Geoff Collins worst GT coach of all time

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Northeast Stinger

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jacketup said:
If Collins was so bad, why was he nominated for assistant coach of the year at all three of his DC stops? How did he go to bowls both years as HC at Temple?

People don't want to look at all the facts--they just want a person to blame. I've explained a dozen times why the combination of the players Johnson left behind, the failure of GT to give Collins an adequate budget for assistants, and Covid preventing on campus recruiting to upgrade the talent base (the 2020 class was rated higher than this year's, then Covid hit in 2021). It was the perfect storm, and few, if any, coaches could have been successful.

I don't know if he could have been successful if he had inherited the talent Johnson inherited from Gailey, and he had a better budget for coaches. But people who want to blame Collins and call him names are just showing their ignorance. The issues are far more complex. The mistake Collins made was taking the job. He was enamored with coming back to Atlanta--and his ego got in the way--and he didn't look at all the downside.
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Did you not see how badly his teams performed at Tech? How unorganized they were? How bad his clock management was? How bungling his in game decision making was? How many mistakes his players made and how out of position they were?

CPJ had even less financial support and he managed his teams much better. CBK had virtually the same material as Collins and got 100% better performance on the field.

In my opinion Collins failed upwards when he got the job at Tech. It happens all the time. But if your unique view of his talent as a coach is correct, he will sooner or later get another head coaching job. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
 

cpf2001

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I think it’s been pretty well discussed to death at this point that Temple declined under Collins, he just wasn’t there long enough to drive it fully into the ground.

So take a HC who was leaving things worse than he finds them and give him a transition project? Yeah, an AD coulda seen that coming.
 
roadkill

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jacketup said:
If Collins was so bad, why was he nominated for assistant coach of the year at all three of his DC stops? How did he go to bowls both years as HC at Temple?

People don't want to look at all the facts--they just want a person to blame. I've explained a dozen times why the combination of the players Johnson left behind, the failure of GT to give Collins an adequate budget for assistants, and Covid preventing on campus recruiting to upgrade the talent base (the 2020 class was rated higher than this year's, then Covid hit in 2021). It was the perfect storm, and few, if any, coaches could have been successful.

I don't know if he could have been successful if he had inherited the talent Johnson inherited from Gailey, and he had a better budget for coaches. But people who want to blame Collins and call him names are just showing their ignorance. The issues are far more complex. The mistake Collins made was taking the job. He was enamored with coming back to Atlanta--and his ego got in the way--and he didn't look at all the downside.
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Have you looked at all the facts, or are you just choosing to be contrarian for a reaction? I have to assume it's the latter.

Yes, in 2019 we may not have had a great roster for the schemes that TFG and his OC wanted to run on offense. Our defensive roster is what it is (I don’t think our scheme changed that significantly on D). Due to this, most fans gave him a pass for 2019 and much of 2020. But the choice of offensive schemes during the transition was on him. And he recruited our starting QB and RB for 2020.

He saddled the wrong horse for QB, and rode him to the end. That’s on him.

Not being able to recruit on-campus was indeed a handicap in 2020. For teams we compete for recruits with, how many didn’t have this handicap?

He had 3 1/3 years to fix our abysmal special teams that likely cost us a game or two each season. Did he ever, including after he said he was going to handle it personally? Was another coach after Collins able to address this?

When we took the field, did we look like a well-coached team? Especially after timeouts?

100-0.

That’s just off the top of my head.

There’s no objective means to defend his tenure at GT. I agree he made a mistake taking the job, but to imply that’s his only mistake is ludicrous or trolling.
 
4shotB

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roadkill said:
There’s no objective means to defend his tenure at GT. I agree he made a mistake taking the job, but to imply that’s his only mistake is ludicrous or trolling.
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While I agree 100% with your first sentence, I also 100% disagree ith your second one. These jobs are not your $60 - 150k a year jobs where one has to consider all factors before saying "yes" or "no" - these jobs pay so well there are literally no downsides to taking them. I would have accepted the job after Johnson given the contract that Collins was offered. The mistake lies squarely on the person who hired him imo.
 
wrmathis

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gte447f said:
Wow. This is the first time I’ve heard anybody try to make this argument, I.e., that Geoffrey wasn’t one of the worst head coaches to ever pilot a D1 college football program.
Everyone agrees that he faced difficult, even unique, challenging circumstances, but most everyone also recognizes that almost anyone else would have done a better job and been more successful under the same circumstances.
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It’s gee-offs burner account. Just ignore.
 
slugboy

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jacketup said:
If Collins was so bad, why was he nominated for assistant coach of the year at all three of his DC stops? How did he go to bowls both years as HC at Temple?

People don't want to look at all the facts--they just want a person to blame. I've explained a dozen times why the combination of the players Johnson left behind, the failure of GT to give Collins an adequate budget for assistants, and Covid preventing on campus recruiting to upgrade the talent base (the 2020 class was rated higher than this year's, then Covid hit in 2021). It was the perfect storm, and few, if any, coaches could have been successful.

I don't know if he could have been successful if he had inherited the talent Johnson inherited from Gailey, and he had a better budget for coaches. But people who want to blame Collins and call him names are just showing their ignorance. The issues are far more complex. The mistake Collins made was taking the job. He was enamored with coming back to Atlanta--and his ego got in the way--and he didn't look at all the downside.
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Al Pacino GIF


I wonder how long this thread will get now?
 

Tjacket

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TooTall said:
Look, I was supportive of our program and it's head coach until it personally affected me and made me embarrassed to be a Tech fan. That was during the Ole Miss game, which was 1 game before he was fired. While I can agree with some of your points, the bolded ones I have comment for:
1. Much different being an assistant coach and running the entire program. And fyi, each team nominates a coach for that award.
2. So the AD that was able to add some funding to the football program that CPJ said was starved, DENIED additional funds to the guy HE hired?
3. Wow...our margins of defeat were historic. Many records were set for point differential and we were shut out at home for the first time in over 50 years...multiple times under his watch.
4. Amen!

Let's bury this thread like TFG buried our program and rally around this team that fights and never gives up!
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Yes amen. I agree with all your points
 
roadkill

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4shotB said:
While I agree 100% with your first sentence, I also 100% disagree ith your second one. These jobs are not your $60 - 150k a year jobs where one has to consider all factors before saying "yes" or "no" - these jobs pay so well there are literally no downsides to taking them. I would have accepted the job after Johnson given the contract that Collins was offered. The mistake lies squarely on the person who hired him imo.
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Valid point - any job that provides you with generational wealth isn't a mistake from a financial perspective. One could argue that the huge hit he took to his reputation in the industry, as well as the ill will from many thousands of fans, does offset that a bit, but I suppose it depends on your priorities.
 

lauraee

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TooTall said:
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Wikipedia TFG​

Georgia Tech (2019–2022)edit​

On December 7, 2018, Collins was named the 20th head coach of Georgia Tech football.[10] Collins won three games in each of his first three seasons with the Yellow Jackets, including famously losing to The Citadel, which ran the triple option that Collins has criticized. In 2021, Collins ended his losing streak to FCS opponents when Georgia Tech defeated Kennesaw State, a team who was playing with their fourth string quarterback after a series of unfortunate incidents befell all other eligible quarterbacks. Collins never won back to back games at Georgia Tech. Following a 1-3 start to the 2022 season, and being out scored 210-20 over the final 5 games of his tenure against FBS opponents, Collins was fired by the Yellow Jackets. Collins finished with the worst winning percentage of any permanent head coach in the program's history.[11] Assistant head coach Brent Key took over as interim head coach.[12
 

yeti92

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jacketup said:
I'm still waiting for someone to explain why Johnson was successful at Tech. His record doesn't show it. Firing Chan Gailey rather than making him hire a quality OC-- Pat Nix was a joke---was the beginnig of the downward trend created by a horrible succession of ADs from Braine to Stansbury.
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Yea totally, I mean all CPJ did was have multiple wins over ugag, multiple ACC championship game appearances (and a win), multiple Orange Bowl appearances (and a win), five 8+ win seasons, and end up in the CFB Hall of Fame, all while having his hands tied behind his back by bad ADs and crappy fans. Hardly successful.

Chan Gailey was much better with his 1 ACC championship appearance (lost), no orange bowls, no wins over uga, and 1 season of 8+ wins. Winning exactly 7 games every year is what true success looks like!
 
Southern psu fan

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yeti92 said:
Yea totally, I mean all CPJ did was have multiple wins over ugag, multiple ACC championship game appearances (and a win), multiple Orange Bowl appearances (and a win), five 8+ win seasons, and end up in the CFB Hall of Fame, all while having his hands tied behind his back by bad ADs and crappy fans. Hardly successful.

Chan Gailey was much better with his 1 ACC championship appearance (lost), no orange bowls, no wins over uga, and 1 season of 8+ wins. Winning exactly 7 games every year is what true success looks like!
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Give CPJ the same talent and he’ll stand toe to toe with anybody out there. GT had a lot of talent when CPJ was hired and you could easily see it on the field. IMO when Giff Smith left for buffalo our defense really never recovered and that kept us from winning a few ACC championships. In today’s football it’s hard to recruit the top players running the triple option. CPJ record speaks for itself but like other great coaches the game changes and passes you by. Bear Bryant was one of the greatest coaches but imo he would struggle to win today the game is different. Not many coaches could’ve pulled off what CPJ did in today’s football. CPJ had a great career and he was a winner.
 
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