Here's something even Paul Johnson, who doesn't like many things, will enjoy. Rivals has ranked the Power 5 programs according to NFL draftees produced vis-à-vis actual results over the past decade. Georgia Tech lands among the top 10 overachievers. And why would Tech's coach enjoy that? Because overachieving is always a function of coaching.
Duke is the nation’s No. 1 overachiever. (David Cutcliffe, who coaches the Blue Devils, was interested in the Tech job in 2007 but never got an interview because Dan Radakovich had settled on Johnson. Small world.) The Yellow Jackets rank No. 9 among the 64 Power 5 entries and No. 2 in the ACC. Other top 10 overachievers include: Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Northwestern, Kansas State, Oregon, Michigan State, TCU and Texas Tech. Note that two of those – Oregon and Michigan State – have made the College Football Playoff.
Writes Rob Cassidy: “Georgia Tech won the 2009 ACC Championship and put just six players in the draft over the next three years. Paul Johnson has coached in four conference championship games in his decade as the Yellow Jackets' coach despite his number of NFL picks being tied for eighth in the league over the length of the study.”
The bottom 10 of underachievement, in descending order: Florida, Oregon State, Iowa, LSU, Arkansas, UCLA, Miami, North Carolina, Illinois and California. All save Iowa and North Carolina have changed coaches within the past three years. (The most overrated guy in the country is the Tar Heels’ Larry Fedora. He keeps getting mentioned as a candidate for other jobs. I can’t understand how he keeps the one he has.)
Oh, and now you’re asking: What of Georgia? The Bulldogs ranked 52nd out of 64 in achievement, one spot below Boston College and one above Tennessee. Note that the man who coached Georgia for the first eight of those years now coaches Miami, which was mentioned – not favorably – in the previous paragraph.
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