Few programs promote their brand like Georgia Tech has since Geoff Collins and his staff have taken over in Atlanta.
They've done some really creative stuff on social media and in real life that that has resonated with players and recruits like the #CHAOScruzer - a cruising bike bought at WalMart and made over with some gold spray paint and used as a practice incentive.
But as Collins explained on a recent extensive appearance on the Durham and Packer show, selling their brand and culture on social media is only half the battle.
"We are very aggressive on social media, we show the things that we're doing in our program. It's a lot of hard work, but we try to have fun while we're working hard. Recruits, and this generation, relates to that very well."
"But on the other side is, when they come to our program, and when they come in the facility around our coaches and our players, if what they're seeing on social media and what our brand is doesn't match with what our culture really is, then you've got issues. The really good thing about us is what you see on social media, the things that we're showing, when they come in, it's actually even better in real life when they're in the locker room, when they come to our workouts and come to our practices."
Collins then goes on to mention some of the strange and outlandish things that decorate his office in Atlanta, and those things range everywhere from Star Wars action figures to a stuffed opossum that sits on the table of the staff meeting room.
Why a stuffed opossum?
"Everything that we do, we try to tell a story. Whenever I wear a different outfit in a press conference, I'm telling a story. So there are two books that sit on our staff room table, and both of the books are actually the same books. It's a book called Recruit or Die. So every single day our coaches walk in and they see those books sitting there on the staff room table, and there is a stuffed opossum to further illustrate that you've got to recruit or die because recruiting, and having players, is the lifeblood of the program."
Collins goes on to add that when coaches walk out of their staff meeting room there are two large signs as daily reminders for them. One is a picture of Bobby Dodd that says "Either love your players, or get out of coaching." The other says "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." Every day when coaches leave those two quotes are constant reminders of the expectations of being a coach at Georgia Tech.
Hear more from Collins in part 2 of his interview with Packer and Durham below.
https://youtu.be/BQQ2cncTrMs?t=402