What Does Geoff Collins Bring To Georgia Tech?
It’s official! After the announcement of Paul Johnson’s retirement last week, Athletic Director Todd Stansbury has hired his guy.
The former Temple coach’s head coach record might not stick out (and there are reasons for that) but his resume speaks for himself.
Experience
1993–94 — Western Carolina (student assistant)
1995 — Franklin (N.C.) H.S. (assistant coach)
1996 — Fordham (linebackers coach)
1997–98 — Albright (defensive coordinator)
1999–2001 — Georgia Tech (graduate assistant)
2002–05 — Western Carolina (defensive coordinator)
2006 — Georgia Tech (recruiting coordinator)
2007 — Alabama (director of player personnel)
2008–09 — UCF (linebackers coach/recruiting coordinator)
2010 — Florida International (defensive coordinator)
2011–12 — Mississippi State (co-defensive coordinator)
2013–14 — Mississippi State (defensive coordinator)
2015–16 — Florida (defensive coordinator)
2017–18 — Temple (head coach)
With 26 years of coaching experience, it’s no suprise Geoff Collins is qualified for the job.
Recruiting
Older Georgia Tech fans might recognize Geoff Collins as he was the recruiting coordinator at Georgia Tech in 2006. That 2007 class that he helped recruit remains Georgia Tech’s best of all-time as Collins gained 6 4 star commitments, 3 top 100 prospects, and eventually 2 draft picks. 2 of the commits from that year, Roddy Jones and Derrick Morgan, both spoke to Ken Sugiura of the AJC to discuss Geoff Collin’s recruiting prowess with Jones stating “I think he would recruit his (expletive) off”
“He did a good job facilitating the chemistry amongst the recruiting class, that was one of the main reasons I went to Tech, the great relationships with the guys in my class.” — Derrick Morgan to Ken Sugiura
Geoff Collins has a wonderful ability to connect with his players and prospective players. He allowed his players to wear their Twitter handles on the back of their Spring Game jerseys, allowed his players with a 3.0+ GPA to wear a special patch on their jerseys to indicate their standing, and even allowed players to vote on the coveted single-digit jerseys.
One of my number one quarrels with Georgia Tech and recruiting is that Tech’s staff don’t sell Atlanta. Atlanta is the hip-hop/culture capital of America but most rappers and influencers don’t participate in anything college football related with the exception of Migos and UGA. If Georgia Tech could get rappers and artists to attend games, that would be a massive help to recruiting. With this “swag” that Geoff Collins brings to his teams, he should be able to get Georgia Tech on the map in Atlanta just like The U does with Miami and USC does with Los Angeles!
Defense
Contary to most candidates, Geoff Collins is a defensive guy. With 9 seasons as a defensive coordinator, Collins has made a name for himself. Aside from one year at FIU, Geoff Collins has had his defense prepared with all of them ranking in the top 50 of defensive S&P rankings and 5 of the 9 ranking in the top 25.
2010 (FIU): 68
2011–14 (Miss St): 33, 43, 14, 22
2015–16 (Florida): 7, 4
2017–18 (Temple): 40, 24
It’s no secret Georgia Tech’s problem in the last 11 years has been defense. A defensive guy with sustained succcess at almost every stop could be perfect for Georgia Tech.
Energy
I loved Paul Johnson and was very happy with his 11 years. With that being said, his personality and age had some downfalls. It’s obvious Georgia Tech has had funding problems and although Todd Stansbury has helped alleviate some of those issues with Athletics Initiative 2020 (Donate here!), problems still remain. Most of that lies on fans and boosters.
Despite Paul Johnson’s offense working and the players liking him, the fans made it clear their position on the option as attendance has been awful in recent years. Boosters have also been hesitant to donate but with Collins, I expect that to change. His energy and charisma should help a lot with engaging new fans, old fans, and boosters! On top of his ability to engage with fans, his energy is huge when it comes to recruiting.
The relatively young coach has hired a S.W.A.G. Coordinator, pulls off wacky sayings like “Money Down”, and even sends hand-drawn pictures accompanied by letters to recruits. He won’t let anyone see his entire collection but includes such works as the Mississippi State banner M logo over a cityscape like Gotham City’s Bat-Signal, with a note imploring a potential recruit that only he can help the Bulldogs save the day. That energy is huge to recruits and fans!
His love of Waffle House
Obviously a huge plus with a Waffle House being on every street in Atlanta!
Overall, Geoff Collins should prove to be a great hire but will require support from fans and boosters the first year. So everyone, donate and re-up your season tickets to show out at Bobby Dodd next year!
