Geoff Collins Could Be Better Than Rhule

collins

Geoff Collins will be speaking at Rutgers and telling them to get ready for an ass-kicking in 2020.

When a former Temple quarterback called me on the phone to break the news that the Owls had hired Geoff Collins back in December, the news came from somewhat out of left field.

I had heard all of the names, but Collins was not one of them.

Until, of course, the day he was hired. I was headed out the door to work when the phone rang and not paying attention to the news or sports.

“Mike, what do you think of this new guy Temple just hired?”

“What new guy?”

“Geoff Collins. It’s all over ESPN. I really like him.”

“The Florida guy?”

“Yeah, him.”

I knew Geoff Collins was the defensive coordinator at Florida, but that was about it. I also knew that Florida’s defense was to the SEC what Temple’s defense was to the AAC, so that was a big plus.

I did know another, more important, thing. Compared to some of the clowns Temple either released to Marc Narducci or Nardo came up with on his own, Collins, to me, was Vince Lombardi. Surely Temple could not have been serious about hiring a coach fired by Delaware (K.C. Keeler) or some of the other suspects mentioned.

Compared to those guys, Collins was solid as a rock.

Take away the worst recruiting month I’ve ever seen at Temple, Collins has not disappointed.

He has said all of the right things.

He has emphasized making a system tailored to the players he has in the program now, rather than bring a system and try to force it onto what could be ill-fitting players. I like the way that he has bonded with the players in practices. I like the way he appreciates fullback Nick Sharga, like we all have learned to do, and plans to feature him. I like the way he is letting the quarterback situation play out, rather than naming a quarterback now and regretting it later.

I also like the way former head coach Matt Rhule leaned on him to make some key decisions within the program and the way Collins has followed the program from afar for the last four years.

All of these things suggest than Collins will hit the ground running, unlike the stumbles and bumbles of the first two Rhule years.

There are two sides, in my mind, to the Geoff Collins’ coin. We glossed over the shiny side in today’s post.

Monday: The Other Side

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12 thoughts on “Geoff Collins Could Be Better Than Rhule

  1. Let’s pound Navy this year again! Did anyone else get their credit card skimmed down at the Militaristic Bowl?

    • I used only cash at the Military Bowl. Kids who worked the concessions were real nice. I felt it to be a better overall experience than the Eagles’ concession people at the Linc.

  2. Knock off the Irish in south bend and we’ll talk. MR slayed the dragon that was PSU and that’s a tall task to top regardless of what his detractors say.

    • Rhule was not good his first two years. He set a low bar here for Collins for the first two seasons at least. I agree Rhule picked it up by the first game of his third year and parlayed it into a big payday.

  3. If Collins is able to out-coach ND, he’ll be out in 2 years. If we don’t completely embarrass ourselves, he may be out after 4, and if we get whooped, then he might get fired after 3.

    Are all of the above statements realistic? Heck no, but there’s some type of coaching magnet that attracts good coaches to Temple and I don’t see that attraction fading.

  4. Here’s the deal on coaches for TU FB. We use them and they use us. Over and out. I don’t waste more than 10 seconds pondering that scenario’ what if ‘ any more. If he is out in 2 then that probably means he was winning here for us at TU. Thank you for your attention…..Big E
    BTW it is sorta interesting that Wichita State Round Ball comes this way, how about that ? But the future of Temple and Fran the Dunph is another subject elsewhere ( Is he too white ? I just gotta ask ‘ -) ‘ ).

  5. Attended the scrimmage yesterday and here are my impressions. Marchi looked the best. Nutile was wooden and mechanical and made some bad throws. The freshman from FLA had the best throw, a twenty yard rope for a td. He’s very dynamic. Russo was okay. They were not running a Satterfield spread and while they passed about 60% of the time, they did run out of a pro set. Sharga was either banged up or rested because he did not play much. Maybe they were protecting their own defense because when he did play he was killing people. First team D line is overwhelming and dominated an O line that needs a lot of work. There are a couple of pros on the D line especially Dogby, who’s ready for the pros now. Very well run and energetic practice.

    • OL is really banged up, that’s what Collins said. I like that he doesn’t get into talking about specific injuries, but that he does inject the fact that it could be a reason why they are behind.

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