Not discounting what he did at all. Just think as you step up in competition in the Big Ten that you have to be prepared to mix in the pass more.
Let's be clear here. The Big Ten West is a step DOWN in competition from the kinds of schedules Johnson's Tech was playing.
In 2014 (not ancient history!), Tech blew out Deshaun Watson and a ranked Clemson to clinch their spot in the ACC Championship Game, then then next week went between the hedges at Georgia and beat the #9 team in the country, then the next week they lost by two points to Jameis Winston and playoff-bound Florida State in said ACC championship game, and then in the Orange Bowl they beat (and poured in 49 points on!) Dak Prescott and Dan Mullen's best ever Mississippi State team, who had been ranked #1 much of the year.
I absolutely would be intrigued by the possibilities of some kind of offense where you use deception & trickery to overcome talent gaps.
Totally the wrong way to think about it. Exploiting individual talent advantages is just as important as hiding talent disadvantages. Tech had 8 NFL draft picks on offense during Johnson's time there, including 4 WR's, and they found ways to get those guys into favorable situations.
It's just from the ground up a different way to win a football game, and not just on offense. The slow, methodical, reliable offensive drives create a scenario where defenses are well rested and have fewer snaps to defend against offenses that find it tougher to get in rhythm.
And that, by the way, is why you don't add more passing game to it. The pass is there to keep the defense honest, retain the element of surprise, and for situational use. Any more than that spoils the surprise, and allows the defense back into its comfort zone, defending the sort of concepts it has been taught to defend, and forces the offense away from its strengths, and into situations where it will find its bread and butter less effective, and thus less likely to soak up clock to aid its defense, etc etc etc.
He is also probably the pre eminent option coach of modern times (since Switzer/Osborne retired). Maybe Monken could run it as well at this level. Maybe we will find out some day.
Oh sure, we wouldn't want to hire the second most prominent triple option coach, so lets hire the 75th most prominent spread passing guru. That makes total sense.
And I've got news for you, we ARE going to find out. Monken will get a Power Five job. And he will win there, and win consistently. Maybe he'll go somewhere where he has to learn the culture and the recruiting territory and build a roster capable of executing his vision. Or maybe he'll come back home to where half his family are high school football coaches and he'll inherit a RS Fr quarterback who is one of the most electric athletes in the country. Either way the case against him and his system was dead wrong in 2005, it's dead wrong now, and it's going to be even deader wrong in 5-10 years when everyone is wondering why they didn't have the cojones to hire that guy.
(Or, given that everyone seems able to pretend that Paul Johnson wasn't a huge success, maybe people will just keep pretending, I dunno)