Georgia Tech is moving on from both head coach Geoff Collins and athletic director Todd Stansbury.
After multiple reports surfaced on Sunday and early Monday, the university confirmed Monday afternoon that both Collins and Stansbury have been fired.
Georgia Tech, which lost to UCF on Saturday, is the third Power Five coach school to fire its head coach over the past three weeks. Scott Frost was fired at Nebraska after Week 2 and Herm Edwards was fired at Arizona State after Week 3.
Stansbury, Tech’s athletic director since 2016, fired longtime Yellow Jackets coach Paul Johnson and subsequently hired Collins in 2018. The move has not panned out.
After going a combined 9-25 in Collins’ first three seasons, Georgia Tech is off to a 1-3 start in 2022. The Yellow Jackets had a win over Western Carolina but lost to Clemson, Ole Miss and UCF by a combined margin of 110-20.
Following Saturday’s loss to UCF, Georgia Tech has lost nine consecutive games against FBS opponents. In the 27-10 loss, Georgia Tech outgained UCF by more than 100 yards but was plagued by the same mistakes that have been constant throughout Collins’ tenure. The Yellow Jackets failed to score on five red-zone trips, committed too many penalties, missed two field goals and had a punt blocked for the fourth time in four games. To make matters worse, the punt that was blocked was returned for a touchdown.
With the loss, Collins dropped to 10-28 as Georgia Tech’s head coach with a 7-19 mark in ACC play.
“The results of our football program have fallen short of what our loyal community, fans and athletes expect and deserve. We are committed to rebuilding the program and a coaching change is a necessary first step in that process,” Georgia Tech president Angel Cabrera said in a statement.
With Collins and Stansbury out, Brent Key will serve as the Yellow Jackets’ interim head coach while Frank Neville has been named interim athletic director.
Georgia Tech Yellowjackets head coach Geoff Collins is finished in Atlanta. (Photo by Austin McAfee/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Collins, a Georgia native, worked his way up the assistant coaching ranks and became an SEC defensive coordinator at Mississippi State and Florida before landing the head-coaching job at Temple in December 2016. He went 15-10 in two seasons with the Owls before getting hired by Georgia Tech to modernize the program.
The school wanted to move away from the option-style football run employed by Johnson, who was fired after the 2018 season. Johnson coached Georgia Tech to seven winning seasons, nine bowl appearances and even an ACC title during his 11 seasons in charge, but Stansbury opted to move the football program in another direction.
That direction was Collins, who was known for his ability to market a program, particularly on social media. That vision got harder to sell as the losses piled up.
The Yellow Jackets went 3-9 in his first season, 3-7 in his second season and then 3-9 again in 2021. The 2021 season culminated in back-to-back losses to Notre Dame and Georgia by a combined margin of 100-0.
There have been few, if any, signs of tangible progress and the talent on the roster is lacking compared to the average Power Five program. Ahead of the 2022 season, Collins did a major shakeup on his staff, including adding Chip Long as offensive coordinator, but many of the team’s top players entered the transfer portal. That included running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who transferred to Alabama, as well as many of Tech’s best defensive players.
“The challenges the athletic program has faced in recent years have grown to a point where we need to try a new approach, and that requires new leadership,” Cabrera said.
Where does Georgia Tech go from here? In the short term, the Yellow Jackets will resume ACC play with a trip to Pittsburgh on Saturday before a home game against Duke and then a bye week. Key, a Georgia Tech alum, will lead the team forward as interim head coach after previously holding the titles of assistant head coach, run game coordinator and offensive line coach.
From a broader perspective, a new Georgia Tech athletic director will be tasked with identifying a new coach for the football program, beginning with the 2023 season.
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