It is, with little debate, the epicenter of college football talent.
It is, with zero question, the nation’s largest media market that places college football, well, above any other sport – or entertainment endeavor.
Atlanta is home to the College Football Hall of Fame, an annual Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic, the Southeastern Conference’s annual football championship and, just in this past year’s 2022 national signing class, a whopping 45 composite four- and five-star prospects, according to 247Sports.
Football, then, is a big deal.
And Georgia Tech now again has an opening for a head coach; it’s the second time since the end of the 2018 campaign that the Ramblin’ Wreck find itself in need of new leadership.
A year ago, amidst a disastrous 2021 campaign that was supposed to be a break-through season for Geoff Collins, the Yellow Jackets suffered through a 3-9 campaign in which they dropped their final six contests.
During that losing skid, Tech’s first three-game losing skid was by a combined 20 points; it lost the final three games of its season by 111 points – with 55-0 and 45-0 blowout-defeats to Notre Dame and archrival Georgia to cap the season.
Todd Stansbury, a former Tech player and the school’s veteran athletics director, elected to stick with Collins for a fourth year.
Now, multiple sources confirm to FootballScoop that Collins is on his way out, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported that Stansbury also is expected to be swept out in a sea of change at Tech.
The Georgia Tech post is a good job. How good? That’s debatable, and it also hinges more so than ever on a variety of elements, including the relationship between the admissions and athletics offices; the school’s ability to generate some Name, Image & Likeness opportunities for players – remember, Atlanta is the nation’s No. 7 media market; the next leader’s ability to harness the power of the NCAA Transfer Portal to generate a turnaround sooner than later.
With those foundational elements, FootballScoop dives in to potential candidates for the Georgia Tech job after speaking with numerous coaches and industry insiders throughout the past few weeks.
CHARLES HUFF, HEAD COACH, MARSHALL: This isn’t just in reaction to Huff’s historic win earlier this month at Notre Dame, when his Marshall squad erased a fourth-quarter deficit and actually seized command across the final 15 minutes for victory. Likewise, it’s not simply based on Huff’s ability to lead the Thundering Herd to a bowl berth in his first season as a head coach in 2021.
Huff has recruited – at an elite level, mind you – at Vanderbilt University and been an integral cog at both Alabama and Penn State.
His own story is incredibly relatable to today’s athletes, and his climb through the coaching ranks is not to be ignored. Simply put, it’s merely a matter of time before Huff is a Power-5 head coach.
DEION SANDERS, HEAD COACH, JACKSON STATE: No coach at any level of collegiate athletics in any sport has done more to elevate any profile than what Sanders has done for Jackson State since taking over the Tigers’ program in fall 2020.
He’s backing up his brash braggadocio with winning, too. JSU is the defending SWAC champions and sit undefeated through the 2022 season’s opening month.
Sanders has recruited at levels not seen at myriad P-5 programs, let alone the HBCU and FCS levels.
Additionally, Coach Prime’s profile is huge and he’s already got ready-made ties to Atlanta given his past as a standout-player for both the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and MLB’s Atlanta Braves.
No candidate represents more upside, especially from a visibility standpoint, than Deion Sanders.
JAMEY CHADWELL, HEAD COACH, COASTAL CAROLINA: All Chadwell has done is post double-digit wins at the NCAA Football Bowls Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision and Division II levels in his relatively short but rapid climb through the head coaching ranks.
His Coastal Carolina squads are 26-3 in their last 29 games, including this season’s 4-0 start.
Chadwell is a noted offensive mind, has great experience recruiting throughout the South and has shown a strong ability to develop talent – particularly at the quarterback position.
JEFF MONKEN, HEAD COACH, ARMY: Monken has deep Tech ties, and deep Georgia ties. A former Paul Johnson disciple, Monken has elevated football to unprecedented levels in the modern era at Army-West Point.
The popular, albeit slightly misinformed, notion on Monken is that he merely is a triple-option coach.
In actuality, Monken has worked each year to distribute more balance among his Black Knights’ offense while his teams play excellent special teams and defense.
This is not to suggest Army suddenly is the old-school Houston Cougars’ wing-all-over offense, but the Black Knights are among the nation’s leaders in offensive pass efficiency and team passer rating.
The sample size is not large, but it showcases that Army understands how to set up the pass with its running game.
Moreover, Monken is unquestionably a proven program-builder at this point in his career.
DELL MCGEE, RUN GAME COORDINATOR, GEORGIA: A Columbus, Georgia, native with rich experience in the high school ranks, as well as at Georgia Southern, Auburn and the defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs, among other stops.
McGee is a magnetic recruiter who’s been around and helped tutor some of college football’s brightest offensive stars in recent years, and he’s got no shortage of players who vouch for his impact.
KEEP AN EYE ON: Two additional names to watch are former Florida Gators head coach Dan Mullen and former Houston Texans and Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien, the current offensive coordinator at Alabama.
Sources tell FootballScoop that both Mullen and O’Brien are eyeing a return to a head coaching role – in the right situation. Their interest reflects the belief that Georgia Tech football, which actually has claimed a national championship more recently than Notre Dame, can be a prime job.
More thoughts on the candidates here in the FootballScoop Podcast.