Head Coach of Major College Football Team Fired After 1-3 Start to Fourth Season

A major college football team is looking for a new coach. According to Ken Sugiura of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins has been fired from the team. Sugiura also said that Georgia Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury has been dismissed from his position. Georgia Tech president Angel Cabrera informed Collins and Stansbury of the decision Monday morning. 

Collins’ firing comes after the team got off to a 1-3 start to the 2022 season. In those four games, the Yellow Jackets were outscored 145-37. Collins joined the team in 2019 and has only nine games in the previous three seasons. Georgia Tech has yet to announce the firing of Collins and Stansbury,  but that could come on Monday afternoon when the Georgia Tech Athletic Association board has its special session to approve the moves. 

Collins finishes with a 10-28 record at Georgia Tech, the lowest winning percentage (.263) of the team’s 13 full-time coaches. In 38 games, the Yellow Jackets have lost six games by 40 points or more. The previous six took place over a period of 42 seasons. 

“I have tremendous confidence, based on demonstrated ability,” Collins said to reporters last week, per the Atlanta Jornal-Constitution. “Now, has that shown up yet while we’ve been here? It has not. Do I have faith and belief in the process that we’re going about to do it? Absolutely. Do I have faith and belief in the young men that are in that locker room that we’ve recruited, that we’ve developed to be able to take that next step? Absolutely. One hundred percent.”  

Collins, 51, was the head coach at Temple in 2017 and 2018. In those two seasons, Collins posted a 15-10 record and led the team to two bowl games. He also spent time as an assistant coach with multiple teams such as Mississippi State, Florida International, UCF, Alabama and his alma mater Western Carolina where he played linebacker. Collins grew up in Georgia and played high school football at Rockdale County High School in Conyers. Georgia Tech, a team that has won four national championships in its history, will search for a new coach for the 2023 season. One name that has floated around is Deion Sanders who is the head coach at Jackson State and has ties with Atlanta as he was a standout player for the Atlanta Falcons in the early 1990s.