Legendary former coach, Hall of Famer Paul Johnson shoots down taking AD job: 'I'd rather stick my hand in a fire'

Paul Johnson, the former head coach at Georgia Tech — among other stops — and recent addition to the College Football Hall of Fame, doesn’t have any desire to get back in the game as an administrator. A recent quote leaves no doubt.
Johnson has been retired for several years now and according to The Athletic’s Jeff Schultz, he can think of plenty of things he’d rather be doing that working in athletic administration. Even some things that don’t sound fun at all.
“I think I’d rather stick my hand in a fire than do that,” Johnson said.
Safe to say Johnson isn’t likely to be cutting his retirement short any time soon, be it for Georgia Tech or anywhere else.
Johnson was inducted in the Hall of Fame on Monday along with three other coaches:
- Monte Cater – Lakeland [WI] (1981-86), Shepherd [WV] (1987-2017)
- Paul Johnson – Georgia Southern (1997-2001), Navy (2002-07), Georgia Tech (2008-18)
- Roy Kramer – Central Michigan (1967-77)
- Mark Richt – Georgia (2001-15), Miami [FL] (2016-18)
Former Georgia Tech star, assistant Marco Coleman expected to return to Yellow Jackets staff
According to On3’s Matt Zenitz, Georgia Tech is expected to hire Michigan State’s Marco Coleman as a defensive line coach.
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Coleman, a former Georgia Tech and NFL defensive lineman, previously worked for the Yellow Jackets as defensive ends coach from 2019 to ’21 before spending this year at Michigan State.
As a player at Georgia Tech, Coleman posted 27.5 career sacks in three seasons before heading to the NFL. That total ranks fourth in school history.
He went No. 12 overall in the first round of the 1992 NFL draft to the Miami Dolphins and ended up playing 14 seasons in the NFL with the Dolphins, San Diego Chargers, Washington Redskins, Jacksonville Jaguars, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos.
He finished his NFL career with 520 career tackles and 65.5 career sacks.