Johnson, Ferentz cross paths again in Orange Bowl

By By GARY LONG

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Hollywood, Fla. - Periodically in football bowl matchups, it will turn out that the opposing coaches crossed paths or served together in formative stages of their careers, maybe on some junior college staff in Maine or Montana.

Scratch any such human-interest footnote when Georgia Tech’s Paul Johnson and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz patrol opposite sidelines in the Orange Bowl at Land Shark Stadium the night of Jan. 5.

Though sharing a mutual admiration and familiarity with each other’s history, they first met “less than 12 months ago,” Ferentz related Wednesday at a press conference amidst the palm trees and waterfalls at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel.

“We bumped into each other and talked at a high school in New Jersey in January, I believe it was,’’ Ferentz said. That matched Johnson’s recollection. The obvious question: Who landed the recruit?

“He did,’’ a smiling Johnson said. “I owe him one.”

“I cheated,” Ferentz quipped. “[The player’s] dad went to high school with me.”

For the record, the Hawkeyes player in which they had competing interest is Nolan MacMillan, a freshman offensive lineman.

But Ferentz said he first became aware of Johnson when Ferentz was an assistant coach at Iowa under iconic Hayden Fry in the 1980s and the Hawkeyes opened the 1988 season at Hawaii, where Johnson was the offensive coordinator.

Ferentz recalled Iowa’s defensive coordinator “pulling his hair out all week” trying to scheme against Johnson’s deceptive attack.

“We struggled that Saturday,” Ferentz said. Hawaii won, 27-24.

“Paul has had a great track record everywhere he has been, as an assistant and as a head coach,” Ferentz continued. “What’s happened at Georgia Tech [where Johnson has engineered 9-4 and 11-2 seasons] hasn’t come as a great surprise.”

Come Orange Bowl night, however, Johnson will be plotting not so much against Ferentz as against Norm Parker, the defensive coordinator whom Ferentz hired promptly upon replacing Fry as Iowa’s head coach in 1999. That task will be an imposing one, Johnson said.

“I remember us [Hawaii] playing against Norm Parker in a bowl when he was defensive coordinator at Michigan State and they beat the fool out of us," Johnson said. "We had a hard time getting back to the line of scrimmage.”

The Spartans drubbed Hawaii 33-13 in the 1989 Aloha Bowl. “We know we’ve got our work cut out for us,” Johnson said.

The Hawkeyes, who rank No. 11 in the nation in total defense and 10th in scoring defense (15.5 points per game), must find a way to limit the sleight-of-hand Yellow Jackets option attack that ranks No. 2 in rushing offense (307.15 yards per game) and 11th in scoring (35.3 points per game).

Ironically, Tech will be returning to the scene of its worst offensive outing this season. Miami’s Hurricanes dealt Georgia Tech a 33-17 beating on the same turf Sept. 17 and strangled the option, which accounted for only 95 yards rushing and 228 total.

“Everybody wanted to talk about the offense, but that wasn’t the issue,” Johnson said. “We could never get the ball. ... We played horrendously on defense in that game.”

UM quarterback Jacory Harris shredded the Jackets’ secondary for 270 yards passing, helped build a 17-3 halftime lead and took Tech out of its style of attack.

Anyone who saw that game would have to be a bit surprised that the Jackets rebounded to secure their first outright ACC championship since 1990 with a draining 39-34 victory over Clemson last Saturday night.

“We didn’t make any great changes after that,” Johnson said. “Honestly, [pass defense] has been a problem all year, but we did go back and try to simplify [coverages],” Johnson said. “We were able to slide in some games that were better than others” on defense. But the Jackets’ 11-2 record of success is littered with scores like 42-31, 49-44 and 56-31.

Taking aim for the Hawkeyes in the Orange Bowl will be junior quarterback Ricky Stanzi, whom Ferentz said is practicing “fabulously’’ after missing the Hawkeyes’ final 2 ½ games with a severe ankle injury.