Thoughts? Could Collins turn the program around faster than expected?

[wesgt123]

I was watching Clemson/ GT from 2009. It was surreal watching that game. I remember watching that game my senior year in high school. The program had come off a stellar first year with CPJ. The Clemson game was a whiteout. Hey and guess what? TECH FANS SHOWED UP AND PACKED THE PLACE. The stands were 85% white with an orange section and a few of them sprinkled here and there. But it looked damn good. What a different time.

CPJ was a different coach. His body language was sharper. He looked more intense. More enthusiastic. Dabo was young and on his first full year as head coach of Clemson. CPJ picked on him in that game. Strange to see a young Dabo get schooled in coaching. He was frustrated but always trying to teach his players when they screwed up. They announcers made fun of and laughed at a students Yabo Dabo Doo shirt. Clemson was painted in a completely different light. Techs program was new and exciting. Coach was coaching. Players were making plays.

All this got me thinking...Often I’ve seen the comparison between Dabo and Collins. Collins is somewhat trying to emulate the thing similar to what Dabo did at clemson. But could Collins do the same thing at Tech? But FASTER?

Hear me out. And yes this is just a theory, but it’s the off-season and everyone is bored. Tech is in a hotbed breeding ground for elite high school talent. We are right here in the thick of it. With Collins’ ability to expose our brand and use social media, and his RELENTLESS and ATTACKING mentality, could we grow faster? Dabo took some years maybe because they’re Little Ole Clemson in a podunk town. It took him some time and some wins.

I think Collins wants to waste zero time. We could turn around faster than we think. Yes I realize he needs to win games. Yes I realize he made questionable coaching decisions last year. Yes I realize he has yet to coach two full years and have a winning season. This is just a theory. Just entertain me here. What do y’all think?

 

[LibertyTurns]

@wesgt123 Thanks for the motivation. Let’s hope.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I was watching Clemson/ GT from 2009. It was surreal watching that game. I remember watching that game my senior year in high school. The program had come off a stellar first year with CPJ. The Clemson game was a whiteout. Hey and guess what? TECH FANS SHOWED UP AND PACKED THE PLACE. The stands were 85% white with an orange section and a few of them sprinkled here and there. But it looked damn good. What a different time.

CPJ was a different coach. His body language was sharper. He looked more intense. More enthusiastic. Dabo was young and on his first full year as head coach of Clemson. CPJ picked on him in that game. Strange to see a young Dabo get schooled in coaching. He was frustrated but always trying to teach his players when they screwed up. They announcers made fun of and laughed at a students Yabo Dabo Doo shirt. Clemson was painted in a completely different light. Techs program was new and exciting. Coach was coaching. Players were making plays.

All this got me thinking...Often I’ve seen the comparison between Dabo and Collins. Collins is somewhat trying to emulate the thing similar to what Dabo did at clemson. But could Collins do the same thing at Tech? But FASTER?

Hear me out. And yes this is just a theory, but it’s the off-season and everyone is bored. Tech is in a hotbed breeding ground for elite high school talent. We are right here in the thick of it. With Collins’ ability to expose our brand and use social media, and his RELENTLESS and ATTACKING mentality, could we grow faster? Dabo took some years maybe because they’re Little Ole Clemson in a podunk town. It took him some time and some wins.

I think Collins wants to waste zero time. We could turn around faster than we think. Yes I realize he needs to win games. Yes I realize he made questionable coaching decisions last year. Yes I realize he has yet to coach two full years and have a winning season. This is just a theory. Just entertain me here. What do y’all think?

Well Dabo has never been spoken of as being a good coach in terms of the actual coaching part. A lot has changed since then - Clemson ponied up the dough and got some of the best assistant coaches and staff in the country. They have like 70 on staff compared to I think less than 30 for us. He now has at least 3 assistants making 7 figures now (both offensive assistants make over $1m and Venables makes over $2m).

Our total coaching pool including Collins is about $6m/year. Clemson's is almost $20m/year.

 

[Jacketman99]

I am a little confused about your portrayal of Clemson. In 2009 they won 9 games. 2010 was his worst year at 6-7. Since 2011 they have won at least 10 games every year. So are you expecting GT to win 10 games this year? I highly doubt GT will ever be at the level that Clemson is currently. Maybe things go right and we get in the playoffs on a great year but with our limitations we will never be a perennial national championship contender. I am happy competing for ACC championships and letting the chips fall where they may.

 

[Sheboygan]

My heart says " exceeds expectations". My brain says " whoa, let's be realistic". I am about 60/40 that we will have a 6 win season + a bowl game next year. That would be huge, IMO. That would take some lucky breaks, including avoiding too many injuries. My optimism lies in improved OL play leading to improved O. Plus a step up on D. Transfers will play a big part, but we have some weapons coming back on both sides of the ball. I think the players are buying in , big time, and that cannot be overlooked. We shall see early in the season's first 3-4 games.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

My heart says " exceeds expectations". My brain says " whoa, let's be realistic". I am about 60/40 that we will have a 6 win season + a bowl game next year. That would be huge, IMO. That would take some lucky breaks, including avoiding too many injuries. My optimism lies in improved OL play leading to improved O. Plus a step up on D. Transfers will play a big part, but we have some weapons coming back on both sides of the ball. I think the players are buying in , big time, and that cannot be overlooked. We shall see early in the season's first 3-4 games.

We play like 4 10-win teams and 8 bowl teams. If we win 6 games this year it will be an amazing success. I'm really looking forward to what we can do against a regular schedule in 2021.

 

[wesgt123]

Well Dabo has never been spoken of as being a good coach in terms of the actual coaching part. A lot has changed since then - Clemson ponied up the dough and got some of the best assistant coaches and staff in the country. They have like 70 on staff compared to I think less than 30 for us. He now has at least 3 assistants making 7 figures now (both offensive assistants make over $1m and Venables makes over $2m).

Our total coaching pool including Collins is about $6m/year. Clemson's is almost $20m/year.

Right and we’ve heard this over and over. Collins seems to be liked a little more than CPJ and can And will probably get a little more support.

Is it possible to accomplish this turnaround without shelling out big money? The coaches seem to strive to do things the Tech way. We don’t have to be Clemson and have loads of donors contributing. He seems to want to do things differently. Obviously we will need more donations to make strides but something tells me we can do it differently. Maybe I’m just being optimistic. But we don’t need to be Clemson or uga. We can just be TECH.

 

[wesgt123]

I am a little confused about your portrayal of Clemson. In 2009 they won 9 games. 2010 was his worst year at 6-7. Since 2011 they have won at least 10 games every year. So are you expecting GT to win 10 games this year? I highly doubt GT will ever be at the level that Clemson is currently. Maybe things go right and we get in the playoffs on a great year but with our limitations we will never be a perennial national championship contender. I am happy competing for ACC championships and letting the chips fall where they may.

I was trying to just point out how things were different. Not really harping on Clemson other than how young and inexperienced Dabo was at the time.

But I’m not happy with just competing for ACC titles and I doubt our coaches and players are either. Obviously we have to win those first to go anywhere else. You said something of limitations. Our coaches don’t see limitations and the players don’t either. I think that’s part of the culture he’s trying to change as well. We should expect and want to win more.

 

[wesgt123]

My heart says " exceeds expectations". My brain says " whoa, let's be realistic". I am about 60/40 that we will have a 6 win season + a bowl game next year. That would be huge, IMO. That would take some lucky breaks, including avoiding too many injuries. My optimism lies in improved OL play leading to improved O. Plus a step up on D. Transfers will play a big part, but we have some weapons coming back on both sides of the ball. I think the players are buying in , big time, and that cannot be overlooked. We shall see early in the season's first 3-4 games.

I’m with you. I’m trying to stay realistic while maintaining excitement lol I think 6 wins and a bowl game would be much improvement. It’s possible.

 

[Towaliga]

I’m not say Collins can’t do it and I hope he does. However, academics will always be an issue. After all, Clemson has a degree called “sports communication” that involves four years of studying how to use social media. Only 30 students per year are accepted into the program, and 28-30 of those accepted are football or basketball players (this info was provided by one of the professors in the program). They also are allowed to take a significantly higher number of academic “exceptions “. IIWII. Granted, their APR is good (regularly in the Top 10), but how hard is it to graduate with a degree after taking 4 years to learn how to tweet? At least they are far better than the nad-lickers.

 

[stech81]

Depends what everybody's idea faster is, for some no, for others yes. Also depends if you're talking about recruiting or wins. Recruiting yes , wins We will see.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

My heart says " exceeds expectations". My brain says " whoa, let's be realistic". I am about 60/40 that we will have a 6 win season + a bowl game next year. That would be huge, IMO. That would take some lucky breaks, including avoiding too many injuries. My optimism lies in improved OL play leading to improved O. Plus a step up on D. Transfers will play a big part, but we have some weapons coming back on both sides of the ball. I think the players are buying in , big time, and that cannot be overlooked. We shall see early in the season's first 3-4 games.

My heart says "exceeds expectations", my brain says "whoa, let's be realistic", and my gut says "I just don't like the man" (Sorry, just being totally honest here, and that obviously can change). I definitely anticipate MUCH IMPROVED OL play, leading to improved O, IF Patenaude actually comes up with something or is replaced. I also anticipate a step up on D, and saw some of that last year.
Regarding the comparison to Clemson, they have tons of small and FAITHFUL donors to fill their coffers. The will never have that many small donors, although we can certainly have faithful ones. But what Tech SHOULD bring to the table is a good many BIG BIG donors, that a school like Clemson doesn't have. Some of them already faithfully give, and give big, but we need more FROM them, as well as more OF them. I don't think that is an unrealistic goal.
In spite of my gut feelings about Collins, I support him 100% and, God willing, will be at every home game next year, cheering enthusiastically, loudly, and sometimes obscenely (LOL) for the Jackets, plus (hopefully) a bowl game.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

One thing I notice when watching the early CPJ highlights is the size or our players. We had big guys playing like Nesbitt, Morgan, etc. Under CPJ our size just diminished to where his system bottomed out (as any system would). We’ll improve just by simply having bigger players. I really think we take a positive step forward this year. Last year we couldn’t catch a break and didn’t deserve to.

 

[GTJake]

My expectations are for Collins be on a 4-year plan:
Year 1 - Pass
Year 2 - Compete for a lower-tier Bowl Game
Year 3 - Compete for a higher-tier Bowl Game
Year 4 - Compete for an ACC Championship and beyond
I also expect Collins (& Company) to diminish (not eliminate) some of the long-standing GT obstacles ... recruiting, academics turned into positives, alumni involvement and fan support, etc.
I wasn't a Collins advocate before the hire, I really didn't know of him, but I think he is exactly what the GT Football program needed and I'm hoping for the best.
And, it's such a breath of fresh air, that naturally some of us have doubts ...

 

[Jacketsfan99]

I was watching Clemson/ GT from 2009. It was surreal watching that game. I remember watching that game my senior year in high school. The program had come off a stellar first year with CPJ. The Clemson game was a whiteout. Hey and guess what? TECH FANS SHOWED UP AND PACKED THE PLACE. The stands were 85% white with an orange section and a few of them sprinkled here and there. But it looked damn good. What a different time.

CPJ was a different coach. His body language was sharper. He looked more intense. More enthusiastic. Dabo was young and on his first full year as head coach of Clemson. CPJ picked on him in that game. Strange to see a young Dabo get schooled in coaching. He was frustrated but always trying to teach his players when they screwed up. They announcers made fun of and laughed at a students Yabo Dabo Doo shirt. Clemson was painted in a completely different light. Techs program was new and exciting. Coach was coaching. Players were making plays.

All this got me thinking...Often I’ve seen the comparison between Dabo and Collins. Collins is somewhat trying to emulate the thing similar to what Dabo did at clemson. But could Collins do the same thing at Tech? But FASTER?

Hear me out. And yes this is just a theory, but it’s the off-season and everyone is bored. Tech is in a hotbed breeding ground for elite high school talent. We are right here in the thick of it. With Collins’ ability to expose our brand and use social media, and his RELENTLESS and ATTACKING mentality, could we grow faster? Dabo took some years maybe because they’re Little Ole Clemson in a podunk town. It took him some time and some wins.

I think Collins wants to waste zero time. We could turn around faster than we think. Yes I realize he needs to win games. Yes I realize he made questionable coaching decisions last year. Yes I realize he has yet to coach two full years and have a winning season. This is just a theory. Just entertain me here. What do y’all think?

A lot will depend on the attitude of the players - no doubt, the talent is there but how important is winning and how hard are they willing to work for it ?

 

[senoiajacket]

I was watching Clemson/ GT from 2009. It was surreal watching that game. I remember watching that game my senior year in high school. The program had come off a stellar first year with CPJ. The Clemson game was a whiteout. Hey and guess what? TECH FANS SHOWED UP AND PACKED THE PLACE. The stands were 85% white with an orange section and a few of them sprinkled here and there. But it looked damn good. What a different time.

CPJ was a different coach. His body language was sharper. He looked more intense. More enthusiastic. Dabo was young and on his first full year as head coach of Clemson. CPJ picked on him in that game. Strange to see a young Dabo get schooled in coaching. He was frustrated but always trying to teach his players when they screwed up. They announcers made fun of and laughed at a students Yabo Dabo Doo shirt. Clemson was painted in a completely different light. Techs program was new and exciting. Coach was coaching. Players were making plays.

All this got me thinking...Often I’ve seen the comparison between Dabo and Collins. Collins is somewhat trying to emulate the thing similar to what Dabo did at clemson. But could Collins do the same thing at Tech? But FASTER?

Hear me out. And yes this is just a theory, but it’s the off-season and everyone is bored. Tech is in a hotbed breeding ground for elite high school talent. We are right here in the thick of it. With Collins’ ability to expose our brand and use social media, and his RELENTLESS and ATTACKING mentality, could we grow faster? Dabo took some years maybe because they’re Little Ole Clemson in a podunk town. It took him some time and some wins.

I think Collins wants to waste zero time. We could turn around faster than we think. Yes I realize he needs to win games. Yes I realize he made questionable coaching decisions last year. Yes I realize he has yet to coach two full years and have a winning season. This is just a theory. Just entertain me here. What do y’all think?

Dabo wasn’t making the “biggest transition in the history of college football”, so no.

 

[wesgt123]

Dabo wasn’t making the “biggest transition in the history of college football”, so no.

This seems a bit condescending.

 

[wesgt123]

My heart says "exceeds expectations", my brain says "whoa, let's be realistic", and my gut says "I just don't like the man" (Sorry, just being totally honest here, and that obviously can change). I definitely anticipate MUCH IMPROVED OL play, leading to improved O, IF Patenaude actually comes up with something or is replaced. I also anticipate a step up on D, and saw some of that last year.
Regarding the comparison to Clemson, they have tons of small and FAITHFUL donors to fill their coffers. The will never have that many small donors, although we can certainly have faithful ones. But what Tech SHOULD bring to the table is a good many BIG BIG donors, that a school like Clemson doesn't have. Some of them already faithfully give, and give big, but we need more FROM them, as well as more OF them. I don't think that is an unrealistic goal.
In spite of my gut feelings about Collins, I support him 100% and, God willing, will be at every home game next year, cheering enthusiastically, loudly, and sometimes obscenely (LOL) for the Jackets, plus (hopefully) a bowl game.

I had my moments where I cringed and disliked him last year as well. But I’ll be damn if the man can’t recruit his *** off and sell the program. Winning more games would cure all woes and opinions, and I’m sure Collins knows this far better than you or me.

There’s still a lot left to be desired but we are on the right track. This year especially will be a good peek into the future. We have a LOT of bigger better bodies coming in. Now let’s give him another chance and see what he and the other coaching staff can cook up.

and if we wanna get down to Collins’ X’s and O’s Ability, we will known more in the future. But his special teams call in the Miami game with Harvin throwing a TD was nice. At least we know he’s not completely inept lol

 

[stech81]

My expectations are for Collins be on a 4-year plan:
Year 1 - Pass
Year 2 - Compete for a lower-tier Bowl Game
Year 3 - Compete for a higher-tier Bowl Game
Year 4 - Compete for an ACC Championship and beyond
I also expect Collins (& Company) to diminish (not eliminate) some of the long-standing GT obstacles ... recruiting, academics turned into positives, alumni involvement and fan support, etc.
I wasn't a Collins advocate before the hire, I really didn't know of him, but I think he is exactly what the GT Football program needed and I'm hoping for the best.
And, it's such a breath of fresh air, that naturally some of us have doubts ...

This is very realistic I would like to see it but could live with it but would love to see year 4 in year 3. One thing you can say the coaches work hard

 

[wesgt123]

My expectations are for Collins be on a 4-year plan:
Year 1 - Pass
Year 2 - Compete for a lower-tier Bowl Game
Year 3 - Compete for a higher-tier Bowl Game
Year 4 - Compete for an ACC Championship and beyond
I also expect Collins (& Company) to diminish (not eliminate) some of the long-standing GT obstacles ... recruiting, academics turned into positives, alumni involvement and fan support, etc.
I wasn't a Collins advocate before the hire, I really didn't know of him, but I think he is exactly what the GT Football program needed and I'm hoping for the best.
And, it's such a breath of fresh air, that naturally some of us have doubts ...

That’s a fair expectation. I could definitely use a few more wins in the coming years lol.

I can see why a lot of people dislike him. I’ll like him a lot more if he starts delivering on the field. You are right though. There is so much change now. But the man is doing EVERYTHING possible to make Tech pop again. If you think about it, there’s really no reason Tech can’t be a staple in college football. People wanna talk about academic hurdles but it isn’t impossible. We should, as a fan base, strive to get superior athletes and superior students. They’re out there and coaches know that. If we keep honing in on talent early (like Gibbs) then the future is bright when it comes to getting the types of athletes we need here. If Collins succeeds in what he is set out to do, then he will no doubt be one of the greats. But until then let’s sit back and see how it goes