4th Year is the Critical Year For Paul Johnson

by BirdGT on Aug 1, 2011 8:00 AM EDT in Georgia Tech Football

Paul Johnson has accumulated more conference wins than any other program in the ACC behind only Virginia Tech since 2008. He has won more ACC games in his first three seasons than any other Georgia Tech head coach ever. He is also entering the critical fourth year of his tenure.

Conference Wins since 2008:

Paul Johnson has a few remnants of Chan Gailey's 2006 recruits left. There are five Gailey guys left to be exact: Logan Walls, Roddy Jones, Jason Peters, Michael Peterson, & Chandler Anderson. I'm pretty positive, however, the Gailey influence is all but non-existent on this team now. So, what should Tech fans expect from an almost pure Paul Johnson squad?

Historically, Georgia Tech coaches have increased their overall winning percentage by 10% in their fourth year of coaching (from 55% to 64%). The only coaches who failed to improve upon their first three seasons were legends Heisman, Alexander, and Dodd. All modern era GT coaches typically saw a drastic improvement as opposed to their contemporaries. In ACC play, it appears the 4th year is the golden year:

Any thoughts out there as to why Georgia Tech seems to shine during a coach's fourth year? Any questions or random comments? Is life giving you limes or lemons?

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Gailey Recruits

First of all nice write up as always.

Aren’t those five Chan guys listed above the class of 2007 (not 2006).

Also technically I believe there are an additional 13 players from the class of 2008 that are Chan Gailey recruits because they commited to GT prior to his departure. They are: Andy Elakman, Robert Hogan, Jon Lockhart, BJ Machen, Stephen Mann, Nick McRae, Malcolm Munroe, Jamal Paige, Chris Tanner, Richard Watson, Tyler Melton, Embry Peebles & Steven Sylvester.

I could very well be wrong on some of those names but I think its mostly correct and I will agree with you that any Gailey influence is surely gone by now; however technically speaking there are still more Gailey recruits left and will be even next year.

by ATLSpartan on Aug 1, 2011 9:37 AM EDT reply actions

All of those guys signed on the dotted line for CPJ

and all of them had the chance to go somewhere else if they didn’t want to play for CPJ (and alot of them did).

Each and everyone of those guys are CPJ recruits. They knew they were going to play for CPJ when they signed thier LOIs and therefore should all be counted as CPJ guys.

by Jeffgt00 on Aug 1, 2011 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions

Ultimately I do not see them as 100% CPJ recruits

although you make a good point; they all signed their LOI’s knowing CPJ was their coach. I will still contend that the question remains if these player would have even been approached by CPJ had he been there the whole year prior to their signing. In other words, although these guys signed for CPJ they were still initially contacted by Gailey and his staff and had that not been the case they may not be playing for GT right now. In my mind they are at least a hybrid recruit of both Gailey and Johnson. Not that any of this matters or effects the team but I enjoy arguing the semantics.

by ATLSpartan on Aug 1, 2011 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Kinda ironic that the three best coaches in program history all had a down year in their 4th year.

But they all stuck around for a while after that, so that clearly didn’t slow them down.

My years in marching band have made me an authority on football.
Oh, and I have a Twitter.

by MagnaCarterGT on Aug 1, 2011 10:00 AM EDT reply actions

Even their “down” years were 50%+ winning percentages though.

by ATLSpartan on Aug 1, 2011 10:24 AM EDT up reply actions

EXPECTATIONS

Better to have died a small boy than to drop this football - John Heisman FromTheRumbleSeat

by Winfield Featherston on Aug 1, 2011 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions

Limes or lemons?

by Atlanta's original team on Aug 1, 2011 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions

Can you imagine

4 ties in one season?

I write stuff From the Rumble Seat.

by BirdGT on Aug 1, 2011 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions

Can I get a 3rd axis regression analysis

of Strength of Schedule for 4th year please!

by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Aug 1, 2011 12:04 PM EDT reply actions

you sound like a baptist preacher

“A-CAN I GET AN A-MEN-AH!”

or, for the EDSBS readers on here (all of us?), Huston Nutt.

Paul Johnson: not giving a crap about what you have to say since 1987.

by GTNate on Aug 1, 2011 6:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Giggity with a Post Doc

in MATH!

And yes to EsnarkyDSBS: everyday AMEN!

by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Aug 1, 2011 10:12 PM EDT up reply actions

I'd be a little surprised if Johnson is able to increase his winning percentage

The defense should be better with another year of seasoning under Al Groh, but I don’t see the offense being effective with all the losses in the backfield and still not having a downfield receiving threat. The options at quarterback all seem capable, but none really stand out as definite playmakers.

by illinole21 on Aug 1, 2011 5:54 PM EDT reply actions

I believe we will always be disadvantaged in recruiting.

There is a story in the News & Observer this morning about the Michael McAdoo case at UNC. In it the writer states that McAdoo was admitted to UNC with SAT scores 300-400 points below that for the incoming class as a whole. The SAT requirements at Chapel Hill are almost identical to ours. Could someone with McAdoo’s scores succeed at Tech? I think not, without considerable help. I bet the admission requirements for the next few years at UNC will get considerably tighter for athletes.

But this is also a cautionary story for all NCAA schools. Just how far should athletic departments go to admit and help marginal students who happen to be great athletes? Clearly, UNC went too far, but the need and temptation are real.

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

by orientalnc on Aug 2, 2011 8:09 AM EDT reply actions