Mack Brown calls new DC Geoff Collins 'a perfect fit' at North Carolina

With new defensive coordinator Geoff Collins, North Carolina football coach Mack Brown has a DC that’s injected some life into the program and aligns with his philosophies.

Strangely enough, Mack Brown’s first season back at North Carolina was actually the program’s best defensively under him, holding foes to just 23 points per game. Since, the Tar Heels have failed to stop opponents from scoring less than 27 in any 2020s season, finishing with some brutal defensive numbers in a few of those years. Of course, Brown is hoping to change that with Geoff Collins.

“It’s been great,” Brown said of the Collins addition at ACC Media Days Thursday, explaining why he’s such a terrific fit for UNC.

“He is a guy who’s all-inclusive. Every coach on the staff has bought in, every player has bought in. He wants to play two-deep, he wants to be aggressive. But he wants to look very complicated and be very simple with his schemes. All that is just stuff I’ve checked my whole life, it just fits with what I want.”

Collins certainly brings his own sort of energy at practice, where Brown has some funny stories to share already.

“When a receiver catches a ball over a corner, he’ll sprint across the field, chest-bump the receiver and say, ‘That’s right, man; that’s what we want, we need you beating our guy,'” Brown said of Collins. “Now, he’ll turn to the other guy and say, ‘What about you!?'”

Brown added that when Collins was brought on board, he boasted about what great talent Carolina has, meanwhile, the other UNC coaches were thrilled to have him join the team.

“(Collins) said: ‘You’re so close, you got good players, but you just got to do a few of these minor things better.’ So I just thought it was a perfect fit. And the other coaches said: ‘He’s honest, he’s direct, he’s exactly right.’ So it’s really worked.”

Through a spring and summer, Mack Brown likes what he has in his new DC.

“So, he’s been fun, and he’s got a little chip on his shoulder, because he didn’t like the way he left. So it’s been good. So, excited about coaching and watching the kids,” Brown added.

North Carolina actually did see progress defensively with a superior unit in 2023 to what they had in 2022, at least statistically. And as Collins himself told Brown, there’s plenty of talent on the Tar Heel roster, it’s just time for it all to come together.