July 19, 2017
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech football head coach Paul Johnson is one of 19 coaches on the official watch list for the 2017 Dodd Trophy, the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl announced on Wednesday.
Named after Bobby Dodd, the winningest coach in Georgia Tech history, the Dodd Trophy celebrates the head coach of a team that enjoys success on the gridiron while also stressing the importance of scholarship, leadership and integrity — the three pillars of Dodd’s coaching philosophy.
A program’s graduation rate, Academic Progress Rate (APR), commitment to service and charity and the community and projected success for the 2017 season were taken into consideration when selecting the 19 coaches for the official Dodd Trophy watch list.
Entering his 10th season at Georgia Tech, Johnson has led the Yellow Jackets to 70 wins as head coach. The only coaches that have won more games at the helm of the Jackets – John Heisman, William Alexander and Dodd — are all in the College Football Hall of Fame and only Dodd has won more games in his first nine seasons on The Flats (82).
In 20 seasons as a head coach — which includes stints at Georgia Southern (1997-2001) and Navy (2002-07) — Johnson has compiled 177 victories, making him the fourth-winningest active coach in NCAA Division I FBS. He won the Dodd Trophy after leading Navy to a 10-2 record and Emerald Bowl championship in 2004.
Last season, Johnson led the Yellow Jackets to a 9-4 record and their eighth bowl appearance in his nine seasons at the helm — a 33-18 win over Kentucky in the TaxSlayer Bowl. The Jackets’ 9-4 campaign came on the heels of a 3-9 season in 2015 and the six-game turnaround was tied for the biggest year-over-year improvement in the nation last season.
This season, Georgia Tech returns 16 starters (eight on offense, eight on defense).
The 2017 Dodd Trophy watch list will be amended throughout the season and finalists will be selected at the conclusion of the regular season. The winner will be announced in Atlanta during the week of the 2017 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, which will be played on Jan. 1, 2018 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Johnson’s Yellow Jackets open the 2017 campaign on Monday, Sept. 4 versus Tennessee in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at brand-new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta. A limited number of season tickets, which include a seat for the highly anticipated opener against Tennessee at MBS, remain.
Flex Packs, which allow fans to purchase tickets for any three, four, five or six games at Bobby Dodd Stadium — including the Nov. 25 showdown versus archrival Georgia — and single-game tickets for the Yellow Jackets’ home contests versus Jacksonville State (Sept. 9), Pittsburgh (Sept. 23), North Carolina (Sept. 30), Wake Forest (Oct. 21) and Virginia Tech (Nov. 11) are also on sale now.
Click HERE for more information and to purchase 2017 Georgia Tech football tickets online.
2017 DODD TROPHY WATCH LIST
Paul Chryst (Wisconsin)
James Franklin (Penn State)
Justin Fuente (Virginia Tech)
Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State)
Jim Harbaugh (Michigan)
Clay Helton (Southern California)
Paul Johnson (Georgia Tech)
Butch Jones (Tennessee)
Gus Malzahn (Auburn)
Jim McElwain (Florida)
Urban Meyer (Ohio State)
Ken Niumatalolo (Navy)
Chris Petersen (Washington)
Mark Richt (Miami)
Nick Saban (Alabama)
David Shaw (Stanford)
Bill Snyder (Kansas State)
Dabo Swinney (Clemson)
Kyle Whittingham (Utah)
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