"It's been different sitting and watching. You cringe a little bit," said the former Navy coach, while watching Georgia Tech in the Humanitarian Bowl today. "It was really hard to watch the Navy game because you coached those guys the whole year. But you just sit there and pull for your team. That's about all you can do."

Johnson, who was hired by Georgia Tech on Dec. 7, flew to Boise late on Sunday night to see his new team play in person. Johnson had lingered around practices on the Atlanta campus, but made sure not to interfere with any bowl preparations of interim coach Jon Tenuta.

Johnson, a former University of Hawai'i assistant, was flying with the team back to Atlanta after Monday's 40-28 loss to Fresno State and will formally take control of the Yellow Jackets program on Wednesday. Johnson expected to have an announcement about his coaching staff as early as Tuesday.

"We'll start on Jan. 2 (when) it will be our team," Johnson said.

Johnson plans on meeting with his staff and formulate plans to handle the final few weeks of recruiting. When the players return to class on Jan. 7, Johnson intends on having a team meeting and speaking with players beyond the short 5-minute conversations he's had so far.

Johnson made clear that he wasn't at Monday's game to scout or take notes about the players he will inherit. He met booster and school officials, and watched some of the game from the media section of the press box, trying not to be a distraction.

Johnson's already stated his plans to bring his highly successful triple-option offense to Georgia Tech, and has watched tape of his new team. But Monday's game wasn't about getting ideas of players who may need to be moved to make his system work in the Atlantic Coast Conference.