New UNC DC Geoff Collins Intro Presser & Report
CHAPEL HILL – Geoff Collins, whom Mack Brown calls the “Minister of Mayhem,” met with the media Monday at the Kenan Football Center to field questions about his role at North Carolina’s new defensive coordinator.
Collins spoke about how the process played out, what are his expectations, his approach, philosophies, and so much more.
Above is video of Collins’ Q&A session, and below are some notes from what he had to say:
*Collins’ opening remarks:
“Obviously, when a College Football Hall of Famer calls, you leave your mancave and come here and get to work. So, it's been an honor to be here. I played in this great state at Western Carolina University with Lonnie Galloway. Met my wife Jennifer of 28 years in this great state, was able to coach four years at my alma mater. The experiences that I've had being in the ACC for as long as I have, always had a tremendous amount of respect for this place and for this university for the football program.
“And, you know, having gotten to know Coach Mack for the last seven years when I was a coach at Temple, he would call games, and I've gotten to know him. And then meet in the ACC meetings together and head coaches meetings, and then him being a mentor to me, has been a special experience.
“For him to call and offer me the chance to be the defense coordinator for him at this place, I do not take this responsibility lightly. I feel very honored to be in this position, and I'm thankful to him, his wife Sally for this amazing opportunity.”
*Collins watched all of UNC’s games and broke down the defense, the good and not so good, and was prepared when he had his zoom interviews with the Carolina staff.
“When this opportunity started to come about after the bowl game, I watched every single game over the year a couple of times. I've known Coach (Gene) Chizik for a while, have a tremendous amount of respect for him. Actually, a couple of days ago he sent me a very nice text. So, I've got the utmost respect for him and appreciation for him.
“But just some things that we went through the interview process, playing a lot of guys and creating chaos from our perspective without being chaotic internally matters to me. Letting the players play fast, let them play free.
“And, you know, those kinds of things I expressed to the defense when I talked to him on Tuesday, and I was also able to watch the returning players. There's some really good players on this roster. Then in the bowl game, you got to see a lot of the younger guys get their chance to play. Then I did deep dives into their high school tape and even the transfers, their tape as well. So, I’m just very excited to get to work with them.”
*After successful stops at several programs, including Florida and Mississippi State, as defensive coordinator, Collins was head coach at Temple for two seasons, and then at Georgia Tech for three-plus seasons. He did not coach this past season, but knew he was ready to get back into it. Most of all, Collins says he wanted his own defense to call again.
“So, I explored a lot of different opportunities this past year. One of the best things is getting to spend so much time with my wife and my seven-year-old daughter. That was absolutely amazing.
“But to kick off the season, as we're exploring opportunities, whether it be media or whatever else, we went to support a couple of our buddies on the very first week of the college football (season). And my wife kind of looked at me as I'm on the field for pregame warm ups, and she saw that look in my eyes. She's like, ‘okay, we're probably going to end up getting back into this thing by the end of the season.’
“But then going through the season, do some consulting work, having access to all the tape, college tape, NFL tape, doing some consulting work, just studying the trends in college football. Seeing the things defensively that are coming from the NFL and then from college back. It's excited me.
“One of the things that I've missed the most, being a head coach is awesome, but I genuinely miss being a play caller and standing in front of the defense and calling plays on college football Saturdays. Having this opportunity to do it for Coach Brown is truly an honor.”
*Collins had some familiarity with UNC’s staff.
“I tried to hire Charlton Warren to be a part of my defensive staff twice before. Coach (Tommy) Thigpen I had recruited against (each other) in the SEC and always knew what a tremendous recruiter his is, and what a tremendous person he is.
“Same thing with Jason Jones, recruited against him, coached against him in a couple Egg Bowls, Mississippi State-Ole Miss. And then gotten to know Coach Ted (Monachino) has been an honor. Part of the process, too, on the Zoom, even though I was being interviewed, I was interviewing too, because one of the biggest pieces for me is I want to be around really good people that are in the game for the right reasons to positively impact the players. Great defenses have to be a collaborative effort. And on the Zoom calls, you could just feel the sense of ownership the guys had, the pride that they had.
“Then I got to spend the first day out recruiting with Ted the entire day, and just shared philosophy and shared experiences. You know the way to treat people and take care of your players and coach your players. That was great and I got to meet his wife, Amy, this weekend as well.
“So, the people matter to me, Patrick Suddes, who's the general manager here, he and I have been close friends I think now for 16-17 years. Obviously playing with Lonnie, you know, that familiarity with them. Chip Lindsey, he and I go way back.”
*Schemes are schemes, but terminology can be very different at various programs, so that is something Collins and the players will work getting on the same page with.
“One of the biggest things is the terminology piece, trying to salvage as much terminology as possible. That's why I’m having the coaches be able to translate because it's you know, whether you run a 3-4, 4-3, middle field, or open middle field close, the terminology is the part that is the learning curve for the guys.
“And I've gone in transition before when we tried to keep a lot of the terminology, especially as techniques and fundamental things. So having that piece will be huge.”
*Collins is known to have an aggressive approach on that side of the ball. Be strong on first down to set up long-yardage situations on second and third downs.
“It's just being aggressive on early downs. One of the biggest pieces is you want to get people into advantageous situations. For the defense, creating third-and-longs, that's where most of the turnovers in college football happen. So being aggressive on multiple and early downs.
“The terminology and the way we call things make it very easy for our players to learn so they can play fast and live in the backfield. Cut them loose and then rotate guys in to create depth. So, in case you do ever have a run of injuries, you have guys that have experience and kind of done that. My entire career we played a lot of guys, and those kinds of things kind of give you confidence in being able to do that.
“So, it's an aggressive nature. It's an aggressive mindset that we have in the building and I think the guy's got to experience that in the first defensive unit meeting the other night… You guys will get to see me on the grass and with the fellas. We're gonna create chaos without being chaotic.”
*A defensive guy his whole life, Collins had a chance in nearly six full seasons as a head coach to dive into offensive game-week preparation, and see the world through that lens. How much will that help him now that he’s back solely on the defensive side?
“Being in those meetings has been invaluable. Even this time this year, when I've had a unique perspective to kind of look at the game, from an outsider's perspective has been huge too. And I think I wrote these four principles down that just keep showing up as a watch ball in the NFL and in college.
“It’s obviously, be strong up the middle, have the ability to set edges. In this day and age, you cannot allow easy access throws because everything's an RPO, everything's quick at the ball. So, denying easy access throws, and then affecting the quarterback.
“So, we have to build the system and put the players in position to do those four things on every snap. So those are the things to take away throughout the year.”
*So, when Collins got the job, after telling his wife, he called one of Carolina’s current players who used to be one of his players on The Flats.
“The first person I called on FaceTime was Nate McCollum. So, they (told) the team before they announced it to you guys. And Nate sends me an immediate text, I'll save that between us. I screenshotted it to keep it in my heart, but I FaceTime him before I even called my mom and my in-laws.
“I called Nate McCollum and had a FaceTime with him and then I don't know if it was, I have to check the timestamp, but (Kaimon) Rucker, number 25, hits me up within the first 30 minutes and we get on the phone and we talk and start having conversations.”
*Collins’s defense is a 4-2-5 base, which he discussed.
“It is, yes. But if you look at what we did at Mississippi State and Temple, it was a lot more overhang, Sam backer, nickel. Florida, it was a more middle field closed, man free type of nickel. So, it just depends on the guys that we have, where we're able to be multiple throughout but as long as the overarching principles are in place will be good.”