Report: Ken Whisenhunt leading candidate for Georgia Tech job

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will be hiring a new head coach, and already have one candidate in mind.

Longtime Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson announced his intention to retire on Wednesday, and reports indicated that the Yellow Jackets already have some names in mind as his replacement. A leading one is reportedly Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, a former Georgia Tech player, according to Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.

Whisenhunt has never been a head coach at the college level. In fact, his only experience there came in his first two years of coaching, when he served as a position coach for Vanderbilt. He has a 48-71 career record at the NFL level.

Hiring a proven name isn’t necessarily a prelude to success at the college level. Just as Lovie Smith, who sparked a lot of excitement at Illinois initially, but has won just nine games in three seasons. It would certainly be a risky move from the Georgia Tech perspective.