Paul Johnson makes the College Football Hall of Fame ballot

Former Georgia Tech, Navy, and Georgia Southern head coach Paul Johnson was announced as a potential College Football Hall of Fame inductee on Monday by the National Football Foundation. Johnson made the ballot on his first year of eligibility after a 190-99 record as a head coach including two National Championships at Georgia Southern in back-to-back seasons, one ACC title at Tech, and four Coastal Division titles on the Flats.

Johnson led Georgia Tech to 20 wins in his first two seasons on the Flats and an ACC Championship knocking off a young coach named Dabo Swinney in the 2009 ACC Title game in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. During his time on the Flats he beat higher-ranked Georgia teams twice on their hold field in 2008 and 2014 as well as knocking them off in 2016 in a matchup of unranked teams. The 2014 team narrowly lost an ACC Championship tilt against Florida State and beat Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl later that year.

He finished his Tech coaching career with the fourth-most wins in program history behind a trio of College Football Hall of Famers Bobby Dodd, William Alexander, and John Heisman. His 58.04 winning percentage at Tech's football coach places him fourth All-Time on the Flats behind Heisman, Dodd, and George O'Leary. We count the 2009 ACC Championship on JOL toward Johnson's record.

Johnson retired at the end of the 2018 season after his ninth bowl appearance in 11 seasons on the Flats. In his 22 seasons as a head coach, his teams made the postseason or a bowl game in 19 of those years including five straight bowl trips at Navy that snapped a six-year bowl drought and started a long successful run for the Midshipmen program of bowl appearances through 2019.

If enshrined, Johnson would become the 20th former Yellow Jacket player or coach to enter the Hall.