Kaitlyn Johnson learned at a young age what many of her father’s colleagues, teams and opponents have come to experience.
Paul Johnson does not like to lose, even against his daughter in Candy Land.
“But, I mean, if you’re going to do something, make her win,” Johnson said, echoing the protest he offered to his wife, Susan. “Don’t let her win.”
The core of Georgia Tech’s coach pulsates with a hunger for competition and a hatred of losing. In a business that attracts only the highly competitive, Johnson still stands out. Its particular relevance Saturday is that N.C. State whipped the Yellow Jackets last year at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Said Johnson of the loss, “It sticks under your craw a little bit.”
Johnson is consumed with sub-craw particle removal. At Georgia Southern and Tech, Johnson’s teams have played 10 games against teams that had beaten them the previous season. They have won eight of them. Johnson’s career winning percentage is .721.
At Navy, Johnson’s record in such games was 8-6. But four of those losses were the final segments of Notre Dame’s 43-game winning streak over the Midshipmen, the longest winning streak in FBS (formerly Division I-A) history in an uninterrupted series between major opponents. Johnson liberated the outgunned Midshipmen in 2007, his final year at Navy, leading them to victory in South Bend. Johnson’s record in rematches stands as a testament to his strategic acumen and his rigid intolerance of defeat of any form.
“Extremely, extremely competitive,” said Bob Wagner, a former Hawaii coach whom Johnson served as offensive coordinator for eight seasons.
Wagner and Johnson lived in the same suburb of Honolulu, and he remembers Johnson once explaining how he handled a road back from campus where it merged from three lanes to two.
“I won’t get into detail,” Wagner said. “Pretty aggressive.”
Johnson doesn’t know the source of his competitive streak. He surmised part of it may have been being among the youngest in a neighborhood pack of boys and having to compete harder to keep up.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I kind of was that way. I just hated to lose.”
A couple of years ago, Johnson invited team members to his house for dinner. Johnson has a pool table, and one team member took a game off of Johnson, wide receiver Tyler Melton said. Johnson insisted on rematches until he won.
Said Melton, “He was like, ‘We gotta play another game.’”
Johnson’s search for the next victim rarely rests. After practice a couple of weeks ago, as the team walked across campus back to the locker room, Johnson stopped in front of a sorority house. This 54-year-old man’s responsibility to put out a product scrutinized by thousands that competes for its slice of a pie worth billions had to wait. He wanted to play the cornhole game set up in the sorority’s front yard. Johnson challenged assistant athletic director Dean Buchan and then sank one beanbag after the next.
Said Buchan, “I didn’t care, but he was, like, taunting me.”
This doesn’t even get into the territory of those who would dismiss his spread-option offense.
“One thing about Coach is, when somebody tells him he can’t do something, or somebody says something about the offense, that just absolutely infuriates him,” said quarterbacks and B-backs coach Brian Bohannon, a Johnson aide since 1997.
Johnson makes little effort to hide his drive to settle scores or prove people wrong. He doesn’t float “what happened last year doesn’t matter” platitudes. Before the Sept. 17 game against Kansas, Johnson was asked his memory of last year’s game, when the Jayhawks upset the then-No. 15 ranked Jackets. Johnson answered, “The end of the game, with them taking a knee in victory formation.”
In the rematch, Tech rolled Kansas 66-24.
Said Johnson after the game, “Especially after last year, it was fun.”
Kansas was the first of six opponents against whom the Jackets can avenge 2010 losses.
After N.C. State come Miami, Clemson, Virginia Tech and Georgia. Beginning with his first season at Tech in 2008, the Hurricanes and Bulldogs are the only two teams that have beaten Johnson two years in a row.
When he met with the team Monday, Johnson brought up last year’s 45-28 rout, in which the Wolfpack scored the most points of any opponent in Johnson’s tenure. He does so invariably with each game against a team that previously beat the Jackets, invoking the mantra, “Revenge is a great motivator for those who care.” They likely won’t need to be reminded Saturday.
“Especially before games, he wears his emotions on his sleeve,” A-back Roddy Jones said. “If you don’t seem like you’re ready to play, he’s going to get in your face and get you ready to play.”
To Johnson, it’s an action that scarcely requires explanation.
Said Johnson, “I think you have to take it personal sometimes.”
Kaitlyn Johnson might contend it’s more frequent than that.
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