Brett Collier, recruited by FPD legend Greg Moore, makes impact on football team

In the summer of 1989 in Macon, it was decision time for Greg Moore.

He was 22 at the time, and already had serious ambitions. Thoughts of coming on as an assistant for Bill Curry, then the head football coach at his alma mater Alabama, ran rampant through Moore’s mind. He’d already held the gig as Curry’s personal assistant while he was a student over in Tuscaloosa.

Moore had signed a contract somewhere else back in the spring, though — not with a university, but with First Presbyterian Day school, where he’d graduated from a handful of years before.

When Curry asked him to come back as a graduate assistant, Moore agonized over a choice that, before he’d scrawled his name onto a sheet of paper for FPD, would’ve been an obvious one.

He called Curry, talking it out with the Crimson Tide coach. Would he keep chasing his ideal job and try to climb the ladder at Alabama, leaving his high school alma mater in a tough spot in the process?

Curry recommended that the fresh graduate honor his commitment. Moore could simply fulfill his duties at FPD for the next year, Curry told him, then mosey on over to Tuscaloosa.

So Moore listened. But before that year could elapse, Curry left Alabama to coach at the University of Kentucky. Though the move obviously came with no ill intent, it still left Curry’s would-be right hand man in Middle Georgia, Moore’s main connection to his dream job now severed.

As it turned out, it was one of the best things to ever happen to FPD — and to Moore.

Change of the guard

Thirty-four years later, Moore had another choice to make. He needed to pick his successor on the football field.

 After signing that fateful 1989 contract, Moore went on to coach baseball, basketball and football at FPD, sometimes leading two teams at once. He became athletic director in 1999 and won a state championship in basketball, along with playing for the state title in baseball this year.

As any good southerner knows, though, football is king. Moore took the reins as head coach on the gridiron in 2000 and stayed at the helm for 22 seasons. He finished with a 163-110 record, winning multiple region titles and guiding the Vikings to an Elite 8 appearance in GHSA play and a championship game appearance in the GISA. 

In 2022, he announced he would step down, choosing instead to focus on his duties as athletic director and baseball coach at FPD. When it came to tabbing his replacement, Moore decided on a plan that revolved around his defensive coordinator, Brett Collier.

Collier had been at FPD as an assistant from 2015 to 2017, then returned as DC for the Vikings in 2020.

Flanked by a Ron Gant bobblehead on one side and a Crimson Tide elephant figurine on the other, Moore sat at his desk one May morning about a year-and-a-half after stepping down as football coach and recalled the impression Collier made on him during his first stint at FPD.

“He just displayed all the qualities of someone who knows how to take over and who would do a good job coaching and teaching,” Moore said. “He’s passionate, diligent, he’s a learner and he just really cares.”

Then Collier left for a job at Eagle’s Landing. FPD played well in his absence, but the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in 2020.

“In the dead of the pandemic, our baseball coach left. So myself and administrators, we started talking about how we were going to fill that slot,” Moore said. “That’s when we circled back to Brett, and that’s when we hatched the plan.”

Moore and FPD’s head of school John Patterson, who had just taken on the role in June 2020, quietly agreed that Moore would take over as head baseball coach and, for the time being, run both teams. Collier would take over the football gig in the near future.

Two years later, Moore decided it was time. He announced that the 2022 season would be his last. Collier, now his coordinator, would take over in 2023.

Within a year, Collier would give the Vikings a state championship. But what drove Moore, a man with plenty of connections, to stay internal was more than Collier’s work ethic. It was what the two had in common.

A strong emotion

Instead of bobbleheads, Collier’s office is adorned with a pyramid of football helmets and loads of other equipment. Though the decor is a bit different, Moore and Collier have one thing in common in their workspace — pictures of family and students.

For Moore, the people at FPD became a part of his family, and the education of his own children was one of the reasons he never left the school.

“I’ve had offers. The last chance I got to go was several years ago though, once people realized I wasn’t going to leave here because of my kids,” Moore said. “I believe in the education here, and I wanted them to reap those benefits.”

Moore spotted the same commitment in Collier, who had already impressed him enough on the field.

“I get emotional when I see that in (the Colliers), because I see them taking their kids to class and spending time with them,” Moore said. “I think that’s really what is so important here, and that’s just another reason why this transition has been so smooth. In addition to being a great coach, he really cares about the school.”

Collier had an even stronger connection to FPD regardless of his kids — Katie, his wife, has the last name Collier now, but her maiden name is etched into several school record books. As Katie Maddox, she dominated for the Vikings in soccer and volleyball during the 2000s, Collier said.

“Some people do still kind of think of me as Katie’s husband, and I don’t mind it one bit,” Collier quipped. “She’s a big reason why I’m here. She was a standout as a student and had a connection that brought us here.”

When the couple, now with three kids, including one about to celebrate his first birthday, got the call from FPD, they jumped at the chance.

“Katie is the school nurse here, when I get a break here I can go see her. When my kids get out of school, they can come over here and see me and I get to talk about their day. That’s a dream as a coach, and it works really great for us,” Collier said.

Combined with his passion for family, Collier’s respect for coaching and teaching also impressed Moore. It made him recall his younger self and a lesson he had to learn when he first started at FPD.

Moore was just getting an average school day started and, upset at the prospect of wet shoes, complained about having to take a phys-ed class outside in the morning.

Unbeknownst to him, some students were within earshot.

“One of my biggest mentors at the time, our PE director Janice Norton, caught me in the back hall later. She said, ‘There’s something you have to understand. You are a teacher. You set an example. All that stuff you do after school, that’s teaching too, and you want to do that. But you have to teach now,’” Moore recounted.

Moore adjusted his attitude in the classroom after that. Collier focused on setting an example from the get-go.

“He’s paying attention to that type of thing. He understands the school’s mission,” Moore said.

Teaching matters. But when it comes to football, so does winning. Collier had that figured out already, too.

All the momentum in the world

Collier, unsurprisingly, credits his team’s immediate success largely to Moore.

“We had already built a pretty great roster up. When you inherit a dual threat quarterback that’s gonna go play Division I football, a lightning-fast wide receiver and a tight end that’s got a scholarship, you already know you’re going to be good,” Collier said. “I just tried to coach them up.”

Collier’s self-described style consisted of the typical coaching mantras, ‘take it one game at a time,’ ‘treat every opponent with respect’ and similar adages. 

Throughout the season, the main philosophy for the Vikings was simply to feed the best players. With the ball in star quarterback Jakhari Willams’ hands, every play came with scoring potential. If their speedy wide receiver core wasn’t open, Williams could find standout tight end Gavin Spillers.

If nobody was open, Williams could take off. But if there was one thing that motivated the team, it was Collier’s dedication. The coach is big on his bond to the players, another thing he shares with Moore.

“I think I agree with him on that: I enjoy practice a lot more than the games,” Collier said. “I love to get out there, and work with them.”

During a summer workout, Collier puts it on display. He runs sprints with his team, trudges beside them carrying cinder blocks as they do the same.

It was this mindset that led Collier and FPD to 9-3-1 final record and a 44-24 win over Brookstone in the title game.

“It made it easier to step down knowing he was the one to take over,” Moore said. “I felt that the team was in a really strong place, and obviously he capitalized on it.”

With the handoff made, Moore will continue chasing a title in baseball — and leading the school as athletic director.

“Everyone is like family here. Handing it off to Brett has been perfect, and we still want to keep that family feeling,” Moore said. “These kids come and eat dinner at my house for Christmas.”

Moore and Collier’s pictures are evidence of that. With a strong foundation, Collier just hopes the success on the field continues.

“We’ve got a great start, that’s for sure. I’m still trying to bask in it a little bit,” Collier said with a smile. “But there’s more work to get done.”