Tag: Geoff Collins

Geoff Collins reflects on his time at Georgia Tech

Geoff Collins was fired from Georgia Tech after a 10-28 record as head coach. He now faces the Yellow Jackets again on Saturday.

There was a ton of hope for the UNC football team’s defensive unit when it hired Geoff Collins, the former Georgia Tech head coach and a proven defensive coordinator in the SEC.

On Saturday, Oct. 12, Collins will get to face the Yellow Jackets squad he led from 2018-2021.

Despite overseeing Top-25 defensive units at Florida, Mississippi State and FIU, Collins struggled as a head coach. Georgia Tech went just 10-28 when Collins was head coach, failing to amass more than three wins in a season. After starting 1-3 in 2022, the Yellow Jackets fired Collins.

Even though his time in Atlanta was marred by his subpar coaching record, Collins took some time to acknowledge his relationship with current Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key, who is 15-12 not even three full seasons in.

“We have been friends for a very long time,” Collins told OnSI’s Jackson Caudell.

Collins then continued and elaborated on how his time in Atlanta ended, which he delivered a very professional answer to.

“I have had two years to process everything, I have come to peace with everything that happened, what we walked into, the efforts that we made and then what happened at the end, I have come at peace,” Collins continued. “I have been really self reflective on what I could have done better and what I would do the next time in similar circumstances. There is zero ill will towards anyone in the administration, fanbase, any of those things, zero ill will. I just want to be a good coach for this group of guys.”

If I had to bet, Collins would be a little extra-happy if he helped coach the Tar Heels to a victory on Saturday. Again, he said no ill will towards Georgia Tech, but there’s a giddy feeling you get when beating/succeeding against your former employer.

Can Collins revert back to his Top-10 defensive coordinator form on Saturday, helping deliver North Carolina one of its more surprising wins of the season?

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Kaimon Rucker praises UNC defensive coordinator Geoff Collins’ new scheme

UNC football players are already enjoying their new defensive coordinator after just one game into the 2024 season.

After just one game into the 2024 college football season, the North Carolina Tar Heels showed a marked defensive improvement from 2023.

Opponents averaged 405.4 yards per game against UNC last year. North Carolina nearly halved that figure in its season-opening, 19-17 win over Minnesota, limiting the Golden Gophers to just 244 yards.

Star edge rusher Kaimon Rucker, who recorded four solo tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack, credited defensive coordinator Geoff Collins for the defensive improvements.

A major reason behind those improvements was Collins’ ability to rotate players in and out of the game, something Gene Chizik didn’t do a ton of the past two seasons.

“I felt like it just allowed us to get more guys on the field, and for the guys that we needed in crucial situations, allowed them to be rested up and ready to go,” Rucker told InsideCarolina’s Jeremiah Holloway. “I know in the past, we would not substitute like that. And so a lot of guys would get tired when we needed them the most and stuff like that. And I know Coach Collins understood that was an issue in the past, and Coach (Mack) Brown knows that was an issue in the past, and for us to rotate around 20 guys, man, that’s something that we’ve been preaching for years that we need to do a better job of. And I feel like we finally are starting to do that a lot more.”

Just about every Tar Heel contributed on defense in the Week 1 win.. Defensive tackle Jahvaree Ritzie led UNC with three sacks and tackles for loss apiece. NC State transfer Jakeen Harris thrived from his starting safety spot, leading North Carolina with ten tackles.

Can the Tar Heels’ defense deliver another strong performance in their home opener against Charlotte?

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UNC DC Geoff Collins supporting Jahvaree Ritzie after Thursday’s big game

North Carolina Tar Heels defensive tackle Jahvaree Ritzie received the greatest show of support from his new defensive coordinator on Monday afternoon.

After just one game, the North Carolina Tar Heels have to love the immediate impact from new defensive coordinator Geoff Collins.

Though UNC had some notable lapses against Minnesota, including allowing the host Golden Gophers to drive and set up a game-winning field goal attempt, UNC also had a few defensive heroes that impacted its 19-17 victory.

There’s arguably no greater defensive hero than graduate defensive tackle Jahvaree Ritzie, who registered three tackles for loss and sacked Minnesota quarterback Max Brosmer three times.

Ritzie surpassed his career sack total in just one game, showcasing to Tar Heel Nation he has potential to be another star along the defensive line. When Ritzie wasn’t stuffing the stat sheet, he was disrupting the Gopher offense by generating pressure.

Tar Heel Nation undoubtedly enjoyed the breakout performance, but no one enjoyed Ritzie’s big night more than Collins himself.

On Monday, Sept. 2, Collins was seen wearing a Ritzie-inspired NIL shirt.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C_bgcy5Rkot/

If you watched Ritzie’s Minnesota postgame interview, he was excited about playing under Collins’ new scheme. It’s truly amazing how just one coaching change, no matter how large or small, can unlock a player’s full potential.

Expect another big game from Ritzie on Saturday, Sept. 7 in North Carolina’s home opener against Charlotte. A big game could start with know Ritzie has the support of his defensive coordinator, which means the world for these young athletes.

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North Carolina DC Geoff Collins has Georgia Tech players hungry for October clash

There’ll be more than just a game on the line when the UNC and Georgia Tech football teams face off in October.

No matter how the North Carolina Tar Heels perform during any given football season, Georgia Tech always has their number.

Last season was no exception. After a 6-0 start, which vaulted UNC to 10th in the polls, North Carolina lost to the Yellow Jackets a week after falling to Virginia. The Tar Heels had all the chances last year, taking an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter, but ended up losing 46-42.

If you guessed it already, UNC plays Georgia Tech again this season: Saturday, Oct. 12 in Kenan Stadium. North Carolina will have plenty of new starters in this game – within the 2024 season as a whole – while the Yellow Jackets return several starters led by former Texas A&M quarterback Haynes King.

One of many new faces amongst the Tar Heels will be defensive coordinator Geoff Collins, who actually coached at Georgia Tech from the 2019-2022 seasons. The Yellow Jackets went 10-29 overall under Collins, leading to his dismissal early in 2022.

As you can imagine, facing Collins has a couple Georgia Tech players fired up, including starting running back Jamal Haynes, who rushed for over 1,000 yards in 2023.

I believe Haynes’ sincerity in his statement, but I think this game has more meaning. The Yellow Jackets underwent their worst stretch of the 21st century under Collins – if I’m a player, I’m eager to prove to Collins how much better my program is since his departure.

UNC, on the other hand, will search for its first win against Georgia Tech since before COVID.

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ACC commissioner Jim Phillips fires back at Big 12 commissioner during ACC Media Day

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips had his conference’s back at ACC Media Days, which started on Monday, July 22.

The anticipation continues to build for the start of college football season, which now sits just over a month away.

Plenty of new head coaches take over programs, plenty of school enter new conference and roster decisions still need to be made. Alabama enters its first season in the post-Nick Saban era – will the Crimson Tide remain a college football power? How does Michigan go about replacing numerous starters from its National Championship-winning team? Can Oklahoma thrive in the SEC?

The ACC, as a whole, took a step closer to college football season with the first of Football Media Days on Monday. ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips was easily the highlight of today, clapping back at Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yorkmark, who claimed the ACC wasn’t a Top-3 conference earlier in July.

It’s encouraging knowing that the conference – in which your favorite school resides – has a boss sticking up for his members.

I know UNC is just one school in the ACC, but it’s one of the conference’s seven charter members. It’s tough to imagine an ACC without the Tar Heels – or imagining the conference no longer.

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College football analyst believes UNC’s defense will get much better

Will Geoff Collins get this defense turned around for the UNC Football program?

North Carolina enters the 2024 college football season with a lot of question marks. After a promising start to last season, the team faltered late in the year and ended the season on a negative note.

That led to the dismissal of Gene Chizik as defensive coordinator and the hiring of Geoff Collins to replace him. While UNC lost a lot on offense, they do return talent on the defensive side of the football.

And it will be up to Collins to get the most out of that unit.

Ahead of the season, On3’s Andy Staples talked about the outlook for North Carolina and had nothing but praise for the hire of Collins, thinking it will be a difference-maker.

“I think the Geoff Collins defensive coordinator hire is going to prove to be one of the more impactful coordinator hires of the offseason. He’s a good defensive coordinator. When the man’s calling a defense, the defense plays pretty well.”

The article also goes on to make a prediction for UNC’s ceiling, and that if all goes right, the team could finish 9-3.

If the Collins hire works out, and that returning talent takes a leap, then Jones can envision a pretty darn good year for the Heels: “I look at this North Carolina team, I think ceiling-wise, they’re probably a 9-3 team.”

The floor? 7-5.

I think UNC fans would take that, especially with all of the questions that are left to be answered for this team going into training camp.

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Social media reacts to UNC hiring Jeff Collins as DC

Geoff Collins had up-and-down head coaching stints, but has greatly excelled as a defensive coordinator. He now takes over UNC’s worst unit.

Not one player – or one person – can fix how horrendous the UNC football team’s defense is.

The 6-0 start fooled all of Tar Heel Nation. A 9-sack performance in the 2023 opener against South Carolina and emergence of Alijah Huzzie, turned into allowing Georgia Tech and a lowly UVA squad to combine for over 1,000 offensive yards.

There were plenty of calls for firing Gene Chizik from his defensive coordinator position during the season, a trend I feel like is emerging across struggling teams on all levels. That finally happened on Wednesday this week, as Chizik’s firing came exactly a week after UNC’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl loss to West Virginia.

It only took Carolina two days to find its next defensive coordinator, as former Temple and Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins was hired earlier Friday.

In addition to his two head coaching stops, which include most wins in a Temple Head coach’s first two seasons, Collins has also been the defensive coordinator at Albright Colege, Florida International University, Mississippi State and Florida. His Mississippi State and Florida defenses finished Top-25 nationally, a sign all UNC fans are sure to be excited about.

Let’s take a deeper look into what Tar Heel Nation thinks of the hire:

REPORT: North Carolina set to hire Geoff Collins as next defensive coordinator

The UNC football program is set to hire former Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins as defensive coordinator.

The North Carolina Tar Heels didn’t take long to replace Gene Chizik after parting ways with the former defensive coordinator. Just a few days after the Tar Heels made that decision, they zeroed in on their target and now they reportedly have landed him.

Per a report from Matt Zenitz of 247Sports, the Tar Heels are set to hire Geoff Collins to serve as defensive coordinator in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels reportedly had Collins as their top target per John Brice of Football Scoop and didn’t wait long to pursue him,

Collins accepted the job offer on Friday morning per the report.

The 52-year-old Collins has years of experience coaching at the college level and was most recently the head coach at Georgia Tech from 2019-2022 before being fired. He did not coach in 2023.

Prior to that, he was the head coach at Temple.

In his career, Collins has served as defensive coordinator at Western Carolina, Florida International, Mississippi State, and Florida. He also has stops at UCF and Alabama for stints in his career.

Collins has found success as a defensive coordinator in the past and he’s also been a really good recruiter as well. That could be a big benefit for the Tar Heels especially targeting the south region.

An official announcement is expected soon.

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A running list of college football head coaches already fired in 2022

Keeping tabs on all the college football coaches who have been fired during the 2022 season.

Getting fired from a cushy college football coaching job isn’t great, and losing your job before the season ends is worse. But getting fired before the end of September is just embarrassing and a clear signal from the program that it didn’t have a ton of faith in you to begin with.

Well, a solid handful of college football coaches have already given pink slips — some of whom we predicted would be on the job hunt at some point this season. So as more coaches are looking for a new gig, we’re keeping tabs with a running list of FBS coaches who have been fired so far in the 2022 season.

Going into Week 6, there are already five names on this list to potentially shake up the coaching carousel.

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Notre Dame assistant named as Georgia Tech possibility

Who should Georgia Tech make their top priority?

Georgia Tech became the third team to fire their head coach since the 2022 college football season started when they fired Geoff Collins on Monday.  Some have stated that Deion Sanders deserve a long, hard look from Jackson State, but if it isn’t him, who might it be for the once-proud Yellow Jackets?

Pete Thamel, ESPN’s college football version of Adrain Wojnarowski, listed 17 names of possible candidates to be the new Georgia Tech head coach and one of them is a Notre Dame assistant coach.

No, not that Notre Dame assistant.

Al Golden, the Temple coach from 2006-10 and Miami head man from 2011-2015, was among those named.  Golden went a combined 59-59 between those two stops before landing in the NFL as a defensive assistant.

Joining Golden on Thamel’s list were these 16 others, several of which you’ll notice are offensive assistants from right up the street:

  • Thomas Brown — Los Angeles Rams TE coach
  • Troy Calhoun — Air Force HC
  • Jamey Chadwell — Coastal Carolina HC
  • Bill Clark — Former UAB HC
  • George Godsey — Baltimore Ravens TE coach
  • Alex Grinch — USC DC
  • Charles Huff — Marshall HC
  • Brent Key — Interim Georgia Tech HC
  • Sean Lewis — Kent State HC
  • Bryan McClendon — Georgia WR coach
  • Dell McGee — Georgia RB coach
  • Bronco Mendenhall — Former Virginia HC
  • Jeff Monken — Army HC
  • Todd Monken — Georgia OC
  • Bill O’Brien — Alabama OC
  • Kane Wommack — South Alabama HC

In case you are wondering, yes, George Godsey is the older brother of former Notre Dame quarterback-tight end [autotag]Gary Godsey[/autotag] who one did enough to help Notre Dame beat a [autotag]Drew Brees[/autotag]-led Purdue team.

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