Georgia Tech defeated Louisville 66-31 on Friday night. Along with the Yellow Jacket victory, Tech head coach Paul Johnson finally settled some beef with Brian VanGorder, Louisville’s current defensive coordinator. First, just look at this:
Paul Johnson wanted to ‘beat the hell out of Brian VanGorder,’ and he finally did
Revenge is served, more than a decade later.
Photo by Daniel Shirey/Getty Images
ESPN
Johnson’s had an issue with VanGorder for more than a decade.
It all started in 2006, when VanGorder was named the head coach at Georgia Southern. In Statesboro, Johnson had successfully installed and ran the triple option in the ‘80s as a coordinator, and as head coach from 1997-2001. Instead of sticking with that scheme, VanGorder decided to ditch it completely.
He didn’t exactly think highly of the offense, to say the least.
He wanted to bring the program “into the 21st century”. He felt that the system would be impossible to recruit to, and just wouldn’t work at a high level of football. (And with only 6 national titles since the program’s first varsity season in 1984, what reason did he have to think that it was a possibility?)
Before season began, VanGorder made a point that he wouldn’t be running Johnson’s flexbone option. From the Statesboro Herald:
In the advertisement, Georgia Southern’s marketing department promoted the 2006 season with a series of video clips that ended with VanGorder pointing at the camera and proclaiming “There is no option.” The school later chose to edit out the coach’s comment. The four words drew criticism, became a catch phrase for the season and spawned t-shirts reading “Win Coach. There is no option.”
Well, word of VanGorder’s overhaul made its way to Johnson, the head coach at Navy at the time.
”VanGorder had made some comments that he didn’t think too highly of the offense,” longtime Georgia Southern administrator Robert Inman said via USA Today. “And Paul called me up and said, ‘I need to talk to (athletics director) Sam (Baker) and get Georgia Southern on the schedule,’” Inman said. “I said, ‘Why do you want to play us?’ And he said, ‘Because I want to beat the hell out of Brian VanGorder.’ “
VanGorder’s “no option” team went 3-8, and his offense averaged 21 points per points per game. It was the worst record in the 25 years of the program at the time. After the season, VanGorder attempted to clarify his stance on the option.
“I never said, ever, a negative word about an offense that I have great respect for,” VanGorder said via the Herald. “But (the media) kind of created a lot of that situation because there were comments that I must have made about the option, which I never did,” he said. “I had nothing but respect for that offense, and I’ve said that over and over.”
Twelve years later, and Johnson’s still using the same offense.
“Just executing the offense, just running,” he said on Friday night when asked how his team piled up 542 rushing yards on the road.
This is actually VanGorder’s second straight loss to Johnson, in a way.
In 2015, when he was defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, the Irish beat Johnson’s Jackets.
But in November 2016, Georgia hired him as a consultant. His role was to lend UGA his experience with the triple option to prepare for the Bulldogs’ game against Georgia Tech. The Bulldogs lost 28-27, sealed by two unanswered touchdowns in the fourth.
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