Geoff Collins - Head Coaching Numbers

JorgeJonas

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Just my general impressions thus far:

I don't think CCG is the answer and I'm not a fan of his personal sales style, which largely comes across as try-hard to me.
Still, his energy and positivity are sincere and refreshing. He has to make some silly spins ("biggest transition ever!"; Temple-as-powerhouse; etc) but I think players respond well to the general trajectory of it: we're down but not out, we've got some good stuff around the corner, sort of thing. So while I think he's grating in some respects, I do like the glass-half-full outlook and hope it pays off with recruits.

Offensively - meh. As predicted, CPJ haters are not terribly principled when it comes to criticizing offensive styles and in-game coaching. We're not good and I don't think anyone should have ever believed we'd stay at the same level, much less improve, with DP. We were good-to-elite with CPJ on offense nearly every year; that's rarefied air and it's not reasonable to make that the benchmark. This is where the TO-opponents run into some real problems. Did they think "opening up" the offense was just bound to result (eventually, if not immediately), in performance better than 2009 or 2014, where we were #2 and ti#3 in OFEI respectively? It's unlikely to ever happen. Any belief to the contrary was based purely on hypothetical chalkboard presuppositions, made mostly from positions of relative ignorance about any offensive/defensive schemes and largely motivated by aesthetic preferences.


But we don't need to maintain the offensive performance to match or exceed Johnson's overall success. If the defense trends upward, as I suspect it will, a mediocre offense can be enough. Maybe DP can get us that or slightly more. Like with CGC, I'm not personally convinced that he'll be able to - but maybe. I'm willing to cut him some slack this year due to injuries. As I think ibeeballin has shown well, he's not a moron on the chalkboard. Very few D1 guys are though; the real job of coaching is teaching your guys how to do what you want them to do. We will see.
I think this is reasonable, but the issue I take is that getting back to where we were under Johnson isn’t an acceptable goal. There’s no point in doing a teardown to get back to where we were. Collins himself has set higher expectations. I am fully on board with going through a season or two of suck in order to get something better on the back end. But that’s the trick - it has to be better. Otherwise we will have lit several seasons on fire for nothing.
 

Animal02

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I think this is reasonable, but the issue I take is that getting back to where we were under Johnson isn’t an acceptable goal. There’s no point in doing a teardown to get back to where we were. Collins himself has set higher expectations. I am fully on board with going through a season or two of suck in order to get something better on the back end. But that’s the trick - it has to be better. Otherwise we will have lit several seasons on fire for nothing.
And there is no evidence that this gamble will succeed. No track record......just hopey changey
 

JorgeJonas

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And there is no evidence that this gamble will succeed. No track record......just hopey changey
Right. My expectations are, shall we say, tempered. But Baylor was awful for decades before Art Briles showed up. It’s possible, though unlikely. I don’t think Collins is ever going to get us to 10-2 year in and year out, but I wouldn’t object if he did.
 
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Something to think about for all you Tech fans. In my 50 years of Tech Football:
Bud Carson. No head coaching experience and only successful 1 year 1970
Bill Fulcher. No head coaching experience no real success
Pepper Rogers. 7 years prior to Tech...ummm maybe 1978
Bill Curry. Mo head coaching experience....1985
Bobby Ross. 8 years as head coach. 1989, 1990 and not bad 1991
Bill Lewis. 3 years head coach...no comment
George Oleary. No head coaching experience but he had Ralph. 1998, maybe 1999, and 2000
Chan Gailey. 7 years as head coach but a ton of experience. 1996
CPJ. 11 years as head coach. 2008,2009, 20014, with a thought for 2011 and 1016
CGC. 2 years as HC

So the trend is less experience the less success. Thus the experiment.
 

Vespidae

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Something to think about for all you Tech fans. In my 50 years of Tech Football:
Bud Carson. No head coaching experience and only successful 1 year 1970
Bill Fulcher. No head coaching experience no real success
Pepper Rogers. 7 years prior to Tech...ummm maybe 1978
Bill Curry. Mo head coaching experience....1985
Bobby Ross. 8 years as head coach. 1989, 1990 and not bad 1991
Bill Lewis. 3 years head coach...no comment
George Oleary. No head coaching experience but he had Ralph. 1998, maybe 1999, and 2000
Chan Gailey. 7 years as head coach but a ton of experience. 1996
CPJ. 11 years as head coach. 2008,2009, 20014, with a thought for 2011 and 1016
CGC. 2 years as HC

So the trend is less experience the less success. Thus the experiment.

Add Bobby Dodd. No head coaching experience. Followed by 21 years as head coach. 165 wins.
 

Animal02

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Something to think about for all you Tech fans. In my 50 years of Tech Football:
Bud Carson. No head coaching experience and only successful 1 year 1970
Bill Fulcher. No head coaching experience no real success
Pepper Rogers. 7 years prior to Tech...ummm maybe 1978
Bill Curry. Mo head coaching experience....1985
Bobby Ross. 8 years as head coach. 1989, 1990 and not bad 1991
Bill Lewis. 3 years head coach...no comment
George Oleary. No head coaching experience but he had Ralph. 1998, maybe 1999, and 2000
Chan Gailey. 7 years as head coach but a ton of experience. 1996
CPJ. 11 years as head coach. 2008,2009, 20014, with a thought for 2011 and 1016
CGC. 2 years as HC

So the trend is less experience the less success. Thus the experiment.
A d yet TStan chose to reward such inexperience with a long and large contract. :rolleyes:
 

Vespidae

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A d yet TStan chose to reward such inexperience with a long and large contract. :rolleyes:

Jeremy Pruitt is arguably a better coach than CGC and got six years at UT. It is a roster flip too. Seven years ... not unreasonable. TStan is fiving him 3 years to flip the roster and 4 years to show results.
 

Vespidae

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He was assistant coach at Tech for 13 years. And College ball was very different then.

The premise was that lack of head coaching experience was a leading indicator of failure.

And it’s not like Collins began coaching after graduating high school. He’s got 23 years as an assistant. Including several SEC stops.

I don’t like his gimmicky Butch Jones style. But he took the job.
 

Animal02

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Hard to say. I think programs are too quick to change. I would personally like to see coaches stay ten years at a school. Continuity is a good thing.
Sure it is when they are winning.....but there is a good chance that Collins won’t break .500 after 7 years. The game changes quickly now. CPJ is a good example. Things that worked for his O were hampered by rule changes......not to mention the APR. Now on the horizon is athletes gcashing in during school, which could once again radically change the football landscape.
 

Vespidae

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Sure it is when they are winning.....but there is a good chance that Collins won’t break .500 after 7 years. The game changes quickly now. CPJ is a good example. Things that worked for his O were hampered by rule changes......not to mention the APR. Now on the horizon is athletes gcashing in during school, which could once again radically change the football landscape.

I know. Let’s change coaches every year. New offense! New defense. Big buyouts! That’s the ticket. Change all the time ... a whole new way to run an organization.
 

TheSilasSonRising

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Something to think about for all you Tech fans. In my 50 years of Tech Football:
Bud Carson. No head coaching experience and only successful 1 year 1970
Bill Fulcher. No head coaching experience no real success
Pepper Rogers. 7 years prior to Tech...ummm maybe 1978
Bill Curry. Mo head coaching experience....1985
Bobby Ross. 8 years as head coach. 1989, 1990 and not bad 1991
Bill Lewis. 3 years head coach...no comment
George Oleary. No head coaching experience but he had Ralph. 1998, maybe 1999, and 2000
Chan Gailey. 7 years as head coach but a ton of experience. 1996
CPJ. 11 years as head coach. 2008,2009, 20014, with a thought for 2011 and 1016
CGC. 2 years as HC

So the trend is less experience the less success. Thus the experiment.

Bill Fulcher - did have H.C. experience and waxed a major Miami team. Only at GT 2 years.

Pepper - waxed ugag in 1974 but guess that doesn’t count. But he got the recruiting knock against him for his antics. I guess playing ugag, ut, Auburn, uf, n.d., Clemson, puke every year was so much easier than what CPJ had to face.

GO’L - yeah he deserves no credit. Not even for hiring a great OC. GO’L hired CTR as DC it is bad move. CPJ hires CTR as DC it is brilliant.

Reality is some are very afraid that GT wants to win more than 54.6% of the P5 games we play. And by simply doing so CPJ’s record will be nullified as “greatness”. They would go so far as letting GT play games without any coaching staff to achieve that goal.

Totally ignoring that, due to his knowledge of what a screwed up roster he had created, CPJ quit. Even ut would not acknowledge his advances despite such a sterling rep.
 

Vespidae

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Sure it is when they are winning.....but there is a good chance that Collins won’t break .500 after 7 years. The game changes quickly now. CPJ is a good example. Things that worked for his O were hampered by rule changes......not to mention the APR. Now on the horizon is athletes gcashing in during school, which could once again radically change the football landscape.

Bobby Dodd went 20-18 over a 4 year stretch. Should have canned that underperformer.
 
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