Johnson's retirement ends a strong era of GT football
In December of 2007, Georgia Tech hired Navy coach Paul Johnson to bring in his triple option offense and winning ways to the Flats. Johnson delivered in many ways winning an ACC Championship and multiple division titles. Even in rough years, he kept his team on the winning path most of the time and graduated his players.
On Wednesday, Johnson’s decision to hang up his whistle and end his coaching career became public. Johnson always said he would know when it was time to hang it up and that would be when he would retire. He announced his decision during a team meeting on Wednesday.
“After 40 years of coaching, it’s time to take a break,” Johnson said. “My family has sacrificed a lot over the years. I want to watch my daughter [Kaitlyn, a professional opera singer] perform and do some things with my wife [Susan] that we’ve never had a chance to do. It’s been a great run for the last 11 years here on The Flats. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished and am looking forward to having the chance to coach this team one last time at our bowl game next month.”
His final season on the Flats was one of his best coaching jobs. With a new defensive coordinator and a rough start falling to 1-3 early in the year, Johnson’s team bounced back finishing 7-5 with a second-place finish in the ACC Coastal.
Johnson will end up just shy of 200 wins with 189 career victories plus a possible bowl game and a record of 82-59 at Georgia Tech (though it should be 83-59 due the vacated ACC Championship Game in 2009).
A complicated man, sometimes a curmudgeon and often accused of being arrogant, Johnson is a good man who loves his players and was extremely loyal to those who worked or played for him long after they left his program.
The search begins for the next head coach immediately and Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury has not been caught flatfooted. Stansbury like all athletic directors has a short list of candidates and the Jackets will have search committees and vet coaches.
“I was saddened when Coach Johnson informed me that he was going to step down as our head coach,” Georgia Tech director of athletics Todd Stansbury said. “Not only is he Georgia Tech’s winningest head coach in more than 50 years but he is also an incredible mentor for the young men in our football program and has helped develop countless student-athletes that have gone on to great success after graduation. I wish him and Susan nothing but the very best as he steps away from coaching football for the first time in 40 years and ask the entire Georgia Tech community to join me in thanking him for his hard work and contributions to the Institute over the past 11 years.”