Separation Anxiety: Georgia Tech Must Now Leave Its Old Self

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

(Just how different is the Paul Johnson era from its predecessors?)

Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, which may or may not really explain why Georgia Tech gave Chan Gailey six whole years, and Reggie Ball four.

Yes, you have to give Gailey credit for his consistency. It's not easy to win seven games—exactly seven, no more, no less—five out of your six years in charge.

In his one shining moment, Gailey led the Jackets to a 9-2 record over their first 11 games, with one of those losses coming to a Brady Quinn-led Notre Dame team. The Jackets clinched the ACC Coastal, and had visions of far greater things in their heads with a 7-4 Georgia team on the horizon.

They lost every game from that point on, including what was then a sixth consecutive defeat to Georgia, and Georgia Tech finished the season 9-5. My point? Well, let's get to it.

Tony Barnhart, Mr. College Football himself, led his Monday morning column for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution with the big weekend Georgia Tech had. First place in the ACC Coastal, paved road to Tampa Bay for the ACC title game, etc. But Barnhart also makes a good point:

"In the past Georgia Tech would be on the verge of being special and slip up. Georgia Tech is good enough to win these last four games if it can remain focused. Will they?"

Barnhart is alluding not just to the Gailey years, but to many different points in Tech's football history, especially its recent history.

George O'Leary brought Tech back from nothing, and had them on the brink of this kind of success before leaving for Notre Dame, which worked out for exactly no one.

Bobby Ross led Georgia Tech to a co-national championship in 1990, finishing the season 11-0-1. Ross bolted for the NFL a season later, and Tech won just 19 games over its next four years.

But these are new times, Tech fans would tell you. Coach Paul Johnson, he of only one losing season as a head coach, he of high demands and the crazy offense, he's changed things. The culture is just different now, end of story.

Well, it's proving time.

Tech has four games left—Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, Duke, and Georgia.

Georgia is the toughest game remaining in that stretch, Duke and Vandy are on the road, all are imminently winnable.

This is where Paul Johnson can separate himself. There is a growing belief, and rightfully so, that Johnson is a special coach, in the mold of famous program builders like Vince Dooley, and that his style and ability will lead to great things for the Jackets in the future.

That can and should start with these next four games, and the ACC Championship game that would follow were the Jackets to win out. Johnson has a chance to eclipse the program record of 11 wins under Ross in 1990, and likewise he has a genuine opportunity to win a BCS game, should the Jackets qualify.

This is Johnson's moment, and they don't come along often. This is where good and great part company, where careers become defined by what can be achieved, or what can't.

The climate exists for a special, never-before-seen season on the Flats. It's now squarely on the shoulders of Johnson and his players to prove whether they are capable of forging greatness from their collective talent and the opportunity laid in front of them.

One way or the other, it should be fun to watch.

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