How Do We Know About Collins?

geoffrey

Great story on Coachingsearch.com about Geoff Collins.

About a year ago, just about every Rutgers’ fan was singing the praises of getting an Urban Meyers’ disciple in then Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Chris Ash.


“Over the last 4
years, I’ve helped
Matt (Rhule) with
key decisions within
the program; philosophy
shifts at different times.”
_ Geoff Collins

A few of those same fans are singing a different tune about Ash now. Rutgers lost to Michigan, 78-0; Ohio State, 58-0 and Penn State, 38-0 (yes, the same Penn State team that beat Temple by a measly touchdown). The Scarlet Knights are coming off a 2-10 season and some people are questioning his game day coaching ability. Even the media has joined in as NJ.com called the loss to Michigan State “all on Chris Ash.”

The point being the 100 percent praise Ash received a year ago mollified considerably after watching the guy with the clipboard in his hands.


If those decisions
were to utilize
the fullback to
jump start an ailing
running game and ditch
the four wides and
go to a play-action
passing game, expect
Temple to head to
a NY6 bowl under Collins

Geoff Collins has received universal praise as Temple’s new hire, just like Ash did a year ago at Rutgers, so the question some fans might ask about Collins is “How do we know he won’t be a Chris Ash?”

You know, like another hot assistant, like UConn’s Bob Diaco—the national college football assistant coach of the year in 2012 with Notre Dame—who falls on his face as a head coach. Heck, we don’t know if Ash will join Diaco but a 2-10 first season with one of the wins over Howard doesn’t engender a lot of confidence among the North Jersey faithful. What they have learned in East Hartford and Piscataway is being the greatest assistant coach in the world does not automatically translate to being a great head coach. They are two different jobs and even Matt Rhule had a rocky first couple of years. For every assistant who turns into a great head coach like Rhule, there are 10 guys like Diaco who need to get fired. Head coaches who move from one place where they did well as a head coach to another have a higher rate of success. Those are the guys P5 schools can afford to hire.

As far as assistants go, the answer is we do not know, but the weight of the evidence is in Collins’ favor over Ash or Diaco.

goldenash

RU fans wanted Golden over Ash in this poll.

The truth is, with an assistant coach, you never know but there are a couple of things with Collins that give him a little more street cred than say, an Ash or a Diaco. One, the Temple program is in much better shape, player-wise, than the Rutgers or UConn. Two, no less of an authority on Temple football than Matt Rhule himself said the hire of Collins was a “home run” and, three, in two coaching stops along with way, Collins was Rhule’s boss, not the other way around. Rhule learned from Collins. Four, Collins was a coordinator, not a “co-coordinator” like Ash, so you know the Florida Mayhem defense was his production and there are no blurred lines on who contributed what. Collins already has been a coach at Temple of sorts over the last four years as “helped Matt with key decisions within the program” according to this interview.

If those decisions were to utilize the fullback to jump start an ailing running game and ditch the four wides and go to a play-action passing game, expect Temple to head to a NY6 bowl under Collins.

Now all Collins has to do is perform on game day and, from what he has done in the days leading up to his first one, all systems are go for a great liftoff.

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9 thoughts on “How Do We Know About Collins?

  1. NFL Firing Season is upon us. I have no idea who may be contacting Coach Collins.

  2. …don’t know how you can possibly call Chris Ash any type of failure after 1 season when he is still cleaning up a colossal mess left behind by Flood. You dont even know a quarter of the mess that Flood’s regime caused. Didn’t Rhule go 2-10 and lose to a terrible, terrible Idaho team in his first season at Temple? Weren’t you (Mike) basically riding him at every turn all but saying he was a mistake?

    Joe P.

    • Joe, I understand you want to give Ash time and yes he deserves it but if you think Rutgers won’t be a punching bag in the big ten like Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Purdue you are sadly mistaken. Rutgers will never compete with the top echelon in the big ten. All the money the conference bestows on Rutgers is not going to change that fact.

      • I don’t think any Rutgers fan I know has any pretentions that Rutgers will be Ohio State in 10 years…but ‘forever’/’ever’ is a loooonnnnngggg time. If this medium existed 30 years ago, you would have said the same thing about Kansas State and Northwestern. Kansas last year was absolutely hapless, but this year they took down Texas. 8-10 years ago Temple was getting blown out by mid-level MAC teams. Things change over time.

        I think most Rutgers fans are realisticslly hoping for ‘Iowa’/’Minnesota’/ ‘Northwestern’-type success sometime in the next decade or so. Honestly, I’d rather Rutgers take its lumps in the B1G and have a chance at something great every so often than be in Temple’s situation, where a conference title and 10 wins lands you in the same bowl game that you got by finishing 3rd place in the MAC and against a 6-6 team.

        Many outside the program just don’t know or realize the damage the Flood regime caused both on and off the field and how much Ash has had to repair/ conduct damage control ever since he got here. The Rutgers fans moaning about him at this point are likely the same ones that were moaning about Schiano’s first 2 years, just like the Temple fans who wanted to run Rhule right down/up I-95 in 2013, not seeing the forest through the trees. Of course there’s no guarantee of success, but you need to be able to take things in context and not just be so linear/ concrete/ transitive.

        Joe P.

    • “I’d rather Rutgers take its lumps in the B1G…than be in Temple’s situation”

      – I will gladly take the latter. In fact, I am used to this “process” of winning a few seasons and starting over. It’s the truth, and it won’t change until Temple gets invited into a P5 Conference.

      – I will say this, the B1G is not the right conference for Rutgers to compete at a high level. Same thing goes for Temple if it was in Rutgers’ place.

      • Problem I see with winning in a league like the AAC is IMO it doesnt move the needle enough, especially in the ultra-competitive Northeast. When 10 wins and a league title doesnt get you a Top 25 season, that eventually is going to register in the wrong way with recruits/ potential fans, etc. You win your league and get to go to the same game that Wake Forest gets to go to by going 6-6 and winning like 2-3 ACC games? It’s not fair, but perception is reality. This isn’t Temple’s ‘fault’ per se, but I’d honestly rather have a 7-5/ bowl-winning season while in the Big 10 than say win the division or even the league in the AAC and go to a December 21st bowl game.

        I’m not in Philly so I have no direct idea what the reaction has been like, but has there been a ‘buzz’ thoughout the city for the AAC title this year? Up in my area (North Jersey/NYC metro area) it barely registered, though that can also be more of a byproduct of Temple not playing in Rutgers’ conference.

        Joe P.

        Joe P.

  3. Opinions on hiring an OC from a small program like Coastal Carolina? Doesn’t seem like the level Temple should be considering. Any news on Collin’s recruiting? Maybe it’s too soon.

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