Tech is close to a deal with Groh to coach its defense
Georgia Tech is close to an agreement with former Virginia head coach Al Groh to become the Yellow Jackets’ defensive coordinator, according to someone with knowledge of the situation. Tech coach Paul Johnson and Groh have discussed the position and plan to meet again, possibly before the weekend is out.
Asked if he and Groh were indeed close to an agreement, Johnson said Saturday: “No. Not really. I don’t know how this [talk of Groh] got started.”
Johnson attended Tech’s basketball game Saturday — the Jackets upset No. 5 Duke at Alexander Memorial Coliseum — and responded to the question at halftime.
Final agreement would likely come only after Johnson and Groh meet face to face.
Tech announced Friday that Dave Wommack, who served as Johnson’s defensive coordinator his two seasons here, would not be retained. Rumors had already begun to swirl about Groh, who was fired after eight seasons at Virginia, being in line as a replacement. Groh has been a defensive coordinator in the NFL.
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279 comments Add your comment
GT IS NOW A 6TH RATE HIGH SCHOOL TEAM
January 9th, 2010
10:37 pm
THE JELLO JOCKITCH MAY HAVE A NEW DC (DEFENSIVE CHOKER) BUT THEY STILL WILL CHOKE, CHOKE, CHOKE, CHOKE AND MORE CHOKE FOREVER AND EVER.
son_sir
January 9th, 2010
10:38 pm
I think CPJ wants a guy he can trust to just completely turn the D over to, so he can devote all his focus to the O. Groh fits the bill. Besides that, money probably isn’t much of an issue with UVA keeping Groh in the dough for a while.
GT GRAD
January 9th, 2010
10:40 pm
I hope we find a way to sign Al Groh as the next DC for GT………he is a proven defensive coordinator, a VERY solid coach and a high character person. He has legitimate Head Coachng experience which will no doubt make him a better DC and help with his recruiting. He already knows all of the ACC teams and he is a HUGE improvement over Wommack.
Any chance some of the kids he has been recruiting (or possibly been coaching at Virginia) might be interested in playing at GT if we have him at DC??
I am pumped and very much support this move!
Great WIN today against Duke.
Go GT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mark Bradley
January 9th, 2010
10:40 pm
My answer: If you can get a proven guy who can also recruit, wouldn’t that be preferable to someone who has less of a track record?
GT Fan...
January 9th, 2010
10:42 pm
I give PJ total credit…for our oppenents outscoring us 62-17 in bowl games…for the complete failure to establish a passing game resulting in a newt 12 yards of passing versus Iowa…for allowing any team with ample time to prepare shut down the perfect option.
Bowl games are meaningless!
gatech4587
January 9th, 2010
10:43 pm
Mark, can you confirm the report on footballcoachscoop.com that we’ve hired Groh?
GT GRAD
January 9th, 2010
10:44 pm
That win against Duke today is HUGE! We are the dominant team in the ACC and are virtually invincible! Paul Hewitt is the MAN that’s gonna lead us back to the promised land!
bob
January 9th, 2010
10:48 pm
footballcoachscoop.com
Georgia:
Sources tell FootballCoachScoop that former Defensive Coordinator, Willie Martinez, has met with Head Coach Mark Richt about rejoining the staff.
According to our sources, Martinez would NOT be the Defensive Coordinator.
haha.
Mark Bradley
January 9th, 2010
10:49 pm
Guess that’s why Coach Willie isn’t on the blog tonight. Heh, heh.
willie martinez's wife
January 9th, 2010
10:52 pm
No Mark honey,
He’s home with me tonight. Right now he’s talking to some guy named Satan….I mean Saban.
SickandTired
January 9th, 2010
10:54 pm
Ok Georgia fans listen up and get a little education. You can see by paying attention that this is how a head coach who is a leader handles a situation…..you go 11 and 3 and you have a problem with your defense giving up too many points. You fire the guy immediately. You don’t let him stay four years past when you should have fired him. You make the decision to fire, you make a decision to hire because you’ve been thinking about who you want. In the case of Mark Richt, you grudgingly fire a guy who’s underachieved because he’s a friend and then you let it drag on and on and on and on and on and show just what a weak sissy you are. Paul Johnson is a leader not a peckerhead like Marky mark Mark…….you know it’s the truth and you wish just for a minute that Marky boy had a sack like Paul Johnson but he doesn’t and you know it. Nick Saban can take a truck driver in Mobile and make him a defensive coordinator as good as Kirby Smart and right now you think you can get him but you’re really thinking you can’t because you suck as a program…..you deserve so much better you really do….but as long as Mark Richt is in charge all you’ll ever get is a sniff and a hope that you’ll get there but deep down in your hearts of bulldawg hearts you know that Urban Meyer and Nick Saban and yes Les Miles are better than what you got and you go to sleep every night wondering when will we get what we deserve. Well you’ll get it the day you fire Mark Richt and you hire a guy that has vision, intelligence, and is driven to give you what you want…..right now you ain’t got it and you know it….admit it.
willie martinez's wife
January 9th, 2010
10:54 pm
No Mark honey, he’s home with me tonight. He’s on the phone right now with some guy named Satan…..I mean Saban.
Mark Fox
January 9th, 2010
10:56 pm
GT Grad, so Hewiitt and your hoops team are “virtually invincible” huh?
73-66 was a great welcome party for my inauguration into this rivalry with the Dawgs. Oh wait, Coach Johnson doesn’t want to recognize a rivalry exists, despite 30-24.
Yeah...
January 9th, 2010
11:08 pm
I guess I see your point but I am just not sure how proven he is on the college level. I know he won two ACC Coach of the Year awards but his record is horrible. Furthermore, his recruiting classes since 2005 have been marginal at best and what he has recruited has not resulted in victories on the field. This man fielded a team that was beaten by William & Mary last year. And, his team gave up 26 points to them. Hell, why wouldn’t Tech just go after Mickey Andrews? He is only two years older than Groh and he is just as accomplished as a recruiter and a defensive mind in the ACC. I am not sure if he wants to stay retired or not but it would have been worth it to check in to it. Was anyone else even considered? This sounds like a decision that was made before Wommack was even let go.
Or....
January 9th, 2010
11:10 pm
Manny Diaz??
McG
January 9th, 2010
11:13 pm
“Mark Fox” yer doing a great job. But… Oh, C’mon! Act like you’ve been there before.
TECH FAN
January 9th, 2010
11:26 pm
QUESTION: WHAT DO UGA FANS CALL TECH GRADS? ANSWER: BOSS
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
January 9th, 2010
11:55 pm
IF it’s true, Groh would be a great hire. On his worse days, he will at least be able to make an opponent punt 2 or 3 times. That would be a major improvement over what GT put out there this year.
FullMetalJacket
January 10th, 2010
12:06 am
As of now, Tech doesn’t have Groh and UGA doesn’t have Smart, so what’s the point of bickering about it? Especially UGA fans on a Tech blog (Guess yo’ momma left the computer on with the Tech page open and you don’t know how to change it….better hurry up pups, she’s gonna come downstairs and catch you up past your bed time.). I hope CPJ looks around before hiring a DC too quickly, but if he finds who he wants I’m sure he’ll go for it. CMR needs to hire someone soon now that all the games are over for recruiting sake, but it won’t be Smart. How foolish would he be to leave Bama for the same job at a lesser school? The ties of ol’ alma mater are something that folks who never graduated from college don’t understand….and often overestimate.
FullMetalJacket
January 10th, 2010
12:18 am
Coach Dave Wommack is a class guy, an effective leader, and an the kind of old-school coach that gives “old school” a good name. I wish him the best of luck and success and really wish he had decided to stay with the program. It’s too bad it did not work out, but thank you for representing Tech and helping our young men to get smarter, faster, stronger, and better. In this age of disgraced egomaniacal coaches and felon-riddled rosters, Coach Wommack is a real man, a real coach, a real leader.
bugsquacher
January 10th, 2010
3:41 am
thirty to twenty four…….ouch, that hurts
SEC REF
January 10th, 2010
3:42 am
Lets go boys, our work here is done…….(GT vs Iowa)
Tokyo jacket
January 10th, 2010
4:53 am
SEC, good point. How many times did Derrick Morgan get held in that game? I think I only saw it called once, as the announcer was talking about the Big Teneleven lineman of the year. On one highlight, you could see on of our LB’s jersey get pulled tight from off screen as he was about to make a tackle at the line of scrimmage, but instead they got a 20 yard gain.
Conyers Yellow Jacket
January 10th, 2010
4:58 am
I hope Groh is the right man as DC for GT. I am more concerned about the one deminsional
option offense. I believe Coach Johnson needs to at least open up with more passing. Twelve
yards in a major bowl game shows other coaches that they don`t need to worry about
defending against the pass.
…
CHARLOTTE DAWG
January 10th, 2010
5:02 am
I’m just glad Pi$$ boy is back on the blogs.
Nice to have you back loser.
ga tech sucks
January 10th, 2010
6:21 am
ESPN seems to think that Nesbitt’s lips can stop anyone from running the ball, since your QB sucks and helped you lose the bowl game,he would be an upgrade in play calling. Has anyone got an official measurement of his lips? they have to be the biggest lips in all of ga tech history. GA TECH SUCKS!!
CHARLOTTE DAWG
January 10th, 2010
6:22 am
That goes for bugsquacher too! What’s next? BOOGIE FROM HARTWELL? You guys are such losers, please don’t support the Dawgs..
CHARLOTTE DAWG
January 10th, 2010
6:23 am
ga tech sucks
No need for racial slurs. You’re just asking to be censored. Please don’t be a Dawg fan.
JWC
January 10th, 2010
7:12 am
This is surprising and think of the recriuting well be able to do on the defensive side of the ball, alot of kids will want to play for a former NFL D coord. and Groh is a pretty passionate guy… frankly this will be a better hire than UGA, Saban runs that defense everyone knows it.
JWC
January 10th, 2010
7:16 am
Folks I wouldnt call Ralph Friedgen a great HC at this point but he is still one of the best offensive minds in the country.
Paddy
January 10th, 2010
7:48 am
ga tech sucks…….just go away you pig. You give the rest of us Dawg fans a bad name with your mind-less comments. What a Maroon!
snapshot
January 10th, 2010
7:57 am
Wow, this would be a major plus for Georgia Tech.
Dave Wommack
January 10th, 2010
8:15 am
Johnson and Groh were working on this before I was fired, even brought him to practices. Great guy that Paul. Trust him if you want.
Old Gold Britches
January 10th, 2010
8:24 am
There is some really low life trashy scum(gts) on this blog making derogatory remarks about a player. Go back in your hole. Go pop your pimples you low life piece of trash.
Josh Nesbitt is a class act and one hell of a QB. He had a bad bowl game which every player has every now and again. He will continue to be a leader.
Rodney Dangerfield
January 10th, 2010
8:28 am
I try to read constructive criticism on the article at hand, but all I read is moron dawg fans hijacking GA Tech blogs because “GA Tech means nothing to us”.
Ever since Paul Johnson has come to GA Tech, the dawg fans are on guard, they no longer look at us as “nothing”. They are scared and the act of always coming over here to post on our blog just proves it.
I have never posted on a UGA forum nor desire to read them much for that matter.
These blogs just prove how much moronoic dawg fans are.
Bill
January 10th, 2010
8:30 am
Johnson said No ? Where did you get info Mark are is that a secret?
Thanks Mark.
Rodney Dangerfield
January 10th, 2010
8:30 am
I am thinking about posting complete nonsense on the UGA blogs just ot be a dik, and IN ALL CAPS WITH LOTS OF !@@@!!!!!!!!
BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHWOWZERWOWOWOWW!!!!
All of you sane dawg fans need to clean the cess pool. How did they even get internet connections?
Tech is close to a deal with Groh to coach its defense | Mark Bradley Staff
January 10th, 2010
8:41 am
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gt4ever
January 10th, 2010
8:52 am
Great Hire! If there is any truth to the rumor…. UGA, your domination is over…GET OVER IT!
GT
January 10th, 2010
9:17 am
The three four is perfect for Tech who cannot recruit lineman that can physically compete with nationally ranked team. What the state of Georgia has is an abundance of good athletes that are inbetweener. Brooking came to Tech as a strong safety, and was turned into a pretty good linebacker. In order to do more thing to get at the quarterback and your lineman cannot physically help the linebacker out, you need more standing players jumping around making the big offensive linemen move around and have to think.
CHARLOTTE DAWG
January 10th, 2010
9:18 am
I’ll have whatever gt4ever is having! You need to be getting ready for church instead of hitting the bottle to drain your sorrows on how Tech’s best team in 2 decades lost to one of Georgia’s worse team.
How can any Yeck fan be positive about the future? That circus of an offense has scored 10 points in the last 8 quarters on the big stage in bowl games; your best defensive player is going to leave, you just got an old man as your DC, you are never going to be able to get the Nesbitt’s and Dwyer’s of the world to run your floption offense, and you conference has been exposed yet again by getting embarrassed by the 3rd best team in the Big 10/11.
Delusional.
And thank you to whomever posted as me after my 5:02 post. Was that you Pi$$ boy? $ucks when your mouth writes checks that your pathetic team can’t cash, doesn’t it? and then having someone remind you of it and rub your nerdy nose in it??? Yep, have a nice day pal.
GT from Charlottesville
January 10th, 2010
9:40 am
Al Groh is a mistake for Tech. I’ve lived here for his entire 9 year stay in Cville. He fired his son, Mike from the OC job last year so he could keep his job.
6-7 years ago, a player asked for a year off to get
his academic life in order and Groh allowed him to
leave the team. When the year was up, Groh would
not give him his scholarship back. The boy and his
dad complained all over the local papers. They were
under the impression that his scholarship would be
continued.
If Groh is considered, Tech better do lots of digging.
His record at UVA was mediocre and got worse the longer
he stayed!!
straightjacket
January 10th, 2010
9:59 am
I love having all the Dawgs so interested in trying to bash Tech fans.
Clearly, beating Tech matters to you. See you in Athens next year, chumps!
Johnson and Tenuta equals Dream Team
January 10th, 2010
10:00 am
I was in Miami in 2005 when GT held the Canes scoreless in 2nd half and won 14 to 10 to knock Miami out of the BCS. And we won again there in 2007. We use to say if only we had an offense to go along with the defense..More on Tenuta..In 2005, defense keyed the Jackets’ road victories at Auburn and Miami in 2005 as Tech allowed a combined total of 80 yards rushing to the two Top 10 teams while collecting 10 sacks and forcing six turnovers. Tech held the Hurricanes to 237 total yards and 1-for-14 on third downs, while limiting Georgia, another Top 10 foe, to 266 total yards. Following the Miami game, Tenuta was named National Coordinator of the Week by Rivals.com as well as National Defensive Coordinator of the Week by the Master Coaches Survey. Tenuta’s unit grabbed 21 interceptions, the most by a Tech defense since 1990, and led the ACC in turnover margin.
Vick=Dog killing Thug
January 10th, 2010
10:21 am
Skeeters better hire a good DC now that the high school offense has been exposed.
3rd and long punt
3rd and long punt
30-24 We run this state. THWGT
Little Stinger
January 10th, 2010
10:21 am
((((30-24)))) Me hurt. Me want mommy.
GT VET
January 10th, 2010
10:28 am
13th in football,17th in basketball,top ten preseason in baseball for GT…..UGA in football,Not ranked..uga in basketball ..not ranked..uga in preseason baseball24th…yes i do guess beating GT is EVERYTHING for uga…but hey yall have girls basketball and the gym dogs………..
Technophobia
January 10th, 2010
10:29 am
Smart would be crazy to leave Bama. Here’s why. If smart goes to UGA he’ll be the “coach in waiting” to replace Richt whenever he finally retires, leaves or gets fired. If he stays at Bama, people will continue to notice his work and he’ll be a head coach in 1-2 years tops. Anybody who has Smart’s best interest at heart will realize that he will become a head coach much sooner if he stays at Bama. I don’t think anybody here has Smart’s best interest at heart though.
Vick=Dog killing Thug
January 10th, 2010
10:31 am
Yeah Straight
Dawgs love to beat GT, We’re good at it. Used to be a ho-hum after thought win but now bashing you rude obnoxious bugs is so much fun.
It’s funny that you get your hopes up. 45-42 was your 15 minutes. Didn’t you get your ring ?
You complain about dawg fans in a tech blog but idiots like SS, M, Ramble and Pi$$ started this nonsense.
And you know….. We have won the last 9 out of 10. Can’t argue that.
We run this state.
Vick=Dog killing Thug
January 10th, 2010
10:33 am
GT VET LOL Hoop dawgs just spanked GT a few nights ago. You guys crack me up.