Georgia Tech football coach Paul Johnson implied on Monday that if his program doesn’t receive the same commitment as Clemson’s, then the expectation shouldn’t be to defeat them. Clemson defeated Tech 26-7 two weeks ago. Johnson is 5-5 against Clemson as Tech’s coach.
“Here’s what has to happen, it’s what I tell our team about playing: commitment has to meet expectations,” he said. “You can’t have expectations with no commitment. It won’t work, no matter what you do.
“So, if you say you want to be on this level, then you have to be committed to be on that level and you have to do what those people are doing. It’s as simple as that.”
When asked if he thinks his Tech program has received that commitment, Johnson said, “I don’t know that anybody gets that. You can ask that about anybody.
“You guys look, you don’t have to ask me. Do you think we have the same things Clemson does?”
He received an answer of, “No.”
Johnson responded: “How can the expectation be to beat them?”
It’s the second time that Johnson has referenced Tech’s facilities, which would be considered average in the ACC. The first time came the night before it was announced that athletic director Mike Bobinski was resigning to take a similar position at Purdue.
In those remarks, which happened on Aug. 8, Johnson said that Tech was behind some of the other ACC schools in the facilities race. Clemson was recently opening a $55 million football facility that includes a 24-seat HD theater, barber shop and nap room, among other amenities. For example, Johnson said that there had been discussions about improving Tech’s locker room. Those improvements have yet to occur. As another comparison, Clemson has 25 staff members for football beyond the coaching staff. Tech has 11.
Monday’s remarks began when Johnson was asked about the quality of quarterbacks in the ACC. There are six among the top 40 in FBS in quarterback efficiency.
“I think the ACC is good,” Johnson said. “This is not the old ACC. I mean, it’s like 10, 15 20 years ago that might be one ranked team. Now, you’ve got what, six? Every week there are pretty good teams.
“People have committed, for whatever reason, the other schools have committed to it. They are committed to having a good program.”
Following up on those comments, Johnson was asked if the level of commitment would be a part of his first conversation with new athletic director Todd Stansbury.
That resulted in Johnson talking about expectations and commitments needing to match.
Johnson said last week that he looks forward to meeting with Stansbury, a former Tech football player, and that “at least he understands what it’s about.”
