Former Naval Academy coach Paul Johnson took over as Tech's head football coach in December.

Paul Johnson "hit the ground running" almost immediately after being hired as Tech's new head football coach.

Johnson said he was intent on assembling a "top-flight staff, a top recruiting class and (meeting) with every player one-on-one."

"I want to get in touch with the committed recruits and sit with the recruiting coordinator and look at the board," said Johnson, who touted Tech as an institution with the ability to recruit on the national level but pointed out that he will be focusing on players in Georgia.

Dan Radakovich, director of athletics at Tech, announced in early December, 10 days after the firing of Chan Gailey, that Johnson had been lured from the Naval Academy to accept the head coaching job.

The 12th head coach in the Institute's history, Johnson had six successful years at Navy, racking up 45 wins and 29 losses. Georgians may remember him better from his five seasons at Georgia Southern, where he scored a 62-10 record and won back-to-back 1-AA national championships in 1999 and 2000.

Radakovich described the new coach as the "best fit, the best choice and the best man" for the job and said he and President Wayne Clough were "convinced that Johnson will be the steady leader, the principled teacher to our student-athletes and the point-producing conductor that will energize our fans and fill our game days with excitement."

The Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year in 2004, Johnson is one of only four Division I coaches to win 50 games in four seasons. "He looks at his talent and maximizes it, using what it takes to win games," Radakovich said.

Johnson said when he met with the search committee, "it seemed like a match made in heaven. There's not another program I would have left the Academy for. From an academic standpoint, the two institutions are very similar. We're looking for the total package (in athletes)."

Johnson was an assistant coach at Navy prior to landing the head coaching position at Georgia Southern, and he was an offensive coordinator at the University of Hawaii from 1987 to 1994. At Navy, his team defeated rival Army six years in a row — the record number of consecutive wins from either team in their meetings.