The doc is back: What Tech must do to rise above mediocrity
Just sayin': Special teams matter, too. (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
Step 1: Get players AND playmakers. Paul Johnson has proved he could win an ACC title with Chan Gailey’s recruits but hasn’t proved he can recruit as well as Gailey did. That will become an ever bigger issue next fall, when there’s no Joshua Nesbitt. Tech needs pretty much everything — speed, size, depth — and the loss of recruiting coordinator Giff Smith, who was hired away by Gailey last winter to coach linebackers in Buffalo, was a major blow.
Tech doesn’t so much need to light up the recruiting scoreboard — if rankings meant all that much, Georgia wouldn’t be where it is — as to find players capable of changing a game. The difference between 10-3 and 6-6 wasn’t the failing of Johnson’s stylized offense or Al Groh’s 3-4 defense but the absence of a Demaryius Thomas and a Derrick Morgan. (And neither, it must be noted, was a five-star recruit.)
Step 2: Get holistic. There’s more to football than offense, even a stylized one. Sometimes Johnson, who came to Georgia Southern as a defensive line coach, acts as if the other stuff doesn’t matter. But it matters when the head coach decides to go for it on fourth-and-2 near midfield with a minute left in the first half, as Johnson did against Duke, and leaves his defensive coordinator facing a short field in a hurry-up setting. It matters when you lose to Virginia Tech on a kickoff return inside the final three minutes.
Rather than simply rage at his latest punter for his latest shank, Johnson needs to do the simple thing: Hire a special teams coordinator.
Step 3: Get humble. There’s a tendency when you’re the smartest guy in the room — even if the room is an open-air stadium seating 90,000 — to trust yourself to think of something. Nobody disputes that Johnson is one of the best play-callers in the business, but there are times when he gives the impression that his, as they say in Hollywood, is the name above the title. (Maybe he doesn’t mean to come off that way, but he does.)
Clever as he is, Johnson cannot outsmart everybody all the time at this level of football. Nobody can. (Urban Meyer just went 7-5. Mack Brown just went 5-7.) Johnson needs to work as hard to sign players as he does on the sideline during games. Directing inferior talent is how this superior coach wound up losing as many games as he won. Surely the superior coach recognizes as much.
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397 comments Add your comment
GStateBen
November 29th, 2010
4:04 pm
Tech’s 2011 schedule is not exactly easy either. It won’t be a 1 year fix.
After FCS Western Carolina, they get the rematch with Kansas at home, at MTSU and then an ACC slate with Clemson, Maryland, UNC, Va Tech at home and Duke, Miami, NC State and Virginia on the road. I see another 4-5 losses before that game against Georgia. Yikes.
moops
November 29th, 2010
4:06 pm
LOL @ the Moral Victories and blaming the refs Yellow Fuzz.
Did the refs move the goal post? Did the refs let Murray scorch your secondary? Did the refs cause you guys to fumble? Yeah, didn’t think so.
Man up and admit defeat. It’s just a football game afterall… I’m not one of those UGA fans who think we were better than we were b/c we were close in all of our games. We are what our record says we are, average. That’s it. To be honest, I’m disappointed in the game. Looking at the 2 teams, there is no way this game should have come down to the wire. We’ve got a lot of work to do to become relevant again.
CPJ is a good coach. It’s yet to be seen whether he can recruit the type of athletes he needs to run his system. His success last year was with the Gaileys boys. If he can get the right people, and get some defense going, he can make GT good again, especially in the ACC. Only time will tell…
1eyedJack
November 29th, 2010
4:07 pm
Move your campus out of the ‘hood and you’ll have recruits begging to come there. And get some decent looking women.
GT84
November 29th, 2010
4:09 pm
3
really
November 29th, 2010
4:09 pm
As a GT fan it is a little embarrassing for UGA to “run this state”. The same UGA that has finished 7-5 and 6-6 the last 2 regular seasons. In other words, we have been beaten by a team that is no longer relevant in the SEC….even w/ their annual top 10 recruiting classes.
TechGrad
November 29th, 2010
4:10 pm
@pws-CPJ signed a scholarship kicker from Marist last year. Blair has been the starter and he came in under Gailey.
@Bradley-I am so tired of hearing about CCG’s recruits. He had one decent class the whole time he was at GT. ONE. And nearly all the good ones from that class left early. Currently, most of the mediocre starters are CCG recruits. The most exciting players are CPJ recruits. Can’t wait til next year. Remember the name Synjyn Days!
Melinda
November 29th, 2010
4:11 pm
Mark,
CPJ and Gailey have, on average hit the same level of “stars” in recruiting. CCG had one above average class in 2007. Gailey under-recruited o-lineman, leaving a seniority gap at that position. Four guys leaving early in the same year also leaves a gap. Washington is a CPJ recruit and has performed well under pressure this year. We need playmakers on D more than O and our four star recruits so far have all been on that side of the ball.
I agree on Special Teams. That has been awful the last three years.
Tech is going to have to find diamonds in the rough who may not be stars but can be turned into stars.
Gordon
November 29th, 2010
4:13 pm
Good post moops. It’s fun to actually talk sports with UGA and Tech fans when they aren’t trying to tear each other down.
DawginLex
November 29th, 2010
4:14 pm
Yellow fuzz you owe us 3 months of not seeing your soory name on the blogs if you are a man of your word.
Of course, you will still be trolling around because you are a troll, not a man.
I’ve made my peace with several of the Tech folks over on their blogs but never with you.
If you don’t disappear for 3 months like you said, you are a liar.
You can spin it all you want to but either you go and keep your word or stay and are a liar.
Ball’s in your court
Realistic Bama Fan
November 29th, 2010
4:14 pm
Look that was not a great game for either team. Georgia won again because Georgia has a lot more talent, but it wasn’t anything to get excited about – geez college football in this state has gone bad.
SICK OF GT COACHES
November 29th, 2010
4:14 pm
FIRE HEWITT AND JOHNSON NOW. Neither can coach during the game. GT needed only a field goal to win the game and Johnson gave up started throwing the ball. Three or four running plays would have put GT in position to kick a field goal,, We had benn running the ball at a healty average and with the way the Bulldogs were playing back for the pass the yardage would come in big gulps. No timeouts. No problem. Run a play. Down the ball. Run a play. Down the ball, Run a play. Down the ball. Kick a field goal. Fire Johnson today. Hire Bobo or some other assistant that with more game knowledge than Johnson. If your qb can’t pass then don’t pass. Do what you do best. Run. Don’t give up.
Bad Dawg, Bad Dawg
November 29th, 2010
4:15 pm
Again, Georgia is the afterthought of the SEC. Bottom line is Johnson coaches players up and Richt coaches players down. Oh Georgia will win the SEC East every 7 or 8 years. Just like Buck Belue just said on 680 Georgia better start looking at the Junior College level for immediate help. Too bad, Tech can’t do the same. Then again, I’m glad that the admissions bar is a little higher!!
Ron West
November 29th, 2010
4:16 pm
For 12 games, I have watched this GT Defense flat out get torched. This is brutal when we have an offense that cannot score in a hurry when needed. Either we incorporate some sort of passing game (which I think would make this team’s offense completely unstoppable) and/or play defense. Our defense has the worst tackling techniques next to UGA. It is an abhoration!
RunningDog
November 29th, 2010
4:20 pm
OK. You’ve added a little balance. I can calm down now.
DawginLex
November 29th, 2010
4:25 pm
Neither team has the personnel to run the 3-4.
UGA89
November 29th, 2010
4:27 pm
Georgia is 11-10 in their last 21 games …mediocrity at it’s best! HAH, now that’s funny.
Paul in RDU
November 29th, 2010
4:29 pm
DawginLex – I think you’ll find that most of the GT bloggers don’t like Yellow Fuzz any more than you do. I guarantee he’ll still be blogging – probably under another name. Look got the insult “little man” in posts as that seems to be his standard comeback
gt45
November 29th, 2010
4:30 pm
In CPJ we trust! Turnovers lost this game. Coach knows the weaknesses of this team, and will address them accordingly. I’m sure special teams are an area he feels is weak, since he mentions them in nearly press conference. The D shows moments of improvement. Most areas of the team are very young. I like our chance next year! Ask a Doggie fan how he feels about next year!
GT65
November 29th, 2010
4:30 pm
Tech’s 2011 schedule is not exactly easy either. It won’t be a 1 year fix.
After FCS Western Carolina, they get the rematch with Kansas at home, at MTSU and then an ACC slate with Clemson, Maryland, UNC, Va Tech at home and Duke, Miami, NC State and Virginia on the road. I see another 4-5 losses before that game against Georgia. Yikes.
- – - – -
I’m seeing 10-2!!
Paul in RDU
November 29th, 2010
4:31 pm
Should be – “look for the insult…”
mwh6767
November 29th, 2010
4:31 pm
Tech’s biggest problem in recruiting is the defense. They have the guys to make plays on offense. People talk about not being able to recruit because of the style of offense that doesn’t affect defense recruiting. Tech will be able to go after better players on that side of the ball. Get the Chris long, James Farrior types for the 3-4 and tech will be fine. A dedicated special teams coach is a must. Tech has guys at the wr posistion they just need to catch the damn ball. Remember one thing about this team though, its basically fresh. and soph. at alot of positions. Take away Jefferson, Reid, Allen and Bedford( I don’t count Nesbitt bc he’s been gone for almost four games now.) this team is coming back next year. Add some 3-4 depth and playmakers on d, and this team improves very quickly.
Paul in RDU
November 29th, 2010
4:32 pm
GT needs to get much better on the DL and at LB. That takes recruiting and player development.
GT84
November 29th, 2010
4:34 pm
12
Score Check
November 29th, 2010
4:35 pm
61-37-5 (Officially)
63-35-5 If you don’t count the two blown calls (Joey Hamilton did fumble and Jasper Sanks didn’t)
66-32-5 If you include the two blown calls and take away the gt wins using ineligible players (Oh yeah that was a clerical error. Have they converted over to computers to track these things over at the Joke by the Coke?)
mwh6767
November 29th, 2010
4:38 pm
Score check, seriously are you playing the what if game? Dude get a life, hell each side could do that for every game. How about this its 60-40-5 if Bay Bay catches the pass at the end of the game last year. A win is a win and a loss is a loss even if you don’t count it.
gcs
November 29th, 2010
4:40 pm
Step 4: Evolve. Tech’s offense worked once – but guess what – defenses catch up. If Johnson insists on continuing to run this offense, he will need to expand the playbook. Yes, that includes some passing plays.
.
Will
November 29th, 2010
4:40 pm
I am a huge UGA homer and must be honest. Both UGA and Tech really stink this year and neither deserve to go bowling. Al Groh and Todd Grantham need to thank their lucky starts they are not the DC’s at powerhouses like Alabama, UF or even Oklahoma. Because they would be fired after that pathetic showing last Saturday. I dare someone to count the missed tackles on both sides. It was embarrassing to anyone who has played the game. If you are a Tech fan look at the bright side…UGA will be terrible next season…and I mean terrible!
Tech Fan Since 1950
November 29th, 2010
4:41 pm
It is really quite simple and not knew since Sputnik came along in the late 1950’s. We need more and better players and we need a much tougher team mental attitude. Tech fans and the Tech administration need to be tougher too and fans need to be more supportive, demonstrative and demanding. Specifically with our competition annually with Georgia we are usually three to four skilled players behind the dawgs, but my goodness, we have been so close in these games over the last ten years despite our 2’s and 3’s and their 4 and 5 star ranked recruits. The cupboard is not bare at Tech like in the past, we just need to build up better and stronger players, especially those that we can afford to play on Special Teams (a must). There is nothing wrong with the offense that a few more pass attempts and connections would not cure. Gee whiz, we lead the nation in rushing and we got more than 400 yards again against the dawgs. It we have a “high school offense” then we have been playing against a lot of “high school or grammar school defenses.” I think Coach Johnson and Coach Groh realize the Tech defense is going to get better and that is the key with this new system.The proof is in the pudding, so we have to win the rival game. BUT, as long as Coach Johnson is on the flats, I am as encouraged about Tech prospects as I have ever been. Some of us remember the eight straight years over the dawgs and some folks will say that is old history. Yes, but so will be 2010, history.
2012 FEAR THE END
November 29th, 2010
4:48 pm
The game was closer than expected and you Tech fans see a FUTURE,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
After last year how did UGA fans feel about the 2010 season, look how it ended up
Boo Radley
November 29th, 2010
5:09 pm
Mark — You at least called Johnson out on not performing his duties on 2 out of the 3 core element of the game (Special Teams & Defense) as well as recruiting. However, inexplicably you are clinging to the CPJ as Genius narrative. So, he willfully neglects major aspects of his job as head coach, but yet he is still declared the “smartest guy in the room”?
What has he done to garner this notion of having a towering intellect? He is running an offense that was popularized by Emory Bellard and others back in the late 60’s. I am not a fan of the present style of CFB spread offenses, but guys like Guz Malzhan and Rich Rodriguez are the true innovators of the current generation. Before them, Steve Spurrier changed the face of the SEC and CFB with his offenses of the 90s. So, give us a break on all of this nonesense about Johnson’s genius and his use of a playbook that could be written on an index card — a playbook that was written when he was in picking his nose in the 3rd grade.
5150 P.O.A.D.
November 29th, 2010
5:12 pm
This just in
The editor-in-Chief of The Red & Black UGA student paper had to step down today. He was in President Adams Box at the game DRUNK and showed his butt. HAHAAAHAAHA. Every level at UGA is a Drunk. GAA, Admin., Tecahers, and Students.
UGA didn’t get many penalities against Tech and that is BS. I saw enough holding calls that were not called. Not saying Tech would have won if the Refs made a few more calls. It is funny that everybody has agreed that Tech’s Lines pushed UGA around all night, but UGA was rarely called for Holding. some facts:
H UGA 5-30 La Laf 2-8
@ UGA 4-25 USC 5-35
H UGA 9-53 ARK 10-75
@ UGA 9-63 MSU 4-30
@ UGA 5-48 CU 3-21
H UGA 5-50 UT 5-38
H UGA 3-39 Vandy 3-17
H UGA 4-28 UK 3-21
n UGA 2-25 UF 9-54
H UGA 5-50 ISU 5-35
@ UGA 10-89 AU 6-73
H UGA 2-10 GT 4-31
You are telling me UGA had it’s fewest penalities and yards in their last game against the State rival need a win to get to a Bowl! I don’t believe it and there is no way in HELL UGA wasn’t holding because I saw it on TV plenty of plays.
LSJU82
November 29th, 2010
5:12 pm
I don’t buy the argument from GT about the challenges of recruiting because of high academic standards or the rigors of the engineering curriculum. GT is no longer just an engineering school. All sorts of new majors have been added and the GPA and test scores at GT and UGA are getting a lot closer to parity. If Stanford can recruit players like Toby Gerhart and Andrew Luck, why can’t GT? Stanford has also been able to recruit under-the-radar players like Owen Marecic who was a Rivals two-star who chose Stanford over West Point and Yale. Make no mistake, Stanford wants to sign as many four and five-stars as possible. Early rankings for 2011 have Stanford at number 7. Chalk this up to success the last two years and a coach for whom young men want to play. And they want to play for him because he has an attitude of toughness and he wants his team to share that attitude. Jim Harbaugh changed the culture of Stanford football and introduced the notion of defense and special teams. GT and CPJ would be well-served to take a page out of CJH’s book and do the same. Ole pass defense and kickoffs that result in field position of the 30 at worst isn’t going to cut it. But it’s time to stop making excuses and quit the rationalizing. GT has it way better than most and the excuses, particularly the comments about UGA, smack of an inferiority complex. To quote the Rocket Scientist Sarah Palin (clearly a GT wannabe), “Man up!”
Outsider
November 29th, 2010
5:13 pm
Listen to yourselves, after losing six games you are still saying your offense cannot be stopped. You said last year your offense could not be stopped, but it was 3 times. You are full of yourselves and there is a reason that cruddy offense is not being run by any of the big boys, you guys either need to move down and compete with Georgia Southern, or give up real football.
ChadG
November 29th, 2010
5:22 pm
Fire Groh and Hire Randy Shannon!!!!!!AND pj you cant recruit
James Stewart
November 29th, 2010
5:27 pm
before techie players play another game they should show the defensive backs where the receivers line up on the field as they kept watching the guards and tackles as the rsceivers went by them . they would turn and wonder who they were. or maybe they should require the other team to put receiver on the front of thier jersey. oh I forgot this want work as techie players cant read. last in the acc in academic with all majoring in industrial management. learning to operate a cash register and most fail. check the records. oh I forgot techie does not check thier football and basketball players.
FOOTBALLFAN
November 29th, 2010
5:28 pm
as in years past I support the White and Gold but I am a realist in that I think that CPJ is the best game day coach with tools he has. There is no way we should have rolled into Athens and do what we did. When you look at every element of the programs (money, facilities, fan base, SEC vs ACC image – some justified and some not, degrees offered, etc, etc) GT beating UGA will usually be an upset. I do not like it but I have to accept it. Maybe it will evolve to a 50-50 or similar balance oif wins and losses but I think the gap is still pretty wide. But after that game Sat night I am even more proud to support GT. UGA on the other hand seems to be well versed in wasting the talent they are blessed with on an annual basis.
spider
November 29th, 2010
5:31 pm
so what we are saying here is that mark bradley a newspaper sports writer should be hired to be a head football coach. WOW why didnt the AD,S know before they spent all these millions on coaches?
Tony
November 29th, 2010
5:32 pm
The last time Ga Tech had an extended period of football relevance was under Coach Dodd. As Dodd would say- georgia has better athletes and will be ahead the first three quarters. We are smarter and in better shape- they will do something stupid to lose the game. Ealey did something stupid as he ran through the line like he was Walker from the 80’s- we couldn’t take advantage of it. ga tech needs a few more 4 stars to go with the 3 stars. You can’t teach size and speed.
Ramblin Man
November 29th, 2010
5:33 pm
Mark,
Besides a few good signees in 07 where are the great Gailey recruiting years? GT will always fall in the recruiting wars simply because of the academics. I know this has been said over and over and you know it’s true. The AJ Greens of the world that struggle to get out of high school are not going to sign with GT. Now if GT expands it’s degrees to include some easier majors then the recruiting would spike in my humble opinion. I also do not understand the Nesbitt comment. Yes he is a warrior and will be missed, but though Washington’s record is not great in the win/loss catagory he proved other QBs can run this offense and in many fans eyes Sims or Vad Lee will do great things with this offense.
Kevin Butler's Lacks a Brain
November 29th, 2010
5:35 pm
How does it feel Gagger fans to know that you almost got beat by a team that finishes each year in the 40s recruiting? Or that you almost got beat by a team that has a patch-work offensive line made up of a 4th-string walk-on Defensive Tackle and a converted Tight End? Or that you almost got beat by a back-up QB? Tech owned your defense all night. Your coach got outcoached and that is the only way Tech was in the ballgame. Of course, I am asking you to think, which is WAY too much to ask of you considering Georgia Fans have NO brain and cannot think. Kevin “Meathead” Butler…nice comment on the post-game show from the Hotel Indigo – “Coach Dodd would be rolling over in his grave over letting Georgia score”…even YOUR coach said that he got outcoached on that play. Shows why you were only called on to kick. Another reason you were a good kicker is because you can’t think. That way you never could “out think” yourself.
Dawg fans, burn in HELL! Most of you have no affiliation with Georgia any way. So, go back to your shanties, most of which are located in WINDER! Winder & Dublin – two of the world’s largest redneck capitals!
Tech Fan Since 1950
November 29th, 2010
5:39 pm
Outsider, and that is certainly an appropriate name, no one has stated or said that our offense cannot be stopped. BUT, when you run 400 plus yards against an opponent and also command time of possession for almost all of our games in the last three years, there are other reasons for losing. In our case the biggest bugaboo has been a weak defense and even weaker special teams. Yes, I believe we need to pass more and have better pass protection. There are some players in the redshirt corps and a talented quarterback commit out of North Carolina that just might be the tonic for us in the passing game. REPEAT–our losses have not been due to the type of offense we run. Yes, you can claim we have not executed the offense as well this year, but we are still ranked number one in the country in rushing, so something must be going right.
Wrecks.N.Effect
November 29th, 2010
5:44 pm
re: Ramblin Man
AJ Green was offered a B-Ball scholly by CPH, too many GT Fans play the “Academics Card” whenever they see talented players at other schools.
There are plenty of Academic Qualifiers that are elite level CFB Players, that choose to not be at GT For other reasons.
It is embarrassing to GT for our fanbase to continually assume that every CFB player that is talented is “too dumb” for GT, this sort of “smug, a-h0le, elitism” is probably WHY GT has not Recruited better.
Stanford has much higher Academic Standards that does GT and they have found a way to upgrade their Recruiting without accusing every elite player of being academically inferior, maybe GT Fans could learn something as to how not to talk down to others so much.
dawghater
November 29th, 2010
5:45 pm
Mark’s right, the talent level isn’t there and execution is worse. Put up or shut up CPJ. Still a supporter and not calling for any changes other than the change needed on the field.
FBBoy
November 29th, 2010
5:50 pm
GT’s schedule hasn’t been difficult this season, and it looks much the same next year. The key is recruiting (obvious), better defensive play (obvious) and some diversity in the offense (not so sure). 8-4 likely. UGA won’t be worse, and the Dawgs have a schedule that could give them 8-9 wins. But neither team is going to be contending for titles next year, so what are we all talking about?
Wrecks.N.Effect
November 29th, 2010
5:52 pm
re: Tech Fan Since 1950
You cannot hang you hat on being #1 in rushing when you are also #119 in passing, the goal is to find a “sweet spot” that helps your program to win games, and not just games against crappy ACC Teams either.
In every press conference CPJ talks about RUSHING YARDS like that is the only metric in CFB that affects WINNING & LOSING.
CPJ won’t get GT close to sniffing a MNC until he starts to focus on BALANCE on offense, STs, and defense, going for it on 4th down at mid-field does nothing to help his defense, yet he continually does it like he has the “85 Bears” on his Teams.
Bobby Knight
November 29th, 2010
5:56 pm
For the basketball team to get better they should hire me.
gtfanfrom1951
November 29th, 2010
5:58 pm
Mark this a new low for you! What has UGA and FSU done with their so called top ten classes? They have had them for year and what do have to show for it? Nothing no NC or conference title!
Headley Lamar
November 29th, 2010
6:19 pm
UGA didn’t get many penalities against Tech and that is BS. I saw enough holding calls that were not called.
A time honored tradition at Tech. When you lose, blame the refs.
Tech Man
November 29th, 2010
6:21 pm
To pws, Tech did give a full scholarship to a kicker, but he has not been anywhere to be seen. I don’t know if he was redshirted or not. If he was that good to be given a full ride then why didn’t he at least kick on kickoffs. Only CPJ knows that answer.
HRC BBA '71
November 29th, 2010
6:27 pm
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