As a person, Geoff Collins might be wonderful, a great family man, and a friend you can count on in any situation. As a football coach though any school that hires him as HC or one of your primary coordinator positions risks the entirety of your football program.
We know the story well. Geoff Collins was brought to Georgia Tech to replace the legendary Paul Johnson. We knew the transition from the triple option offense wouldn’t be without growing pains, but Collins ran a proud Georgia Tech program straight into the ground. As Georgia Tech HC, he went 10-28, 7-19 with losses to the Citadel, Temple, and Northern Illinois.
There were P4 and conference games losses by the scores of 52-14, 45-0, 52,7, 73-7, 55-0, 45-0 and 42-0. Unapologetically I said a Can of Tuna could out-coach him. Sorry he destroyed my alma mater’s football program, and I wasn’t happy.
In a stunning move, UNC’s Mack Brown hired him as a DC to fix a maligned defense. Against Minnesota in the Heel’s opening game in fairness, they won because the defense bailed out a struggling offense. Maybe Collins was just more suited to being a coordinator than HC? Now on a 4-game losing streak, the defense has become a trainwreck to such an extent, that I’m not sure UNC can recover.
There were 70 points given up to James Madison. Then a 20-point blown second-half lead to Duke. 34 points and 500+ yards to Pitt and in another defensive debacle against Georgia Tech gave up 41 points, another 500+ yards of offense, and a whopping 371 yards on the ground.
In a final insult-to-injury sequence, UNC had tied the game 34-34 in a gutsy comeback in the 4th quarter. Georgia Tech HC Brent Key was struggling with his own coaching decisions and appeared to be playing for OT as the Jackets handed off to RB Jamal Haynes.
He went untouched for a 68-yard TD run against the Collins defense.
As Georgia Tech moved to 5-2 with the post-season in sight, UNC fell to 3-4 and a bowl game very much in doubt now.
Mack Brown is one of the good guys in college football, but he made a mistake in hiring Collins. In the end, it may cost both coaches their jobs and set the Tar Heels into total rebuild mode.
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