10 pick because of his ridiculous athleticism. The point is that it’s about talent, not the system.
Fair point about the narrow curriculum at Tech. Although it’s gotten a bit broader, it’s fair to say that if you want to be a history major, Tech isn’t the place for you. That issue aside, you can’t say that Tech isn’t the place for a WR that wants to play in the NFL because the facts don’t support it.
kjax
May 26th, 2010
1:55 pm
Hey, I actually remember a time when the New Orleans Saints head coaching position was a “bad job with not very good players.” Yeah, that was 2006, when Sean Payton took over as HC following a DISMAL 3-13 season. While I hardly expect the Bills to win a SB, they haven’t had a season that bad since 2001, when Greg Williams was the sorry excuse for a HC. Other than that one season, the Bills have actually been pretty competitive. Do some research before you make comments like that. I have no idea how Chan and the Bills will do, but they’re not nearly as bad as ESPN and NFL.com will have you believe.
GT Alum
May 26th, 2010
1:58 pm
Also, about CPJ’s offense being a WR-killer — as Dan pointed out, Thomas was recruited by Gailey, but he put up the numbers that made him the first WR picked in the draft under Johnson. Also, Johnson himself has said he’d like to pass more often. However, he didn’t have the WR corps he felt he needed to do so last year, and Nesbitt honestly hasn’t shown himself to be a better passer than Ball was.
The 2 main reason’s Nesbitt’s a hero and Ball’s a zero to Tech fans are CPJ’s offense and Nesbitt’s size and toughness.
Sure, there will be some top recruits that look at CPJ’s offense and will think going to a program that runs a pro-style offense will give them a better chance in the draft and the NFL. However, that doesn’t mean they’ll be any more right than the people who said his offense wouldn’t work in a conference like the ACC.
old gold engineer
May 26th, 2010
2:00 pm
Slick Willie, bowl games in the Gailey era at GT were nothing to pine over.
GT
May 26th, 2010
2:08 pm
He wore me out when he was here, nuff said
GT Alum
May 26th, 2010
2:09 pm
Slick Willie, Tech won 2 of the bowls they went to under Gailey, the Humanitarian Bowl against Tulsa and the Champs Sports Bowl against Syracuse. UGA fans may be satisfied with winning lower tier bowls, but I’m happy CPJ at least has us playing in bowls that people care about. Hopefully, his next step is to get us to win some bowls people care about.
Justin Case
May 26th, 2010
2:09 pm
Just in case you didn’t know it. The Bills will be no better than the Bills from last year. Why you say? No Kelly, No Thurman Thomas, No JR Reed and No Marv Levy and No Cornbread Bennett!!
a great point
May 26th, 2010
2:23 pm
whoever made the comment about Chan the Man being better suited for NFL style offenses is correct. back in the day, (when he was steelers o.c.) he was quite the hot commodity. then he made a couple of stops in the NFL with poor results.
college ball is all about setting up a system and recruiting /tweaking that system so that it works for the players you have.
i think the guy may be a great coordinator, but not a great head coach.
but then again, what do I know….i’m posting on a blog and he’s making 6 figures a year to coach football……
GT BABY
May 26th, 2010
2:28 pm
gailey sucks
JB
May 26th, 2010
2:30 pm
As a Tech fan, I would have more questions than answers about where the Tech program goes from here ( as do my Dawgs)……I mean by that, Tech will always win 8,9 games or so under Johnson, because I have seen it work. My question would be do they have the players on D to stop a good team.
IL Jacket
May 26th, 2010
2:33 pm
Chan does seem to be in a tough place in Buffalo-not much talent and in the
division with NE & NYJ. The one saving grace is T.O. is gone.
I wish you great success in Buffalo.
Ramblin Wrecker
May 26th, 2010
2:41 pm
I will concede that Gailey was a decent offensive coach in the NFL. But what passes as decent in the NFL is not going to do much in college. The NFL is a pretty vanilla league where conservative is rewarded (I mean look at how they treat QB’s who aren’t conventional mold QB’s, like Tebow or Vick), mainly because winning 58% of your games is good enough to GET to the playoffs. In college winning 58% of your games will barely get you bowl eligible.
Think about it. 7-5 is the same as 9-7 percentage wise. Gailey was basically the same coach at GT than he was at Dallas. But because the NFL has a playoff system, his performance was good enough. But simply getting to a bowl doesn’t move the meter in college. And because of the system in college, coaches have to take more risks (i.e. more risks on offense or in other words the anti-Gailey style) in order to reap the larger rewards of a bigger bowl, league championship or a BCS bowl.
If you notice, nothing in what Trent Edwards said suggests that Gailey comes to the table with some radical offense that will light up the league. He’s simply saying that Gailey does a good job of disguising the same plays with motion and shifting. The key to that was “same plays”. Gailey is a conservative guy who will run the same low risk plays over and over. There’s nothing revolutionary in what Gailey is doing or what Edwards was commenting on.
Whopper Dawg
May 26th, 2010
2:42 pm
Yeah, they are missing something, like playing a game and a season. The shine will soon come off that ex-Tech apple.
GT BABY
May 26th, 2010
2:59 pm
JB- YOU’RE A FREAKING IDIOT! GT HAS PUT OUT 2 NUMBER 1 WR IN THE NFL IN THE PAST THREE YEARS. S HILL WILL BE THE NEXT, BANK ON IT!
dan
May 26th, 2010
3:00 pm
Goods points William Satterwhite.
I would add that in the college game, you really have to get into a player’s head and develop them mentally and emotionally. That time in college, between 18-22 years old, is a fun/volatile time, and the players are learning how to handle the scrutiny of success and defeat. In the pro’s, players are paid to do a job and understand the relationship with the media. And they understand that if they don’t perform up to expectations, they’ll be gone.
Paul in RDU
May 26th, 2010
3:07 pm
Someone needs to show Trent Edwards the film of the GT-WF ACCCG and then see what he says about Chan
JB
May 26th, 2010
3:31 pm
GT BABY,,,,,,,,,Sorry, those would be BPJ…………..( before Paul Johnson) We’ll see the next 2-3 years………Any WR commits for next year yet ?
Ted M
May 26th, 2010
3:35 pm
He’s making 7 figures.
Suffering Bills Fan and GT Season Ticket Holder
May 26th, 2010
4:10 pm
Trent is sayig these things because he has yet to work with an experienced OC in the NFL. He’s had a bunch of guys that were either getting tujeir first gig or wre terrible at their jobs. And it was all under a guy in Dick Jauron that was clearly in over his head. Of course Chan is going to look like an offensive savant compared to the dudes Trent has been listening to for the past three years!
m
May 26th, 2010
4:17 pm
gomer gailey is the worst coach in history. The Buffalo Bills are just plain stupid for hiring gomer.
Everyone can take solace in the fact that no matter what you EVER do…you can NEVER do something as stupid as hiring gomer.
Thanks to God and Greyhound that gomer gailey is gone from Tech FOREVER!!
gdawginkalamazoo
May 26th, 2010
4:20 pm
Wasn’t Gailey responsible for selecting and starting Reggie Ball for four years? I thought that was a genius type move.
gdawginkalamazoo
May 26th, 2010
4:33 pm
But really, Chan seemed liked a nice guy and is well respected in the NFL. Good luck to him.
Rick
May 26th, 2010
4:44 pm
Bill Cowher thought so much of Chan that when he retired from the coaching the steelers Chan was the only coach that he recommended the steelers to interview for the vacancy.
Pat Mycrotch
May 26th, 2010
4:44 pm
You Must Be BORED!
HugoStiglitz
May 26th, 2010
5:20 pm
Chan may become a great NFL coach but he was never right for the college level. They are two different games and I think he understands one better then the other. Best of luck to him though. It wont be easy turning the Bills around.
roger
May 26th, 2010
5:55 pm
When are you going to get off Chans back? When his talent is gone we will see about this high school offense! Dont you have any body else to criticize?
Delbert D.
May 26th, 2010
6:09 pm
“everybody is a genius in preseason”
Kansas City didn’t think so. They demoted him and relieved him of play-calling duties him in preseason last year.
kenb
May 26th, 2010
6:09 pm
no talent bills? not competitive? lets just say with all thier injurys last season, 3 mediocre qbs, 2 different h.c. and oc’s they still went 6-10 and 6 of those loses were by a td or less!!
kenb
May 26th, 2010
6:15 pm
the talent is there i billeve! bills are in probably the hardest confrence in nfl! they beat the jets and almost beat NE. they are not a roll over and die team like media leads us to believe
Mike
May 26th, 2010
6:27 pm
The only reason Tech fans rag Chan is the fact he never beat Georgia. That is all they care about. They delude themselves into thinking they should have beaten Georgia all those years. 2006 is the only year Tech should have legitimately beaten Georgia. Every other year, Georgia was more than solid on both sides of the ball.
So now Johnson is a hero because A) He beat a Georgia team with a world of problems they never had when Chan played them. B) he wins an ACC title beating the same Clemson team that Gailey absolutely OWNED.
Seriously, this guy built Tech into relevance in both the ACC and national recruiting after enduring sanctions thanks to O’Leary playing ineligible players. His last full recruiting class was rated higher than Georgia’s (you know, the one Johnson has been enjoying). His 2008 class was projected top 15 before he got fired.
Chan did not run the offense at Tech, Nix did. Oh by the way, Nix got fired from his next job at Miami too. You see what a difference that made for them.
Tech was a good OC under Gailey away from being what their fans wanted them to be.
Jerry Jones even said he made a mistake getting rid of Chan like he did. Give the man his due and stop crying over losing to Georgia.
AA
May 26th, 2010
6:50 pm
JB-
you must be a ugay fan to make comments like that. Obviously you didn’t watch B.Thomas this year. To say Tech is a WR killer is the worst comment I’ve ever heard. Did you not see Thomas get drafted in the first round. Then to say PJ will never get another good WR is another dumb comment. PJ already has one in Stephen Hill. He’s taller, faster and has better hands than Thomas and will end up being just as good or better. So do your homework before you blog again.
THWG !!!!!!
Born2Buzz
May 26th, 2010
6:50 pm
Hey Mike, Tech fans rag Chan because of a lot of things, such as having the worst losses to both of our main rivals, UGA and Clemson, IN SCHOOL HISTORY. Chan had a few nice wins, beating Auburn twice and Clemson a few times (I wouldn’t say he owned them..look at the records) and once at VT, but he also had some horrible losses like losing to Duke and the memorable loss to Wake in the ACC CG when he had the best WR in the nation and the best RB in the ACC. The fact that he hitched himself to Reggie Ball for 4 years says something right there.
As for his offensive game planning, look at what GT did in the years before Chan and then the years after Chan. It was a pretty significant drop when he took over and a significant rise once he left.
And look at his tenure @ KC. Ugh.
Good luck Buffalo.
"Chef" Tim Dix
May 26th, 2010
6:57 pm
His resume was a vision.
AA
May 26th, 2010
8:08 pm
Mike-
you know nothing about college football. Look what happened to the offensive stats when O’leary left. They dropped drastically. Then when your boy Chan left the improved drastically. So between O’leary, Gailey and PJ, who’s the odd man out? Chan was never better than mediocre. He was stubborn and hardheaded and refused to change anything. When a QB’s freshman year is his best year that reflects on terrible coaching. O’leary and PJ wouldve turned Ball into a good QB but your boy Chan couldn’t because he’s mediocre. Just ask Dallas, Pitt, KC and Tech. Wait a year and Buffalo will tell you the same thing. I just happened to be at Duke when we got drilled by the blue devils, thanks to Chan. Anybody that defends Gailey knows nothing about college football.
THWG !!!!!!!!
Albert Einstein
May 26th, 2010
8:23 pm
JB
Do you realize how many college kids make it to the next level? Go look it up. Look at the percentage. You better have an education to fall back on!
Albert Einstein
May 26th, 2010
8:27 pm
One other comment…I did not go to either UGA or Tech, but I do know a degree from GT is worth 2 to 3 times what a degree is from UGA.
that's the fact jack
May 26th, 2010
8:53 pm
glad he is goneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…if your seeing visions in Buffalo, ha, good luck with that
superDawg
May 26th, 2010
8:55 pm
m drives a greyhound bus and is still in layover near buffalo.
Red&Black
May 26th, 2010
9:42 pm
Guess GT will never know. He certainly got better as the stats show and his 2007 recruiting class was terrific. He certainly would have improved those numbers. Tech has been riding on his recruits. Yet to see if Johnson can recruit. So far…I doubt it.
Albert Einstein
May 26th, 2010
9:57 pm
He recruited a better DC than the dawgs.
StingerSplash
May 26th, 2010
10:04 pm
Can’t say those numbers from Chan’s tenure at Tech would inspire confidence in anybody. In fact, by and large, they would need to improve greatly just to be pedestrian.
sj
May 26th, 2010
10:06 pm
johnson’s only won everywhere he’s ever been for 20+ years. he’ll get it done at gt.
JACKETTE
May 26th, 2010
10:09 pm
what you all failed to remember, Chan was interviewing for both the Steelers and Dolphins head coaching job. Chan was only 1 of 2 that had a 2nd interview with the Dolphins and was picked up by their plane and flown to Miami for it. He wasn’t chosen and came back to GT announcing later that afternoon that he decided to stay at GT when ESPN had already said 2 hrs earlier Gailey wasn’t being considered for the Dolphin’s job anymore. So, alot of GT fans grew weary of him at that point coupled with not winning the ACC championship vs Wake in 2006 with Calvin Johnson. To top it off, Reggie Ball flunked out of school and was unable to play in the Gator Bowl. Were the coaches not keeping an eye out on that? I mean, Ball was Tech’s 4 yr starter chosen by Chan and then no one paid attention to his academics so that he could not play in his last game. Then in 2007, Taylor Bennett did a pretty good job as qb which made you wonder why did Chan have him sit behind Reggie Ball all that time? Too much cr@p to be encouraged as a Tech fan to go on any further with the program remaining the same.
sj
May 26th, 2010
10:10 pm
he’s already accomplished more in a few years with chan’s players than chan accomplished with chan’s players
Burgess
May 26th, 2010
10:29 pm
Paul Johnson won his first 2 years with Gailey’s players…..let’s see what he does now. I’m betting he falls flat on his face.