Paul Johnson as GT coach

[Dirty Jacket]

CPJ is the only coach that will allow us to keep the value of our degree and give us a reasonable shot at a top 10 finish each year. Alabama grads aren't taking your jobs..and if they are - suck less at what you do. the college landscape is way different than it was 30 years ago when we last won at natty and a ****load different than Heisman's day...you can use the argument that Cutcliffe or Shaw are making it work..but have they really? and I'm pretty sure the curriculum at both schools allows for cake courses. complain all you want..but i've found it a whole lot easier to accept reality.

So you’re telling me that if are good at football, my degree will be worth less? That’s what you’re saying, right?

 

[smokey_wasp]

Ken Wisenhunt for Head Coach.

He knows TECH, He knows how to win, He knows Todd Stansbury
Push for a curriculum that does not require Calculus

2 of those things are true. He knows Tech (or at least he did 30+ years ago) and he knows Stansbury. Winning? 2 winning seasons in 8 NFL seasons (was 3-20 in his last stint). Hasn't coached in college since he coached tight ends at Vanderbilt in 1995-96.

As for Calculus, neither he, nor any coach is going to have a say in that.

I dunno how Whisenhunt would do here. No one does, really, but to think he'd succeed just because he played for GT when I was a baby, I just can't see that. Whisenhunt is the new Mark Price, I think.

 

[BuzzLaw]

So you’re telling me that if are good at football, my degree will be worth less? That’s what you’re saying, right?

This seems to be the prevailing thought: you can be good at academics or good at football, but you can’t be good at both.

There is some sort of truth in that many football players wouldn’t be college students except for the fact they can play football. Malcolm Mitchell at Uga comes to mind. But kudos to him for making the most of it. College football is no longer about the student athlete. It’s about money and minor league football.

 

[johncu]

Meh, I think it's easier today. Back then, you had to run the table and win votes from AP to even get a chance at being 1 of 2 teams with a shot at a title. It was more subjective than today.

Today, you need only be 1 of 4 teams picked for the CFP. And you don't have to run the table - just win your division and win your conf. championship.

I've got to disagree with you here. Just "making the CFP" doesn't get you anything. When is the last time GT had a team that would have had a chance of beating teams like Alabama and Oklahoma in back to back games, even if we had made it? 1990? I'm not even sure if that team could have pulled it off.

I'd argue that right now is the hardest time to win a NC in GT history, and it will not get easier. With the rise of the SEC and even teams like Clemson and FSU, we can't compete with most of what those places have to offer. And as GT continues to gain academic prestige, our curriculum will continue to be a major roadblock unless something drastic changes. The fact that we're a football afterthought in our own state is pretty much the nail in the coffin when it comes to building anything sustainably elite.

I don't think that means we should give up on football like some people apparently do, because the reality is that only like 10 schools even have a remote shot at a NC each year, and maybe only 15 or 20 every decade. That leaves the rest of us to be as competitive as we can and enjoy those flash in the pan years when we catch lightning in a bottle and knock off some good teams. Unless something major changes structurally at GT, that's probably the best we can hope for*.

*before someone inevitably twists my words, I'm not saying that what we've seen the last 3 years is the best we can hope for, nor am I saying that we could never do better than Paul Johnson.

 

[texstinger]

CPJ is the only coach that will allow us to keep the value of our degree and give us a reasonable shot at a top 10 finish each year. Alabama grads aren't taking your jobs..and if they are - suck less at what you do. the college landscape is way different than it was 30 years ago when we last won at natty and a ****load different than Heisman's day...you can use the argument that Cutcliffe or Shaw are making it work..but have they really? and I'm pretty sure the curriculum at both schools allows for cake courses. complain all you want..but i've found it a whole lot easier to accept reality.

It is amazing the loser mentality that is taught and fostered at GT today.

If John Young or John Portman attended GT today they would be taught " you can't do that". It would be taught not to think about going into space - just be happy to fly a jet. Don't try to build a Hyatt Regency - just make money building condos on some beach.

A losers mentality.

 

[ElCidBUZZingFAN]

It is amazing the loser mentality that is taught and fostered at GT today.

If John Young or John Portman attended GT today they would be taught " you can't do that". It would be taught not to think about going into space - just be happy to fly a jet. Don't try to build a Hyatt Regency - just make money building condos on some beach.

A losers mentality.

Well, your 'all we have to do is want it more' mentality ain't exactly guarantees for a successful, title winning program. So, your mentality is equally dumb. I can rattle off plenty of programs that have your "you just got to want it" mentality in spades yet either aren't winning titles or aren't even sniffing the level of success of GT over the past 15ish years.

 

[floridajacket]

It is amazing the loser mentality that is taught and fostered at GT today.

If John Young or John Portman attended GT today they would be taught " you can't do that". It would be taught not to think about going into space - just be happy to fly a jet. Don't try to build a Hyatt Regency - just make money building condos on some beach.

A losers mentality.

You're AD and given the following parameters after firing the coach:

- Don't spend more than $3 mil on a coach.
- Don't spend more than $1 mil on coordinator
- Don't have 20+ "analysts" like blue bloods have
- Don't expand or ease the curriculum
- Still average 40k attendance

Hire a coach that wins one NC (at least). Make clear to the coach you're getting for <$3 mil you don't want a "loser's mentality" when you demand an NC. Good luck.

 

[Diseqc]

CPJ is the only coach that will allow us to keep the value of our degree and give us a reasonable shot at a top 10 finish each year. Alabama grads aren't taking your jobs..and if they are - suck less at what you do. the college landscape is way different than it was 30 years ago when we last won at natty and a ****load different than Heisman's day...you can use the argument that Cutcliffe or Shaw are making it work..but have they really? and I'm pretty sure the curriculum at both schools allows for cake courses. complain all you want..but i've found it a whole lot easier to accept reality.

 

[WracerX]

I've got to disagree with you here. Just "making the CFP" doesn't get you anything. When is the last time GT had a team that would have had a chance of beating teams like Alabama and Oklahoma in back to back games, even if we had made it? 1990? I'm not even sure if that team could have pulled it off.

I'd argue that right now is the hardest time to win a NC in GT history, and it will not get easier. With the rise of the SEC and even teams like Clemson and FSU, we can't compete with most of what those places have to offer. And as GT continues to gain academic prestige, our curriculum will continue to be a major roadblock unless something drastic changes. The fact that we're a football afterthought in our own state is pretty much the nail in the coffin when it comes to building anything sustainably elite.

I don't think that means we should give up on football like some people apparently do, because the reality is that only like 10 schools even have a remote shot at a NC each year, and maybe only 15 or 20 every decade. That leaves the rest of us to be as competitive as we can and enjoy those flash in the pan years when we catch lightning in a bottle and knock off some good teams. Unless something major changes structurally at GT, that's probably the best we can hope for*.

*before someone inevitably twists my words, I'm not saying that what we've seen the last 3 years is the best we can hope for, nor am I saying that we could never do better than Paul Johnson.

2014 was the last time we could have beaten AL, OU back to back. We closed that season with 3 top 10 wins and a 2 pt loss to FSU. That team ended the season with the potential to beat anyone. Had we beaten FSU, we would have had a case for bumping Ohio State from the playoffs based on teams beaten.

 

[smokey_wasp]

You're AD and given the following parameters after firing the coach:

- Don't spend more than $3 mil on a coach.
- Don't spend more than $1 mil on coordinator
- Don't have 20+ "analysts" like blue bloods have
- Don't expand or ease the curriculum
- Still average 40k attendance

Hire a coach that wins one NC (at least). Make clear to the coach you're getting for <$3 mil you don't want a "loser's mentality" when you demand an NC. Good luck.

 

[18in32]

Winning at GT has never been easy. We’ve always been at a disadvantage relative to our competitors.

It is very hard to identify changes in the CFB landscape since Dodd that make the disadvantage worse... except arguably and controversially desegregation.

If you don’t think GT has the potential to win all its games I don’t really see why you’d be a fan.

 

[MSCI99]

So you’re telling me that if are good at football, my degree will be worth less? That’s what you’re saying, right?

I think you know what I'm saying but I'll spell it out - to win we need to be bigger, faster, and stronger than we are right now to consistently compete with a Clemson or the like. CPJ's scheme masks a lot of that and some years things fall in to place. Good luck convincing a kid who is 2 out of those 3 to come to GT over another Power 5 school where there will likely be less calculus and way more titties. No right minded coach would accept < $3M/yr in today's market and trying to compete with that handicap. And I know this very general and unfair assumption is that the avg NFL caliber athlete doesn't give a sh*t about his education and that smart girls aren't hot and plentiful...that doesn't make it less true. Sadly - this thread and many like it don't even exist if we just had a competent kicking game.

 

[beej67]

This seems to be the prevailing thought: you can be good at academics or good at football, but you can’t be good at both.

You can be good at both if you're a private school, and can decide free and clear of any sort of oversight other than the NCAA who you accept, what majors they take, and how hard they are. If you literally grant that oversight to your in state rival, and the in state rival is a bunch of (redacted), then you can start to see the differences between someplace like GT and someplace like Stanford.

Imagine Stanford.
Then remove all humanities programs.
Then make it public.
Then put all their curricula under the control of Cal Berkeley.
Then replace the student body and alumni and fan base of Cal Berkeley with the UGA students/alumni/fans.

Wrap your head around that.

 

[beej67]

It is amazing the loser mentality that is taught and fostered at GT today.

If John Young or John Portman attended GT today they would be taught " you can't do that". It would be taught not to think about going into space - just be happy to fly a jet. Don't try to build a Hyatt Regency - just make money building condos on some beach.

A losers mentality.

Nobody handed Chuck Yeager a biplane and told him the reason he didn't break the sound barrier was his loser mentality. They built a rocket plane. Quit blaming the pilot.

 

[RamblinWreck92]

I've got to disagree with you here. Just "making the CFP" doesn't get you anything. When is the last time GT had a team that would have had a chance of beating teams like Alabama and Oklahoma in back to back games, even if we had made it? 1990? I'm not even sure if that team could have pulled it off.

With better Defense, the 2014 team might've had a chance. Frankly, I think this year's 'Bama team is highly over-rated and I predict Clemson will expose this in a few weeks, same way Auburn did. The Auburn game was no fluke. 'Bama hid all year behind a weak SEC and weak OOC schedule. It's not their fault that FSU sucked but that's missing the point.

Again, today's teams control their fate to a higher degree than yesterday's, as long as they're in a P5 conference. It's why BYU can't win a natty anymore but could back in 1984. You can lose a game today and still make it, as Clemson and 'Bama have shown.

Personally, I don't think any of today's teams are as good as the teams from 20+ years ago but that's a rhetorical debate. I still maintain that making it to the 4-team CFP is easier today than winning the popularity contest was pre-BCS/CFP, when only 2 teams were really vying for the natty on New Year's Day.

Cheers!

 

[floridajacket]

I looked up the 1990 AP rankings before bowl season. If the CFP rankings would have been the same, the playoff would have been:

#1: Colorado
#2: Georgia Tech
#3: Texas
#4: Miami

Miami and Texas actually played each other in the Cotton Bowl. Yes, it was that cotton bowl. Besides Miami's antics, they stomped Texas 46-3. Miami was uneven during the year, but they would have probably been unstoppable. After all, they won both the 1989 and 1991 national championships.

 

[ee8384]

I looked up the 1990 AP rankings before bowl season. If the CFP rankings would have been the same, the playoff would have been:

#1: Colorado
#2: Georgia Tech
#3: Texas
#4: Miami

Miami and Texas actually played each other in the Cotton Bowl. Yes, it was that cotton bowl. Besides Miami's antics, they stomped Texas 46-3. Miami was uneven during the year, but they would have probably been unstoppable. After all, they won both the 1989 and 1991 national championships.

Great, another asterisk on the title.

* shared with Colorado
** would have lost to Miami if there had been a playoff

 

[RamblinWreck92]

CPJ is the only coach that will allow us to keep the value of our degree and give us a reasonable shot at a top 10 finish each year. Alabama grads aren't taking your jobs..and if they are - suck less at what you do. the college landscape is way different than it was 30 years ago when we last won at natty and a ****load different than Heisman's day...you can use the argument that Cutcliffe or Shaw are making it work..but have they really? and I'm pretty sure the curriculum at both schools allows for cake courses. complain all you want..but i've found it a whole lot easier to accept reality.

The value of our degree wasn't cheapened by Stephon Marbury and the other hoopsters and won't be cheapened by championship football either. Nor is CPJ the only coach that can possibly win at Tech. Am so tired of this ridiculous belief.

 

[RamblinWreck92]

You can be good at both if you're a private school, and can decide free and clear of any sort of oversight other than the NCAA who you accept, what majors they take, and how hard they are. If you literally grant that oversight to your in state rival, and the in state rival is a bunch of (redacted), then you can start to see the differences between someplace like GT and someplace like Stanford.

Imagine Stanford.
Then remove all humanities programs.
Then make it public.
Then put all their curricula under the control of Cal Berkeley.
Then replace the student body and alumni and fan base of Cal Berkeley with the UGA students/alumni/fans.

Wrap your head around that.

The thought of all mutt students/alumni/fans moving to the West Coast is ööööing awesome!! öööö 'em!

 

[Yukonwreck]

CPJ is the only coach that will allow us to keep the value of our degree and give us a reasonable shot at a top 10 finish each year. Alabama grads aren't taking your jobs..and if they are - suck less at what you do. the college landscape is way different than it was 30 years ago when we last won at natty and a ****load different than Heisman's day...you can use the argument that Cutcliffe or Shaw are making it work..but have they really? and I'm pretty sure the curriculum at both schools allows for cake courses. complain all you want..but i've found it a whole lot easier to accept reality.

Yeah, I had to take a 12% pay cut when Travis Custis was admitted. Dayum.