CBS Sports Names Geoff Collins One Of The Worst Hires Of The Past 15 Seasons

My, how a few years can change your perspective.

When the 2022 season was starting, there was not a lot of optimism around Georgia Tech Football, almost entirely due to the fact that head coach Geoff Collins had never won more than three games in his first three seasons. After a 1-3 start to the 2022 season, Collins was fired and Brent Key was promoted to interim head coach and as they say, the rest is history. Considering where they were then and the years prior under Collins, it should not be taken for granted how impressive it has been that Key has won six games against ranked ACC teams alone and gone to two bowl games.

How bad was Collins at Georgia Tech? CBS Sports analyst Will Backus named Collins the 6th worst hire in the last 15 years:

6. Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech (2019-22)

Record: 10-28

"Collins is the college football definition of all flash, no substance. He carved a solid reputation as a top-shelf defensive coordinator through stints at Mississippi State (2011-14) and Florida (2015-16) followed by a decent, if unspectacular, two years as the head coach at Temple. Apparently, his 15 wins with the Owls -- a program that had 20 wins under coach Matt Rhule from 2015-16 -- were enough to sell Georgia Tech on the largely unproven Collins as program legend Paul Johnson's successor. He never won more than three games in a single season and had an average finish of sixth out of seven teams in the ACC Coastal."

Collins finished with a record of 10-28 as the head coach of the Yellow Jackets and 0-2 against rival Georgia, losing by a combined score of 97-7 in two meetings.

After being named the head coach following the 2022 season, Key went to work in trying to build a winning team and program. He landed Haynes King in the transfer portal and hired Buster Faulkner away from Georgia to be the offensive coordinator. The Yellow Jackets would pull off more ranked wins in 2023, beating Miami on a miraculous last-second play and beating North Carolina for a second consecutive season. He led his team to a win over Syracuse in November which clinched the Yellow Jackets' first bowl bid since 2018. Key got the Yellow Jackets within eight points of No. 1 Georgia, the first time that single digits had decided game since the Yellow Jackets last victory in the series in 2016. Georgia Tech would end the 2023 season with a win in the Gasparilla Bowl over UCF, giving them a winning season and their first bowl win since 2016.

This season has a chance to be Key's best as well. The Yellow Jackets are getting a lot of buzz as a potential dark horse contender in the ACC, which could men a potential run at the playoff. The Yellow Jackets are bringing back veteran players on both sides of the ball, including quarterback Haynes King, they have a good recruiting class and transfer class, and the schedule is very favorable for the first time in years. They have to earn it and find more consistency (Key's biggest weakness so far), but the chance is there for Georgia Tech to contend in the ACC in 2025.

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