Paul Johnson reaches agreement with GT?

After my initial post Tuesday night regarding Navy Head Coach Paul Johnson’s prospects for vacancies at Duke, Georgia Tech and SMU, a lot has happened.

Kevin at Fanblogs was the first to report that Johnson was talking to SMU last week and despite the reports yesterday, he posted last night that SMU was still in the lead for his services. Johnson has interviewed at both SMU and Georgia Tech this week. As of yesterday it sounded like Georgia Tech couldn’t afford to hire him or any other established coach because of a numbers crunch thanks in part to the buyout of departing coach Chan Gailey.

As Dan Steinberg noted, “Did you know that every Division I football program in the country has expressed interest in hiring Paul Johnson?”

Bill Wagner of the Annapolis Capital (he covers the Navy football beat) has been blogging all week on this subject. He seemed to think Georgia Tech was out of the mix as well and that Duke was back in the hunt for Johnson along with SMU. Wagner seemed to think that something would happen today wherever it happened.

Today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution (along with Fanblogs) reports that Johnson has agreed in principle to become the new head coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. A lot of coaches have been reported to be heading somewhere and then they end up not going recently. However, the AJC reports this, “But this much is clear, according to one person who talked to the AJC. Johnson will either stay at Navy or he will become the next coach at Georgia Tech to replace Chan Gailey.”

UPDATE: The Annapolis Capital reports Johnson confirmed the news to them and that he told his players at a meeting this morning. JacketsOnline reports Johnson will make $14 million over 6 years in Atlanta.

Georgia Tech Sports Blog has more.