Paul Johnson is currently in his seventh year as head coach at Tech and has compiled a 55-34 record, which is the third best winning percentage in Tech history.
Only John Heisman and Bobby Dodd have a higher winning percentage at Tech and both of those coaches won national championships and have statues outside the football stadium.
In the days of Chain Gailey, Tech football was the definition of mediocrity. Gailey only won more than seven games once and Gailey was nicknamed “Mr. 7-5” by Tech fans. Despite having Calvin Johnson, who is on the of the greatest receivers of all time, Gailey’s teams struggled to win big games with him there.
Johnson’s first season trumped anything Gailey had accomplished at Tech. He finished the regular season at 9-3, including a 48-42 win in Athens over Georgia. It was the first time Tech had beaten UGA in eight years.
The next season Tech won 11 games and the ACC Championship, the most wins in school history and Tech’s first outright ACC Championship in 19 years. Johnson trumped all expectations in his first two years, which might had been some sort of a curse as fans began to expect these kinds of results every year.
2010 was a bad year for Johnson and Tech football, but alot had to do with losing their top running back, wide receiver, defensive end and satety early to the NFL. Another big factor in that season was star quarterback Josh Nesbitt breaking his arm in a game at Virginia Tech when Tech was dominating. Tech ended up losing that game and without Nesbitt the season was a lost cause.
Recruiting also began to catch up to Tech and hiring Al Groh as defensive coordinator set the program back a couple of years.
This year, Tech has the most talented player at quarterback since Joe Hamilton, the 1999 Heisman runner up. Justin Thomas is only a sophomore and has proven he has what it takes to succeed at the quarterback position.
Currently Tech is 8-2 including wins against Virginia Tech and Miami. Tech beat both Virginia Tech and Miami in the same year for the first time since 2006.
Tech is also ranked #22 in the nation and have the best and most efficient offense in the entire country. Recruiting has also turned around as Tech’s 2015 class is the best it’s been in almost a decade.
Johnson’s contract should be extended and it should be a no brainer. Blowing up the whole thing because Johnson has struggled versus Miami and Virginia Tech and is 1-5 against UGA is asinine. UGA is a football factory. They get the best talent in the country and have the best player in America.
All they care about in Athens is football and they currently have Todd Gurley, who is the best football player in college.
Tech isn’t a university, it is an Institute of Technology and is restricted by majors, calculus requirements and academic qualifications that no other D-1 school has.
You don’t see MIT or Cal Tech having successful football programs.
Tech has had major success on the national level in the past 25 years, but 2014 Tech is a completely different Tech than the 1990 Tech that had a national champion football team.
The 1990 team was also an once in a generation team led by Bobby Ross who is one of the few football head coaches that has won a national championship and coached in a Super Bowl.
Tech fans and alumni need to appreciate the consistency the program has had over the past two decades. 18 straight bowl appearances, 20 seasons without a losing record in ACC play and an 11-9 record over Clemson.
Whenever Johnson leaves, it should be on his own terms because if he isn’t kept around next year you can count on about five seasons of being one of the worst teams in the ACC.
Johnson has two giant games left this regular season. A win versus Clemson this weekend should guarantee an extension.