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ATHENS, Ohio – Ohio football head coach Tim Albin announced today that defensive coordinators/safeties coach Ron Collins and co-defensive coordinator/defensive ends coach Pete Germano will retire at the conclusion of the season. 
 
"Today, I shared with our team the news that long-time Ohio coaches Ron Collins and Pete Germano will be retiring after our season concludes next Friday" Albin said. "Ron and Pete have coached at Ohio University for a combined 27 years, and have been instrumental in establishing our team culture, building young men of character, helping student-athletes graduate, and building one of the best and most-respected defenses in the league over the past decade, mostly under the direction of Coach Frank Solich. I know our staff, student-athletes and fans are forever indebted to them for their relentless work in laying the foundation of our program's success. We look forward to honoring their legacy as Bobcats one final time next Friday against Bowling Green."
 
Collins spent 10 seasons on the Ohio football coaching staff, including three as the program's defensive coordinator/safeties coach. He was elevated to defensive coordinator on Feb. 5, 2019, after spending seven years as linebackers coach and two as co-defensive coordinator.
 
"After 35 years of coaching college football, I have made the decisions to retire," Collins said. "It has been a great run and I have enjoyed every minute of it. I have been blessed to work with some of the greatest coaches in the game, and to all of them, I say thank you."
 
The Bobcats have boasted one of the top linebacking units in the MAC since Collins' arrival in 2011. Ohio linebackers have accounted for nine All-MAC honors during his tenure, including Noah Keller (2011, Second Team), Alphonso Lewis (2012, Third Team), Jovon Johnson (2014, Third Team), Poling (2015, Third Team; 2016 & '17, First Team), Brown (2016, First Team), Chad Moore (2017, Second Team) and Evan Croutch (2018, Second Team).
 
Under Collins, safety Javon Hagan, a four-time All-MAC selection, also earned a First Team All-MAC selection in 2019 in his first season overseeing the safety core. 
 
In 2016, Ohio linebackers led the way again with 337 tackles and came in as the top three tacklers on the stat sheet. They also compiled 34.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks. Quentin Poling and Blair Brown were named First Team All-MAC and Brown was chosen in the fifth round of the NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Ohio was fifth best against the run in the country and set single-season records in tackles for loss and team sacks.
 
Germano spent five seasons in his second stint on the Ohio football coaching staff. Prior to the 2019 season, head coach Frank Solich promoted Germano to co-defensive coordinator to go along with his duties coaching the defensive ends.
 
"After 38 seasons coaching college football, I am announcing my retirement," Germano said. "My family and I made this decision a little less than a year ago that the 2021 season would be my last."
 
The Bobcats have won 30 games and captured three bowl wins over those five years with Germano back on staff. After rolling to a 41-6 victory over UAB in the 2017 Bahamas Bowl, Ohio became the first Mid-American Conference team to post a shutout in a bowl win, blanking San Diego State, 27-0, in the 2018 DXL Frisco Bowl. Then in 2019, Ohio won its third-straight bowl game, defeating Nevada, 30-21, in the 23rd Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
 
Germano returned to Ohio after spending five seasons as the defensive line coach at Fresno State. Under Germano, nose guard Tyler Davison was a two-time All-Mountain West Conference First Team pick (2013, '15) and a Second Team honoree in '14. Davison went on to be selected in the 2015 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints with the 18th pick in the fifth round -- Fresno State's first defensive lineman to drafted since Chris Carter in 2011. Davison started five games as a rookie for the Saints.
 
In his 11 previous seasons (2001-11) coaching at Ohio, Germano oversaw the defensive line for three years, tight ends for four and outside linebackers for two. He was also the recruiting coordinator for eight seasons. 
 
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