In an offseason in which three assistant coaches and two top players have left for other schools, Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins has lost a most trusted and important aide. General manager Patrick Suddes, whom Collins charged with leading the Yellow Jackets’ recruiting and roster management, accepted a position at North Carolina, three people familiar with the situation confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday.
The departure was first reported by Rivals earlier Thursday.
It is a major hit for Collins as he goes into his fourth season in which expectations will be markedly higher after three consecutive three-win seasons. Suddes has overseen recruiting for Tech since his hire in January 2019, a month after Collins’ arrival from Temple.
Besides Suddes, Collins also lost running backs coach Tashard Choice (first to USC, now at Texas), tight ends coach Chris Wiesehan (Temple) and defensive ends/outside linebackers coach Marco Coleman (Michigan State). All-American running back Jahmyr Gibbs (Alabama) and starting defensive end Jared Ivey (Ole Miss) left through the transfer portal. Collins also fired three assistant coaches, offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude, cornerbacks coach Jeff Popovich and safeties coach Nathan Burton.
One of the people who confirmed the move and was familiar with Suddes’ thinking said that Suddes’ taking the job at North Carolina was not a reflection on Tech, Collins or the perception that Collins’ job security going into his fourth season is unstable after three consecutive three-win seasons.
Suddes’ career goal is to be an athletic director, and the opportunity offered him at North Carolina will give him additional responsibilities that will help him get closer to that goal. Suddes, in fact, had turned down other job offers, including recently, to stay at Tech with Collins. Further, Suddes will work with Tar Heels football coach Mack Brown, who hired Suddes to run his recruiting at Texas. The two worked together for one season, and Brown tried to hire Suddes for a similar position at North Carolina when he was hired in the same cycle as Collins after the end of the 2018 season.
“He’s as good as anybody in the country,” Brown said of Suddes before the Tech-North Carolina game in September. “I love Patrick.”
At Tech, Suddes had his hand on all of the team’s recruiting efforts, ranging from player evaluation, communicating with prospects, organizing on-campus visits and camps and keeping tabs on the transfer portal. His departure creates a void for Collins, who has also recently lost two other key staffers in the recruiting department, associate director of player personnel Errin Joe and on-campus recruiting director Carina Hargreaves. Joe, a former Jackets offensive lineman, is now director of recruiting at Connecticut, and Hargreaves is likewise director of recruiting at Arkansas.
The Jackets’ recruiting efforts for the 2023 class and beyond, and not insignificantly for the transfer portal, will undoubtedly be a challenge with spots to fill in the recruiting office and the team’s appeal undoubtedly lessened by three consecutive three-win seasons.
Collins and Suddes first worked together in 2007, at Alabama for coach Nick Saban in his first year with the Crimson Tide. Suddes was associate director of football operations, staying in Tuscaloosa, Ala., through the 2013 season. Collins was player personnel director for the 2007 season.
Suddes was at Auburn overseeing recruiting for coach Gus Malzahn at the time of Collins’ hire at Tech. A graduate of the Marist School with a young family, Suddes was eager to return home and to take part in a building project at a school he knew well. At the time, he communicated through mutual friends to let Collins know that “I’ll walk up (Interstate) 85 to get there” from Auburn back to Atlanta if that’s what it took to reunite.
Suddes played a significant hand as Collins brought in the No. 27 signing class in 2020, Tech’s highest since the famed 2007 class. With a constant on the transfer portal, Suddes helped Tech land transfers who became instant contributors such as offensive linemen Ryan Johnson and Devin Cochran and slot receiver Kyric McGowan.
Lured away, Suddes did not remain to finish the task of building a giant with Collins. And now, going to work for a school in the same ACC division as Tech, he’ll be in direct competition with Collins and the Jackets.
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