As a pessimist, it is often difficult to look objectively at passionate subjects. College football is definitely one of those topics.
The roller coaster ride that Georgia Tech football fans have been on over the last three or four seasons has been epic highs countered by depressing lows. The inexplicably bipolar Yellow Jackets have been one of college football’s true oddities of late.
Paul Johnson’s Tech squad that lost to Georgia in double overtime and dropped a Music City Bowl to Ole Miss in 2013, followed up with an 11-win Orange Bowl championship run in 2014 that included a close loss to College Football Playoff participant Florida State in the ACC title game.
A year later, the 2015 team beat the Seminoles in the regular season, but only won three games total. Of course that was followed up by a 2016 Gator Bowl (I still call it that) title run that saw the Jackets win nine games, including a 3-0 record over Southeastern Conference teams. Most importantly about that last tidbit.. it included beating arch rival Georgia in dramatic fashion.
This season fell right into place, seeing Georgia Tech come so frustratingly close to a successful season from start to finish, but a hurricane cancellation and several final minute collapses left the Jackets once again without a bowl bid.
All that being said, it is understandable to see fans grow tired of the uncertainty surrounding Paul Johnson’s program. With a little time spent examining Georgia Tech football a bit closer, however, it is actually not that difficult to see how things in Atlanta might actually be on course for a quick upswing.
This week, Georgia Tech started demolition of its football locker room and will begin a $4.5 million renovation. The money being used was contributed by an anonymous donor to the program. That means that people still care about the state of Tech’s program, and in this case someone with a lot of expendable income cares.
Speaking of people with money caring about the Yellow Jackets… another (or possibly the same) anonymous donor recently pledged $200 thousand to boost the program’s recruiting budget.
Related Story: Georgia Tech football begins $4.5 million locker room renovation
Getting back to the X’s and O’s of Georgia Tech’s football woes, For the second time in three seasons, the Jackets missed a bowl in a season filled with bad breaks, missed kicks and fortune obviously favoring the other team in the final seconds of play. Often those collapses were at the hands of not-so-clutch defensive play.
To answer the most obvious of problems, Tech parted way with Ted Roof and hired Nate Woody as its new defensive coordinator. The former Wofford and Appalachian State DC has a solid track record of turning poor defenses around.
The hire of Woody was followed by a contract extension for Paul Johnson following his tenth season on the Flats. The extension would keep Johnson in Atlanta through the 2022 season, a year in which he’ll turn 65. I would be his 15th season at Tech.
Like him or not, contract extensions speak volumes to recruits and may help to cure any uncertainty following a 5-6 ending to the mos recent campaign.
Even those who may have fallen off the Paul Johnson bandwagon in recent years cannot deny the overall relative success of Johnson at Georgia Tech, and that absolutely includes his triple option offense. Love it or hate it.. the option has scored a lot of points in Atlanta and has racked up video game yards, even in years that didn’t result in that many wins.
Next: Georgia Tech legends inducted into Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame
The glass on North Avenue is most definitely half full at the moment. What the powers that be (including coach Johnson) choose to do with the contents of that glass is still yet to be determined. Next season will be here in a flash. Will the glass be more full or closer to empty this time next year?