CJ on the "Hot Seat" for 2015

[Eaglewave]

I was %100 in favor of CJ's hire. I defended his 2-10 season due to the loss of his best offensive and defensive players before the season. I was fine with the "watered down" schedule of 2013 because I knew how important it was for us to build confidence, win games, get into any Bowl Game and build excitement to our traditionally losing program. We had not been to a bowl game since 2002 and were going through many obstacles to build Yulman. We had to find a way to put some wins on the record to get people excited again. Say what you want about it, but the crowd at the Georgia Tech game proved that it worked.

This was the year to take off CJ's training wheels and prove that 3 years of recruiting classes, and a retained coaching staff could be good enough to beat teams like Tulsa. Competitive enough to make for good games against teams like Rutgers. The Tulsa game was a chance to show the FBS world that we can blow away a former C-USA weaker foe and start off the season with a AAC win. We lost what could have been a convincing win. The Georgia Tech game was a way to stun Louisiana with a win over a named opponent at home that was considered beatable! Instead, we lost our opening game in Yulman and in front of super supportive home crowd.



I believe that CJ was the man for this job, but I am having my doubts right about now. CJ is starting to sound more and more like a loser as well. All of this, " we will be fine" and "we shouldn't been mean to our kicker" bullsh_t is killing me. CJ is too damn soft and that's why our players are F'n up on and off the field. CJ's coaching staff isn't making these guys better as well. I am close to giving up on CJ. He is a cool guy, but he doesn't seem to be ready for a head coaching position on this level. I hope he can turn things around, but I don't see it based on what we are seeing. CJ is not showing any urgency at winning and sits behind, " were young" and "Devon, Nick, Tanner, Jordy" all looked great at practice" bullsh_t.


I see us going 1-11 at this point. I hope I am wrong. CJ needs to get it together. A friend of mine, (an Arkansas alum), told me before the Georgia Tech game, "man, the city is really begging for a reason to het excited about Tulane football. So many local coaches, churches and random folks in the city really want Tulane to win and go to games at Yulman. But Tulane needs to win."


We are not winning! This staff allowed this team to go 7-6 last season after having a schedule that could have won them at least 9 games. (I picked us to go 11-1 in 2013). CJ needs to win at least 5 games this season for me to even consider believing he is still the right man for this job because finally, I don't see it.

[tpstulane]

Eagle I would agree only if we lose to UCONN. I think we beat them. Looking back if we make a 20 yard FG vs Tulsa we'd probably be 3-3 after this weekend. We are looking at losses to ECU, UCF and probably Memphis. I think we have a shot against Cincy, Houston and Temple.

[JerseyWave]

I don't like the message CJ is sending from his press conferences either. He comes off very soft and continues to refer to all the freshman that are playing. There's no fire, anger, or sense of urgency to get things turned around off a 1-4 start. A lot of the problems this year go directly to coaching..too many penalties, poor game management, and pathetic special teams. In the past we've been blown away because we were getting destroyed at the line of scrimmage or the opponent had a tremendous team speed advantage. This isn't the case anymore. Tulane has plenty of team speed and Tulane has matched up better at the line of scrimmage minus too many penalties on the O'line.

CJ has absorbed the mentality of his current boss, Loser Dickson, "We don't judge by wins and losses" and lost the mentality of his former boss Sean Payton, "Do Your Job!"

[Eaglewave]

I don't like the message CJ is sending from his press conferences either. He comes off very soft and continues to refer to all the freshman that are playing. There's no fire, anger, or sense of urgency to get things turned around off a 1-4 start. A lot of the problems this year go directly to coaching..too many penalties, poor game management, and pathetic special teams. In the past we've been blown away because we were getting destroyed at the line of scrimmage or the opponent had a tremendous team speed advantage. This isn't the case anymore. Tulane has plenty of team speed and Tulane has matched up better at the line of scrimmage minus too many penalties on the O'line.

CJ has absorbed the mentality of his current boss, Loser Dickson, "We don't judge by wins and losses" and lost the mentality of his former boss Sean Payton, "Do Your Job!"

I agree % 100. You can't be a soft players coach and then storm down the sidelines pissed off when you team is down 21-0 in the NOLA Bowl. CJ showed too much sympathy for his kicker at the UConn press conference. I am not trying to hear sh_t about a freshman kicker missing F'n chip shots just because he is away from home. So what! Earn your F'n scholarship and make the F'n kick if you can kick! There are FCS kickers in Louisiana who can hit kicks from 40 yards consistently.

[RobertM320]

I agree with all except the three recruiting classes thing. Only part of that first recruiting class was his, because he was stuck with Toledo's commits. So really, the only players on this team that are his, with a few exceptions like Darion Monroe, are the true freshmen, RS freshmen, and the true sophomores.

[Bigschtick]

What I see is a guy who should be saying:'All of us coaches need to be doing a better job". I have never hear that
rather its "We gotta play betta". Win or lose to UConn is not going to change my opinion that this is not the coach
to turn this program around.

[nawlinspete]

What I see is a guy who should be saying:'All of us coaches need to be doing a better job". I have never hear that
rather its "We gotta play betta". Win or lose to UConn is not going to change my opinion that this is not the coach
to turn this program around.

Agree 110% with you Bigschtick.

Coach Johnson refuses to accept responsibility and glibly blames the players for all the lack of preparation and decision making gone wrong. The coaching is terrible. The recruiting, despite how good we are being told it is, is the worst in the AAC (not to mention kicking).

The only thing Coach Johnson accepts: his paychecks !

Forgot to mention that Ricky needs to go NOW.

[Bigschtick]

Its beyond my comprehension that Dickson would have increased Johnson's salary up to or
in access of one million after a 7 win season over weak competition and then extend his contract
without waiting to see how his coaching looked with the slightly upgraded AAC teams! Typical move
by Dickson the moron. Essentially, we are stuck for years with Johnson and Dickson. . Johnson either brings
in some coaches who know what they are doing or Tulane football will continue to be a national laughing stock.

[jonathanjoseph]

The only thing Coach Johnson accepts: his paychecks !

C'mon. CJ has made a great effort and headway into turning the program around. He may or may not be the guy to get it across the finish line but he's not just collecting a paycheck.

[golfnut69]

ATTENTION !!!! This is a test, if this would have been an actual alert, you would have been instructed to tune into ESPN for the hiring of an actual Head Coach... I repeat...this is only a test

[Aberzombie1892]

You guys are just getting silly at this point.

3/5 teams that we have played have been ranked in the Top 25 of their division, and one is dangerously close (Rutgers). If you think Tulane is (1) talented enough and (2) experienced enough to defeat top 25 fbs teams on a regular without a random act of God occurring, you are out of your mind. However, once CJ gets his third recruiting class together (he inherited the first one) and we bring back more experienced players, we will be the best we have been in a long time. Plus, assuming our 4th OOC game goes to an FCS team, our OOC schedule will be dramatically easier overall.

CJ isn't doing that badly, given everything that factors into the equation (talent, experience, resources, and schedule). Should we have won Tulsa? Sure. But other than that, it's not -that- bad. It's honestly not too late to salvage the conference play at this point - we're just 0-1 right now and the three preseason favorites don't appear to be that great.

[jonathanjoseph]

You guys are just getting silly at this point.

3/5 teams that we have played have been ranked in the Top 25 of their division, and one is dangerously close (Rutgers). If you think Tulane is (1) talented enough and (2) experienced enough to defeat top 25 fbs teams on a regular without a random act of God occurring, you are out of your mind. However, once CJ gets his third recruiting class together (he inherited the first one) and we bring back more experienced players, we will be the best we have been in a long time. Plus, assuming our 4th OOC game goes to an FCS team, our OOC schedule will be dramatically easier overall.

CJ isn't doing that badly, given everything that factors into the equation (talent, experience, resources, and schedule). Should we have won Tulsa? Sure. But other than that, it's not -that- bad. It's honestly not too late to salvage the conference play at this point - we're just 0-1 right now and the three preseason favorites don't appear to be that great.

This.

[cajunfanatico]

Its beyond my comprehension that Dickson would have increased Johnson's salary up to or
in access of one million after a 7 win season over weak competition and then extend his contract
without waiting to see how his coaching looked with the slightly upgraded AAC teams! Typical move
by Dickson the moron. Essentially, we are stuck for years with Johnson and Dickson. . Johnson either brings
in some coaches who know what they are doing or Tulane football will continue to be a national laughing stock.

CJ is not going anywhere any time soon.

[GreenLantern]

I'm no Mississippi State fan, but I'm a fan of winners. I like what I read about
the way Dan Mullen began his tenure:

Early on, Mullen called a meeting for everyone involved with football -- faculty,
secretaries, staff -- and delivered words that made then athletic director Greg Byrne
cringe: “You are part of the problem.” Mullen insisted that the way things had always
been done hadn’t worked. “We have to change everything,” he said.

Wouldn't it be nice to hear that someone at Tulane had issued this sort of fiat.
Anyone.

And BTW, it would be an astoundingly bone-headed, eyes-closed, shoot-from-the-hip
reaction to terminate Curtis Johnson before the end of next season.

Ready! Fire! Aim! (don't get these steps out of the proper order!)

[51WaveBG]

The real test for CJ will be whether or not he makes several changes to his coaching staff after this season is over. The O/C and QB coaches need to go! I'm tired of a vanilla offense that the opposing D/C's read like a book. I'm tired of an offense that makes no significant changes @ half time. Opposing D/C's make changes @ half time, but our O staff never anticipates these changes. Also, CJ may need to look @ cleansing the roster of deadwood to free up some scholarships. I want to see Hard, Tough, Mean Leadership out of our head coach! If you are in command, COMMAND, or step aside and let someone else do the job!

[winwave]

You guys are just getting silly at this point.

3/5 teams that we have played have been ranked in the Top 25 of their division, and one is dangerously close (Rutgers). If you think Tulane is (1) talented enough and (2) experienced enough to defeat top 25 fbs teams on a regular without a random act of God occurring, you are out of your mind. However, once CJ gets his third recruiting class together (he inherited the first one) and we bring back more experienced players, we will be the best we have been in a long time. Plus, assuming our 4th OOC game goes to an FCS team, our OOC schedule will be dramatically easier overall.

CJ isn't doing that badly, given everything that factors into the equation (talent, experience, resources, and schedule). Should we have won Tulsa? Sure. But other than that, it's not -that- bad. It's honestly not too late to salvage the conference play at this point - we're just 0-1 right now and the three preseason favorites don't appear to be that great.

We have played one ranked FBS team. Duke has no votes in the AP poll and 12 in the coaches poll. Rutgers got 4 in the AP and 2 in the coaches.

[GreenLantern]

A young boy walked into an ice cream store, and announced that he would like three cones:
chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.

The attendant replied, "I'm sorry but we have no chocolate. We're fresh out."

To which the little boy answered, "Oh... then I'll have three pints: one each of chocolate,
vanilla and strawberry."

Frowning, the impatient attendant said "You must have misunderstood. We have no chocolate.
None at all."

Nonplussed, the little boy responded, "Hmmmm, then I'll have a quart each of chocolate,
vanilla and strawberry."

The attendant was beside himself. He balefully stared at the child and said, "Son. Let's play a
little word game to help you understand. I'll give you two words and you must find the shorter
word in the other. Let's start with strawberry. Can you find 'straw' in 'strawberry'?"

"I love games," said the boy. "Of course I do. Anyone can see the 'straw' in 'strawberry'."

"Great!" replied the shopkeeper. "Can you find 'van' in the word 'vanilla'?"

"That's too easy," said the boy. "Anyone can find 'van' in 'vanilla'."

"One last word," said the attendant. "Can you find the word 'frig' in the word 'chocolate'?"

The boy was perplexed, scratched his head and answered, "but there is no 'frig' in 'chocolate'."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you kid" said the shop owner. "There ain't no friggin
chocolate! Now get outta my store!"



Dear nawlinspete: There ain't no frig in way that Curtis Johnson is fired before next year.

[Aberzombie1892]

You guys are just getting silly at this point.

3/5 teams that we have played have been ranked in the Top 25 of their division, and one is dangerously close (Rutgers). If you think Tulane is (1) talented enough and (2) experienced enough to defeat top 25 fbs teams on a regular without a random act of God occurring, you are out of your mind. However, once CJ gets his third recruiting class together (he inherited the first one) and we bring back more experienced players, we will be the best we have been in a long time. Plus, assuming our 4th OOC game goes to an FCS team, our OOC schedule will be dramatically easier overall.

CJ isn't doing that badly, given everything that factors into the equation (talent, experience, resources, and schedule). Should we have won Tulsa? Sure. But other than that, it's not -that- bad. It's honestly not too late to salvage the conference play at this point - we're just 0-1 right now and the three preseason favorites don't appear to be that great.

We have played one ranked FBS team. Duke has no votes in the AP poll and 12 in the coaches poll. Rutgers got 4 in the AP and 2 in the coaches.

Duke was ranked in September, and the fact that it earned a spot and then lost it has no real affect on my point. It was ranked, and, if it beats Georgia Tech, it will be ranked again. Tulane is not at that level - yet.

[winwave]

You guys are just getting silly at this point.

3/5 teams that we have played have been ranked in the Top 25 of their division, and one is dangerously close (Rutgers). If you think Tulane is (1) talented enough and (2) experienced enough to defeat top 25 fbs teams on a regular without a random act of God occurring, you are out of your mind. However, once CJ gets his third recruiting class together (he inherited the first one) and we bring back more experienced players, we will be the best we have been in a long time. Plus, assuming our 4th OOC game goes to an FCS team, our OOC schedule will be dramatically easier overall.

CJ isn't doing that badly, given everything that factors into the equation (talent, experience, resources, and schedule). Should we have won Tulsa? Sure. But other than that, it's not -that- bad. It's honestly not too late to salvage the conference play at this point - we're just 0-1 right now and the three preseason favorites don't appear to be that great.

We have played one ranked FBS team. Duke has no votes in the AP poll and 12 in the coaches poll. Rutgers got 4 in the AP and 2 in the coaches.

Duke was ranked in September, and the fact that it earned a spot and then lost it has no real affect on my point. It was ranked, and, if it beats Georgia Tech, it will be ranked again. Tulane is not at that level - yet.

Just gave the current information. Of curse as we all know there is only one poll that counts and that's the last one. The important thing that should be taken is that it is possible for a school like Tulane to put together a top 25 team. The Tech,Duke and Rutgers teams are just not all that. For all the money the P5 schools get there's one thing that overrides it. The 85 scholarship limit. Too bad the G5 schools didn't use a lower scholarship limit as leverage to agree to the autonomy they wanted.

[Eaglewave]

It's amazing to see the number of fans defending and justifying getting manhandled by Rutgers and Duke! You do not know any F'n thing about playmakers and football if you don't think we have enough talent on our roster to compete with them. I don't care what anyone says, a 47-13 loss is different than a 35-21 loss. There is no excuse for losing to F'n Rutgers 31 to F'n 6 when FCS Howard lost to them 38-25! I just don't understand what people are seeing! We look horrible! Screw SLU! I told many of you weak _ss scared fans that SLU wasn't sh_t and was going to get their fat/short/PE loving _sses kicked! A better coached team would have beaten SLU 49-7 that night.

CJ is too F'n nice and is going to turn himself into a complete joke if he doesn't man up, find a new O line coach, QB coach, DL coach, and most of all, a real offensive coordinator that knows his scheme. This nice sh_t from CJ is old! We don't have to time for the soft spoken, " those guys are too big for us" bullsh_t that CJ has been preaching for 3 years. We need to give Grambling and Nicholls State a call for a game next season because CJ only likes to manhandle FCS programs.

[winwave]

It's amazing to see the number of fans defending and justifying getting manhandled by Rutgers and Duke! You do not know any F'n thing about playmakers and football if you don't think we have enough talent on our roster to compete with them. I don't care what anyone says, a 47-13 loss is different than a 35-21 loss. There is no excuse for losing to F'n Rutgers 31 to F'n 6 when FCS Howard lost to them 38-25! I just don't understand what people are seeing! We look horrible! Screw SLU! I told many of you weak _ss scared fans that SLU wasn't sh_t and was going to get their fat/short/PE loving _sses kicked! A better coached team would have beaten SLU 49-7 that night.

CJ is too F'n nice and is going to turn himself into a complete joke if he doesn't man up, find a new O line coach, QB coach, DL coach, and most of all, a real offensive coordinator that knows his scheme. This nice sh_t from CJ is old! We don't have to time for the soft spoken, " those guys are too big for us" bullsh_t that CJ has been preaching for 3 years. We need to give Grambling and Nicholls State a call for a game next season because CJ only likes to manhandle FCS programs.

To make it even worse they applaud the weakening of future schedules to give us a chance to compete.

[Eaglewave]

It's amazing to see the number of fans defending and justifying getting manhandled by Rutgers and Duke! You do not know any F'n thing about playmakers and football if you don't think we have enough talent on our roster to compete with them. I don't care what anyone says, a 47-13 loss is different than a 35-21 loss. There is no excuse for losing to F'n Rutgers 31 to F'n 6 when FCS Howard lost to them 38-25! I just don't understand what people are seeing! We look horrible! Screw SLU! I told many of you weak _ss scared fans that SLU wasn't sh_t and was going to get their fat/short/PE loving _sses kicked! A better coached team would have beaten SLU 49-7 that night.

CJ is too F'n nice and is going to turn himself into a complete joke if he doesn't man up, find a new O line coach, QB coach, DL coach, and most of all, a real offensive coordinator that knows his scheme. This nice sh_t from CJ is old! We don't have to time for the soft spoken, " those guys are too big for us" bullsh_t that CJ has been preaching for 3 years. We need to give Grambling and Nicholls State a call for a game next season because CJ only likes to manhandle FCS programs.

To make it even worse they applaud the weakening of future schedules to give us a chance to compete.

Sh_t, at this point, I am applauding it if this staff and administration aren't going to be serious about FBS College Football! As sad as it sounds, I am once again where I was before 2013! I was begging for a "Bowl Friendly" Schedule that would allow us to find ways to win more games and get the fans back excited about Tulane football. If we go 2-10 or 1-11 this season, you better get ready for Yulman to look like the dome as far as _sses in seats. If CJ is going to act like everything is fine with losing to named opponents because their jockstraps are too big for us without any heat from our administration, then why even bother! Why have dreams of being a College Football Playoff Buster or receiving a high caliber AAC Bowl Bid when our staff and administration don't even have the same vision?


Let's just drive to Yulman and watch Tanner hang 35 points on SLU or Jackson State and have a beer! Let's just try our best to start of the season 4-0 with wins over SWAC Southern and Southland Northwestern State. After that, try our best to beat newly FBS programs Old Dominion and Charlotte, and then pray very hard that we can find away to beat 3 more AAC programs to give us a 7 win season.

Let's just ride to the dome and watch our 7-5 Green Wave take on a 8-4 Sun Belt team in the NOLA Bowl rather than sitting at home watching 7-5 Buffalo in the Idaho Potato Bowl, 7-5 Ohio in the Beef O Brady Bowl, 7-5 UNLV in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, and 6-6 Washington State in the New Mexico Bowl.


I am almost done with dreaming of being what we should have been after the 1998 season due to our horrible vision! I went to that Duke game and almost F'n puked! We looked like sh_t! Period! What a waste of a trip! Hopefully UConn's defense and running backs aren't in the mood to be physical Saturday.

[mbawavefan12]

Duke, GT and RU are solid P5 schools this year and we just are not at that level right now both in terms of talent and coaching. The AAC simply is not that great, I hold out hope that thngs will turn around. But UConn is without a doubt the worst team left on the schedule, it's a must win.

[DfromCT]

Duke, GT and RU are solid P5 schools this year and we just are not at that level right now both in terms of talent and coaching. The AAC simply is not that great, I hold out hope that thngs will turn around. But UConn is without a doubt the worst team left on the schedule, it's a must win.

All three of the above will be ranked at one point or another this season. We're not even in the top 100. And I agree UConn is the worst team left on the schedule. It will be a struggle to get to the 4 wins I predicted last spring, especially with the constant mismanagement of the game, and ridiculous number of penalties.

[wavefan03]

Duke, GT and RU are solid P5 schools this year and we just are not at that level right now both in terms of talent and coaching. The AAC simply is not that great, I hold out hope that thngs will turn around. But UConn is without a doubt the worst team left on the schedule, it's a must win.

All three of the above will be ranked at one point or another this season. We're not even in the top 100. And I agree UConn is the worst team left on the schedule. It will be a struggle to get to the 4 wins I predicted last spring, especially with the constant mismanagement of the game, and ridiculous number of penalties.

Mismanagement and penalties are trivial. Biggest disappointment so far this year is the play of the defensive backs. They were the strongest aspect of last year's defense. Monroe can't stop the big play, Scofield keeps his eyes in the backfield, and Doss is all over the place.

Foolish to call for CJ's head at this point after a decent showing last year.