University of North Carolina football coach Mack Brown is turning to Geoff Collins, a former head coach at Georgia Tech and Temple, to improve the program's defense.
The Tar Heels announced Friday that Collins would be their new defensive coordinator, replacing Gene Chizik after his two-year stint in Chapel Hill. Collins, a 52-year-old Georgia native, has spent 11 seasons as a defensive coordinator in the NCAA Division I ranks, with stops at Florida, Florida International and Mississippi State in the Football Bowl Subdivision and Western Carolina in the Football Championship Subdivision.
In a release announcing the move, which returns Collins to coaching and the Atlantic Coast Conference after a one-season absence, Brown called the newest addition to his staff a "brilliant defensive mind."
Collins was fired in late September 2022, after a 1-3 start to his fourth season at Georgia Tech. He went 10-28 overall and 7-19 in ACC play with the Yellow Jackets while trying to transition the program from 11 years of run-based option football under head coach Paul Johnson to a pro-style spread offense. Before that, Collins was 15-10 overall and 11-5 in American Athletic Conference play in two seasons at Temple.
North Carolina's defense had a solid start to the 2023 season as the Tar Heels started 6-0 and reached No. 10 in the AP Top 25. They faded badly, though, allowing 30 or more points to every FBS opponent in the second half of their schedule, including a 30-10 loss to West Virginia in the Duke's Mayo Bowl on Dec. 27.
Mack's staff changes announced earlier this week included senior defensive analyst Tim Monachino replacing defensive line coach Tim Cross.