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They called his spread offense a backwoods gimmick that would never stand up to the test of time or competition at the highest levels of college football.
But for the large part of four decades, including eight breakthrough years as the offensive coordinator at the University of Hawaii, Paul Johnson defiantly piled up yards, points and victories while often spitting tobacco juice at his detractors’ theories.
Wednesday, after 22 seasons as a head coach and a 189-98 record that made him the fourth-winningest active head coach in NCAA Division I, Johnson announced he will take a timeout from coaching.
The 61-year old Johnson spent 11 years at his latest stop, Georgia Tech, winning coach of the year honors three times in the Atlantic Coast Conference, guiding the Yellow Jackets to seven finishes of second place or better and, with this year’s 7-5 finish, nine bowl appearances.
“After 40 years of coaching, its time to take a break,” Johnson said in a release. A press conference is scheduled today in Atlanta.
In his stay (1987-94) at Manoa, Johnson had more impact than any assistant coach in UH history on several levels.
During his time on head coach Bob Wagner’s staff, the Rainbows went to their first two NCAA bowl games (1989 and ’92), won their first conference championship (1992) and not only broke Brigham Young’s 10-game winning streak but pounded the Cougars three times (1989, ’90 and ’92).
Yet it was happenstance that brought him here.
In 1986 Wagner was UH’s defensive coordinator and, during a break in a recruiting trip to the state of Washington, decided to check out the Division I-AA championship game between Georgia Southern and Arkansas State in the Tacoma Dome.
Wagner came away impressed with the triple option spread offense run by Georgia Southern. “As a defensive coach I saw it presented a lot of challenges in trying to stop it,” Wagner remembered. “I told myself, ‘If I ever become a head coach, that’s an offense I’d like to run.’”
A matter of weeks later Dick Tomey left UH for Arizona and Wagner became the head coach, quickly seeking out Johnson, the Eagles’ 29-year old offensive coordinator.
Wagner was akamai enough to understand that if UH was ever to break BYU’s lengthening domination of the ’Bows, they would need a niche offense that wasn’t in wide use and something they could recruit to.
Johnson, — who played wishbone quarterback and linebacker in high school, but college basketball, not football, at Western Carolina — nevertheless developed an early-on interest in offensive theory. After coaching at his high school and an area junior college, Johnson caught on at Georgia Southern as a defensive line coach. In short order, Hall of Fame coach Erk Russell turned over the offensive reins.
Johnson continued to tinker with the offense and, after studying elements of the run-and-shoot with Mouse Davis, married pieces of it with his evolving spread.
After leaving UH, Johnson eventually became head coach at Georgia Southern, winning two national titles. At Navy he went 6-0 vs. Army and then moved on to Georgia Tech, mentoring future head coaches Kenny Niumatalolo and Jeff Monken among others along the way.
“Paul knew what he was doing with his offense, won a bunch, got well-paid for it and leaves on his own terms, you’ve got to admire that,” Wagner said.
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
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