Brent Key Introductory Press Conference

JacketOff

Helluva Engineer
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Unless he upgrades the talent on the roster, not much is gonna change. We will play harder and win a few more games, but that's about it. We really need to see better results recruiting wise.
We could go undefeated against everyone on our schedule besides Clemson, UGA, and occasionally FSU/ND just about every year by having a competent coaching staff. Gotta be able to coach and recruit to beat those teams though, which is the challenge. Absolutely can win the other 8-9-10 just by being the better coached and prepared team on any given week.

With that being said, there aren’t very many teams who are going to compete with and beat Clemson/UGA/ND year in year out. Only those select few 15 schools or so who are legit natty contenders can do that, and many of them haven’t looked competitive against Clemson and especially UGA recently. UGA just embarrassed the SEC West winner in LSU.
 

HouseDivided

Jolly Good Fellow
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Do you doubt his ability to coach up the current players? He was very adamant in the presser about coaching up the current roster

Nope. But coaching up players only goes so far. Talent wins in college ball. I believe he will win more games, but talent matters when playing elite teams.

You can win 50% of your games just by being competent. I think we have 7-8-9 win talent on the roster, but it has been poorly coached. Better coaching (which ain't hard, relative to TFG) will get us to a winning record. To exceed that, we need next level coaching (See: The Ralph Friedgen) and/or better talent. I struggle to believe that we'll consistently crack top-25 recruiting rankings, so it's mostly gonna be coaching. That said, I don't think the difference between #25 in recruiting and number 40 is large.

I agree we can he 7-9 win team in due time. The difference between 25 and 40 in the rankings isn't much, but the difference between a top 5 class and 25-40 ranked class is enormous.
 

HouseDivided

Jolly Good Fellow
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201
We could go undefeated against everyone on our schedule besides Clemson, UGA, and occasionally FSU/ND just about every year by having a competent coaching staff. Gotta be able to coach and recruit to beat those teams though, which is the challenge. Absolutely can win the other 8-9-10 just by being the better coached and prepared team on any given week.

With that being said, there aren’t very many teams who are going to compete with and beat Clemson/UGA/ND year in year out. Only those select few 15 schools or so who are legit natty contenders can do that, and many of them haven’t looked competitive against Clemson and especially UGA recently. UGA just embarrassed the SEC West winner in LSU.

I agree we can, but we aren't there yet. I think if we can get some more quality depth and dudes in the starting 22, it will happen more quickly. Portal era will hamper that of course, that's all the more reason to stock pile as much as talent as possible.
 

stinger 1957

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I noticed GOL in his comments about hiring CBK said he needs to add some talent. I'm guessing we do just that, will it be enough to get us to 8 or 9 wins, who knows.
 

GT33

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It will take some winning to help the recruiting. CGC really set us back in so many ways. If Coach Key can hold the team together and pull out a 7-8 win season and a bowl game that will really help move the needle.
We've had minimum 7 win talent on this roster, we've just suffered thru -4 win head coaching. Take this year for example, we should have been 7-5 regular season with losses to Ole Piss, Clemson, Free Shoes & da U. Last year should have been at least a 7 win team. 2020 was the low point and under decent coaching would have been minimum 5-5, 2019 was another minimum 7 win season.

The easy part for Key is getting to 7 wins. With our schedule it won't be hard. The hard part is averaging higher than 7.5 wins a season but given the weakness of the ACC he's got the best shot anyone's had in a very long time. He does that & he's one of the best. You have to go all the way back to Dodd to do that.
 

forensicbuzz

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I don't know whether to be proud that our coach is committing himself to such a drive or whether to be disappointed that he had to provide money to reach the target.
He's an alumnus. Of course, he was going to contribute. I don't think there was ever a doubt he was going to contribute. I have a feeling all along he was planning to be the final donation to put us over the top. Let's see how high we can get that.
 

forensicbuzz

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Any suggestions for an accurate replacement "synonym" since it seems that the previous coach used it frequently to your distaste yet understanding that this phrase is used extensively by other coaches nationwide.
Right. He said it once. It might have been a slip because I'm sure he was intentionally staying away from buzz phrases like that. But, we do want to recruit at a high level. We do want to compete at an elite level. Everyone does. We just don't need to be hearing it all day, every day.
 

forensicbuzz

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Agreed it seemed more like 'if you don't wanna work, then leave'. But it's not being reported that way and the stuff with his son hit all the way wrong. Certainly a 'miss' w.r.t. inspiring the existing folks.
The guys in the room heard more than a 2-minute snippet. I think he was telling them what they had been doing wasn't good enough and that everyone is going to step up or step out. I think that was probably what most players on a 1-11 team was expecting to hear.
 

BeeRBee

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Didn't give him anything except ability to write off donation:

1. Tech gives Key $100
2. Key donates $100 to athletics fund
3. Key writes off $100 on tax return
1. Tech gives Key $100
2. Key donates $100 to athletics fund
2A. KEY REPORTS $100 AS INCOME ON HIS TAX RETURN
3. Key writes off $100 on tax return

There is absolutely no tax benefit from this arrangement, and depending on circumstances it is possible that you would be taxed on the income but not get a deduction.

So many people seem to think there must be some quid pro quo, when it’s probably an alumnus grateful for the opportunity granted, and both wanting to give back as well as get an easy pr win.

Btw, you can find Collins and Stansbury (and spouses) on the list of larger donors to the A-T fund on the Tech website.
 

1979jacket

Ramblin' Wreck
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Yeah, a lot of us gave Collins a chance and hoped for the best, but I also remember a good many fans saying he was a used-car salesman right off the bat. I think a lot of people recognized early on that he really wasn’t saying anything of substance, that he presented no plan or concrete ideas, just coach speak and buzz-words.
From day 1 I was peeved about his attitude to CPJ. He could have easily recognized Coach for the job he did - instead he made excuses about what he was up against. That set the tone.
 

BainbridgeJacket

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I thought the last four years we had a 6-7 win roster. And really, outside of Clemson and the pups, no one on our roster is unbeatable most years. In the ACC we should be in the top 3 or 4 every year.
Last year, we could've won 7 relatively easily if Key had an offseason to prepare the team and perhaps even better if we were healthy at QB and OL.

Year before we had a better roster: better OL, better WR, better RB, more depth and experience on defense. That team's problem was all mental weakness and disorganization. I've never seen anything like it before. I still don't understand how a team so blatantly quits on the coaching staff and the staff is retained. Heck, I was wanting IHCBK with 4 weeks to go last year.
 
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