Thus far, Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins has been a one-man operation, getting out on the road recruiting without any new assistants to help.
Particularly with potential hires from Temple, that has been by design. On the morning he left Philadelphia for Atlanta, he told the staff that all assistants would be staying with the team through the bowl game (the Independence Bowl against Duke on Dec. 27) to keep their focus on Temple players as they prepare for their bowl game.
“Obviously, it would help to get some other guys in here to help this first week, but I want to do right by my players, the guys that I love and the guys that I care about,” Collins said.
Collins went on to call his assistants “amazing” and said that they “attack everything they do with a great attitude, so there’ll be a lot of familiar faces to (Collins’ wife) Jennifer and I that’ll join us.”
On an appearance on 92.9 FM the Game on Friday morning, Collins said that he will announce the staff some time after signing day, which is next Wednesday.
Five Temple assistants on the 10-man staff stick out in particular because of their ties in the Southeast and, in two cases, to Tech. Defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker has been with Collins for the past two seasons and was elevated to defensive coordinator for the 2018 season. While this is Thacker’s first season as a coordinator at any level, the Owls rank sixth nationally in yards per play and are tied for third in takeaways.
Thacker is a Georgia native who graduated from Gainesville High and then played at Furman. He has plenty of experience recruiting the Southeast, having worked at Central Florida, Southern Mississippi and Kennesaw State, where he worked for one season before he was hired at Temple.
Defensive backs coach Nathan Burton is a Tech graduate who played for the Yellow Jackets when Collins was a graduate assistant and then tight ends coach. Burton, who joined Collins in February of this year, is a Greater Atlanta Christian graduate who has plenty of experience in the Southeast – his previous stops include N.C. State, West Alabama and Shorter.
Burton got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant at Tech after graduating in 2005, when he worked alongside Collins when he was director of player personnel in 2006. Upon his hire at Temple, Collins described him as an overachiever, highly motivated and “an amazing person, husband, father and coach who has truly earned his way up the coaching ranks.”
Wide receivers coach Stan Hixon worked at Tech from 1995-99, crossing paths with Collins, who started as a graduate assistant at Tech in 1999. Two of Hixon’s pupils were All-ACC selections Kelly Campbell and Dez White. Hixon hasn’t coached in the Southeast since 2003, but has recruited in Florida for Temple. Hixon coached 10 seasons in the NFL and has worked with DeAndre Hopkins, Andre Johnson and Santana Moss, among others.
Outside linebackers coach Larry Knight came to Temple from Georgia State, where he spent the 2015-16 seasons. He also is the recruiting coordinator for defense. Knight is a graduate of Glenn Hills High in Augusta. Knight came to Temple in 2017 as a quality-control assistant for defense and recruiting, then after the season was promoted to player-personnel director and then outside linebackers coach as other assistants were hired away.
Offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude came to Temple from Coastal Carolina, where he worked for the previous five seasons. Temple is tied for 22nd nationally (with Tech) in scoring at 35.6 points per game, but was not otherwise exceptional statistically. The hire will be particular critical as Collins’ new hire will have to have a plan for transitioning the scheme from coach Paul Johnson’s option offense to a pro-style system with personnel suited for the former.
About the Author
