Brent Key expected to join Georgia Tech staff

[deeeznutz]

I was against hiring Key as HC or OC, but I'm perfectly fine with bringing him in as OL coach+.

That said, as @dressedcheeseside intimates, he'll definitely have to answer or atleast address the anti-GT recruiting trail stuff.

I think it’s probably being misinterpreted a little bit. He may have just been reading into the kid what he was looking for in a college experience (more party, less class work) and talked up the amount of effort it takes to succeed. When he’s recruiting for us, he’ll emphasize the benefit of all that hard work in the end. It’s all about which angle you’re looking at it, and knowing the target you’re selling to.

 

[takethepoints]

Again in this thread we see the "young, energetic coaches will lead us to the recruiting promised land" meme. I enthusiastic about Key coming back to Tech; he was one of my favorite players while he was here and his creds are excellent. However, let's face it: recruiting at the schools he's coached at was not all that difficult. UCF and Bama are not difficult schools to qualify for or stay in, especially if you are a scholarship athlete. And both schools have - let's hope this changes soon - much better recruiting infrastructures then Tech does. When Key gets here, he will face the same dilemma that Tech coaches have face since the Dodd era. Allow me to reiterate:

• You have to identify good/excellent players who will be able to work within your offensive and defensive systems and that the team actually needs.

• You have to find among those players those who can qualify to get into Tech and have some chance of sticking if they do.

• You have to find among those players those who are interested in the majors Tech offers.

• You have to fend off recruiters from schools that are looking for the same players (for Tech, that's mainly Duke, UVA, Minnesota (you can check!), Cincinnati (they keep showing up), and, for the top players, the factories and some others).

• You have to convince them to come to Tech for a visit and handle it right.

The last two steps closely involve the coaching staff and that's where having good recruiters can make a difference. But the real work is in the first three steps and that involves the recruiting infrastructure. That is where Tech has fallen behind; it has little to do with the previous coaching staff or our previous offensive system. With another 10 recruiting analysts and a much bigger budget, we can give our coaches a better shot at getting better recruiting classes. However, even then the last decisions of the players everybody seems to want the most are going to be idiosyncratic. They'll have plenty of choices and, unless the ones we have a real shot at are correctly identified, there is no guarantee that they will come to Tech, "young, energetic coaches" or not.

So, while I'm really pleased to see Key back at the Flats, I'd be even more pleased to see an announcement of another 10 or so recruiting analysts and a bigger recruiting budget. Tech used to be a leader at this - one of the reasons Bama hired Bill Curry was to get their recruiting up to date by using methods devised at Tech. We need to get back to that and put up the money to make it work. Now.

 

[stech81]

It wasn't in a violent decline, it was more of a slow bleed. The gap between us and the elite has never been wider in my lifetime. But it's not like we were headed to 0-12, Paul would've kept us competitive with our normal conference schedule (minus Clemson). The past 2 seasons were the 1st time we've ever came out of the tunnel and I knew we had no chance in hell vs Clemson and UGA. It's going to take years to close that gap.

You had to wait till they came out of the tunnel?

 

[smokey_wasp]

I’m confused. Did you just call our program a turd?

Lol. This is the mentality that our fanbase must overcome.

 

[stech81]

Relax guys we have new coaches no one will call for their head till after the first game. ( or the spring game )

 

[smokey_wasp]

I look at it like this. If anyone knows what it takes to recruit at GT, it is Key. He is a top recruiter and a former Tech SA. He is apparently willing to leave a pretty good gig with the best program maybe ever to come here. Would he do that if he thought we were such a lost cause in recruiting? And again, wouldn't the guys who do this stuff for a living know better than us?

 

[takethepoints]

Mostly agree. I think we can do 20-30 now, and that puts us on a talent level with any team in our conference division. But you never know. String together a few years like 2014, and we could change our program's fortune for a longer time period. As some have pointed out on here, sometimes it is as simple as getting one dynamic player at QB or RB.

Yes. And not scheduling outfits like Notre Dame for a home and home series.

I understand why Tech had a tough time scheduling when Paul was here; nobody wanted to play against the TO. Everybody could see what could happen if you made a few defensive miscalculations or weren't much better in talent. But now we are going to play pretty much the same O as everybody else (yawn). There's no reason we couldn't find a few opponents that we are pretty sure of beating to fill the out of conference schedule. Shoot, now most everybody will think they have a shot of staying on the field with us. I sure do hope TStan is re-thinking our future schedules aggressively.

 

[takethepoints]

I look at it like this. If anyone knows what it takes to recruit at GT, it is Key. He is a top recruiter and a former Tech SA. He is apparently willing to leave a pretty good gig with the best program maybe ever to come here. Would he do that if he thought we were such a lost cause in recruiting? And again, wouldn't the guys who do this stuff for a living know better than us?

True and that's one reason why I think part of the equation was probably a promise to upgrade our recruiting infrastructure and I mean right now. Hope so.

 

[steebu]

This is 100% true and destroys a lot of people's excuses about top athletes not being able to get into Tech. You need not look at our commits to determine it, you need to look at our offers. We offer the best in the nation, we just haven't landed them for a decade. Kills the narrative wouldn't ya say?

Not entirely, because even if we had a standard CFB offense some guys may still not want to come just because we don't have what they want to major in. The limited number of majors IS a limitation, although I suppose you could couch that as, "we don't offer much, but what we do offer we're the best at!" I certainly agree that the previous offensive style limited our recruiting from a small pool to an even smaller one.

As I said in a different post - a smart, 4* LB might want to major in film and video production or criminal justice because he wants to make documentaries about racial injustice. Does he come here, or does he go to to FSU (which has a good criminal justice program, presumably with real-world experience keeping football players out of trouble!)?

Again ... this is why I would stress that we need to go national with our recruiting. Those kids who want to major in STEM stuff or business management/liberal arts-ish degrees AND are talented athletes are out there ... we just need to find them. Collins' crew already has roots in the Northeast, South, and Texas. That's a great start! Having some Cali/West Coast representation wouldn't hurt, either. He will definitely benefit from the expanded recruiting crew and extra $$$ TS is getting. I would really make some salient points about why we need to do this but I'll probably offend half the board so I'll refrain. Instead, I'll tell you a story.

I went to an acupuncturist yesterday. Old Chinese guy, held my hand, tapped my wrist, felt my pulse and put his finger on my palm:

Chinese Acupuncture Master: "Did you run track in high school?"
Me: "Yes. How did you know?"
CAM: "You have very good circulation still at your age." (I'm in my 40's). "Where did you go to college?"
Me: "Georgia Tech"
CAM: "Ah, very excellent school!"
Me: "When did you come to the US?"
CAM: "Many years ago, but I've only lived in Portland."
Me: "And you know Georgia Tech?"
CAM: "Who does not know this excellent school?"
[true story, word-for-word convo]

So even this old guy ... who spoke broken English ... who has only lived in China and Portland ... knows GT. Our reputation is almost revered outside of the southeast.

 

[herb]

Yes. And not scheduling outfits like Notre Dame for a home and home series.

Those are awesome games, why would you want not to play them? Guaranteed big audience and national coverage. Those are the games you live for.

Plus, we really have no say, thankfully. It is part of their acc deal

 

[FightWinDrink]

View attachment 4930
GT isn’t a difficult sale, it’s a unique one. Collins gets it. Brent will know how to sale the program from a unique perspective.

So it takes 3 GT players to tackle 1 Clemson player?!? /s

 

[SteamWhistle]

Key made a lateral move to Tech from the best football program in America, if that doesn’t get you excited I’d assume you take little blue pills.

 

[takethepoints]

Those are awesome games, why would you want not to play them? Guaranteed big audience and national coverage. Those are the games you live for.

Plus, we really have no say, thankfully. It is part of their acc deal

Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but we're very likely to lose those games. Personally, I'd like a schedule like NCSU or Duke has. As I keep saying, Johnny Vaught became a HoF coach by playing 9 patsies and Bama. No reason we can't let Coach do the same.

Are you sure about the ND game as being part of the "ACC deal"? What deal are you speaking of? As long as ND has it's own network, I doubt they'll play for the ACC championship.

 

[MikeJacket1967]

Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but we're very likely to lose those games. Personally, I'd like a schedule like NCSU or Duke has. As I keep saying, Johnny Vaught became a HoF coach by playing 9 patsies and Bama. No reason we can't let Coach do the same.

Are you sure about the ND game as being part of the "ACC deal"? What deal are you speaking of? As long as ND has it's own network, I doubt they'll play for the ACC championship.

LSU and Tennessee weren't exactly patsies

 

[herb]

Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but we're very likely to lose those games. Personally, I'd like a schedule like NCSU or Duke has. As I keep saying, Johnny Vaught became a HoF coach by playing 9 patsies and Bama. No reason we can't let Coach do the same.

Are you sure about the ND game as being part of the "ACC deal"? What deal are you speaking of? As long as ND has it's own network, I doubt they'll play for the ACC championship.

ND as part of the agreement to join the ACC in other sports agreed to play every team home and away every 6 years. http://www.espn.com/blog/notre-dame-football/post/_/id/14424/clarifying-the-acc-arrangement

 

[gtstinger776]

Key made a lateral move to Tech from the best football program in America, if that doesn’t get you excited I’d assume you take little blue pills.

Comment of the month IMO

 

[takethepoints]

ND as part of the agreement to join the ACC in other sports agreed to play every team home and away every 6 years. http://www.espn.com/blog/notre-dame-football/post/_/id/14424/clarifying-the-acc-arrangement

Too bad.

 

[thebull35]

Key made a lateral move to Tech from the best football program in America, if that doesn’t get you excited I’d assume you take little blue pills.

I take little bike pills to stay excited.

 

[wgardiner3]

Key made a lateral move to Tech from the best football program in America, if that doesn’t get you excited I’d assume you take little blue pills.

At first, I thought this was a Matrix reference and I wondered what was wrong with taking the blue pills........

 

[Nook Su Kow]

Not entirely, because even if we had a standard CFB offense some guys may still not want to come just because we don't have what they want to major in. The limited number of majors IS a limitation, although I suppose you could couch that as, "we don't offer much, but what we do offer we're the best at!" I certainly agree that the previous offensive style limited our recruiting from a small pool to an even smaller one.

As I said in a different post - a smart, 4* LB might want to major in film and video production or criminal justice because he wants to make documentaries about racial injustice. Does he come here, or does he go to to FSU (which has a good criminal justice program, presumably with real-world experience keeping football players out of trouble!)?

Again ... this is why I would stress that we need to go national with our recruiting. Those kids who want to major in STEM stuff or business management/liberal arts-ish degrees AND are talented athletes are out there ... we just need to find them. Collins' crew already has roots in the Northeast, South, and Texas. That's a great start! Having some Cali/West Coast representation wouldn't hurt, either. He will definitely benefit from the expanded recruiting crew and extra $$$ TS is getting. I would really make some salient points about why we need to do this but I'll probably offend half the board so I'll refrain. Instead, I'll tell you a story.

I went to an acupuncturist yesterday. Old Chinese guy, held my hand, tapped my wrist, felt my pulse and put his finger on my palm:

Chinese Acupuncture Master: "Did you run track in high school?"
Me: "Yes. How did you know?"
CAM: "You have very good circulation still at your age." (I'm in my 40's). "Where did you go to college?"
Me: "Georgia Tech"
CAM: "Ah, very excellent school!"
Me: "When did you come to the US?"
CAM: "Many years ago, but I've only lived in Portland."
Me: "And you know Georgia Tech?"
CAM: "Who does not know this excellent school?"
[true story, word-for-word convo]

So even this old guy ... who spoke broken English ... who has only lived in China and Portland ... knows GT. Our reputation is almost revered outside of the southeast.

That's a weird spa.