Pitt Expecting Extra Intensity from Georgia Tech After Coaching Fire

The Pitt Panthers expect to play a more motivated Georgia Tech team dealing with the firing of their head coach.

PITTSBURGH -- The first order of business for Georgia Tech, as they prepared for the true start of ACC play against the Pitt Panthers, was to fire their head coach. Administrators dismissed Geoff Collins four games into his fourth season and left the Yellow Jackets to deal with a coaching transition while the grind of conference season waits around the corner. 

Pitt linebacker Shayne Simon has been through a midseason coaching change before at Notre Dame, although it occurred under vastly different circumstances. His coach wasn't being run out of town and his successor was ready to step in for the final game of a season in which the Irish finished in the top 10. Still, Simon remembers how uncomfortable it is to be a player during leadership turnover. 

"I remember it was a super fast-moving time," Simon said. "I’m sitting in the facility, looking through Twitter, you hear it and everyone’s talking about it like ‘Did you hear this?’, ‘Did you hear that?’ It was a wild time but everyone kind of galvanized around Coach Freeman and then came out pretty happy in the long run."

Events like this can make a team somewhat desperate according to Simon. When an administration fires a coach because of their performance, it reflects poorly on the players too. Simon expects the Yellow Jackets to play with more intensity this weekend as a result. 

"I feel like they’re going to come out fired up. I think they’ll be ready to prove everyone wrong in a way, that they can do it even without their head coach. ... We expect nothing less.”

Linebackers coach Ryan Manalac said he doesn't expect the Jackets to change their personality much, if at all - heir interim head coach has coached the offensive line all year long and they retained both coordinators. That said, he believes this development could give the players a shot in the arm too. 

“They’ve got new life," Manalac said. "Maybe a new excitement level.”

Tight end Karter Johnson, who with starter Gavin Bartholomew out, will be right in the thick of Pitt's interior run game in this game, said that won't affect how Pitt plays. The Panthers will meet the Yellow Jackets with the same intensity. 

“I’m sure they’re going to be fired up," Johnson said. "But at the end of the day, it’s just football.”

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