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Geoff Collins (American football)

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Geoff Collins
Collins at Georgia Tech in 2019
Current position
TitleDefensive coordinator
Team North Carolina
ConferenceACC
Biographical details
Born (1971-04-10) April 10, 1971 (age 53)
Conyers, Georgia, U.S.
Playing career
1989–1992Western Carolina
Position(s)Linebacker
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1993–1994Western Carolina (assistant)
1995Franklin HS (NC) (assistant)
1996Fordham (LB)
1997–1998Albright (DC)
1999–2001Georgia Tech (GA)
2002–2005Western Carolina (DC)
2006Georgia Tech (RC)
2007Alabama (DPP)
2008–2009UCF (LB/RC)
2010FIU (DC)
2011–2012Mississippi State (co-DC)
2013–2014Mississippi State (DC)
2015–2016Florida (DC)
2017–2018Temple
2019–2022Georgia Tech
2024–presentNorth Carolina (DC)
Head coaching record
Overall25–38
Bowls1–0

William Geoffrey Collins (born April 10, 1971)[1] is an American football coach and former player. He is currently serving as the defensive coordinator at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to the Tar Heels, he was the head coach at Georgia Tech from December 7, 2018, to September 25, 2022. He was previously the head coach at Temple University,[2] and had served in the past as defensive coordinator for the University of Florida and Mississippi State University.[3]

Coaching career

Early career

Collins graduated from Rockdale County High School in Conyers, Georgia, where he played for coach and mentor Bob Smith. He went on to play football at Western Carolina University.[4] Following his graduation, Collins served as a student assistant at Western Carolina, his alma mater, during the 1993 and 1994 seasons. Following a year coaching high school, Collins became the linebacker coach for Fordham in 1996 before becoming the defensive coordinator at Albright College from 1997 through 1998. Collins left Albright to become a graduate assistant at Georgia Tech under George O'Leary for the 1999 and 2000 seasons. Following two years in the GA position, Georgia Tech promoted Collins to tight ends coach at for the 2001 season. Collins returned to his alma mater to become Western Carolina's defensive coordinator from 2002 through 2005 before returning to Georgia Tech in 2006 as the Director of Player Personnel. After a year at Alabama as the Director of Player Personnel, Collins was terminated and reunited with O'Leary at UCF as linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator from 2008 through 2009.

FIU (2010)

Collins served as the defensive coordinator for Florida International during the 2010 season. Collins' defense led the Sun Belt Conference in total defense, scoring defense and turnover margin.[1]

Mississippi State (2011–2014)

Collins coached at Mississippi State from 2011 through 2014. During that time, Collins coached All-American Fletcher Cox, who was drafted in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft. Upon being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2013, Collins helped lead a Bulldogs team that finished in the Top 5 in the SEC in total defense, rushing defense and passing defense. In 2014, Collins' Mississippi State defense led the SEC in sacks and had the conference's No. 1 Red Zone defense en route to a 10-3 record.

Florida (2015–2016)

Collins spent two years as the defensive coordinator at Florida underneath Jim McElwain. While with the Gators, Collins oversaw a defense that ranked No. 6 in scoring defense in 2016 and No. 11 in 2015.[5] During the 2015 season, Collins' defense became just the seventh team in the last 20 years to not allow a touchdown against three FBS Power 5 schools on the road in the same season.[1] During his time at Florida, Collins coached five defensive players that were drafted in the 2016 NFL Draft and produced a consensus All-American in Vernon Hargreaves. Hargreaves and safety Keanu Neal were drafted in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft.

Following the 2015 season, Collins was a candidate to replace O'Leary as the head coach at UCF.[6] Collins interviewed for the position that ultimately went to Scott Frost.[7]

Temple (2017–2018)

Collins secured his first head coaching job in December 2016 when he was named Matt Rhule's successor at Temple. Collins had previously worked alongside Rhule at Albright College and Western Carolina.[8]

In Collins' first season, Temple went 7–6 and won the 2017 Gasparilla Bowl, the program's first bowl win since 2011 and just its third bowl win overall.[9]

In his second season, the Owls started off 0-2 but finished the regular season 8–4 overall and 7–1 in conference play. The Owls qualified for the 2018 Independence Bowl as a result. Along the way, Collins surpassed Steve Addazio as the winningest Temple coach over the first two seasons of their tenure at the school.

Georgia Tech (2019–2022)

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]

North Carolina (2024–present)

After the dismissal of previous defensive coordinator Gene Chizik, Collins was hired by Mack Brown to fill the vacant defensive coordinator position in Chapel Hill.[13]

Head coaching record

Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs
Temple Owls (American Athletic Conference) (2017–2018)
2017 Temple 7–6 4–4 3rd (East) W Gasparilla
2018 Temple 8–4 7–1 2nd (East) Independence[a]
Temple: 15–10 11–5
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2019–2022)
2019 Georgia Tech 3–9 2–6 7th (Coastal)
2020 Georgia Tech 3–7 3–6 12th
2021 Georgia Tech 3–9 2–6 6th (Coastal)
2022 Georgia Tech 1–3[b] 0–1 (Coastal)
Georgia Tech: 10–28 7–19
Total: 25–38
  1. ^ Collins resigned prior to the bowl game
  2. ^ Georgia Tech fired Collins after four games

References

  1. ^ a b c "Geoff Collins". Temple Owls. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  2. ^ Narducci, Marc (December 7, 2018). "Temple's Geoff Collins leaving for Georgia Tech; he won't coach Owls' bowl game". The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  3. ^ "2016 Football Coaching Staff - Florida Gators". Florida Gators. Archived from the original on December 14, 2016. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  4. ^ "Rockdale County graduate Collins ready to lead Georgia Tech football". December 14, 2018.
  5. ^ "2015 Florida Gators Stats". Sports Reference. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  6. ^ Hutchins, Andy (October 27, 2015). "CAB: Collins could get interest from UCF". SB Nation. Vox Media. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  7. ^ Goldkamp, Thomas (November 24, 2015). "Report: UCF to interview two UF assistants for head job". 247Sports.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  8. ^ Narducci, Marc (December 13, 2016). "Temple hires Florida's Geoff Collins as football coach". The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  9. ^ "Football Grinds Past FIU in Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl, 28-3". Temple Owls. December 21, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2019.
  10. ^ "Collins Named Georgia Tech Football Head Coach". Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. December 7, 2018. Retrieved December 7, 2018.
  11. ^ "Georgia Tech fires football coach Geoff Collins and athletic director Todd Stansbury". USA Today. September 26, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2023.
  12. ^ Sugiura, Ken. "Update: Collins, Stansbury dismissed at Georgia Tech, Brent Key interim coach". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ISSN 1539-7459. Retrieved September 26, 2022.
  13. ^ "Geoff Collins Hired As Defensive Coordinator". University of North Carolina Athletics. January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
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