Is Collins nasty enough to be a HC ?

Nemo951

Georgia Tech Fan
Messages
15
Vespidae said:
Please step away from the edge and be sure to use your HSA before years end on some desperately needed medication.

Did I call for heads? No. I said I think he’ll struggle to finish his 7 year contract. Did I make ridiculous accusations? No. Frankly, it’s on him to win games. He’s the head coach. And I’m actually fine with losing games if it demonstrates progress.

Pruitt inherited a dumpster fire and has focused on one thing. One. Coaching football. Not branding. Not Money Downs. Not media. Coaching. And from where they’ve come, I like it. (For the record, the team was totally dysfunctional and it took leaders on the football team to deal with the Jones recruits who were sitting on their hands and dividing the team. They are, for the most part, no longer relevant.)

Geoff DOES remind me of Butch Jones .. great recruiter, great pitchman, so so coach AT A D1 level.

As I said, I hope it works out. That’s all we can ask for right now.

Now ... be sure to get that RX. And friggin chill out.
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Pruit also inherited a well oiled recruiting machine. He inherited a fan base that does not fail to fill Neyland stadium. Tennessee connects with its town and state, Tech doesn’t. Geoff Collins has to build both, no recruit is going to want to make a “40 year decision “ as long as Tech fans continue to isolate and disconnect from their greater community, while mocking the recruits parents for not going to GT. I’ve been a fan since 2012 as Much of my wife’s family has Gone there. It’s ridiculous that I nearly have to justify my status as a fan through some connection to the institute. Uga fans wouldn’t Require this, neither would clemson or Carolina fans .
 
GTBandit22

GTBandit22

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Adadu said:
I'm starting to get a little scared that he tricked all of us with his rhetoric into thinking he is a lot more talented than he really is.
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Isn’t that the question of every new coach? It’s kind of a self fulfilling thing. Either he does win and he wasn’t just talk, or he was all talk and fired.

Fwiw, I think GC was a well respected DC so he knows X’s and O’s, but jury is still out as a head coach. I do think we are a better team than a year ago, but it remains to be seen how much better.
 

684Bee

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1,644
Nemo951 said:
Pruit also inherited a well oiled recruiting machine. He inherited a fan base that does not fail to fill Neyland stadium. Tennessee connects with its town and state, Tech doesn’t. Geoff Collins has to build both, no recruit is going to want to make a “40 year decision “ as long as Tech fans continue to isolate and disconnect from their greater community, while mocking the recruits parents for not going to GT. I’ve been a fan since 2012 as Much of my wife’s family has Gone there. It’s ridiculous that I nearly have to justify my status as a fan through some connection to the institute. Uga fans wouldn’t Require this, neither would clemson or Carolina fans .
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You do make a fair point that there’s a good bit of GT grads that aren’t exactly who you’d want to hang out with for a few hours on a Saturday.
 

g0lftime

Helluva Engineer
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5,917
A head coach is only as good as his assistants. Obviously needs good players but the assistants do the day to day teaching. If things don't improve after this year he needs to assess his staff and make the necessary changes. Players win games and coaches lose them. That never changes.
 

Lee

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
841
Not sure if Collins is “nasty enough,” but our “fans” are.

Y’all sound like a bunch of old men complaining about youngsters playing their music too loud or something.

I swear it’s like a bunch of y’all want the man to fail. It’s one thing to critique the him, but have some reasonableness to your insults. If you don’t factor in what he walked into, what all the coaching staff has mentioned they had to teach when they got here, and the positive things he’s done then you’re just whining because your guy is gone or we didn’t hire the guy you wanted.

I was frustrated as anybody watching the game Saturday. You can’t have that many penalties and turnovers. Just can’t happen. A lot of blame is on Collins.But if you can’t acknowledge that we have a ton of young players on the field who are most likely to make those mistakes, you just have an axe to grind.
 
Vespidae

Vespidae

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Nemo951 said:
Pruit also inherited a well oiled recruiting machine. He inherited a fan base that does not fail to fill Neyland stadium. Tennessee connects with its town and state, Tech doesn’t. Geoff Collins has to build both, no recruit is going to want to make a “40 year decision “ as long as Tech fans continue to isolate and disconnect from their greater community, while mocking the recruits parents for not going to GT. I’ve been a fan since 2012 as Much of my wife’s family has Gone there. It’s ridiculous that I nearly have to justify my status as a fan through some connection to the institute. Uga fans wouldn’t Require this, neither would clemson or Carolina fans .
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Nothing could be further from the truth.

Recruiting was initially successful under Jones but died after he played players with concussions, fostered helmet fights in the locker room and forced players off the team. Well oiled? Not even close. As Pruitt and Fulmer both observed, the recruits were not that great AND not being developed. (Note: Fulmer heavily recruited outside of Tennessee during his heyday.)

Fanbase? Sure, Neyland CAN fill 105,000 but after Jones, they were dropping like flies. I know, I was there. Selling seats and attendance are two different things and “Boycott UT” was all over Knoxville. Hell, they spit on Jones’s wife at the grocery store. There were some games that had half capacity.

Doesn’t matter. The fan base HATED Pruitt the first year (despised) as did the team. Pruitt’s view was, “I am NOT your friend. I am your coach. And you will learn to play competitive football or leave.”

Is that Geoff? I don’t think so. Geoff strikes me as “everyone gets a trophy.”

Good discussion.
 

Jacketman99

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
963
All I want to see is improvement over the course of the season. Without the turnovers we probably win the Syracuse game and the UCF game is close. If we can stop shooting ourselves in the foot we will be ok. I'm on with the offense outside of the turnovers. O am a little disappointed with the defense. I thought we would be better but I also realize we are young in the front 7.
 

gt02

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
634
Vespidae said:
Please step away from the edge and be sure to use your HSA before years end on some desperately needed medication.

Did I call for heads? No. I said I think he’ll struggle to finish his 7 year contract. Did I make ridiculous accusations? No. Frankly, it’s on him to win games. He’s the head coach. And I’m actually fine with losing games if it demonstrates progress.

Pruitt inherited a dumpster fire and has focused on one thing. One. Coaching football. Not branding. Not Money Downs. Not media. Coaching. And from where they’ve come, I like it. (For the record, the team was totally dysfunctional and it took leaders on the football team to deal with the Jones recruits who were sitting on their hands and dividing the team. They are, for the most part, no longer relevant.)

Geoff DOES remind me of Butch Jones .. great recruiter, great pitchman, so so coach AT A D1 level.

As I said, I hope it works out. That’s all we can ask for right now.

Now ... be sure to get that RX. And friggin chill out.
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Yup. The losses are not the issue. It’s the signs of being out coached that scare me. Penalties, inability to make an extra point, clock management, etc.
 

ChicagobasedJacket

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
420
Nemo951 said:
Pruit also inherited a well oiled recruiting machine. He inherited a fan base that does not fail to fill Neyland stadium. Tennessee connects with its town and state, Tech doesn’t. Geoff Collins has to build both, no recruit is going to want to make a “40 year decision “ as long as Tech fans continue to isolate and disconnect from their greater community, while mocking the recruits parents for not going to GT. I’ve been a fan since 2012 as Much of my wife’s family has Gone there. It’s ridiculous that I nearly have to justify my status as a fan through some connection to the institute. Uga fans wouldn’t Require this, neither would clemson or Carolina fans .
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Love this post. We already don’t have many fans but the attacks I’ve seen lodged at people without identifiable connections to GT is absurd. We need the branding and we need to support our team while welcomIng others who cheer for the Jackets.
 
jacketz212

jacketz212

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
109
AUFC said:
I can't believe this thread made 8 pages. The premise is ridiculous that you can only win football games as a hard *** head coach.
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i know this ain’t a championship caliber team, but when’s the last time a non-“hard a** head coach” has won a national championship?
 

Skeptic

Helluva Engineer
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6,372
Well, that was a short honeymoon. What do we do for the next five and a half years? Look, there were posters who pointed out his lack of experience, none at all as head coach of a P5 school, and were not terribly impressed with his Temple work. As for getting on his players, did it honestly, seriously, offend anybody when Johnson went nose-to-nose with a player? Because the only issue would have been had he carried it forward, and he didn't. And last season when a Clemson player threw a punch Swinney had him on the way to the locker room before the official ejected him. I did not realize GT had such awful OC and DC guys until the board erupts that more money = better coaches. So far that hasn't worked with the head ball coach.

Collins got a seven year contract which was stupid -- Marshall replaced its lost football team in fewer than seven graduating classes -- but that is what we have. We now have two embarrassing losses in two years, the Citadel and Syracuse. We need a big win. And fewer penalties. And fewer turnovers. And maybe just a bit of passion by the head coach. I am of the school that says a team reflects its coach. That may be the problem.
 
CuseJacket

CuseJacket

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19,556
This thread is a classic vent thread. Lot of opinions. Very little data. I hope folks come out of this feeling better for sharing their feelings, but I'm guessing not much has been accomplished in terms of feeling better or convincing others. Pot shots toward the current and former regimes, with very little analysis on the 'why' in terms that can be measured, is not going to get it done unless you just want to vent.

Yes, to head of the snark, I recognize our record is a data point. It is the most important data point. But it didn't happen solely due to this current coaching staff. It didn't happen solely because of the players. It didn't happen solely because of who we played. etc. etc. etc.

The point is, if you want to have a constructive discussion, share some video clips and discuss merits of a play call. Share data and put it in context of broader trends. Show something. I will do my part by creating new threads/revisiting data in response to some common myths posted throughout this thread in an attempt to parse things out for those who have an interest in that stuff. @ibeattetris posted a great thread with data yesterday (https://gtswarm.com/threads/statistics-that-give-me-hope-about-our-offense.22251), and I think that's the type of content that'll help change opinions (either direction).
 
CuseJacket

CuseJacket

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Staff member
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The only point that I'll respond to in this thread is the original premise.

Two quick thoughts:
1) I agree Collins is a "players' coach", with both the positive and negative connotations that come with that, fairly or not. The negative is the "nice guy" rub. Incidentally, Collins just lost to a "players' coach" in Dino Babers. So something has to give there.

2) I posted this after the FSU game: https://gtswarm.com/threads/jackets-brought-the-juice-to-tallahassee.22134/page-15#post-744952
2) Does Collins maintain a culture of discipline? This is mainly tongue in cheek. Last year some fans suggested Collins' priorities were incorrect. Focused too much on music, juice crew, etc. There was one terrible game with dead ball penalties that cost us the W (Citadel). Yet we were top 25-ish in fewest penalty yards/game. First game in 2020? We racked up the penalties. But what caught my attention as much as anything was when Collins burned our 3rd timeout at the end of the first half to try to freeze the FSU kicker. As he was trying to bring the team to the sidelines during the TO, there was clearly a lack of compliance. Reading his lips... "What the **** are you doing?" He clearly has expectations that he expects the team to meet.
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As it relates to this thread, I think it just comes down to confirmation bias. No one sees practices. No one sees inside the locker room. Those who have, said Collins can get heated and is relentlessly paying attention to details. And some are ignoring/not seeing the evidence on national TV that contradicts their theory.

It's fine, and maybe Collins isn't nasty enough for what is needed. My personal opinion is that I think the results are still TBD.
 
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