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Home > Mark Bradley > Archives > 2008 > April > 19
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Tech fans exercise patience
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Roy Smith of Gainesville has been a Georgia Tech fan since 1948, and this was his first impression of the new coach’s new offense: “Nothing.”
Even after a first half that could have been the sorriest-looking display in the pockmarked history of spring games, Smith’s appraisal wasn’t meant as a condemnation. It was, on the contrary, accompanied by a shrug of understanding: “They’re not going to be doing a whole lot for a while.”
Said Gregg Griffin of Gillsville, standing alongside: “There’s a famous saying: ‘Patience is a virtue.’ You can quote me on that.”
Some of the same people who grew impatient with Chan Gailey almost from the beginning appear ready to extend Paul Johnson the benefit of a protracted doubt. Said Griffin: “You don’t see [Johnson, who stood in the middle of Grant Field for Saturday’s T-Day doings] getting upset out there. It’s way too early to judge.”
And it is. More than simply changing coaches, Tech changed systems of belief. Gailey sought to run a pro-style offense or thereabouts. Johnson wants to run the ball, period. His teams will throw only as a counterpoint. An option team moves on precision. Tech put itself on display Saturday having had just 14 practices to figure out what’s what and who stands where.
Little wonder, then, that the faux game’s first snap yielded a fumble. (Said Lynn Fairley of Peachtree City, a Tech fan since the first grade: “We need to get the ball from the quarterback to the center.”) Or that the first-team offense needed more than 14 minutes to notch a first down. Or that, late in the second quarter, PA announcer Chris Capo sounded the theme of the day by reporting: “Fumble on the play … flag on the play.”
Said Dr. David Minter, a Tech grad and an Augusta orthopedic surgeon: “I think [the offense] is going to be pretty good … But I can see why a couple of receivers transferred.”
Said Smith: “I expected a little better execution.”
Said Fairley: “I think it’ll get better — hopefully our defense [the first-string defenders limited the first-team offense to seven points] is all-ACC caliber.”
Said Dan Radakovich, the athletics director who gave Johnson a contract that will pay $11.2 million over seven seasons: “It’s really cheating. We’ve got a great defense, and we’re putting it against an offense that has had 14 practices … It’s going to take a little while. I was with the coaches at halftime, and they were saying, ‘If you watch the tape of the first practice, we’ve made marked improvement.’ “
(Memo to Tech’s coaches: Burn that tape.)
When the unsightly scrimmage was done, Johnson said he liked “the effort.” He also said: “I wouldn’t read too much into this game.”
And nobody did. Jim Ray of Fayetteville has a son who attended Navy, Johnson’s previous stop. “I don’t think people here can imagine how intense Paul Johnson can be,” Ray said. “He’ll be the best thing that ever happened to Tech.”
With the possible exception of Dave Braine, the AD who hired him, nobody ever said the same of Gailey. That Tech backers could walk away after a spring game that featured nine fumbles against 13 completed passes and not be grumbling says they’re willing to accentuate the positive with this coach in a way they never could with his predecessor.
Said Fairley, underscoring the point: “Hopefully, everything is correctable.”
Said Griffin, taking a clear swipe at Gailey: “We’re going to try to play to win now, instead of playing not to lose. What a novel concept.”
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