After further review, Tech decides its special teams need help
Perhaps we won't be seeing pictures such as this. (AP photo)
When the notion of hiring a special-teams coordinator was broached last fall by this helpful correspondent, Paul Johnson called it “ridiculous” and contended that, in divvying up assignments, his program was doing as most big-time programs do. Left unacknowledged was the reality that few big-time programs were less special on special teams than Georgia Tech.
Update: Georgia Tech stands ready to welcome a special-teams coordinator.
Conclusion: Paul Johnson has succeeded in negotiating the fine line between stubbornness, which can have its virtues, and silliness, which has none.
Two of last season’s losses — at Miami, where a botched punt became one Hurricanes touchdown and a long kickoff return generated another, and against Utah in the Sun Bowl, where Tech missed three field goals — could be traced to the kicking game. This was after a 2010 season in which the Jackets lost at Virginia Tech on a kickoff return for a touchdown, at Georgia after missing a tying extra point and to Air Force in the Independence Bowl after muffing two punts.
Running the numbers, we note that five of Tech’s past nine losses — that’s more than half — could be traced to failures of kicking, covering kicks or fielding kicks. We also note that the Jackets were 54th last season among 120 FBS teams in net punting, 59th in kickoff-return defense, 61st in punt returns and 106th in kickoff returns. Tech’s longest field goal of 2011 spanned 41 yards.
As much fun as it was to hear Johnson fuss about his kicking game — and he’s a fusser of the first rank — it also made you wonder: Why didn’t he try to do something besides fuss?
Now he has, and good for him. The addition of Dave Walkosky from the Canadian Football League can’t possibly hurt. Tech’s special teams had gotten so shoddy as to damage the entire operation. Kicking and its offshoots tend to be given short shrift by colleges — the pros, by way of contrast, leave nothing to chance — and that approach has never made a lick of sense. Given that kicking can win or lose games, why chop up the responsibility and have different coaches handle different aspects? Why render an essential function an afterthought? Why not put one man in charge?
To his credit, Paul Johnson thought hard about his special teams and concluded that doing it the way most others do it was no longer tenable for Tech. To his credit, he tabled his resistance and did what needed doing. This doesn’t mean the Jackets will never miss another field goal or yield another long return, but it does mean that future failures won’t stem from a lack of oversight.
By Mark Bradley
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179 comments Add your comment
Paul in NH
March 1st, 2012
10:39 pm
George – there you go with those “facts” again.
You didn’t realize that WnE (or “Ole Wrexy” as he likes to call himself) takes the same approach to words as Humpty Dumpty.
From “Through the Looking Glass”
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone. “It means just what I choose it to mean – neither more or less.”
Buzzzed
March 1st, 2012
11:09 pm
MB, perfect pic for the article. Has Laskey gotten any PT since that game/play? I hope he gets his head straight.
TechRedNeck
March 1st, 2012
11:47 pm
SouthernCal GT Fan, you sir are right on the money. Look what happened to Bobby Ross.I love Tech always have and always will, however the truth hurts. Tech is no football factory. But then again look at those power houses. They gotta win every game every season and go for the Nat. Championship. If they don’t they howl, cry, threaten to kill somebody. I’m really happy Techs not like that.
gt40pinhd
March 2nd, 2012
12:38 am
techredneck,
where in socal? i’m in lb.
Bark Madley
March 2nd, 2012
1:18 am
Bradley comes out of his cave to write this? to be expected considering he only writes a column if he can find a way to spin a story his way. ‘See!! I was right!! See!!’ I guess thats why he doesnt write much…:)
OldGold64
March 2nd, 2012
7:55 am
This is a major institution with history and track record of greatness…. there is no reason why every category cannot have a “specialist” assigned to it in order to emphasize the importance of being a “Team” in all phases of contribution instead of relying on one segment to carry the load and hoping it is enough to offset opponents.
GTfan2012
March 2nd, 2012
8:57 am
OldGold64,
Your comments implies a lack of knowledge of college football coaching. Did you know that colleges are limited in the number of assistant coaches they are allowed to have. So the history and greatness of GT have nothing to do with the fact that we didn’t have a ST coach, but rather it was an allocation of resources. Now, I’m not so much of a “boot licking toadie” that I don’t realize that our HC has changed his tune on the way he allocates those resources. What GT was doing on ST was not working, and to his credit, CPJ changed his position on this issue. After all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Kinda like WnE, who keeps spouting the same thing over and over and thinks that eventually people here will think he is smart.
GT
March 2nd, 2012
9:06 am
Did anyone read about the UCLA study made by a Sports Ill. writer. It talks about how undiscipled the UCLA basketball team is. It is almost a cult group that parties and take drugs and basketball is secondary. Korey McCray is an assistant coach there. He fed a lot of players to Hewitt here. AAU types that almost rock star mentality and could care less about the other side of life and have no business on a college campus. Interesting reading and reporting, and a condition I think you not only found with Hewitt but still find in Athens with that football team. While reporter here are just recycling copy from their college PR departments, SL is doing what good reporters use to do, find the facts report what is really going on.
Tim T-bone
March 2nd, 2012
9:50 am
Good Grief! I love football but so many guys angry over meaningless entertainment. Please try to redirect your energy into something positive.
Got Gators and God Bless,
#14
WnE
March 2nd, 2012
9:56 am
On the Radio today CPJ was HATING on Stephen Hill with the way he answered the question on whether or not Hill was a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick.
With all the S. Hill positivity going around Coach Kung Fu Panda is on the local Atl. radio HATING ON HIS WON PLAYER.
I’ll see If I can find the audio clip from one of the Local Sports Talk stations websites.
CPJ is so stubborn and hate-filled that he can’t even take a great situation (S. Hill’s combine performances) and then portray that into something positive.
CPJ has to be the WORST BCS-HC PR-wise in the entire country.
Please feel free to RESPOND Boot-Licking-Toadies!
GT
March 2nd, 2012
10:03 am
This is a lot like the Republican Party, no clarity, no compromise, my way or the highway. I truly hope RS gets it. He would wreak the Republican reelection of the congress. He would front and center the problem with gridlock. If Mitt is elected he will carry a lot of tea party Republicans back to Congress that don’t deserve to be there. Romney actually makes these guys look nice to the middle. RS tell the real story of lost freedoms that the tea party represents. He will scare hell out of moderates and they will come out to vote against this nut. If Romney wins the middle doesn’t feel threatened and are less likely to vote.
GT
March 2nd, 2012
10:08 am
sorry got the blogs mixed up. Did CPJ mention that dropped pass by Hill in the Carolina game?
Just Plain Average
March 2nd, 2012
11:52 am
WnE the only way Tech’s going to recruit better is to hire a better recruiting cord. They offer all the big time recruits but just can’t seem to close the deal. Perfect examples would be Tuit and Tomlinson. If they could get a well known 4 or 5 star recruit to commit early, that would help tremendously with attracting other high profile recruits. Just look at the defensive players that were considering Tech until Tuit and Tomlinson decided to go else where. Those 2 players and the few that were going to follow would have greatly improved Tech’s D. And as far as QB’s go, I think Vad Lee and Justin Thomas have far more potential than all the QB’s put together that CPJ has had to work with. Only time will tell. JT has 4.3 speed and seems to have a decent arm. It could be the the 2nd coming of Joe Hamilton. Vad Lee looks to be a pretty good passer and should have a good grasp of the offense. I’ll be very suprised if T. Washinton is the starter. And SynGyn Days can’t be left out of the mix. Great runner and has a pretty good arm. I just wish we could recruit better on D.
Jacket99
March 2nd, 2012
11:54 am
WnE is so stubborn and hate-filled that he can’t even take a great situation (S. Hill’s combine performances) and then portray that into something positive.
GTBob
March 2nd, 2012
12:13 pm
WnE the only way Tech’s going to recruit better is to hire a better recruiting cord.
The only way Tech is going to recruit better is to get a new school. Hiring the best recruiting coordinator in the world would only marginally improve things.
If do right, no can defense
March 2nd, 2012
1:26 pm
Actually I would be surprised if Washington was *not* the starting QB this fall. What helps his case is experience (even if it was mostly experience of losing to tough opponents and never engineering a comeback victory) and tough front part of the schedule. Unlike last season, our season’s fate will be pretty much decided by the time bye week rolls around.
That being said, I do think Vad Lee will be given significant playing time (the coaching staff have indicated as much), and with a returning offensive line I suppose you could take a few risks. I would advise caution when projecting starting QBs. In our system it is not the raw athleticism that counts, but how efficiently you can distribute the ball and how smoothly and quickly you can make decisions. These are the qualities that propelled Tevin ahead of Synjyn last spring.
But I think with the type of competition we will have over next couple of seasons at QB, with the raw talent/athleticism coming in, Tevin’s lack of a good passing game and lack of playmaking ability may overweigh his experience and efficiency.
Randy Carson IMGT '83
March 2nd, 2012
5:22 pm
When I log into the AJC online, I have bookmarked the Tech section only.
I don’t waste my time reading UGA articles and blogs nor do I bother posting in threads devoted to UGA. It doesn’t pertain to me, so what’s the point?
So, if Tech is as irrelevant and insignificant as you claim, why bother reading and commenting here?
Honestly, what IS the fascination you dawgs have about Tech football?
Maybe there is some type of inferiority complex at work?
michael
March 2nd, 2012
8:05 pm
….still, no coaching and players that WANT what uga want’s. I AM THE TECH FAN SINCE 1969 !! i was the boy on the sidelines during the seventie’s courtesy of MAJOR HUGHE HARRISON (dad a ga.st. ptrl).
J-Man
March 2nd, 2012
11:38 pm
So Bradley what do you think of the Saints having Bounties?
Boobie Bowden
March 2nd, 2012
11:42 pm
WnE may have sniffed some tail on campus, but he sure isn’t an alum of Tech, maybe UGA?
Mutant GT Yellow Jackets Will Bee Stinger-less
March 3rd, 2012
2:05 am
A parody of truth – that hurts!
A GT Athletic spokesperson sadly announces that a Coach Paul Johnson’s thoughtfully proposed project performed by the Georgia Tech Bio-Engineering Department in his brilliant ploy to sharpen the GT Yellow Jacket’s Offensive, Defensive, and Special Teams stingers this year in hopes of buzzing through the ACC and stronger OOC teams this year, has gone terribly array.
A GT OL Bee was quoted as saying, I am ’sorely’ sorryful that with our stingers gone I won’t be able to get down low enough to do the cut blocking that Coach J expects me to master.
As he’s a strict disciplinarian, I’m afraid that another swift kick of his size 10EE sneakers in my raw former stinger hole and I’ll have to see if I can get my gaping hole sewn up.
What about me your center, just how does coach expect me to squat down to hike the ball with half my innards leaking out? Don’t you think the QB’s hands are gonna be a little slick after he puts em under my former stinger place? Well, I guess it won’t matter much since we don’t have much of a passing QB anyway! That’s one consolation, I guess!
And the poor H-backs and B-backs gonna find it hard to run with no stinger to jab at those tacklers that are swift afoot, I mean swift a ‘flying’ down the field when they find that occasional open hole in the line. Remember we have some puny sized lineman, and now that their stingers been removed, they’ve lost about 15% of their undersized weight!
And our poor LBers, what’ll they use now to jab those forearms to the face with, I mean stingers to the face as the refs often cheerfully called em!
Gonna be hard to punt and kick the ball too with a sore gaping stinger hole, not that we had hardly anyone on a scholly to do that!
On how I wish Coach Moobs, I think I’ve read him called that, though I guess I ‘wrecken’ that brilliant football mind Coach Paul Johnson don’t take too kindly to that, hadn’t made our whole team do this new ’sharpen the stinger’ experiment in the off season this year! Doesn’t seem to have worked out the way he ’splained it to us!
Gonna be a sore year for us Bees this 2012 season, and all the Stinger fans too since we’re now been inexcusably left stinger-less!
The rest of the ACC’s gonna kick our butts, and with the hole left where our stinger used to ‘bee’ still hurting, it will be a long year for the new Stinger-less Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets!
And the real sad part is that we ain’t got many recruits coming in that they can fill in for us stinger-less Bees on roster! Oh woe is to be a Bee!
Dacusville Bill
March 3rd, 2012
3:54 am
If it wasn’t for Klem & Son, Tech couldn’t beat any of the top tier teams–Since Bobby Dodd and Bobby Ross aren’t coming back, why not find a young coach named Bobby and fire the Fat Man—I’ve been a Tech fan over 60 years and I am disappointed with Tech since George O. left–
dagnabit
March 3rd, 2012
8:37 am
Oversight. Or money for the salary for a special teams coach. Where did the ajc find you?
Messin with Sasquatch
March 3rd, 2012
8:48 am
Nice column, Mark. I agree.
Nativebird
March 3rd, 2012
8:49 am
Your love for this over-matched ego-maniacle high school coach knows no bounds. Now it’s special teams thats His problem? You must be joking. How about 1. Recruiting….or his inability to do so; 2. His laughable belief that you can win anything of importance for any length of time in football with The Forward Pass.
Start there, and THeN maybe we can argue where the special teams deck chairs can be arranged on this Titanic.
Nativebird
March 3rd, 2012
8:55 am
; 2. His laughable belief that you can win anything of importance for any length of time in football WITHOUT The Forward Pass.
TechRon
March 3rd, 2012
12:04 pm
Johnson did the right thing in hiring this guy. Too bad he is so stubborn that it took a lost season to realize that everyone else was right and he was wrong. I never saw anyone so arrogant! He kind of reminds me of Dan Henning. He produced only failure, but he insisted on struting around like the world’s expert on football and got real huffy about answering questions. His attitude was “hey, I am the one who knows it all, who are YOU to be asking an expert such silly questions.” Well PJ is the same way. When he produces like Nick Saban, then he can act that way. Nothing is working, players are not motivated, game plan has no imagination, defense sucks, special teams suck and he thinks he should get respect like he was Vince Lombardi. Not from me, I am sick of it.
Messin with Sasquatch
March 3rd, 2012
3:25 pm
Native bird is cuckoo, I believe. I should kick your butt.
GTL
March 4th, 2012
7:43 am
With fans like WnE who needs UGA?