Mack Brown Talks About Geoff Collins Getting to Face Georgia Tech: "It’s emotional but you can’t take it personal"

Collins coached Georgia Tech From 2019 -2022 and will get to face his former team this weekend

Aug 29, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown looks on during the first half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Huntington Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images / Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Georgia Tech is traveling to North Carolina this weekend to face the Tar Heels and the Yellow Jackets are looking for their fourth straight win in the series. Not only that, but former Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins is the defensive coordinator for the Tar Heels and he is going to face his former team for the first time on Saturday.

North Carolina head coach Mack Brown is one of the winningest coaches in college football history and has had to face former teams before. When he was the head coach of North Carolina previously, he left to take the job at Texas. The Longhorns and Tar Heels played each other shortly after.

Brown spoke with the media earlier this week and spoke about talking to Collins about facing his former team:

“So, I talked to Geoff this morning a little bit. He took the Georgia Tech team back to Temple right after he left Temple,” Brown said. “And his team at Temple was a lot better than his Georgia Tech team. So, I didn’t ask him the score but it didn’t sound good. So, he’s done this before and he recruited a bunch of these kids. So, it’s emotional but you can’t take it personal. That’s not what you do. Most of the world doesn’t care. Only the Texas and Carolina fans cared when I came back here. Nobody else cared. And after it’s over, nobody remembers it or cares. So, it would be very, very selfish for you to think it’s about you when it’s about the kids and the universities.”

When speaking with the media earlier this week, Georgia Tech head Coach Brent Key talked about facing Collins for the first time:

"Yeah, I mean I wish nothing but the best for Geoff in the future except for this Saturday. Yeah, so good football coach, he's on the staff with good football coaches. It's not been the first time we've gone up against someone that I've worked with before."

While facing his former team is certainly a storyline, Collins maintained in his press conference yesterday that the focus this week is not about him:

"You guys like to hear about the team meetings that we have and the unit meetings and the big thing with the defense last night is that this is not about me. I do have deep, personal relationships with players on the team, I am very proud of them, when I see them play well, I am excited for them because I care about them and I care about their families, but this week is about being the best defense that we can be, coach our guys to play at a high level, they (Georgia Tech) have a lot of really good weapons, they are doing a really good job with the offense and we have a complete focus on what we have to do to play really well on Saturday, schematically, motivationally, all of those kinds of things, but this week is not about me at all."

Collins was then asked about his relationship with Key, for which he gave a very short answer:

"We have been friends for a very long time"

In 2019 (Collins first year at Georgia Tech), the Yellow Jackets went on the road to play at Temple, where he was the head coach previously. Collins was asked about that experience and how it compares this week to facing Georgia Tech:

"Again, I don't want this to be about me. I have had those experiences, Coach (Mack) Brown has shared he has had those experiences in the past as well, but just the complete focus is, if I spend time worrying about that, my focus is not on the players being the best that they can on Saturday so the whole focus is on how I can do the best preparation, because they do so much on offense, if my complete focus is not on what they do schematically with really good players, then I am doing a disservice to the guys so my focus is on how I can be the best coach for these guys, how I can put the best game plan together, that kind of deal"

Collins was also asked if it will be easier to play this game in Chapel Hill than Atlanta:

"I have had two years to process everything, I have come to peace with everything that happened, what we walked into, the efforts that we made and then what happened at the end, I have come at peace. I have been really self reflective on what I could have done better and what I would do the next time in similar circumstances. There is zero ill will towards anyone in the administration, fanbase, any of those things, zero ill will. I just want to be a good coach for this group of guys."

Georgia Tech vs North Carolina kicks off at 12:00 p.m. ET this Saturday on the CW Network.