Coach Paul Johnson's Contract

A tip of the hat to USA Today for getting a copy of Paul Johnson's contract, which can be seen here:

http://i.usatoday.net/sports/graphics/2009/coaches-contracts/pdf/johnson_georgiatech.pdf

I'll let you all take a gander for yourselves, but here are some of the highlights:

- Contract expires December 31, 2015.
- Paul Johnson can buy out his contract for $1,000,000 before Jan 1, 2010. It gets reduced to $750,000 after that date.
- His 2.3 million dollar salary is broken down as follows:
- $325,000 salary
- $150,000 for apparel
- $1,300,000 for radio & TV (Hey CPJ, would it kill you to buy us a beer at Fox Sports Grill?)
- $525,000 for twenty personal appearances
- Incentives he has reached:
- $75,000 for a bowl game.
- $10,000 for getting GT in the Top 25
- Incentives he can attain:
- $125,000 for a 70% graduation rate
- $25,000 if the APR rates are over 930 and $75,000 if the APR rates are over 950.
- $200,000 if he beats Duke and the ACC Championship game.
- An extra $125,000 for a BCS game, which is 2 wins away as well.
- $50,000 for a bowl win
- $25,000 if he is ACC coach of the year by a media outlet listed in his contract
- $50,000 if he is National coach of the year by a media outlet listed in his contract
- An extra $15,000 if GT is in the Top 25 in the final poll, or an extra $40,000 if they finish in the Top 10.
- Other perks:
- A skybox
- 20 season tickets; 12 tickets to all away games
- 6 basketball season tickets
- Golf membership
- Two courtesy cars
- The facilities for his summer camp

Worth. Every. Penny.

Daily Georgia Tech News !!!

Hey,

Scott here. While I am no longer an active blogger on this site, I decided to do a little link magic below which will allow you to come back and visit to get links to all the latest and greatest in GT news, both with current teams and players as well as key nuggets on former players.

Check back often, because it is updated continuously.

GO JACKETS!!!
Scott

GEORGIA TECH NEWS !!!
News links should appear below - some issues at the moment

Offensive Genius

To paraphrase Roddy Piper, just when you think you know all the answers, Paul Johnson changes the questions.

Mickey Andrews has 75 minutes during the lightning delay to go over everyone's assignments, what they've seen, and how it can be covered. First play for the GT offense after the delay, down 14-7.

- 1st and 10, ball on the right hash mark.
- Trips formation - left side. Roddy Jones at left A-Back. Anthony Allen in the slot and starts in motion to the right
- The Florida State safety, #20, lets him go because he's instructed that he'll either come back to him or block for the mid-line option with Josh Nesbitt. He stays on the left side of the field.
- The only problem is that Anthony Allen isn't coming back to him or blocking for the mid-line option. Anthony Allen is in full speed on the right side.
- 3 blockers on one defender equals a 60 yard run for Anthony Allen.

As Bob Davie said after the play. Wow.

DAILY GEORGIA TECH SPORTS NEWS

Hey,

Scott here. While I am no longer an active blogger on this site, I decided to do a little link magic below which will allow you to come back and visit to get links to all the latest and greatest in GT news, both with current teams and players as well as key nuggets on former players.

Check back often, because it is updated continuously.

GO JACKETS!!!
Scott

GEORGIA TECH NEWS !!!
News links should appear below - some issues at the moment

A** Kicking

As I watched the U score touchdown after touchdown and saw defensive ends tackling Josh, Roddy et. al. six yards in the backfield, I was reminded of Little Bill beating the crap out of English Bob in Unforgiven.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2sf70d0-FM&feature=related

My observations:

- 3 Offensive TD’s against BCS opponents since UGA.

- If you have the game on DVR, Miami’s defensive line was so dialed in that he was a half step before the snap count all night long. Georgia Tech was tipping the snap count.

- Eight fault start penalties. Eight.

- Derrick Morgan and Morgan Burnett. You’re GT’s two best defensive players. You haven’t made a play in six quarters. That's 4 1/2 hours! Got to start making plays.

- Brad Jefferson and Cedric Griffin. You haven’t made a play against a BCS opponent in twelve quarters. That's nine hours!! Really got to start making plays.

- UNC coming in next week. After that, Mississippi State in Starkville, FSU in Tallahassee, home to VT. 2-5 is just as possible as 5-2.

- How bad of an offensive coordinator is Patrick Nix?

One week to go

The summer is over. The Red Sox have gotten me throught the summer. Good to be blogging again for another football season.


Because of my work schedule, I'll probably be blogging on Friday nights, Saturday mornings and Sunday mornings during the football season. My plan is to link to articles during the week for the Jackets and their upcoming opponent. I'll try to throw in some football stats that I think are interesting as well.


One week to the first exhibition game, 12 days to Clemson. Let's get started.


Georgia Tech


Collegefootballnews.com has the best previews for each team. Here is the preview for the Jackets:

http://cfn.scout.com/2/859852.html

AJC's Doug Roberson talks about what is expected of Izaan Cross, Julian Burnett, and Jemea Thomas http://www.ajc.com/sports/georgia-tech/3-strong-georgia-tech-124668.html. It also appears that Chandler Anderson appears to be the punter to start the season.

Demaryius Thomas feature by Ray Glier of the AJC. It is also learned that Tyler Melton is out for 2 to 4 weeks http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2009/08/29/sports/doc4a98aefbe66cc150082214.txt?FORM=ZZNR7.

Clemson

Collegefootballnews.com preview of the Tigers:

http://cfn.scout.com/2/859844.html

An article on how Dabo Sweeney and his 30 year old offensive coordinator Billy Napier http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/aug/27/tigers-better-play-calling-better-be-good/.

An article about Willy Korn rooting for freshman Kyle Parker to fail http://www.upstatetoday.com/news/2009/aug/27/tigers-korn-not-giving-qb-job/.

Dabo Sweeney article http://www.thetandd.com/articles/2009/08/29/sports/doc4a98aefbe66cc150082214.txt?FORM=ZZNR7.

I watched the ESPN college football preview show. Robert Smith and Kirk Herbstreit pick Georgia Tech to win the ACC. Lou Holtz and Lee Corso pick FSU.

Youtube clip of the day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyGQ_lyd83E

Check Back Daily for GT News Links

Hey,

Scott here. While I am no longer an active blogger on this site, I decided to do a little link magic below which will allow you to come back and visit to get links to all the latest and greatest in GT news, both with current teams and players as well as key nuggets on former players.

Check back often, because it is updated continuously.

GO JACKETS!!!
Scott

GEORGIA TECH NEWS !!!
News links should appear below - some issues at the moment

Where is Paul Hewitt Taking Georgia Tech?

I decided to take a little bit of time at lunch to bring up something that's on everyone's mind - where is Paul Hewitt taking the Georgia Tech basketball program.

I don't want this to come off as a negative rant, so it's important for you to know up front that I want to see Coach Hewitt succeed bigtime. He's a great representative of the school. He's an outspoken leader for the student-athlete and the Black Coaches Association. He recruits ultra-talented kids of high character, great work ethic and huge potential. So I want to see him take the program to new heights.

Now the problem - he ain't gettin 'er done. What prompted me to put write this are some recent comments from independent groups about our former players.

EXHIBIT 1:
Alade Aminu goes to the Portsmouth Classic (for top seniors) and leads his team to the championship. He shines from day 1 and completely helps his case in getting a shot in the NBA. Here are comments from DraftExpress, who went back and watched Alade in a bunch of film from his GT days:

Aminu didn’t play a very big role this season at Georgia Tech—in fact, he came off the bench for the team’s final 12 games. The fact that he struggled to make an impact on a team that finished last in the ACC and posted a 12-19 record is a bit of a red flag, but as we learned the hard last year with the way Anthony Morrow panned out, players from this team need to be looked at a more in-depth, especially ones who are only 21 years old.

Comparing the way Aminu played at Portsmouth with what we can now see from his film at Georgia Tech reveals a pretty stark contrast—it doesn’t seem like he was utilized very well at all in college from what we can tell. Aminu was an absolute devastating force as a pick and roll finisher for his Norfolk Naval Shipyard team—thanks to his tremendous combination of size, length, terrific hands and excellent mobility. At Georgia Tech he was barely used in this fashion at all—just 4.3% of his offensive possessions came on the pick and roll. They looked incredibly disorganized in the film we took in, with no point guard, no system, and very little ball-movement. It appeared that Aminu often was asked to play very far from the basket, and pretty much all of his shots were opportunities that he was forced to create on his own.

EXHIBIT 2:
Anthony Morrow was one of the purest 3pt shooters in ACC history, yet he never reached that "next" level in college. As a result he wasn't drafted, but signed a free agent deal with Golden State after lighting up the summer leagues. After a 37pt debut, setting a record for undrafted free-agent debuts, he went on to prove hee belonged, by leading the ENTIRE NBA in 3pt shooting percentage. The entire frickin NBA..... as a rookie...... undrafted.

Then I ran across these comments from a nice feel-good story on A-Mo:

How does this happen? How does a guy not get drafted, not get off the bench in two summer league games, and then lead the NBA in 3-point shooting?

We asked some scouts:

^ "If we knew that ... That's a tough one. His coach at Georgia Tech subbed players in and out so he had trouble getting in a rhtyhm. And he didn't put the ball on the floor well. He had limitations."

^ "He was a little hurt his junior year, but it was kind of mind-blowing that he didn't have a bigger role in college. The chemistry wasn't quite right on that team. He was just too good a player and shooter not to be doing more. His freshman year, I thought he had a chance to make (the NBA), but then by his senior year he wasn't playing as much."

"He's one of the best shooters I have ever coached," Head Coach Don Nelson said. "My goodness, what a surprise."

EXHIBIT 3
Gani Lawal declares for the NBA draft (without hiring an agent). Fine. He improved his numbers significantly his sophomore season while his team went into the tank. Into the tank. Then, this quote:

“He’s a lot like a Thaddeus Young, or Chris Bosh, who went into the league somewhat undefined,” Hewitt said, “but because of their tremendous upside, they turned into better players.”

EXHIBIT 4
There are plenty more exhibits. Missing the NCAA's with Chris Bosh and Jarrett Jack. I know, they were freshman. Barely making the NBA with Javaris Crittenton and Thaddeus Young, then bowing out quickly. Squandered potential with guys like RaSean Dickey, Lewis Clinch, and many more. Never a returning PG. Always the one-and-dones. But when we do keep guys like Jeremis Smith, Anthony Morrow, Aminu, Clinch, it just doesn't make the difference either. Injuries - yes I know. Academic casualties - yes I know. There's always a legit reason why.

Why are guys turning into better players later and leaving GT "undefined"?
Why are 4-year guys blossoming in other people's systems after they leave?
Why are scouts starting to realize that you can't judge GT guys based on their college film?
Why are there always reasons to hide the fact that kids just don't get our on-the-court system?
Why is there always a reason things aren't working out?

At the end of the day, I don't have a clue what it takes to run a collegiate basketball program. I don't have a clue how to coach the game on the floor. But results are results, and we don't have to be experts to know things aren't working out. I just wish I had a better feeling about what was going to be done to change it. We already know that all the freshman talent in the world ain't going to get it done. Now what?

A little local Flavor - Matt Ryan Camp

For a friend:

Matt Ryan is doing a camp on June 6th for 7-14 year olds. The official link is: http://procamps.com/toppsmattryan

Also, you will recieve an instant $10 discount for using the code "mattqb".

Hoops Story

Nice win on senior night, but there are issues.

http://www.accsports.com/articles/200903034858/crothers-the-wreck-that-is-georgia-tech.php

Football - 2009 Schedule Thoughts?

So here is the 2009 football schedule. What are your thoughts?

2009 Georgia Tech Football Schedule
Date Opponent Site Time TV
Sept. 5 Jacksonville State ATLANTA TBA TBA
Sept. 10 (Thur.) Clemson
Sept. 17 (Thur.) Miami
Sept. 26 North Carolina
Oct. 3 Mississippi State Starkville, Miss.
Oct. 10 Florida State Tallahassee, Fla
Oct. 17 Virginia Tech ATLANTA
Oct. 24 Virginia Charlottesville, Va.
Oct. 31 Vanderbilt Nashville, Tenn.
Nov. 7 Wake Forest ATLANTA
Nov. 14 Duke Durham, N.C.
Nov. 28 Georgia ATLANTA

Signing Day Thread

Post any signing day info or discussion you would like to have here.

Open Thread

What's on your mind about Georgia Tech Sports?

Quick Hit - Paul Johnson Articles

That LSU bowl thing was quite the debacle. Hard to watch. Hard to take. However, let's just put it behind us as "one of those games".

In the meantime, ACC Sports has published a three part article on Paul Johnson that is quite good:

PART 1
PART 2
PART 3