Johnson has always come across as the smartest guy in the room, and through the 2008 season and most of 2009 he seemed the sharpest coach in this state.
Mark Bradley’s latest fellatio-fest of Paul Johnson may be his magnum opus. And given the author and the subject, that is not meant as faint praise.
Even so, this is a pretty fun read:
On the morning of Nov. 28, 2009, Paul Johnson was poised to become the unchallenged king of football in a state that takes the sport seriously. He was 19-5 in two seasons as Georgia Tech’s coach. That night his Jackets would play Georgia, whom they’d famously beaten 45-42 in Athens the year before.
Tech was 10-1, ranked No. 7 nationally and champion of the ACC Coastal Division. Georgia was 6-5, having just lost at home to Kentucky. Not since George O’Leary was working against Jim Donnan had Tech beaten the Bulldogs twice in a row – Chan Gailey, O’Leary’s successor, hadn’t done it even once – and now Johnson was roundly favored to make it 2-for-2 against the hated Mutts.
But Georgia won. The Bulldogs pounded the Jackets on the ground, and Tech’s final chance was wasted when Demaryius Thomas dropped a fourth-down pass. For Tech and for Johnson, nothing since has been nearly as good.
From Johnson’s 19-5 start, Tech has gone 15-14. (The sweetest of those 15 on-the-field victories – the 2009 ACC championship game over Clemson – was vacated by NCAA sanctions involving Thomas’ eligibility.) Tech went 6-7 in 2010, 8-5 last season after starting 6-0. Tech hasn’t beaten Georgia since 2008 and hasn’t won a bowl game under Johnson.
If Tech has another same ol’ year, the good news for Bradley is that he can recycle this piece pretty easily.
Get The Picture 
Looks like Johnson can’t recruit. I guess he is too smart for that kind of stuff.
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Of course he can’t. That’s why major programs don’t hire small-time “geniuses” like him that run anachronistic systems that only below-grade players will play in.
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Funny how genius can be so fleeting.
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I read that article this morning, and sat back and waited for the blog entry. Thank you for not disappointing, Senator.
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What makes Johnson so goddam smart? Beating Kansas? Getting run yards on shitty ACC defenses? Losing to Utah?
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Don’t you remember?! He let Ealey go ahead and score in that 2010 game so that their non-passing offense could get the ball back and tie the game with less than 2 minutes to go. GENIUS!!!!
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If he hadn’t he would have been facing a new set of downs that would run the clock out and lose anyway. I thought it was smart for him to conjure up a possibility of winning instead of losing without a struggle.
He’s a lot more stupid than that decision demonstrates.
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No he is smart because he managed to get the 1 win against UGA. Thats it. If he never got that win, AJC would have been off his “johnson” by 2010. He gave them hope….
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I agree. For a person whose job requires more than a superficial understanding of the game, Bradley sure puts his job at risk by attempting to inflate the hopes of the nerds. Johnson a genius? On the verge of the being the “king of the sport” in the state of Georgia? What kind of bubble does this clown live in? I get that you have to occasionally play to the 10,000 fans scattered across the metro area of 4 MM people that care about GT but do you have to expose/lower yourself to this type of silliness.
Johnson has a extraordinarily myopic view of offense and only feasts off weaker teams and those who have never faced an option attack before. It is little wonder that an offense based on gimmicks would falter against teams they have to play on a regular basis. The only award Johnson is in contention for, and actually wins going away, is the most arrogant prick title among all coaches in the state of Georgia. Even for techies it is surprising how long they have defended this guy. The question is: how much longer will they put up with him before they realize he has doomed them to mediocrity? Recruiting will only get more difficult as offensive players see they are being prepared to implement a concept that has no upside if they wish to continue playing football.
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It’s no picnic for defensive players either: they will only ever practice against a run-option offense. Not exactly the sort of training you want if you have actual aspirations.
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That’s not an excuse, Florida had a sick defense even though they never practiced against a pro style offense.
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Until Charlie Strong left….
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Urbs also had a #1 class and a #2 class at UF. Could it be that guys that are big and strong and fast can defeat a scheme even though they don’t practice against it every day? But if that were true Tech wouldn’t own this state. No, wait………..
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That’s my point, recruiting well and hiring good assistants is a large part of a head coach’s job, I’d go as far as to say 90% of a head coach’s job. Hence anyone who uses the words Paul Johnson and genius in the same sentence is a moron.
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Thanks for posting the write-up. That keeps me form going over there and giving them more hits.
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Tech….don’t get me wrong, it is always good to beat them, but don’t we really have bigger fish (Gators?) to fry these days? Yes I was there at the “drought busting” and all that, and I was raised to hate Tech and all, but really, I just ain’t sure the Jackets are relevant to us anymore. If you could only win one, would it be Florida or Tech? Course I am not a member of the Capital City Club, so my perspective may be skewed.
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As I say every year, Florida is the win I want the most and Tech is the loss I hate the most.
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Don’t tell yer buddies at the CCC that….they will suspend your bathroom priviledges.
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I also question continuing to play them on an annual basis. The home and home with GT is often used as an excuse as to why we cannot schedule better OOC games. If this is the reason, let’s fix it now. We gain nothing by playing them any longer, only risk out DL players’ legs. The home game against them is not that attractive, and comes at a bad time on the schedule, and the away game is to a bandbox stadium located in an area all UGA fans avoid going to on a regular basis.
I have no problem with playing them at home every 4 years like we do GSU, but they bring nothing to the party in terms of respect any more, and there is no justification in giving them a road game as if they are an equal. An alternative would be to give them a spot as a “home only” team every year in place of the Buffalo/Utah State type games and pay them some money. I understand how some of the older fans are hung up on the historical rivalry thingy, but that was when they were in the SEC and the game had some substantive value. Time to update and rethink this one. Heck, I was once proud of the attic fan in our home as a way to stay cool in the summer, and it remains a pleasant memory. We would still have many fun memories to enjoy as we welcomed big time programs to Athens and had cool road trips to look forward to. Man, back to back years of seeing those Oregon cheerleaders up close and personal was a big loss. Having GT instead of them is like the woman in the song that said “did I shave my legs for this?”
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I know I sound like a broken record about this, but I find it exceedingly strange to hear people advocate doing away with a series against a historical rival that has only beaten Georgia once in the last eleven seasons.
Nothing wrong with sneering at Georgia Tech, but surely there are more productive ways of doing so.
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Agree Senator. We should ALWAYS play Tech no matter what. I hate those suns a bitches
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And can you imagine what the techies would have to say if we’re the ones who refused to renew the contract?
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I like winning too Senator, but I would like to think it is more than just about the Ws. How badly do you have to beat someone before you have proven that point? If this were a fight the referee would have stopped it before now. And, we get nothing for beating them. Do you hear anyone defending UGA’s schedule because we play GT? They add little, but man do you take a hit when they pull the upset. I like to think playing a more competitive opponent would justify some risk. I would rather split with Texas, OU, or USC on a home and home than beat GT twice, but that is just one opinion. I realize some share your viewpoint, but isn’t that what gets us into the quality home game schedule discussions?
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You sound like a Florida fan talking about Georgia. 😉
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Big difference in a series you have a large series lead, where both opponents are respected, and each really knows it will be a big game…even before the season starts. I worry about GT the week of the game only. To compare the relevancy of a conference rival to GT is a huge stretch, even for the “maintain GT” defenders. Maybe in the same universe, but definitely a far away planet.
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Mac, you are correct concerning GT becoming a poorer opponent such that playing them might hurt on the SOS rating. Understand that things never remain the same and let’s all enjoy pounding the bastards until they can pound back . It’s good for our spirit right through Christmas and the other Holidays each year.
In the Spirit of Bygone Dawgs who took their licks and did their best in that game each year (some of them you can distinguish by the limp they placed on the old former GT players who faced them in games.) and who endured the insect’s insults both on and off the field. Many of the insults were cosponsored by the beloved AJC and their renowned bevy of present-day hacks. Just ask Wally Butts. The SBDs would shudder at the loss of antipathy over time. Enough already! Let’s whip their ass one more time. Let me know if the relief from winning that game to keep us undefeated doesn’t match the additional warm feeling in your crotch you get from hearing their women lament their injured.
Screw’em. I hope the players unleash all their frustrations of the season on the arrogant snots.
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Mac, you need to have your Good-Old-Fashioned-Hate history lesson renewed. It isn’t just a thingy, it’s an endemic culture disease borne out of years of low class hubris generated toward us for over a half century from the arrogant NATS (North Avenue Trade School to you young whippersnappers who weren’t around when we coined that name for the little insufferables). Tech and a few others always should be the source of our true enmity in football. The aholes deserve every unkind cut and shot in the head any member of our team could give when we are stoning their ass at 50-0.
My Dawg brother, you need some serious retraining. Think we should write off FU when we start creaming their ass every year? Think Spurrier and Crier, time outs when the game is won, public putdown comments, other classless acts perpetrated on our good name and then get back to me if we would forget in the future.
You don’t have to be old to intensely dislike the Nats. Schultz keeps them in front of us as lip-licking targets to our wrath. I just read that they have rediscovered the penis snake in South America. Hell, we could have told the herpetologists that they aren’t rare around Atlanta, the ACC and the SEC. AJC writers to coaches in both conferences, we have an infestation of the bastards. While penis-headed snakes abound now, lets not forget their rise in the past. Now that we have made them rare due to our vengeful wrath is no reason to start “let bygones be bygones” to that yellow turd in Atlanta.
My ageeable friend, we need to talk. 🙂
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So Cojones or for that matter any fan on this board, would it be as fun to beat Tech if they weren’t classless losers with a massive inferiority complex and obsession with Georgia? Because as far as I can tell that’s the only reason any Georgia fan gives a damn about Tech, not because they are truly a rival who can give as good as they get like Auburn or Florida, but because they just can’t recognize that they are literally and figuratively not in the same league as us and for the majority of the rivalry they never have been. Take away the false sense of arrogance and all I see is Vandy pre-Franklin, where beating them is a ho hum expected sort of thing. Your thoughts?
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As stated above, it is you who need to recalculate which century you are in. GT hasn’t been as relevant as Vandy in almost 50 years. If we were an independent they would be #4-5 on our rivalry list but now they are like GSU to me. I have been re-trained, and the younger folks get thgis better than all us Old Farts. Time to move on, nothing to be gained wallowing in a mud hole with a pig.
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Yall can’t recollect Bobby Dodd and the we-are-too-good-for-the- SEC meme? Too bad. They wanted to play “Great” teams like ND. Guess you don’t remember back when we were on natl TV every Thanksgiving with that bunch and how the shotgun mike was in it’s infancy so that you could hear the sound of the pop given by both sides on that field. Neb and Ok filled out the rest of the bill because they were the other part of the great rivalries tandem (Yeah, I know that rivalry took a toll in last year’s restructuring). The body count from the UGA/GT game had the announcers in awe. One game had the stretcher used three times. I have had friends from Neb and OK that remembered the UGA/GT game for the visciousness of individual players.
How would you feel if FU pulled out 4 yrs ago with the same attitude toward us?
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You are missing a critical point, we hold the series lead with FU so there is no way there is any feeling about the series not being competitive. Totally irrelevant to the GT discussion where we dominate the series, and it has grown significantly. Think we can claim Bama isn’t relevant to UGA just because we have owned them for the last several games? That would be just as insane. They have the series lead, have national respect, and they are a conference game. Like FU, they are relevant, and not an option to drop, nor would anyone want to.
I accept that you have a different viewpoint, that is fine, but don’t confuse the discussion with facts that don’t fit any longer. You want to do it because we have always did it, fine, that is your opinion, but the facts are different when they are an option for scheduling purposes because they are OOC, no longer have respect outside their campus (and some UGA Old Farts), and carry more risk than they bring reward. And they are standing in the way of better games. I don’t advocate dropping them totally, just play them at home every few years. Why give them a road game?
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I think what I like most about the article is that it harkens back to the days of George O’Leary as if GT can somehow get back to that level of success. There’s been too much separation between the upper tier and teams like GT.
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Actually, I think it was that other guy when Tech won the Mexican National Championship, not O’Leary. Hell, O’Leary didn’t even finish his dissertation.
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Man, my ole daddy would sure love this snarky exchange, and the fall from grace of the team he most loved to hate. Course he went to high school in Atlanta when Tech was actually good…in what? 1930?
Seems to me I have read we have no choice about playing them….legislative act? so they ain’t going anywhere and neither are their 10’s of fans. Ok, Ok, Ok….I like beating Tech. To feel any different would violate family kharma.
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Why does Coach Richt and the AD McGarity allow the press to attend any practices? The liberal anit-Georgia Bulldogs will look for any tidbit to hammer the team and coaches. All preseason practices and regular season practices should be closed to the press. During the season, no press passes. Buy a ticket, and then you can report what you want. But no post game interviews with players and coaches.
Only a journalism major like Bradley would try to tie one games outcome to subsequent teams and their records. I do not follow Tech that much, but it would think Johnson’s recent record lies with coaching, play calling, game situations, roster, and personnel. Bradley has to draw a pay check, and thus he has to fill space.
The question and history Mark Bradley needs to resolve…when did he drop his readers.
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Why exactly was it necessary to attach “liberal” as a descriptor to “anti-Georgia Bulldogs”?
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While I agree it isn’t necessary to use with this discussion, it is almost impossible to mention the AJC for many of us without referring to the left wing bias of the newspaper, that alone is reason enough for most to never be subjected to the likes of MB. If no one reads the AJC because of their lack of journalistic integrity then, like the proverbial tree in the woods, did MB really say anything?
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Will Trane-If they weren’t there or invited, they would just make up worse shit about UGA. Keeping your enemies close is less traumatic.
Amen, Dawgfan Will.
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I agree WT. CMT should just cut off all access by AJC types, period.
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CMR.
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A guy who runs an offense created in the late 60s, one in which he has contributed little or no innovations towards, is a genius. A guy who shows nominal interest in 2 of the 3 major facets of the game is “the smartest guy in the room.” A guy who hasn’t figured out recruiting is useful when running a college program is the towering football intellect of our time. Irony.
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But he does have that bachelor’s in P.E. Don’t forget about that, now!
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Yes, a P.E. degree from Western Carolina, which he presumably chose because of it’s academic selectivity and rigor, given he did not play sports in College. Sorry WCU alums and P.E. majors, no slam intended here. However, if the guy did not play sports in college and he is so intellectually gifted it would seem he would have set his sights on Duke.
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A demonstration of the man’s genius: ““We may be the only team in America with three division games in September.” (Actually, it’s not the only team in Georgia that does. Check UGA’s schedule.)”
Genius can’t be bothered by facts or knowing what the hell you’re talking about. Brilliant!
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Nice fact check there. Well done.
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Gotta love the AJC….there’s about 8 pages of bullchit nerd comments on the B. Smith article…
While in the tech article on Young being suspended for the VT game the comment section is closed… SMH…
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Agree with The Senator–Do not even think about doing away with this series-They are still winning in the ACC and tradition is what makes college football great-as much as the gamecocks have become a rival (and there is still Auburn) nothing compares to beating the gators-anyone who was a fan from the sixties on-knows we must get on them and stay on them-GATA
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Johnson reminds me of Union General Pope. Pope headed down to Richmond saying that retreat was not an option and that his men could live off the Rebels. Therefore he needed no secure supply lines or lines of retreat. He said the Rebels had never met men like his westerners. He had never met men like Lee and Jackson. Gen. John B. Gordon CSA wrote later that Pope found that secure supply lines and a line of retreat were good things to have when things go wrong. Johnson stated that he didn’t worry about what defense a team ran or having a game plan because he called plays and adjusted on the fly. Well coach, take a hint, watch some film, study your opponent, come up with a plan B, and recruit some studs, or you may be looking for a job.
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There is a 4-yr school in Georgia named after Gen John B. Gordon. It used to be a military school.
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Correct Sir! Gordon was a railroad man and went on to found Central Of Ga. RR after the war. He also served his state as Governor and US Senator. His Niece, Juliette Gordon Lowe founded the Girl Scouts. There is a town, college and county named after him as well as a statue on the lawn of the state capitol in Atlanta. Gordon was severely wounded at Sharpsburg Md. He was shot three times, the last wound was to his face, later he only allowed himself to be photographed from one angle so that the scars didn’t show.
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Wow, just saw the ad at the top of AJC’s website offering Tech season tickets for $99. No word on whether that includes free hot dogs and Cokes. Almost makes me feel sorry for Tech. Almost.
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If you were at the ’09 game, you know how sweet of a feeling that was. Talk about undeserved arrogance going into the game. You would have thought Tech had won the previous 25 games. To see the looks on those POS’ faces walking out of there made it one of the best games ever in that series.
I am not only in favor of playing them every year, but playing them in Atlanta every year. We seem to play our best at BDS. I mean, UGA has lost twice since the mid-’70s down there and Tech cheated for the one in ’99 so it doesn’t even stand. Plus, that would open up another spot for a good marquee OOC game in Athens.
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I agree with you 100%!
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Some of you have forgotten. Its August. Beat the rush. Hate tech early!!! Johnson has always appeared to me to be two or three degrees off plumb.
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I just don’t get what it is about Paul Johnson that makes Mark Bradley think that he is, indeed, the “smartest guy in the room.” When the elite ACC schools and Georgia weren’t familiar with his offense, he thrived. As those schools spent more offseason time preparing for it, the offense was still effective, but less so. As it happens, that was also around the time that some of Chan Gailey’s fantastic recruits were leaving Tech. What has Paul Johnson done to adapt to the fact that his league and Georgia have adapted to him? Bradley loves to posit that Johnson would whip Mark Richt’s ass if they just switched schools; that Georgia has such inherent advantages over Tech that Richt SHOULD be beating Johnson. Paul Johnson WOULD win at Georgia, for the first two years. The fact is, I doubt that top-level offensive players want to play in his offense. Receivers don’t, certainly, and quarterbacks who can throw aren’t excited about it either. I guess some running backs might, but why wouldn’t you just go play in a pro style offense if given the choice? In three or four years, Georgia would decline under Johnson the same as Georgia Tech has. His offense is nifty, but I certainly haven’t seen evidence that he’s smarter than any other coaches out there. Hell, Air Force beat him in Shreveport with the same offense… is their coach smarter?
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Good post, and strong finish.
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