Best Ga Tech coaches since Dodd Poll

[Tampa Jacket]

Let's hope this timeline plays out 30 years later because it sounds extremely familiar.

That would be nice. But that was COLLEGE football which was killed my greed and money between 5 and 10 yrs ago. It is very likely the 1990 Georgia Tech team will be the last “college” football team with a stadium that seats less than 85k to win a NC.

 

[GTFLETCH]

FWIW PJ played much softer schedules than oleary or Chan. Strip out a dozen FCS games and the total win % isn’t even close

I guess that explains why Gailey never best UGA and lost to WF in an ACC Title game. SMH

 

[ThomsonJacket]

Is this really up for debate? Ross-O’Leary-Johnson. Gailey would be #4, the rest are also-rans.

JRjr

LoL'd at the 4 Collins votes

 

[The Champ]

I guess that explains why Gailey never best UGA and lost to WF in an ACC Title game. SMH

Was just stating a fact as folks were comparing schedules between eras.

FWIW the WF team we lost to in the ACCCG in 06 was better than the Clemson team we beat in 09.

 

[Tampa Jacket]

That’s the order I voted, but I really liked Pepper and Curry. They brought some good talent in.

Ross for sure. He transformed a high school roster to a great college football team.
O’Leary did well. But he did not after Fridge left. And O’Leary got us in trouble with The Hill because of non-qualifiers.
Johnson brought immediate success to The Flats and played by the rules. His offenses worked brilliantly when he had a uniquely good QB like Nesbit and JT. Johnson’s downfall was poor defenses and mediocre QBs.
My order would be Ross, O’Leary, Fridge followed by Johnson. But Johnson was a special coach for 3/4 of his career at GT.
Gailey underachieved the most. He had very good rosters that simply underperformed.

 

[GoldZ]

When I voted, Coach Collins was one vote behind Coach Gailey and ahead of Coaches Carson, Fulcher, Rodgers and Curry. I personally saw Carson, Rodgers and Curry beat Georgia and go to bowl games. I was living far out of state during Fulcher's tenure, but remember him winning the Liberty Bowl. Gailey had some great games, including the miracle in Clemson, and went to bowls. How anybody could rank Collins about even with Gailey and ahead of Carson, Fulcher, Rodgers and Curry is incomprehensible to me.

You have to consider that those voters for CGC were.......WOKE!

 

[GTce93]

hmmm: Ross + GOL = 83 - 59 - 1......CPJ = 82 - 61.....probably doesn't mean anything- just found that interesting.

 

[Tampa Jacket]

hmmm: Ross + GOL = 83 - 59 - 1......CPJ = 82 - 61.....probably doesn't mean anything- just found that interesting.

Ross + GOL definitely fielded relatively bigger, stronger more talented teams for sure. CPJ was more smoke and mirrors.

 

[GEETEELEE]

I do not understand why Pepper was treated so poorly by Dodd and the Hill given what he accomplished as a player. He gave up a good position at UCLA to return and coach Tech. Then they fired him even though his teams performed well. Finally they blackballed him so he never got another college coaching job.

He pissed off certain alumni with some of his off-field antics not being *ahem* proper behavior for a Georgia Tech coach, not to mention opening up recruiting for black players. I heard “we can lose football games with white boys” more than once or twice. Although he certainly pulled in some very good players, the last couple of years had very slim pickings due to the worst facilities in football.

He was blackballed because he sued Tech for losing his extraneous income from his TV show and endorsements, something no coach had done prior to any college. Completely restructured coaching contracts moving forward.

 

[CarsonNewmanJacket]

FSU was legit when O'leary was here and those were some great games. The rest of the ACC was pretty weak; UGA had Donnan.

FSU made the BCS championship and the Playoffs when Johnson was here

 

[aeromech]

FSU made the BCS championship and the Playoffs when Johnson was here

True; but we didn't have to play them every year.

 

[helluvaparamedic]

I find it interesting that the 3 alumni + Dodd’s hand picked replacement are not anywhere near the 3 with no Tech affiliation that are in the top tier, yet whenever a position needs to be filled, inevitably a TECH MAN gets mentioned as someone who should be hired. With all of that being said,
#4 Pepper Rodgers
#5 Bill Curry
#6 Bill Fulcher

 

[BrentwoodJacket]

He pissed off certain alumni with some of his off-field antics not being *ahem* proper behavior for a Georgia Tech coach, not to mention opening up recruiting for black players. I heard “we can lose football games with white boys” more than once or twice. Although he certainly pulled in some very good players, the last couple of years had very slim pickings due to the worst facilities in football.

He was blackballed because he sued Tech for losing his extraneous income from his TV show and endorsements, something no coach had done prior to any college. Completely restructured coaching contracts moving forward.

Why were our facilities so bad at that point? During the fifties and sixties we should have been one of the best funded teams in the country.

 

[JRJacket]

Flip side: O'Leary had an empty-cupboard rebuild on his hands when he was hired; PJ had the best-stocked shelves coming in of any coach in GT history. O'Leary has as many ACC Champs (1 - 1998) and the 1999 Gator Bowl was the same as the 2014 Orange Bowl IMO, where neither team qualified for BCS but played and won a NY Day bowl against an also-ran team. Bowl invites didn't number in the 80s during GOL's time here. O'Leary recruited and coached a should-have-won Heisman candidate and beat the mutts 3 IAR. GOL left the program in better shape than what he inherited. PJ did the exact opposite of that.

Both are behind Ross, obviously.

Won 30 games more (57% more) than the #2 coach on the list but yea, CPJ destroyed this program.

 

[RamblinWreck92]

Won 30 games more (57% more) than the #2 coach on the list but yea, CPJ destroyed this program.

Longevity + 2-3 cupcakes/year = +30 wins

and yes, we were a complete disaster when he left us with a bare cupboard.

 

[whiskey clear]

Pepper was not fired by Dodd, but by Doug Weaver, a former assistant of Pepper's at Kansas & UCLA. Weaver, a very unsuccessful (11-78-1) HFC in a couple of stops, was brought in when Dodd retired with Pepper's recommendation. The "real AD" from the late '60s til he retired in '79 was John McKenna. From personal experience seeing McKenna around the GTAA from 1968-1972, I can see McKenna not exactly being a Pepper Rodgers fan.

Weaver fired Pepper in '79 & promptly left to go back to Michigan State.

Also during the late '70s, the "Program Killer" Joe Pettit was President of The Institute.

Pepper's persona was always going to have him in hot water with the Piedmont Driving Club & Capital City Club sets, so it's not too surprising the conservative business-types (even some of the ex-HFCs) that run university AAs would shy away from him in that era.

Times sure have changed.

 

[Jacketeer]

Only at GT will fans crap on and denigrate games that we won. You know who else has 3-4 cupcakes every year? The Dwags. You think their fans give a crap or the analysts care when ranking them? No! And guess what, we beat a lot of really good teams too, but let's not mention it because it doesn't fit our agenda! Beating ugag and Clemson really sucked, and putting up points with that dadgum wishbone was so booooringgg!

Sad part is that cupcakes don't exist for us anymore. Our current regime has made it so that not even the Citadel or mighty NIU are gimmes.

 

[GoldZ]

Longevity + 2-3 cupcakes/year = +30 wins

and yes, we were a complete disaster when he left us with a bare cupboard.

Yeah, those Orange Bowls, ACCC, ACCCG, and beating the dawgs x 3 in their house..........were completely program destroying. And, no I don't want him back and yes it was time to drop the TO.

 

[bonham]

The fact that we got to pick three coaches made this an easy poll response.

Those three are the only ones who've done anything worth a damn.

I've always maintained that Gailey was one decent QB away from elite status. Even average QB play gets him into the same category as those three.

 

[Liberty]

The fact that we got to pick three coaches made this an easy poll response.

Those three are the only ones who've done anything worth a damn.

I've always maintained that Gailey was one decent QB away from elite status. Even average QB play gets him into the same category as those three.

Damn near every GT team in the last 50 years was a good QB away from a great season.

Gomer’s problem was his style was like he was playing to get into the NFL playoffs. College is a single elimination deal for 95% of the teams not named Bammer, Ohio St, Notre Dame, etc.