PHILADELPHIA – Temple Athletic Director, Dr. Patrick Kraft, stressed last week that the new head coach of the football team would have to fit at Temple University.
Well, one week after former head coach Matt Rhule accepted the head coaching job at Baylor University, Kraft found his guy.
Temple announced on Tuesday they have hired former University of Florida defensive coordinator Geoff Collins as the head coach of the football team. He will be introduced on Wednesday in a news conference at 11:00 a.m. in the Liacouras Center.
"I want to thank President Englert and Dr. Kraft for this incredible opportunity to join Temple and the City of Philadelphia,” Collins said in a statement. “I have been in the game of college football for more than two decades and I am humbled and honored to be chosen to build on a great foundation of success. We will compete for championships, we will provide a world-class student-athlete experience and education, and we will represent the community with pride.”
Collins, 45, was the defensive coordinator at Florida from 2015-16. The Gators’ defense has ranked top 10 in total defense over the past two years in the FBS. This season, Florida’s defense tied for tenth in points allowed with 17.9 per game.
University of Florida defensive coordinator, Geoff Collins, named head coach of Temple Football - photo courtesy of Owlsports.com
Prior to his time at Florida, Collins coached at Mississippi State from 2011-14 as the defensive coordinator, co-defensive coordinator and the linebackers coach. In Collins’ first full-time season as the defensive coordinator in 2013, Mississippi State’s defense ranked as a top five total defense in the SEC.
Collins was the linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Central Florida from 2008-09. He also served as the University of Alabama’s Director of Player Personnel in 2007.
Collins will acquire a Temple team coming of its best two-year stretch in program history. The Owls also won a conference championship for the first time since 1967. Temple will play Wake Forest in the Military Bowl in Annapolis, Maryland at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium Dec. 27.
Collins also knows the man he is replacing.
While Collins was the defensive coordinator at Albright College in 1998, Rhule was hired as the team’s linebackers coach that same year. They also coached together at Western Carolina for a couple of years in the mid-2000s, where Collins was the defensive coordinator.
“As soon as I met with Geoff I knew right away that this was the right coach at the right time for Temple University,” Kraft said in a statement. “Well beyond Geoff’s acumen as a coach of hard, physical football, he shares our values of embracing the student-athlete and demanding excellence in all that we do. We welcome Geoff and Jennifer to the Temple family. I know that he will be fantastic.”