Sporting News released their 2018 college football head coach rankings on Thursday and Georgia Tech football’s Paul Johnson came in the list’s top 50.
In college football, how many coaches are better than Tech’s Paul Johnson? Five? Ten? Twenty? Thirty? Forty?
Well, according to Sporting News, there are 46 head coaches better than Johnson in 2018. Johnson’s 47th overall Ranking is 12 spots lower than it was a year before when he was considered the 35th best coach in the FBS.
The ranking puts Johnson 10th in the ACC with only Pat Narduzzi (50), Steve Addazio (52), and Dino Barbers (81) behind him. The ACC coaches were ranked the following;
- Dabo Swinney – Clemson (2)
- Mark Richt – Miami (6)
- Justin Fuente – Virginia Tech (24)
- Bobby Petrino – Louisville (26)
- David Cutcliffe – Duke (30)
- Willie Taggert – Florida State (35)
- Dave Doeren – N.C. State (39)
- Larry Fedora – UNC (40)
- Dave Clawson – Wake Forest (46)
- Paul Johnson – Georgia Tech (47)
- Pat Narduzzi – Pittsburgh (50)
- Bronco Mendenhall – Virginia (51)
- Steve Addazio – Boston College (52)
- Dino Babers – Syracuse (81)
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Johnson’s placement at 47 is questionable even after having a second season in three years that saw the Jackets miss the postseason. The 60-year old is one of the longest tenured coaches in the FBS entering his 11th season on The Flats. In his first ten seasons, Johnson has collected a 75-54 record that saw him win one ACC Championship (2009), four ACC Coastal Division Championships, and three ACC Coach of the Year awards.
Under his guidance, the Jackets have won 10+ games twice and appeared in two Orange Bowls including a 2014 victory.
Not only has Johnson tasted success with Tech at the FBS level as he was also successful at Navy for six seasons. After going 2-10 in his first season at the Naval Academy, Johnson lead the program to a 43-19 record over the next five seasons before leaving for a Tech following the 2007 season.
Johnson may not be a head coach that has a team that puts up “sexy” numbers year in and year out in both statistics and wins but he is a program builder and is able to stabilize programs. Over his 16 seasons at the FBS level, Johnson has collected a strong 120-83 record while maintaining a competitive program even during down seasons.
Johnson has tasted log term success that many coaches in today’s game have not including several ACC coaches ranked above him.
We could dig way deeper into these rankings and argue about Johnson’s placement and compare him to each coach above him but such things would be trivial. It’s simple
Has Johnson and the Yellow Jackets enjoyed the same amount of success since their magical 2014 season? No.
Will Johnson lead Tech to being a perennial ACC contender or National Championship head coach? Probably not.
However, are there 46 head coaches above him that I would rather have to lead the program? No.
To put it simply, there are very few coaches in college football who are better at building programs and stabilizing them like Johnson has at both Navy and Georgia Tech. He wouldn’t be a great fit at every program, but for Tech, he’s a near perfect fit and that’s a huge reason he’s had the success he’s had on The Flats.