We know now that this Georgia Tech athletic director isn’t Dave Braine, the AD who asserted in November 2005 — at the briefing held to announce a contract extension for coach Chan Gailey, no less — that “Georgia Tech can win nine or 10 games (in a football season) but they will never do it consistently. That’s my belief.”
In a video posted on Tech's website, Mike Bobinski is asked if he shares the Braine-like pragmatism/pessimism that has been adopted by some Yellow Jackets backers — that Tech, because of its academics, can expect to be no better than a six- or seven-win team. Bobinski's response: "Georgia Tech is a place that's about excellence. … There's no reason our athletic program shouldn't reflect that same level of excellence. I don't buy that in any way, shape or form."
If you’re the Tech football coach, you’d rather work under a Braine than a Bobinski. Over the past four seasons, Paul Johnson’s teams have won an average of seven games. Over Gailey’s final four seasons at Tech, his teams won an average of 7.5 games. That was enough to get him fired by Dan Radakovich, who then hired Johnson. Bobinski was introduced as Radakovich’s replacement in January 2013, which means Johnson just completed Year 1 under his new boss.
Of the 7-6 season that ended in a dreary loss to Ole Miss in the Music City Bowl, Bobinski said in the video: "Are we satisfied? Are we happy with where we are? No, obviously we're not. We didn't end the season against Ole Miss the way wanted. … That leads you to that unsettled feeling and that desire as we move into the offseason to kick the tires and make things better."
Toward that end, Bobinski said he met with Johnson for nearly four hours, the AD bringing “10 pages of notes.” Bobinski characterized this session as “a really healthy exchange.” He said: “I don’t think there was anything we had a flat-out philosophic disagreement on.”
Bobinski reported that Johnson told the Jackets in the locker room after the Music City loss that things “need to and will change” and described the coach as being “as focused and as energized as I’ve seen him.” But here’s one thing Bobinski didn’t say in the course of 14-plus minutes: “I am convinced more than ever that Paul Johnson is the coach to lead Georgia Tech to great heights.”
The AD’s taped message was a vote of confidence; it was not a rave review. If it were, Bobinski would have lost the confidence of a goodly percentage of a increasingly vocal constituency that knows Tech football hasn’t been worth a rave since winning the since-forfeited ACC title in December 2009.
Tech football is again where it was under Gailey, only without the wild mood swings. Gailey’s teams would win a game they shouldn’t have and then lose one that made you say, “Seriously?” Under Johnson, Tech has come to beat middling teams but lose to almost every opponent with similar or greater personnel.
Tech is 14-13 over the past two seasons. Of those 14 victories, two — North Carolina in 2012 and Duke, which was without quarterback Anthony Boone, in 2013 — came against teams that finished with more than seven wins. Of the 13 losses, none was against an opponent that won fewer than seven games. (Middle Tennessee State was 8-4 in 2012.)
The most gifted offensive player, quarterback Vad Lee, is transferring to James Madison. In hindsight it’s apparent that Lee didn’t fit Johnson’s offense the way it was believed he would, but the feeling persists that other coaches could have put such skills to greater use. The failure of Lee resonates because Tech under Johnson has landed few players of such potential.
Much has been made of the Jackets’ ramped-up recruiting, and it’s worth noting that Rivals rates the still-forming 2014 class as the nation’s 44th-best. That’s better than the 85th of last year and the 57th of 2012, but it’s in keeping with the rankings ascribed to Johnson’s first four classes (average of 45th). If we include incoming Louisville, Tech’s latest recruits rank 11th-best in the 14-team ACC.
Something went right for Tech in 2013 — the defense under Ted Roof was much improved — and the record moved only from 7-7 to 7-6. There hasn’t been much excellence, to invoke Bobinski’s word, to be seen lately in Tech football, and now another new quarterback must be found.
In carefully chosen words delivered via video, the AD just sent the message that Johnson must do better soon. The belief here is that anything less than an eight-win regular season will leave Bobinski looking for a new coach.
