Back in 2006, Geoff Collins was still looking for his path to full-time on-the-field college football coach at the Division I level.
He played his college ball at Western Carolina (FCS) from 1989-92 and immediately got on board with his alma mater as an assistant for a few seasons before spending a year as a high school assistant. In 1997 he got an opportunity to become the defensive coordinator at Albright (D-III - PA), and that would be his final stop outside of Division I football. He took the opportunity to become a graduate assistant at Georgia Tech from 1999-2001 before leaving to be the defensive coordinator at Western Carolina for a few seasons (2002-05).
In 2006, Collins returned to Georgia Tech for the unique opportunity to become the first college staffer in the country to hold to title of Director of Player Personnel. No other school had employed an individual in that role before Collins landed the job in Atlanta. It turned out to be a trailblazing moment for the coaching profession and support staffs everywhere.
Collins spent just one year in the role before Nick Saban called at Alabama asking him to do the same thing for them. Collins spent a season in Tuscaloosa before his coaching career took off from there, eventually landed defensive coordinator opportunities at FIU, Mississippi State, and Florida before Temple gave him the opportunity to become a head coach.
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After two seasons in Philly, and a 15-10 mark, he came back home to Georgia Tech, where you could say it all started with a trailblazing title.
Collins shares a bit about that unique title, as well as a number of other things like the importance of branding, leading a premier college football program close to where he grew up, and a whole lot more in Georgia Tech's first installment of Waffle House Wednesday's.
Also worth pointing out...before the days of recruiting restrictions on social media, Collins helped to sign nearly an entire recruiting class at Georgia Tech by utilizing MySpace. Just wait a second and let that sink in.
Head to the 3:50 mark to catch that, and other entertaining stuff from the Waffle House Booth.
https://youtu.be/u4Ia4AXdkVE