Mark Bradley, Jeff Schultz, take note. It seems that Mark Richt wasn’t the only head coach who made a tough call about his defensive coordinator shortly after the Georgia Tech game. Per Coach Groh:
“I’m appreciative of the fact that within a few days of leaving Virginia, Paul was gracious enough to call and say that first off, he was sorry that things didn’t work out at Virginia and knew that I had well-prepared teams there; but, secondly, would I be interested in continuing to coach in Atlanta? I was very appreciative that he reached out in the first place and flattered that he thought we could add to something that they’re doing, and obviously, they were doing pretty well without me.” [Emphasis added.]
Sucks when a narrative goes completely down in flames, doesn’t it?
Get The Picture 
Not to worry Senator, the AJC is well known for playing loose with the facts. After milking a story dry to promote their agenda, they usually move on and bury any retractions for errors so no one ever finds it. This is much too small of an error to bother many of the people who look to the AJC for information.
I really have never gotten all the concern about the timetable. CMR said initially he was going to conduct a thorough search, was not going to be bound by a timetable, and would not provide updates until he had his man. The first expected announcement date I heard mentioned was after the bowls, how was this timing so drawn out? My only criticism was the amount of time spent on chasing Kirby, and the number of leaks regarding those discussions. Beyond that, I felt Mark Richt had a firm hand on this process and handled it very well. For two buffoons like Schultz and Bradley, and a laughable newspaper like the AJC, to criticize him is pathetic. Thanks for further discrediting their take on this. The sooner people learn to ignore their stories the quicker we get to when the AJC will fold and no longer be able to mislead readers.
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In the words of that fat kid on the Simpson’s:
HAH HAH!!!
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Nelson …
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Paul the Johnson is a hated opponent, but it’s difficult to do what he did, and what Mark Richt did, without getting distracted by the uh-oh crowd. Both men deserve a lot of credit for guts, judgment, and perserverance.
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So you mean Johnson gets credit for allowing his secretly lame duck DC continue recruiting and coaching the bowl etc. without allowing him to be available to cacti on with another team early in the process??
Yes, he was paid etc., but seems like Johnson was unfair to not allow him to seek new employment until very late in this type of cycle.
Even if it caused us to be short handed in the bowl, I think CMR did a far more honorable service to these coaches.
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This thread is about to drop off but, Bear in mind the coach’s first job is to coach the team, meaning get full productivity out of his staff if possible. I feel both coaches are still right.
Richt’s judgment to notify Willie Martinez early seems sound because Willie had been on the hot seat for 2-3 years and knew something was happening. Remember his emotional face at the end of the Tech game. Richt judged that Willie would have been nearly non-functional coaching the bowl game. His grace was offering Willie the opportunity to stay and collect a paycheck if he wanted.
Johnson’s judgment seems sound because Dave Wommack was probably still coming to work and putting in his days the same way he always had. Wommack’s performance didn’t get the same scrutiny, and not nearly as long, as Martinez. Johnson got a few good weeks’ work out of Wommack and allowed him to collect paychecks. Remember jobs aren’t easy to come by these days.
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The AJC is so predictable, I could Ghost write Bradley and Shultze column for them. They could take a 2 month vacation and you would never know they were gone. Same tired them every column. We LOVE CPJ, he is the chosen one. UGA and everything they do, is taking them further into the SEC celler, blah blah blah..
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The party line at Tech after they lost to UGA had been that they weren’t planning on a coordinator change and that the lack of depth and relative youth on defense were also factors that needed be taken into account when evaluating Wommack’s performance. But the Tech fans had been pretty vocal in expressing their dissatisfaction with the performance of the defense over the past couple of seasons.
All of a sudden Al Groh gets canned and then he shows up, obstensibly just to say hi to his buddy PJ during a bowl practice session. Yeah right…
Not to put too fine a point on it, PJ basically came to an understanding with Al behind Wommack’s back and then fired him when he was convinced Al would take the job and it would work within the budgetary constraints at Tech since they can’t afford to get into a bidding war on top flight assistants. They wouldn’t get a whiff of an interview with the guys UGA was talking to.
My guess is that if Al had shown no interest that Tech would not have fired Dave Wommack to begin with. When the Miami and New England jobs opened up it may have been a little bit of a risk, but it seems clear that at 65, Al Groh is done with upward mobility and the NFL.
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Paul Johnson is an asshole. That is all.
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It seems shocking that you would call Johnson an asshole. With a name like BeerMoney89, you would think you would show maturity and restraint. Let me guess, you are not the CEO of a fortune 500 corporation.
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Exactly what narrative was demolished?
Was the verbal offer that Groh alleges in December really a feeler and not a bona fide offer? Don’t know. . . Reasonable folk can argue whether or not CPJ treated Wommack fairly. But as we all know, BCS college football ain’t beanbag. And there were PR and practical elements to this as well. Has any program headed to a BCS bowl fired any coaches before the game was played?
What we’ll never know is whether CPJ would have still pulled the trigger had he won the Orange Bowl.
I don’t know how improved we’ll be, but I strongly believe that we’ll be better prepared in 2010. We’re gonna need it.
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The narrative at the AJ-C that Richt dawdled over his hire for weeks, while Johnson made his in a matter of days.
I don’t find fault with the way either head coach went about his business, FWIW.
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