CHAPEL HILLAs defensive coordinator, the University of North Carolina football team has brought in 27-year collegiate coaching experience Geoff Collins. Collins, a native of Atlanta, most recently spent four seasons as Georgia Tech’s head coach. Collins has 11 years of collegiate experience as a defensive coordinator, six of those in the SEC, and six years as a head coach overall.
Head coach Mack Brown of UNC remarked, “We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Geoff Collins, his wife Jennifer, and their daughter Astrid to the Carolina football family.” “Geoff is an excellent defensive strategist who has excelled in a variety of roles as a coordinator and head coach. His background demonstrates that he has what it takes to guide the soldiers in our programme, and he will make use of this knowledge to strengthen our defence. When we spoke with Geoff, we were astounded. He was incredibly well-prepared. He was familiar with our team, having seen every one of our games, and could identify the exact changes he would make to enhance both our players and the defence as a whole. I am eager for Geoff and his family to visit.
More than thirty players who have gone on to play in the National Football League have been recruited, trained, or both by Collins. Collins’ NFL students include Pittsburgh Steelers safety Keanu Neal, the No. 17 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, Baltimore Ravens cornerback Rock Ya-Sin, who earned first-team All-American Athletic Conference honours at Temple and was selected in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft, Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, a consensus All-American at Mississippi State, and running back Nathan Cottrell, who made the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent out of Tech in 2020. Collins also coached five Yellow Jackets who were drafted.
Collins said, “My family and I want to thank Coach Brown and the UNC staff for giving us this opportunity.” “I’ve always respected Carolina and am aware of its exceptional qualities. I am thrilled to work with the exceptional student-athletes in Chapel Hill and feel privileged to be doing so. For me, the past year has been quite beneficial as I’ve followed trends, studied the game from a different angle, and got ready for my next coaching role. I’m prepared to take on this task. I’m eager to begin this adventure and am looking forward to travelling to Chapel Hill.
While the head coach at Georgia Tech, Collins was faced with installing a pro-style spread offensive attack after 11 years of option football at Tech, all while battling the Covid-19 pandemic. An accomplished recruiter, Collins produced back-to-back nationally lauded recruiting classes. His first full recruiting class in 2020 was ranked No. 24 nationally by Rivals, then re-ranked No. 8 nationally by Bleacher Report during the ’20 season based on the impressive play of Tech’s newcomers, which included three true-freshman starters on offense. It was only the second top-25 recruiting class in Georgia Tech history, and the first since 2007, a class that was compiled when Collins served as the Yellow Jackets’ director of player personnel. His second recruiting class at Tech in 2021 was also a top-20 class when including the rankings of eight highly ranked transfers. In all, Georgia Tech added 34 four- or five-star recruits and 18 of the 50 highest-ranked high-school recruits in program history.
Collins oversaw the growth of five NFL Draft selections in four seasons, including tight end Ray Guy Award winner P Pressley Harvin III (2021), WR Jalen Camp (2021), DB Tyler Davis (2020), DE Keion White (2023) and Tariq Carpenter (2022). Recruited by Collins to attend The Flats as a graduate transfer in 2019, Davis became the first non-specialist to be drafted from Georgia Tech in four years and the school’s first NFL Draft selection at any position in three years. Tech earned multiple picks in the same NFL Draft for the first time since 2016 as Camp and Harvin were both chosen in 2021. Carpenter was selected in the 2022 draft, making him the first defensive player selected from Tech since ’16.
Collins and his team won a lot of memorable games while they were on The Flats. They beat No. 20 North Carolina in 2021, won in a thrilling 16-13 comeback victory at Florida State to start the 2020 season (the Yellow Jackets’ first true road win since 2007), won in overtime at Miami in 2019 (Tech’s first victory over the Hurricanes at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium), and won two nationally televised primetime games: 28-26 against NC State in 2019 and 46-27 against Louisville in 2020.
In 2017 and 2018, Collins had the best opening two seasons as a head coach in Temple’s 121-year football history before taking over at Georgia Tech. In his two seasons with the Owls, Collins amassed 15 victories and guided Temple to two bowl games—both marks that are school records for a coach in their first two seasons at TU.
Only the third bowl victory in school history and the first since 2011, Collins led the Temple Owls to a 28-3 victory over Florida International in the 2017 Gasparilla Bowl during his first season on the campus.
In 2018, he led the Owls to an 8-4 record and a 7-1 standing in the American Athletic Conference. Temple’s lone conference loss came against the eighth-ranked and unbeaten UCF Knights. Temple was awarded a spot in the Independence Bowl following their 8–4 season.
Collins was one of the most well-liked defensive coordinators in the country before taking over as head coach of Temple. He held the position at Florida from 2015 to 2016, Mississippi State from 2013 to 2014 (co-DC: 2011 to 12), FIU from 2010 to 2016, and his alma mater, Western Carolina, from 2002 to 2005.
Highlights of his career as a coordinator included ranking among the nation’s top 10 in total defense in each of his two seasons at Florida (No. 8 in 2015 and No. 5 in 2016), ranking among the top 25 nationally in total defense (18th – 2013) and scoring defense (23rd – 2014) during his two seasons calling plays at Mississippi State and leading the Sun Belt Conference in total defense, scoring defense and turnover margin in his lone campaign at FIU (2010).
At the time, Collins was the only coach to ever be nominated for the Broyles Award, given to college football’s top assistant coach, at three different schools (FIU – 2010, Mississippi State – 2014 and Florida – 2015).
As a student-athlete, Collins totaled 194 career tackles as an outside linebacker and defensive back at Western Carolina (1989-92). He had 68 tackles and six tackles for loss as a junior and helped lead WCU to a 7-4 record with 62 stops, including five behind the line of scrimmage, as a senior.
Collins, 52, is married to the former Jennifer Haynes. They have one daughter, Astrid.
Coaching Experience
2019-22 – Georgia Tech (head coach)
2017-18 – Temple (head coach)
2015-16 – Florida (defensive coordinator)
2013-14 – Mississippi State (defensive coordinator)
2011-12 – Mississippi State (co-defensive coordinator)
2010 – Florida International (defensive coordinator)
2008-09 – UCF (linebackers coach/recruiting coordinator)
2007 – Alabama (director of player personnel)
2006 – Georgia Tech (recruiting coordinator)
2002-05 – Western Carolina (defensive coordinator)
2001 – Georgia Tech (tight ends coach)
1999-2000 – Georgia Tech (graduate assistant)
1997-98 – Albright (defensive coordinator)
1996 – Fordham (linebackers coach)
1995 – Franklin (N.C.) H.S. (assistant coach)
1993-94 – Western Carolina (student assistant)
