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The last time Georgia Tech stood atop the college football world, Jerimiah McClary helped lead the Yellow Jackets there. A defensive tackle and a team captain of the 1990 national championship team, McClary experienced firsthand the transformation of a team from the bottom (2-9 in 1987, including 0-9 against FBS opponents) to the absolute top. As he surveys the team that he once gave his all for, as it attempts its own metamorphosis under the direction of coach Geoff Collins, he is dismayed.
“I think they’re in disrepair, to be honest with you,” McClary said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I know that coach Collins is a great hype man and brander, but as I look at the team in Year 4, they haven’t improved.”
That lack of improvement could cost Collins and Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury their jobs.
As McClary sees it, there is nothing to point to as a strength (“even the kicking game,” he said). He is frustrated by Collins’ “rah-rah,” in his words, with no results to back it up. McClary thinks that the time has come for a change and doesn’t understand why Stansbury, who was the team’s academic adviser during his time as a player, hasn’t acted already.
“I know some talk about the buyout price and all,” McClary said. “My thing is, what is it costing to keep him? So we have to look at that and say, ‘OK, let’s make this wise decision.’”
Through a spokesman, Cabrera declined an interview request Tuesday to discuss the state of the football team and athletic department. “Dr. Cabrera is getting full-on pressure,” said Steve Zelnak, a major donor to the institute and athletic department. “He’s going to react to that, I have no doubt.” Tech leadership often has been methodical in its process before acting, and this circumstance surely invites deliberation. But Cabrera could be ready to act soon.
That said, enthusiasm and support for Collins have eroded. Season ticket sales took a sharp drop after last season, creating a shortage of revenue for an athletic department that strives to break even annually and whose reserve fund held a $12.1 million deficit at the end of the 2021 fiscal year.
“I’ve seen some good football, I’ve seen some bad football,” Tech alumnus and season ticket holder Karl Paul said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But never have I seen football like last year, where it was just totally embarrassing and frustrating and not fun anymore.”
There are not many supporters of Tech – the team or the school – more loyal than Paul and his wife, Janis. A member of the Class of 1969, Paul first bought season tickets in 1971 and held them every year through 2021, 51 consecutive seasons. He has made donations to the athletic department for the past 48 years. He has contributed to Roll Call, the institute’s longstanding giving program, for 56 consecutive years, most often in four-figure donations.
Paul said he has attended virtually every Tech home game since 1965. He and his wife enjoyed what they believed were the best seats at Bobby Dodd Stadium – at the top of the lower deck of the west stands in a spot protected from the elements.
But after last season, the Pauls decided, while they’ll continue to support the institute and other Jackets teams, they would let their football season tickets lapse. It was not an easy decision, Paul said. They have decades of memories of games, tailgates and trips to road and bowl games. But the experience had stopped being enjoyable.
“Totally embarrassing,” Paul said. “I said (to Janis), ‘I’m not going to put up with this anymore.’”
ACC Network analyst Roddy Jones, a former Tech captain who was recruited by Collins as part of the team’s famed 2007 signing class (when Collins was director of player personnel for then-coach Chan Gailey), was high on Collins’ hire.
In his work capacity but also as a former player, he has watched Collins’ tenure with a keen eye.
“I don’t really want to pile on, because I feel like everybody’s kind of spiking the football right now on him,” Jones said. “Disappointed I think is probably the best way to describe it. Nobody wants to go through what we’ve gone through the past few years.”
In his first three seasons, Collins led Tech to records of 3-9, 3-7 (the pandemic-shortened season) and 3-9 and is 10-27 overall at Tech entering Saturday’s game at Central Florida. To Jones, Collins’ fourth season has been a continuation of the first three.
“I think you see the same inconsistencies and mistakes that you’ve seen his entire time, which is the most disappointing part,” he said.
Firing Collins between now and Dec. 31 would cost the athletic department roughly $10.5 million, and there would be additional costs to cover salaries owed to assistant coaches who were not retained by a new head coach. Firing him after Dec. 31 would drop the total to $7.2 million, but that would be unfeasible for multiple reasons. One, that would mean his fate (and the fate of his assistant coaches) would be up in the air for more than a month after the regular season. Two, a new coach would want to be in place before the December signing period to retain prospects committed to Tech.
Stansbury would be owed $325,000 if he were dismissed by Cabrera.
www.ajc.com
“I think they’re in disrepair, to be honest with you,” McClary said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I know that coach Collins is a great hype man and brander, but as I look at the team in Year 4, they haven’t improved.”
That lack of improvement could cost Collins and Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury their jobs.
As McClary sees it, there is nothing to point to as a strength (“even the kicking game,” he said). He is frustrated by Collins’ “rah-rah,” in his words, with no results to back it up. McClary thinks that the time has come for a change and doesn’t understand why Stansbury, who was the team’s academic adviser during his time as a player, hasn’t acted already.
“I know some talk about the buyout price and all,” McClary said. “My thing is, what is it costing to keep him? So we have to look at that and say, ‘OK, let’s make this wise decision.’”
Through a spokesman, Cabrera declined an interview request Tuesday to discuss the state of the football team and athletic department. “Dr. Cabrera is getting full-on pressure,” said Steve Zelnak, a major donor to the institute and athletic department. “He’s going to react to that, I have no doubt.” Tech leadership often has been methodical in its process before acting, and this circumstance surely invites deliberation. But Cabrera could be ready to act soon.
That said, enthusiasm and support for Collins have eroded. Season ticket sales took a sharp drop after last season, creating a shortage of revenue for an athletic department that strives to break even annually and whose reserve fund held a $12.1 million deficit at the end of the 2021 fiscal year.
“I’ve seen some good football, I’ve seen some bad football,” Tech alumnus and season ticket holder Karl Paul said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “But never have I seen football like last year, where it was just totally embarrassing and frustrating and not fun anymore.”
There are not many supporters of Tech – the team or the school – more loyal than Paul and his wife, Janis. A member of the Class of 1969, Paul first bought season tickets in 1971 and held them every year through 2021, 51 consecutive seasons. He has made donations to the athletic department for the past 48 years. He has contributed to Roll Call, the institute’s longstanding giving program, for 56 consecutive years, most often in four-figure donations.
Paul said he has attended virtually every Tech home game since 1965. He and his wife enjoyed what they believed were the best seats at Bobby Dodd Stadium – at the top of the lower deck of the west stands in a spot protected from the elements.
But after last season, the Pauls decided, while they’ll continue to support the institute and other Jackets teams, they would let their football season tickets lapse. It was not an easy decision, Paul said. They have decades of memories of games, tailgates and trips to road and bowl games. But the experience had stopped being enjoyable.
“Totally embarrassing,” Paul said. “I said (to Janis), ‘I’m not going to put up with this anymore.’”
ACC Network analyst Roddy Jones, a former Tech captain who was recruited by Collins as part of the team’s famed 2007 signing class (when Collins was director of player personnel for then-coach Chan Gailey), was high on Collins’ hire.
In his work capacity but also as a former player, he has watched Collins’ tenure with a keen eye.
“I don’t really want to pile on, because I feel like everybody’s kind of spiking the football right now on him,” Jones said. “Disappointed I think is probably the best way to describe it. Nobody wants to go through what we’ve gone through the past few years.”
In his first three seasons, Collins led Tech to records of 3-9, 3-7 (the pandemic-shortened season) and 3-9 and is 10-27 overall at Tech entering Saturday’s game at Central Florida. To Jones, Collins’ fourth season has been a continuation of the first three.
“I think you see the same inconsistencies and mistakes that you’ve seen his entire time, which is the most disappointing part,” he said.
Firing Collins between now and Dec. 31 would cost the athletic department roughly $10.5 million, and there would be additional costs to cover salaries owed to assistant coaches who were not retained by a new head coach. Firing him after Dec. 31 would drop the total to $7.2 million, but that would be unfeasible for multiple reasons. One, that would mean his fate (and the fate of his assistant coaches) would be up in the air for more than a month after the regular season. Two, a new coach would want to be in place before the December signing period to retain prospects committed to Tech.
Stansbury would be owed $325,000 if he were dismissed by Cabrera.
As losses take toll, pressure rises on Georgia Tech’s Geoff Collins, Todd Stansbury
The last time Georgia Tech stood atop the college football world, Jerimiah McClary helped lead the Yellow Jackets there. A defensive tackle and a team captain of the 1990 national championship team, McClary experienced firsthand the transformation of a team from the bottom (2-9 in 1987...
