Changes need to be made

Though this blog is titled "Fire Paul Johnson," we realize that, because of the ludicrous and reactionary contract extension afforded Johnson following the 2008 season, he will be given every opportunity to fix the mess he has created. Since we are not averse to pitching in and doing our part, here are some changes which we feel are necessary to make the current regime more palatable until a few more years can be eaten away from the buyout:

1. Start from square one: Openly declare "Beat UGA" the number one goal for this program

If it was good enough for Steve Spurrier, surely it is good enough for Paul Johnson.

Everything in Georgia Tech football begins and ends with beating UGA. If a coach does not understand this, then there is no reason for him to be coaching at Georgia Tech. From a practical standpoint, bragging rights are secondary-- if Tech wants to compete with the big-boy programs in one of the nation's most talent-rich states, it will need to start beating UGA with some frequency. When your program has a little brother reputation from being pantsed on the field by its rival year in and year out, few top recruits from the region are going to take you seriously. Nobody cares what you're doing in the pee-wee ACC when it gets exposed yearly by the SEC bully down the road.

2. Establish offensive balance

Before the season, I told fellow Tech fans that losing Demaryius Thomas was going to devastate the offense, perhaps to the tune of as many as ten fewer points per game. Predictably I was met with scorn and derision from all the Nostradamuses who foresaw ten or more wins. All that I heard was that Stephen Hill would be just as good as Thomas, that Coach Johnson was going to wave his magic wand and make everything work perfectly, and that we didn't need to throw the ball anyway.

Georgia Tech subsequently plunged from 35.3 PPG in 2009 to 26 PPG in 2010, "good" for 71st in the country, all despite being 1st nationally in rush yards per game.

For a second, let's overlook the fact that Tech lost four games this year specifically because it could not execute the passing game in time-sensitive situations. Sure it's cool to claim you're the best at something-- we all have our little talents we're proud of. I won the school spelling bee in fourth grade. My kid sister can stand on her head for ten minutes while reciting the alphabet backwards. But when it comes to winning football games, sometimes being the best at one thing means you're not very good at something else just as important.

And yes you might get away with Johnson's Single-Option(run, run, and run) when you're pillow-fighting the Dukes and Wake Forests of the ACC. However, unless you're able to accumulate talent comparable to that which Nebraska fielded in its heyday, you are not going to consistently beat the teams on your schedule that actually matter without some semblance of a run-pass balance. At the very least, the threat of a pass needs be present.

I am convinced that Tech's loathsome passing game is just as much a function of poor coaching as it is the questionable athletes. Josh Nesbitt was a fine passer in high school, one of the top dual-threat QB prospects in the nation, but his skills diminished precipitously under Johnson. True, he had decent pass efficiency numbers in 2009, but that was with the luxury of throwing jump balls to the top WR taken in the draft, often in single coverage.

In all, Tech was 119th out of 120 nationally in passing yardage this season. It wasn't always the QB's fault, it wasn't always the WR's fault, it wasn't always the OL's fault, but something always seemed to go wrong. Each and every staff member involved needs to be re-evaluated, talent needs to be significantly upgraded at the receiver position, regardless of whether academically-challenged bobbler Stephen Hill returns, and a new emphasis must be placed on execution in the passing game. If Tech fails to capture the service academy rushing title next year, so be it.

3. Hire a dedicated special teams coach

Paul Johnson employs no dedicated offensive coordinator. He finds it necessary to employ TWO "co-offensive line" coaches to instruct his players on how to dive at the other guy's kneecaps. Yet he does not employ a coach assigned to coordinating an entire phase of the game of football. What gives?

According to an AJC report, Johnson this offseason plans "to analyze the approach he has always used with special teams." Nonetheless he has already retreated from committing to wholesale changes. The extent of his tinkering is likely to be nothing more than shuffling a few coaches around and maybe "getting more involved" himself. My question is: How is it that Johnson was so quick to pull the trigger on Dave Wommack last season in favor of "Mr. Super Bowl Ring" Al Groh, yet he resists the need to make as basic and urgent an adjustment to his program as hiring a dedicated special teams coach?

Unfortunately, another component of the poor special teams play has been the declining level of talent and depth across the roster, which leads to our next point of emphasis.

4. Re-evaluate recruiting staff and practices

While neither of Johnson's first two recruiting classes were anything to celebrate, the loss of Giff Smith, a Gailey holdover, just happened to coincide with the most disastrous recruiting year, well, since before Giff Smith. Following an ACC Championship season, Johnson has wet the bed on nearly every top prospect he has coveted, and is now settling for reaches with an abundance of scholarships still left to fill.

The performance of first-year recruiting coordinator Andy McCollum, as well as Johnson's overall approach to recruiting and offensive play, must be placed under the microscope. All of Gailey's studs are gone. And Anthony Allen will be gone next season too. Playmakers must be obtained and developed quickly, or Tech's fortunes will continue to sink.

Johnson MUST make concessions in his offensive style to attract players who have aspirations of professional play after their college careers. More often than not these will be the athletes that can boost your program over the top. We CANNOT continue to settle for marginal recruits with a "team" attitude that Coach Johnson "thinks" he can win with-- he is FAR too arrogant to admit to himself that such an idea is lunacy.

Further, Johnson claims the state of Georgia is a priority, yet he has been stonewalled by UGA and other southern powers in recruiting time and again and has been settling for the leftovers of the leftovers. If Johnson indeed doesn't plan on beating UGA again any time soon, perhaps a more national focus, similar to that of Stanford, is in order?

In particular there has been no bigger indictment of Johnson's recruiting and style of football than the fact that a team which leads the nation in rushing cannot attract A-list talent and depth at the running back position. Next year, for instance, it is basically the modestly-talented Charles Perkins or bust at B-back, unless you have confidence in a 'roid-less version of Daniel Drummond. Let's just hope Perkins doesn't turn out to be another overhyped "warrior of the practice field" like Stephen Hill.

5. KILL THE EGO

Throughout his tenure, Paul Johnson has proven to be one of the gruffest, most arrogant and unlikeable football coaches in the history of Tech football. And while this was a source of pride and chest-puffing for some Tech fans when he was winning, it has all the more poignantly exposed him in losing as the one-trick, lower-division flyboy know-it-all he actually is.

Instead of strutting around like he invented football, pointing out all the various "misnomers" about his offense and generally being condescending to fans and the media, perhaps Johnson needs some introspection. We can only hope that a bit of humble pie has been served this season.

Johnson's 2010 squad showed little to no improvement in any phase throughout the year. In fact it would seem that the more of Johnson's tutelage his players receive, the more undisciplined, unmotivated, and ineffective they become. His first two teams won an awful lot of games with players weaned on the guidance of Chan Gailey, but now that they've been sufficiently exposed to Johnson's teachings, they suddenly lack any kind of edge or passion for the game of football.

It has become clear that much of what worked for Johnson at the lower divisions is not going to work at Georgia Tech-- most notably his methods regarding team discipline and motivation. He claims that it's not his job to get players motivated 12 games out of the year-- I would beg to differ! In fact, Johnson needs to consider an array of fundamental changes in a variety of areas, including offense, special teams, and recruiting. Defense obviously remains a problem, but The Chessmaster figures to be ceded at least one more year to prove himself. Regardless, when you've just guided a program to its first losing season in 14 years, there is nothing that should not be placed in question.

The first step to recovery though is admitting you have a problem, and Coach Johnson's problematic ego is the first defense against the wholesale upgrades necessary for this program to thrive into the future. It must be exterminated before Tech can begin to move in a positive direction.

I know so many of you Kool-Aid slurpers are infinitely confident: "If there's anyone that can turn this program around, it's CPJ!" But of course that's ignoring the fact that he's the one who allowed things to deteriorate in the first place! First Johnson admitted he didn't know what was happening-- now he says he knows most of the reasons, and then he even goes as far as saying he knew of the problems before the season started! So what's the deal Coach? Maybe you need to work on yourself before you get started "analyzing" anything else.