If Paul Johnson does to Georgia what he did to Army, Friday will be remembered as a turning point in Georgia Tech football history.

Tech hired a new coach who promises to pump new competitiveness into the state's biggest rivalry and take the Yellow Jackets to championship heights.

Paul Johnson's contract is for seven years and more than $11 million.

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Johnson, the 2004 Bobby Dodd national coach of the year, said he'll fill the Bobby Dodd Stadium seats by winning, against Georgia and against whomever else comes to play.

"If I thought there was a ceiling here and we couldn't compete for a championship, I wouldn't be standing here," Johnson told reporters, fans and several Yellow Jackets players at the news conference introducing him as the 12th head coach in school history.

Johnson on Friday agreed to a seven-year deal worth more than $11 million, Tech athletics director Dan Radakovich said.

Johnson, 50, comes from Navy, where he was 6-0 against rival Army. The six-game winning streak is the longest by either side in one of the nation's biggest rivalries.

Tech, which has lost seven consecutive games against Georgia, clearly noticed Johnson's rivalry success.

"It's sitting on the resume," Radakovich said. "It kind of jumps out at you."

"That [Georgia game] is a game Georgia Tech needs to win," Johnson said. "I embrace that."

Johnson replaces Chan Gailey, fired Nov. 26 after his sixth consecutive winning season and his sixth consecutive loss to Georgia. Tech wanted a coach who could reinvigorate the rivalry and the fan base. Johnson has a history of doing that.

Navy was 0-10 the year before Johnson arrived and had been to one bowl game in 20 years. Now, it is going bowling for the fifth consecutive season.

Before Johnson, Navy had won 10 games only once, and not since 1905. Johnson won 10 games in his third season.

Johnson is 107-39 in 11 seasons, the first five at Georgia Southern, where he won two Division I-AA national championships and a record five consecutive Southern Conference titles. His .733 winning percentage ranks 11th nationally among active Division I-A coaches with a minimum of five years as a head coach.

"I hear he has a good reputation as far as winning," Tech offensive lineman Cord Howard said, "and that's what we want to do here."

Johnson said he won't coach Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl or Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl. Instead, after one day back in Annapolis, Md., to organize his things, he plans to return to Atlanta Sunday and get to work assembling a staff of assistant coaches and recruiting future players. He said he could be visiting players as early as Monday.

Johnson said he had yet to speak with Tech's assistant coaches but would be open to retaining some of them.

He plans to call his own plays on offense, as he did at Georgia Southern and Navy, which is leading the nation in rushing for the third consecutive season. Johnson is known for the triple option but said that doesn't mean his teams won't pass if that suits his personnel.

"We're not going to try to put a square peg in a round hole," he said. "Our system is adaptable."

That system produced a lot of points at Navy despite the lack of big-name recruits. Johnson's teams averaged more than 28 points a game against opponents from Bowl Championship Series conferences and Notre Dame. The Midshipmen's defense couldn't keep up, though; the team was 11-18 in those games.

Johnson informed Tech of his decision Friday morning, after spending a few hours Thursday night discussing the offer with his wife and his daughter. SMU and Duke interviewed him this week, too, but Johnson said it came down to coming to Tech or staying at Navy.

He declined to say whether he could have made more money at SMU.

"Who knows?" he said. "I'm just happy to be at Georgia Tech.

"I hope this is my last job. The hardest thing you have to do in coaching is that meeting with your team when you tell them you're leaving. I've had to do that twice as a head coach, and I hope I don't ever have to do that again."