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Mac & Bone Show - Geoff Collins Interview · Mac & Bone Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Our next guest, though, is here to talk about the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: college football side of things. Knows the ACC, coached in
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: it for years, and now is doing great video content
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: out there. He is at Coach Collins, if you want
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to find him on Instagram or on Twitter slash X.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: And Coach Jeff Collins joins us here to talk ball
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: on the Mac and Bone Show.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Coach, what's going on? How you doing?
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Living the dream. I appreciate you guys having me on again, man.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Why did I even ask, Coach?
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Your attitude right now, why did I even ask you?
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Let's talk through some of this stuff. The Miami-Carolina game
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: was an amazing game. I was so impressed that Carolina
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: and Billy Edwards kept coming back and matching them and
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: making plays.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Did that, what did you think?
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Did that game tell us, you know, it had to
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: tell you some good things I would think about Carolina.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Is Miami vulnerable on the pass defense side? What did
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: you make of that game?
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Every single weekend of college football is just nuts nowadays.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: You never know if Miami fell into the trap of
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: looking ahead to the following week's huge battle in South Bend.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: College game day is going to be there. Or if
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: just North Carolina came out on fire offensively and played
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: a great game against what is really one of the
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: best defenses in the country, Miami. So hats off to
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: Bobby Petrino and the offense. And that quarterback is just
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: a warrior, tough dude. And then, you know, I know
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of conversation about the referees and all
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: those things on the back-to-back onside kicks. And when you
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: go back and watch it, because I've been a head coach,
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: by the letter of the law, they were accurate calls.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: but I could understand the consternation and the conversation surrounding,
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: you know, you know, being that dialed in by the referees,
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: you know, make those two critical calls.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The fact it was Miami coach might've got mentioned
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: a few times on the show today.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: Coach, how much progress have you seen from the heels
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: from last year to this year, year two under Belichick?
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: And even though they lost, how much is this program
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: coming along under Belichick?
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's obviously never moral victories. But when you're building something,
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: last year was it is what it was, right? Don't
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: need to revisit that. But this year's team seems to
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: be playing a more cohesive brand of football. They look
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: aligned on the coaching staff and the players. And the
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: biggest takeaway for me is the defensive front for Carolina
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: is That's been the biggest area of growth. Well, they're
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: in the tight end room. That tight end room is special.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: But the D-line and the tight ends, there's been noticeable
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: improvements at those two positions.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Coach, I asked about Miami's past defense, and you were
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: talking about how crazy it is. Am I just nitpicking?
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, their offense might be able to outscore anybody
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: they play in the country, but I saw Florida State
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: be able to pass the ball on them, now Carolina
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: with Billy Edwards. Am I just nitpicking too much if
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: I start pointing that out, or do you feel like, hey,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: that could be something in a playoff game that could
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: cost them?
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, it could cost them this coming up week.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: I think the war with Corey Heatherman and their defensive staff,
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: but I think they lost two first-rounders on that defensive line.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: And the best way to cover people is to get
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: after the quarterback. And they're not doing that as well
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: as they were the year before, and they're having to
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: put DBs in more compromising positions by blitzing and all
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: these other things. that last year they could just rush four,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: put doubles, and play cover two on the back end
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: and still get sacks and great coverage. Now they're having
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: to load the box more, put the DBs in more
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: disadvantageous positions, and I think they've been getting exposed at
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: times this season.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: Coach, Wake Forest isn't just winning games. They are rolling
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: now in dominant fashion. We talk a lot about Hernandez
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: and Gio Lopez in the offense, but how impressed have
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: you been with Wake Forest defensively, and how are they
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: doing it on that side of the ball?
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: I don't like to toot my own horn, but I
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: did a 30-camp road trip in preseason camp. And at
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: the end of that road trip, I came back, and
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: on my first episode of the show, I was like,
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: Wake Forest has the potential to be scary good. And
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: I'm right. And so that's very rewarding on that end.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: But just I went out to practice in preseason to
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: watch Jake Dickert run the program. The length and speed
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: they have on the defensive side of the ball is
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: ridiculously impressive. And then what they do schematically create problems
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: for defenses from an offensive perspective. And they're so aggressive
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: and play such good stifling defense on that side of
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: the ball. It is just a great brand of football,
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: and not enough people are getting to see it and
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: recognize it. But hopefully on my show I'll start doing
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: some Wake Forest breakdowns because there's so much fun stuff
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: to talk about with that team.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Oh, man, they are so much fun to watch.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: And you're right, both sides of the ball, whether it's
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: that defensive front getting after it or just the explosive
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: offense run by Gio Lopez. We're talking to Coach Jeff Collins,
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: who is joining us here on the show. He's going
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: to tell you– how to get ahold of all that
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: great content. He's doing a lot of great videos and stuff.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: And obviously he knows ball. Obviously he was right about
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Wake Forest. Coach, what do you think about Wake Forest chances?
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: I guess it's hard to read the committee's minds. I
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: always fear being here in ACC country that if they can,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: they will err on the side of an SEC school
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: with three losses. Does Wake have to beat Miami, do
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: you think, to get in? Or do you feel like
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: they could lose to Miami a second time? and still
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: make it with two losses.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I've got to imagine, you know, I've been
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: in the ACC for a long time. I've been in
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: the SEC for a long time. But you've got to
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: get two ACC schools in. You've got to, right? And
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: I think, in my opinion, and this was even before
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: SMU lost to Syracuse, I said the two best teams
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: are Miami and then Wake Forest. And then I just
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: think that if Jake Dickert gets another chance at Miami
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: in the championship game, I mean, that's not a gimme
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: for the Hurricanes, you know, because Wake Forest will have
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: earned their right in that game. They'll be playing with
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: a lot of confidence. And I think it could be
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: very intriguing, that matchup, if it, you know, comes down
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: to it. I hope they get in if they're, you know,
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: even if they're two losses with both of them being
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: in Miami. Yeah, yeah.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Coach, Duke is now 6-2.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: They are ahead of the pace they were at last
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: year with Mensah. What is it about Manny Diaz and
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: his fit with Duke that has worked out so well
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: for him?
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: I'm a huge Manny Diaz fan. He and I are
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: very close. I replaced him as defense coordinator at Mississippi State.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: Then he replaced me as the defense coordinator at Mississippi State.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: Then he replaced me as the head coach at Temple
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: for 10 days. I think he's just done a I
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: just think he's done a phenomenal job with that entire program.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: The unsung hero is Dave Feely. His strength coach is amazing.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: Getting him to stay and not go to Texas A &
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: M was a huge win that not enough people talk about.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: But I just think the fit of Manny's personality, how
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: he's approached this job in this era of college football,
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: has been amazing. And what they beat the Boston College 50-2,
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: something ridiculous, right? 47-2, yeah. 47-2, right? Never let facts
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: get in the way of a good story. I just
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: texted him after the game, and I texted Dave Feeley,
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: and it was just two words. I said, dear Lord,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: just for the performance that.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: Dave put on, man.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: It was a dominant, great defense, and that's an offense
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: that had just hung 49 on Georgia Tech and 404
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: yards rushing the week before. And they held them to
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: a shutout. And I just thought it was such a
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: great performance and a team win. They're scary good down
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: the stretch, too.
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: Their only two they gave up was off the block PAT.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: It was crazy.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: 100%.
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: Crazy.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: It's crazy.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: So, Coach, I've got to ask you about NC State's situation.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: And it's twofold. One is I know you coached against
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Dave Doran.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: And you're familiar with his work.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: How did you feel about them choosing now to go
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: a different direction? And then the second part is, it
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: sounds like from all reports that their first choice is
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: Phillip Rivers, who only has high school coaching experience.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: And I wonder, do you look at that and does
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: that bother you?
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Like as someone that has all this head coaching experience,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: And you see them going, you know, they might go
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: in that direction. What do you think about those two
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: facets of the NC State situation?
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: So the first one, I hate it for Dave Dorn
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: because he's such a tremendous coach and a tremendous man
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: and has done so much for that university. But, you know,
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: one of my dear older coaches in my career always
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: told me that coaches are like office furniture, right? and
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: you spend enough time at one place, eventually they're going
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: to get tired of the office furniture and want to
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: bring new office furniture in. And that's just kind of.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: What it was.
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: It was just, you know, he had won so much,
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: but then, you know, it had a season or two
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: where it wasn't winning as much. They felt it was
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: time to make a change, whatever, but tremendous coach. And
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: I don't think, and I did a bit on my
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: show this week about interim coaches. I don't think that
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: that performance by the Wolfpack against who did they just
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: beat the crap out of cow?
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: I don't think that's indicative of– no interim coach is
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: going to come in and miraculously turn this thing around.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: What it is is just all of the negativity and
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: hot seat talk that's been happening for seven weeks. It
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: wears on players. It wears on the team. It wears
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: on the staff. And when that pressure is gone– Now
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: the kids get to play free and there's no consequences,
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: and they go out and play their best ball. And
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: you see it every single time that this happens. So
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's an indictment this new interim coach
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: came in and waved a magic wand and fixed everything.
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: But I do think it's hard for Phillip Rivers to
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: be a high school coach and then go be a
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: power forward. This is a power forward job. This is
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: not just a starter college coaching job. We're in the triangle.
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: We're one of four teams in the ACC that's in
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: this great state. It's a real big-time job. The thing
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: that if they do go that direction, better surround him
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: with phenomenal assistants, phenomenal general manager, offensive coordinators and defensive
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: coordinators that have head coaching experience to kind of guide
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: Phillip Rivers through all of the landmines that exist in
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: this day and age of college football. And there are
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: a ton. So it's not going to be an easy
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: learning curve unless you surround him with sound, wise advisors
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: and people who have been through the wars and get it.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: and then he can use his personality and his offensive
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: expertise and fundraising. He'll be great at that. But you
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: better have some real dudes in that building with him.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: That staff is important.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: If they do make that move, that's a hell of
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: a point. By the way, check out Coach's YouTube content
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: on his YouTube channel, at Coach Collins Show. There's stuff
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: about Notre Dame. There's stuff about Georgia, Utah. So I
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: don't want everybody to think it's just ACC. It's all
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: over the place, and it's great content. You present it well, Coach.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: You present it with good personality, and obviously you know it.
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us, Coach. Appreciate you.
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Anytime, just next time, just say, hey, coach, here's the time,
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: hop on, and you got me.