Temple’s football coach is a ‘swag artist’ who just hired a ‘S.W.A.G. coordinator’

New Temple head coach Geoff Collins is getting fully settled into his new digs, and with that comes his implementation of his own recruiting tactics. On Monday, Temple announced that Collins has added a new “S.W.A.G. coordinator” to the Owls’ staff, which stands for “Specialist With Advanced Graphics.” The role will go to Dave Gerson, who has been on Temple’s staff for six seasons.

He’ll probably be making stuff like this; every team has somebody making graphics, but Temple’s managed to create a title that references Collins’ expertise in the subject.

Collins has been making graphics of his own since his days at Mississippi State, where he became known for his humorous, hand-drawn recruiting letters.

This the portrait of the artist Geoff Collins, Mississippi State defensive coordinator and accidental art pioneer, the creator of two of this season’s most celebrated works - the raw, minimalist “You’re a Baller” and the Warholian “Can of SWAG,” which assures the viewer that Collins “has a truckload of it over here in Stark Vegas.”

Until now Collins was something of the Johannes Vermeer of the college football letter movement, which in years past was a far less adventurous affair. But now that his identity has been found, his story can be told, if only to better understand his art.

“When I was a G.A. at Georgia Tech, that’s when I started getting into the whole writing recruiting letters,” he says. “When I was there under Coach [George] O’Leary, we had six primary states, and I kept bugging him to recruit. So finally he said, ‘OK fine, you’ve got the other 44 states.’ I couldn’t go on the road, so I started writing letters and trying to find a way to create a big impact. That year, of those 44 states we had five kids sign. So ever since it’s been about trying to garner attention of recruits for whatever school I’m at.”

One of Collins’ personal favorites was this one, featuring a short, but very clear message.

Here’s more from the official release regarding Gerson’s role with the program.

He becomes the first S.W.A.G. Coordinator in college football. In that role Gerson will develop and showcase an array of graphic designs for social media usage. He will personally assist Collins in showcasing Temple Football to fans and recruits.

Since Collins is a head coach now, not just a coordinator, it’s no surprise that he’s delegated someone to head up his S.W.A.G. responsibilities. Collins is staying consistent with his recruiting tactics, which should resonate with recruits, and can only help Temple on the trail. His 2017 class finished ranked 118th, the lowest-rated class the Owls have ever signed. Year 2 is consistently better for new head coaches with respect to recruiting, so Collins’ S.W.A.G. implementation should help even more.