Mostly “Fire Geoff Collins”, some reminiscing, maybe bourbon or other distractions

[GT05]

Soft is the correct word to sum up all of this
and embarrassing

 

[gtg936g]

I’ll throw out a name that will sure to be controversial for OC. Steve Spurrier Jr. I think he did a good job at WKU and is doing a good job under Leach at Mississippi St. An OC role would be a step up for him. I don’t think we can afford to change HC but we could change the OC.

 

[InsideLB]

Thoughts on ST and Coaching

I actually liked our ST play outside of the FG unit. KO’s went into the end zone which was awesome. Punts were effective, covered well, and protection was good. KO returns seemed reasonable.

Punt returns made me nervous. It seemed like Rey was wanting to do too much and nearly lost us the game outright when he muffed the punt that was called back. He also fielded some punts with very little room to operate that made me very nervous. He did do a good job on a couple of difficult fair catches. Didn’t like fielding the punt inside our 10-yardline.

FG the dude missed a 45-yarder. It happens. Not ready to say the kicker sucks. Then he falls down on the next one which is comically short. It could be small sample size and that unit is actually a lot better than it showed. However we have had so many problems last year that it doesn’t look good, especially when Collins says the guy is going to be the best kicker in the US. Not worried about the 60 yarder being blocked because you have to line drive those to get the distance.

COACHING

Positives:
—Adjusted to NIU running game
—A few nice situational play calls
—2 penalties for 5 yds

Negatives:
—Poor clock management
—Poor use of timeouts
—Could have benefitted from being more methodical conservative early on offense
—Played down to competition. Seems players caught up in positivity/thinking that they are good, then going out and not being tough enough/intense enough.
—Camp may not have been physical enough
—Decided not to take the points after NIU bowed up on the goal line/killed momentum. In a game where we were playing tight/fearfully.
—Needed to put pressure on NIU’s perimeter offensively/get ball out in space on perimeter and challenge NIU to defeat blocks/tackle in space.
—Unimaginative play calling trying to run out the clock/get first down.
—Played way soft on NIU’s winning drive.

Overall I thought NIU deserved to win. Sad but true. Hoping we get better in a hurry.

 

[Jmonty71]

Serious question..... We fire Collins... Who is available and would be willing to coach GT?

 

[MGTfan]

Serious question..... We fire Collins... Who is available and would be willing to coach GT?

Go look at most G5 coach’s salaries compared to Collins. Someone would take the job.

 

[wesgt123]

It’s already obvious the answer is no. He is lost because he has gotten by on athletic ability his entire football life until now and at this level you can’t out run the defense like in high school. We need a pass first QB. We haven’t had one since Godsey.

Maybe the staffs first favorite QB commit Tucker Gleason saw the writing on the wall and got the hell out of dodge for a reason…

 

[ChasonBaller]

I would like for us to go after a good OC rather than dumping a ton of money on a Collins buyout.

This

 

[awbuzz]

Man y’all stfu. We are fine. We lose, okay. But until then, chill. Give the man 5 mins on a new season. Tech 28-17

I haven't read the other posts yet and maybe you've already updated your thoughts on this. If not, what are your thoughts now?

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I’m not trying to nock pick bs but it just seems like the players are more focused and spending too much time with things other than football

may gosh how many video shoots, picture shoots, etc do they do a day?

did you know when Alabama (for example) do promo video shoots they are not actual players? They are actors because savanna does not want his players wasting time on that crap

that’s just one little example

then the whole TiVO thing came out 2 days before kickoff

tech should not allow names on the backs of jerseys anymore until they start winning

404- ATL- 18,000 different culture shirts, uniform announcements, etc etc etc should just be left alone

it’s almost like CGC spends more time in designer offices worrying about the next best internal t-shirt then he does worrying about the next game

all of these different shoes, etc etc etc is just noise

this team is only focused on crap that has nothing to do with winning a football game

This team is soft.

“hey are players played like crap but I love them and they work so hard” bull**** in that press conference

that press conference after the game was an embarrassment

Those are some BOLD opinions...

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

It’s all coaching. A good coach doesn’t allow a punt returner to decide anything. A good coach tells a punt returner who is clearly making stupid decisions to just fair catch it. A good coach doesn’t waste 2 timeouts on a drive in the 3rd quarter. A good coach doesn’t have 14 players on the field when the other team lines up to run a play. A good coach doesn’t have his entire defense looking at the sideline when the other team is about to snap the ball. A good coach doesn’t have his players running out of bounds when we are trying to run clock. A good coach doesn’t have his players stay in bounds when we need clock. We are clueless and Choice and Key need to give out code red to the other coaches. Patenaude and Thacker are dead men walking.

The only noticeable improvement was the very first play of the game. We kicked the ball thru the end zone instead of giving up a return to the 35 like we did all last year. That‘s it. Sims was worse. The running game was worse. The passing game was non-existent minus a few. During the telecast I did not hear the name of one of our defensive linemen for 3 hours. Gibbs was having to juke just to get back to the line of scrimmage. We will win about 4 games because as bad as we are there are several ACC teams worse.

 

[CuseJacket]

Second thought:

I want to engage those whose default disposition is to dive into the 'Fire CGC' conversation with CPJ lineage solutions who also have a history of engaging in a level-headed way (@AlabamaBuzz, @jgtengineer, among others). I'm not going to engage with anyone who wants to flame/snark on either end of the spectrum. Please understand I'm coming at this with an interest in understanding and not trying to disparage your preferences.

What about yesterday's result justifies going back to Monken, Bohannan, etc. today? We have better talent than NIU. Agree? We've improved recruiting under CGC. Agree?

With respect to losses to The Citadel, NIU, Syracuse, etc., I'd expect better results with any well-coached and executed scheme. Even more true as top 30 recruiting classes (and top 5 ACC) start to mature in the program. We should beat NIU, even when those recruits are still Frosh and a handful of Sophs.

My personal reaction to your posts is that you are "showing your true colors". I don't mean that negatively other than to call out my perception of biases misapplied to the situation. I think posts with 'Monken' and 'Bohannan' yesterday and today, post-NIU loss, ruin the argument's credibility by coming to the conversation with narrowly focused scheme-related suggestions. I've always remained open to at least thinking about those names, but because I'm seeing those posts today, those very posts are pushing me more toward believing folks have an infatuation with the offense and less so because of its fit at GT. For that reason I will likely carry that new bias forward when I see the same claims in the future.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the reason for those types of posts in this thread and I would appreciate your POV.

 

[takethepoints]

I've said this before.

The problem with Collins is that he doesn't take winning seriously. I don't mean by that that he doesn't want to win or that he isn't trying to win. It's that his demeanor and that of his assistants during games and (I assume) in practice is that winning isn't the main reason the team is out there. It's one of the reasons; others include pleasing the fans, having a good time, keeping up team spirit, ect. I came up under coaches in high school and college who wouldn't countenance anything in practice or at the games that didn't show a complete concentration on winning. Looking pleased with your play or laughing on the sidelines - not to mention some the antics we now have to put up with - would have gotten you on the bench or - in the case of my college coach - thrown out of practice or games until you got your mind on your business.

Some of that is superannuated today; nobody thinks twice about players congratulating each other after a good play nowadays. But enthusiasm in a head coach and his assistants is best saved for after the game and then only when you win. Being ill-prepared, mentioned often above, is a symptom of lack of concentration on winning by both the coaches and the players.

So, yes, we have changed the culture of Tech football, just as was promised. Problem = the change isn't toward a culture that makes winning paramount. The results are self-evident.

 

[Techster]

I've pointed out in the past that GT has been fortunate to have coaches who performed two tiers higher than where they recruited. Ross, *skips L$#@%, O'Leary, Gailey, CPJ. All were coaches who mixed good coaching with good development of talent (with a few nice recruits mixed in) to outperform their recruiting. I've always thought that GT needed a guy who could "coach up" the Jimmies and Joes more than recruit lights out...because GT is a place where recruiting lights out consistently isn't realistic. A coach that can develop talent and out coach the person on the other sideline will consistently perform that way until he meets another coach of equal ability that out recruits him.

My hope with CGC was that he could recruit at GT to levels most of us didn't think GT could recruit at, and then maintain the "coach 2 tiers higher than our recruiting" history. I think it's safe to say that CGC has met and maybe even exceeded expectations with recruiting. Unfortunately, I think he went the opposite way with coaching. Even if he coached at the level of his recruiting, GT would be in decent shape. Unfortunately, I think his coaching decisions have fallen short of where we've been able to recruit or get transfers. This is a problem at GT because our coaches have to do more with less, regardless of who is coaching us. GT isn't place where you can do less with more...it's an impossible mountain to climb if that's the strategy.

I'm trying to find the silver lining here, but it's difficult. The third year is where you want to see real progress. I think our roster can compete for the Coastal, so in that regard I think there's progress. Unfortunately, our coaching is a real liability that negatively impacts any gains we've made with accumulating talent through recruiting and transfers. Losing to NIU hurts, but it's only our pride that's hurt. They are not an ACC team that counts against our league standings. Mathematically (in the strictest sense), GT still has a chance to win the Coastal. However, if CGC doesn't right the ship, we have ZERO shot at the Coastal because other teams have just as good of a roster and better coaching. There is no way we survive the ACC schedule if our coaches don't get it together regardless of the talent we have. IMO, you give this roster to Ross/O'Leary/Gailey/CPJ and it's a 7-9+ win roster. There's no excuse for CGC anymore. This is his ship to either sail into glory, or sink like the titanic.

 

[wesgt123]

It’s all coaching. A good coach doesn’t allow a punt returner to decide anything. A good coach tells a punt returner who is clearly making stupid decisions to just fair catch it. A good coach doesn’t waste 2 timeouts on a drive in the 3rd quarter. A good coach doesn’t have 14 players on the field when the other team lines up to run a play. A good coach doesn’t have his entire defense looking at the sideline when the other team is about to snap the ball. A good coach doesn’t have his players running out of bounds when we are trying to run clock. A good coach doesn’t have his players stay in bounds when we need clock. We are clueless and Choice and Key need to give out code red to the other coaches. Patenaude and Thacker are dead men walking.

The only noticeable improvement was the very first play of the game. We kicked the ball thru the end zone instead of giving up a return to the 35 like we did all last year. That‘s it. Sims was worse. The running game was worse. The passing game was non-existent minus a few. During the telecast I did not hear the name of one of our defensive linemen for 3 hours. Gibbs was having to juke just to get back to the line of scrimmage. We will win about 4 games because as bad as we are there are several ACC teams worse.

I agreed with everything but the last sentence.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

It cannot be said any better. I will just kind of summarize.

GT can either have a system (system expert coach) that allows us to compete with the big boys - in this situation, we will probably have really good years but also some difficult ones.
OR, GT can recruit better (top 35 or so), and if they have a really, really good coaching staff that can develop players, we possibly could average 6-8 wins per year. In this scenario, we probably won't have great years (10+ wins), but we might avoid a 3-4 win season.

I truly believe this is true. With NIL, this has only become more true.

One point that many forget. If you run the same scheme as the big boys, you have to out coach them. And that’s almost impossible in this day and age.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

I've worked with all sorts of great functional managers (Director of Engineering, Finance, whatever) who were disasters as the General Manager. They just weren't well-rounded enough to really understand how the business worked in total. Happy to sail over Niagra Falls in a barrel.

When asked how things were going and what his plan was for 2H, Collins quipped, "We need to get a three and out and put on a good drive." Not exactly earth shattering analysis.

I'm just musing but, why not fire Patenude today and hire Mark Richt? He's done as a head coach but might bring Geoff the stability he needs. He's close and there's no buyout.

That would be wise, but did you hear CMR at halftime? He said Collins was getting his @$$ beat or something like that.

 

[lv20gt]

One point that many forget. If you run the same scheme as the big boys, you have to out coach them. And that’s almost impossible in this day and age.

The reality is you need scheme + talent + non scheme related coaching to hang with the big boys. Unless you have all 3 you aren't going to do so.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

That is why I was such a verbal supporter of the decision to bring CPJ to the flats. I could see how $$ was driving college football away from any type of parity. Now, to be honest, I did not fathom how difficult recruiting defensive players, especially in the front 7, would be in his system. It was frustrating that we could not get a high 3 star or 4 star D linemen or linebacker hardly ever.

But, I did believe if we brought in a guy (maybe Monken) who had a better personality and might make the system "more fun" to play in, we might change this in a positive direction. Basically, breathe new life into the option persona.

I really don't know where we go from here, because I believe GT and the current coaching staff is "damaged goods" at this point. I could be wrong, but I think it goes downhill from here. I hope I am wrong.

I was hoping we would go after Fritz. He nearly beat OU yesterday.

 

[jeffgt14]

That would be wise, but did you hear CMR at halftime? He said Collins was getting his @$$ beat or something like that.

Was he wrong?

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

Ksu will control the ball for 35 to 40 minutes. Tech will lucky if they get 6 possessions on offense.

And some of them will be a quick 3 and out.