Home > Furman Bisher > Archives > 2008 > August > 29
Friday, August 29, 2008
Johnson era began as diagrammed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Call it the spread offense, call it the triple option, call it whatever you like, the real name is the Paul Johnson School of Offense, and he introduced his addition to the Georgia Tech football curriculum. While it seemed at times he had his uncomfortable moments with some of his students’ classwork, there was little the 45,000 judges seated in the stands at Bobby Dodd Stadium-Grant Field could complain about. Considering, of course, that the game with Jacksonville State was a football equivalent of baseball’s spring training. In my time, I’ve never seen Georgia Tech lose one of these, but let me tell you about the losing coach in this one Jack Crowe.
Crowe was coaching at Arkansas in 1992 when the Razorbacks opened the season against The Citadel, imported, of course, to give the local boys some exercise. Instead, the victim became Arkansas, and Frank Broyles, the athletics director, was so furious he fired Jack Crowe before he could coach another game. This time, Crowe’s team became the well-behaved victims they were supposed to be, and the Paul Johnson Era began as diagrammed.
Georgia Tech subscribers will find Johnson quite different from any coach they have ever known. He has his own style. He doesn’t care what you or I think about him, or any other authorized or unauthorized observer. This has been his system since he was the man wearing the whistle, at Georgia Southern, at the Naval Academy, and now at The Flats. The difference is, he has never had this kind of talent to coach before. Yep, he was a roaring success at Annapolis, plum embarrassed the other service academies, and finally beat Notre Dame. Of course, Georgia Tech beat the same Notre Dame team, but it hadn’t been 40 years between conquests.
There were a lot of things to like about the performance against Jacksonville State besides the score. The Jackets came out throwing. This team that splattered the field with fumbles in the spring game performed with acceptable precision. They put 27 points on the board before allowing J-State to score. Then followed that up with what I considered the absolutely Perfect Johnson Play of the night. Josh Nesbitt, the second-year quarterback from Greensboro, took the snap, broke to his right and as he rounded the corner, flipped the ball to Roddy Jones, a freshman, who finished off a 49-yard play that ran the score to 34-7. Perfect. Reminded me a lot of the old “belly series” that Dodd used to run.
On the sideline, Johnson has his own modus operandi. He does it his own way. First, he’s here, then he’s there. You can’t tell one Tech coach from another. He calls his own plays. No spreadsheet in his hands. During a time-out, he may be busily addressing his troops, or he may be standing on the perimeter, like a casual bystander. I’m pretty sure you’ve never run into one quite like him. He didn’t come here to win fans, he came to win games.
Now, he had one potential problem to deal with Thursday night. Ryan Perrilloux would have been the quarterback at LSU, but he ran up a scream list that cost him his place. So he checked in at J-State and the job was his. He had a fair night, but there were times when I was certain he wished he’d behaved and was back in Baton Rouge. He had his hot spells, but they weren’t threatening. He’ll have a picnic in the Ohio Valley Conference.
So there you have your introduction to Paul Johnson. Nothing fancy, nothing historic, just the kind of guy you might find parked next to your pickup. Be nice. Enjoy him. Get to know the difference between an A-back and a B-back. He’s here for a long time. They’ve finally got it right at Georgia Tech, even if he doesn’t win again until November.
Permalink | Comments (61) | Post your comment | Categories: Tech/ACC
