Coach Geoff Will Be On The Sidelines At The Tech Game Once Again
Regarding your identity in football, Bill Parcells famously said "you are what your record says you are".
By that measure , Geoff Collins is, or was, 10-28--at least for his time as head coach at Georgia Tech. Collins is now defensive coordinator at UNC, and he will be on the Tar Heels' sidelines this Saturday in Chapel Hill .
Earlier this week he wanted to get the word out and let everyone know that this week's game is not all about him.
As most Tech fans can't help but remember, Collins was brought in as head coach to pull the Tech program ahead after Paul Johnson retired following the 2018 season. ( Johnson last coached the team in the 2018 Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit that December)
Collins brought much energy and expressed much passion for the program he said he'd followed since his childhood in nearby Rockdale County. And he had been hired twice by Tech since his playing days at Western Carolina- once under George O'Leary and again under Chan Gailey. He had gone on to make a good impression as defensive coordinator at Mississippi State before going to Temple as head coach. After a 15-10 two year record at Temple, he came back to Georgia Tech.
Upon his arrival as the new head man , Collins termed his mission as " the greatest transformation in college football history". (Forget for a moment about the birth of the forward pass about a hundred years ago).
He was referring to his stated plan of installing a "modern offense", leaving in the dustbin of college football history the option offense that Paul Johnson had used in the preceding 11 years ( Georgia Tech cumulative record of 82-60) . Most Tech fans were ready to embrace a new plan– or so they thought.
It was a challenging balancing act that Collins attempted, with the full backing of the man who had hired him, AD Tood Stansbury.
Collins noted optimistically - and correctly– that Georgia Tech sits right in the middle of the most fertile recruiting region in the country and he believed that the Yellow Jackets could, and should , be able to draw on that asset going forward. His reputation as a good recruiter was a big part of the draw to choose him for the job.
Things got off to a rough start early in 2019 when Tech lost to The Citadel, in overtime, at home in game # 3 of Collins' first season. This came after a whack job by Clemson in the opener (to be expected) and a narrow win over South Florida. We did not realize then that this week would mark the last time Collins' overall record at Tech would be above .500.
The Citadel loss was the first big sign that this new mission / transformation might not go well. After all, The Citadel is a small FCS school that employed the very same offense that Collins and Tech and just abandoned. The option offense was also the same system that supposedly held back Tech's defense ( because that's all they saw in practice during Johnson's tenure). But The Citadel used that old discarded offense to gash Collins' team for 350 yards, 320 on the ground, earning 25 first downs and controlling the ball for a still- hard- to - believe 41 minutes. Throw in 8 penalties against Tech for 80 yards, and some weird clock management by Collins at game's end, and you could hear Tech fans saying " Whaaaa..?"
There were other not so subtle signs that this regime was different. The lifesize cardboard cut-out of Collins in the entry foyer of the athletic offices was new. The ubiquitous Waffle House cup was different– as was the poster of Collins " in action" , situated just above his podium where the weekly press conferences were held. He clearly enjoyed the "publicity part" of his job.
Tech lost the next three contests before beating Miami (!), tthencame another three losses before they edged NC State. They then ended the year with a pummeling by Georgia.
There was just enough decent result in there to keep Tech fans somewhat hopeful. But that same pattern persisted– inexplicable losses, ( Northern Illinois in 2021) mixed with very occasional unexpected wins ( FSU in Tallahassee in 2020 and Miami in 2019 ) and then with much more numerous losing streaks..
Along the way there were some recruiting wins ( see Jahmyr Gibbs) , and some puzzles ( Jeff Sims) but the overall pattern of the program was wild inconsistency- a 19 point win over Louisville was followed immediately by a 64 point loss to Clemson. And that season's end featured the weird, " salty" handshake between Collins and Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi following Tech's loss to the Panthers at home on Senior Night in 2020. The handshake itself was beyond strange , but more disconcerting was Collins' insistence a day later that he didn't really remember what had been said . He initially said he was in a hurry to celebrate with his seniors in front of the band. That sad moment thus became the sign- off for the truncated 2020 season. The Covid- plagued 2020 season featured only 10 games. (thereby undoubtedly sparing Tech another butt- whupping by Georgia).
Tech fans' hopes were dented immediately in 2021 with that home opening loss to Northern Illinois. From there, there were alternating wins and losses, but the year ended with a serious downturn– losing the final six games consecutively, including successive shutout losses to Notee Dame ( 55-0) and Georgia ( 45-0).
Somewhat amazingly , in December Athletics Director Stansbury published an open letter to Tech fans imploring them to stay the course and give Collins and staff more me. Stansbury reminded all that " ,, progress was still apparent at many points during the season...". It was that very subtle progress that Collins had cited many times, often with the caveat that it might just be invisible progress to many. And on at least one occasion, he curiosly suggested that many some fans did not want to see the progress.
Tech fans who weren't angry were simply increasingly disengaged, and it was under that cloud that the 2022 season began. Collins was fired after the fourth game, a loss to UCF, giving Tech a record of 1-3 at the time– showing that the progress that had been oft -cited was still elusive, at least by Parcells' definition of " who you are".
At UNC in 2024 , there has been an erratic course for the entire team, including the defense. They had three wins to start, followed by three straight loses. One loss was to James Madison by a 70-50 score, a tough commentary on the Tar Heel defense. A week later, UNC fell to Duke 21-20 after jumping out to a 20- 0 lead.
All of that means little for Brent Key and Georgia Tech. Key was on Collins' staff at Tech as offensive line coach when Collins was turned out and he took Tech to a 4-4 finish as interim following Collins' exit. He followed that up with a 7-6 record in 2023 and is currently in 2024.
Key this week described Collins as " ..a good football coach", and reminded all that it is common to go against former colleagues, bosses and subordinates in college football. Many current Tech players came to the Institute under Collins' regime, and a former Tech player WR Nate McCollum is now at UNC via the transfer portal.
Those plot twists have little, if anything, to do with the outcome of the actual game which kicks off at noon Saturday October 12. UNC will be trying to break their losing streak of three. Tech will be attempting to build a modest win streak of two.
There are many angles that could affect the outcome. But rest assured, this week is not about Geoff Collins. He said so.
Patrick Conarro
RamblinSports.com