The Tar Heels wasted no time in their search for their new defensive coordinator following the firing of Gene Chizik earlier this week.
John Brice of FootballScoop.com reported Friday morning that the Tar Heels are focusing their search on former Temple and Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins to be their next defensive coordinator and on Friday evening, the move was made official by the program.
"Geoff is brilliant defensive mind, who has been successful at a number of different locations as both a head coach and a coordinator," head coach Mack Brown said in the release. "His experience shows that he knows what it takes to lead the men in our program, and he'll utilize that experience for the benefit of our defense. We were blown away when we interviewed Geoff. He was unbelievably prepared. He had watched all of our games, knew our personnel, and pinpointed the items he'd implement to improve our players and the defensive unit as a whole. I can't wait to get Geoff and his family to Chapel Hill and get to work."
Collins’ defenses as a head coach weren’t great, which could be seen as a red flag to some, but his track record as a defensive coordinator is really strong. He had very successful two year stints at both Mississippi State and Florida before getting the head coaching job at Temple, including two of the best scoring defenses in the country both of his years in Gainesville. One of the important things that the new defensive coordinator will have to do is recruit with Ted Monachino taking over as the defensive line coach and Collins is very familiar with the recruiting footprint for the Tar Heels, especially the Atlanta area that the team has been hitting hard in the last year and a half. He has had a year off to rejuvenate and seems like a guy that is more comfortable being a defensive coordinator than a head coach. His pedigree is strong in that area and hopefully he can find some of that prior success despite it being eight years since he held that position.
Is this the best name that was still on the market, no. This isn't exactly the most attractive job at this point, however, with the lack of success the Tar Heel defenses have had since Butch Davis left campus. There was always going to be some level of risk with this hire and there is plenty here with Collins. At the same time, there is a track record and a familiarity with the conference that could allow him to be successful in Chapel Hill.