McCollum

[Vespidae]

I hope this doesn't grow to be something bigger than it is. The last thing you want is animosity between the staff and players.

I don't know why it's so hard to understand. The team that was recruited was not Geoff's team. He wants to run a different game. And needs different players. Pruitt is in the same boat in TN.

 

[MikeJacket1967]

Expect some de-commits tomorrow and transfers after the bowl game.

That happens in most schools that change head football coaches It's not unique

 

[stech81]

Fact no new Head Coach doesn't lose recruits and players it's going to happen .

 

[burdell151]

Fact no new Head Coach doesn't lose recruits and players it's going to happen .

This. Somebody get this man a beer.

 

[stech81]

This. Somebody get this man a beer.

 

[Bigb]

Expect some de-commits tomorrow and transfers after the bowl game.

Truth is that Geoff probably WANTS that to happen.

 

[TechPhi97]

Have you read the rest of the thread here to see all the guys he brought in? 6 of the top 7 last year were his. Was ranked in the top 25 in recruiting in the country. Had nearly all the 4-stars the year before. For your 'what if' prediction to come true, we'd have to get like 7 or 8 4-stars per year, repeatedly. From 1 guy. If we were to get that, I agree that probably none of us will ever remember McCollum existed. But to get that many recruits from 1 guy...I'll believe it when I see it.

Right now 0 5-stars and 7-8 4-stars would rank your team's class in the top 20 in the country. If 1 guy could do that? Holy moly.

When I say "losing a few players" I mean those that won't sign this year because of their relationship with him. We seem to have lost Ahdarrious Gee, who signed with Troy. Which seems kind of strange given that he had an offer from South Carolina as well. We lost Britton Allen, but he was recruited by Candeto. The other two guys that are holding off are not recruited by McCollum; Larry Dowdy (recruiter: Shiel Wood) and Joshua Black (Raise). They are waiting to see how the staff shakes out.

McCollum was the recruiting coordinator, so I guess I expect him to be the lead with more of the players. No doubt that he was a good recruiter that was great at building up connections with local high school coaches. He certainly leveraged his ties to Tennessee for us. I have no idea if it's good or bad that he was the lead recruiter for 1/3 of our signees. With 11 full time coaches, should we expect each coach to bring in 2-3? I don't think so. I went and looked at FSU, and they have a few guys that get most of the recruits (David Kelly is there now). So, I imagine every staff has 2-3 guys that are the cream of the recruiting crop. I'm sure we're going to be filling those slots with people that are good recruiters, as well.

We'll see what happens when the rubber meets the road. Recruiting hasn't been that great at GT for a long time; if Collins can make strides there it will be great for the team. I think he can do it, and overall recruiting will be better.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

When I say "losing a few players" I mean those that won't sign this year because of their relationship with him. We seem to have lost Ahdarrious Gee, who signed with Troy. Which seems kind of strange given that he had an offer from South Carolina as well. We lost Britton Allen, but he was recruited by Candeto. The other two guys that are holding off are not recruited by McCollum; Larry Dowdy (recruiter: Shiel Wood) and Joshua Black (Raise). They are waiting to see how the staff shakes out.

McCollum was the recruiting coordinator, so I guess I expect him to be the lead with more of the players. No doubt that he was a good recruiter that was great at building up connections with local high school coaches. He certainly leveraged his ties to Tennessee for us. I have no idea if it's good or bad that he was the lead recruiter for 1/3 of our signees. With 11 full time coaches, should we expect each coach to bring in 2-3? I don't think so. I went and looked at FSU, and they have a few guys that get most of the recruits (David Kelly is there now). So, I imagine every staff has 2-3 guys that are the cream of the recruiting crop. I'm sure we're going to be filling those slots with people that are good recruiters, as well.

We'll see what happens when the rubber meets the road. Recruiting hasn't been that great at GT for a long time; if Collins can make strides there it will be great for the team. I think he can do it, and overall recruiting will be better.

I have read in multiple places that Gee couldn't get a qualifying test score for admission. (Which makes sense that he ended up at Troy of all places.) . So that won't fall on McCollum's leaving.

 

[TechPhi97]

I made a typo:

To be clear...

1) Brian Jean-Mary was retained off of Chan Gailey’s staff when PJ took over in 2008. He later left for Louisville and has rode the Charlie Strong train for better or worse since then.
2) MOST coaches (even when they’re taking over for a coach who was fired) retain at least one coach off the previous staff. Yes, it occasionally happens where the whole staff gets wiped out. But not typically. Find me the last coach that took over a bowl eligible squad and retained NOBODY. For example, Kirby kept Rocker on staff after Richt was let go. Fuentes kept several of Beamer’s assistants, etc... To me, I’d keep at least one from the point of maintaining player relationships in the transition period. Maybe if Collins is retaining Sisk, he thinks he has that covered.
3) When Kelly Quinlan tweeted the news about the entire staff not being retained, Juanyeh Thomas’ mom replied something to the effect of “her heart being broken.” She has since removed the tweet.

Gailey wasn't announced until late December, after Christmas. He needed to keep some staff just to make it through signing day. Big difference here. I'm sure that Juanyeh's mom had her heart broken because she had relationships with the current coaches. That doesn't mean it's not the right think to do, or that she won't develop the same relationships with the new coaches.

Has anyone here ever gotten a new boss, or become a boss of an existing team? If so, then you know that changes happen, and that some will leave but most will stay if you handle it well. If you handle it poorly (I call it "the Matt Doherty approach") then you get fired yourself. All signs point to Collins being able to pull off the transition.

 

[TechPhi97]

I have read in multiple places that Gee couldn't get a qualifying test score for admission. (Which makes sense that he ended up at Troy of all places.) . So that won't fall on McCollum's leaving.

Right; what I'm saying is that the coaching turnover didn't result in any of McCollum's recruits not coming here.

 

[bravejason]

I’m surprised not one assistant coach is being retained, but I can understand it. If Collins feels that he needs a new staff altogether, then you have to let him do it.

CPJ was loyal to his assistant coaches, perhaps to a fault (well, the DC’s had a rough go of it, but that’s a different story).

 

[JacketEagle]

I’m surprised not one assistant coach is being retained, but I can understand it. If Collins feels that he needs a new staff altogether, then you have to let him do it.

CPJ was loyal to his assistant coaches, perhaps to a fault (well, the DC’s had a rough go of it, but that’s a different story).

Good or bad I believe we have hired a power control type guy. Message being sent to everyone that I'm the guy and I am in charge. Ego is a wonderful thing until it's not.

 

[ncjacket79]

Good or bad I believe we have hired a power control type guy. Message being sent to everyone that I'm the guy and I am in charge. Ego is a wonderful thing until it's not.

Nothing against any of our former coaches but why would Collins keep anyone. We ‘re completely changing the offense and our defense has been bad for years.

 

[MikeJacket1967]

Nothing against any of our former coaches but why would Collins keep anyone. We ‘re completely changing the offense and our defense has been bad for years.

Yeah,it wouldn't make sense to keep offensive coaches who were coaching a different offensive system

 

[JacketEagle]

Nothing against any of our former coaches but why would Collins keep anyone. We ‘re completely changing the offense and our defense has been bad for years.

Sure, but it seems to me that he would keep someone around that would at least know the behind the scenes functionality of the program. He might actually learn something!! Everything the prior staff was doing was not bad. I keep having this nagging feeling that CGC is the type guy that is always moving around and might be a 2 or 3 yr and move on type guy. History certainly indicates that. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Sure, but it seems to me that he would keep someone around that would at least know the behind the scenes functionality of the program. He might actually learn something!! Everything the prior staff was doing was not bad. I keep having this nagging feeling that CGC is the type guy that is always moving around and might be a 2 or 3 yr and move on type guy. History certainly indicates that. Hope I'm wrong.

It's not uncommon for successful coaches to have a bunch of short stints in different schools. Since there is a documented series of progression in his career, this doesn't worry me as much.vv

As to him moving on from GT in a few years, this is a real possibility, but it will most likely be for one of two reasons:

1. He completely tanks and after a few years is shown the door, or
2. He is wildly successful and a Factory/NFL comes calling.

Outside of the factories, most schools aren't going to be able to lure a successful coach away from a P5 school firmly situated in the heart of the SEC/ACC.

 

[TheSilasSonRising]

Sure, but it seems to me that he would keep someone around that would at least know the behind the scenes functionality of the program. He might actually learn something!! Everything the prior staff was doing was not bad. I keep having this nagging feeling that CGC is the type guy that is always moving around and might be a 2 or 3 yr and move on type guy. History certainly indicates that. Hope I'm wrong.

Perhaps, but we are not privy to what might have been discussed between TStan & CGC as far as goals for the program, a rejuvenation of the mindset, a fresh start.

 

[g0lftime]

If Pruitt was smart he would hire Andy just for recruiting in Tennessee. Vandy could use him as well plus he has recruited academic kids.

 

[jojatk]

No one, or at least almost no one, here is questioning CGC's "right" to clean-slate. And if it is what he feels he needs to do to be successful, then I support it as well. I just think it is a mistake, in this case, given the low likelihood that his worst recruiter will be better than Mac at recruiting and maintaining good HS coaching relationships.

So what are the criteria that CGC needed for a LB coach? What I don't see many people addressing is whether or not CAM, who is by far our best recruiter, is a good position coach. I personally don't feel like our LBs were consistently a strong position for us and that concerns me. So when I look at this decision, assuming the decision was made by Geoff not to retain Andy (I say that because I'm completely ignorant of how it went down), I would guess that Geoff felt that he and the other coaches he is going to bring in can more than make up for the loss of CAM's recruiting prowess as a group AND have better success with the position group with a coach or coaches Geoff has confidence in. I imagine Geoff feels that the guys he is going to bring here will, as a whole, be a better recruiting group and so what he needed was a coach who was stronger as a LB coach than CAM was (at least in Geoff's estimation). So that's my guess about the decision-making process and criteria. I could be completely wrong.

One thing I hope is clear is that I'm allowing for the possibility that CAM would be a better recruiter than any one other coach Geoff is bringing in. But maybe Geoff feels that individually each of his hires will be better recruiters than most of the other coaches on our staff and that those guys combined PLUS Geoff will be an overall plus in recruiting even with the loss of CAM's huge impact. Again, just my guess.

 

[thebull35]

I’ve coached basketball and more so baseball at the varsity level for 14 years now. I’ve retained members of the previous staff at 3 of the 4 places I’ve been at. Two of those situations have been the worst professional decisions I’ve made in my life. Once a coach undermined me and conspired to get me fired out of jealousy because he was not considered for the job (he eventually got the job once I was fired, despite going 56-19 over 3 years). The 2nd time I retained staff was actually quite pleasant. The former staff got on board quickly and meshed well with the staff I brought along. This last time I retained staff it took me 2 years to get rid of the negative energy that some members of the previous had embedded in the mindset of the young men I worked with. All of this to say if I happen to move on from the program that I have built where I am to a bigger, better situation I'd likely clean house as well. I'd bring in my own people that I have worked with, that knows what I want to teach, the mindset/tone of the program, and how I want it taught.