Brent Key is not the answer

okiemon

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As some of you have pointed out, many defended Collins right up to bitter end. That was hard for me to handle because it was clear after year one that this probably wasn’t going to get better.

Now that everyone is burned out on 4 1/2 years of Collins there seems to be little patience left for Key. That’s unfortunate because he deserves the same sustained loyalty that many gave to Collins for three years.

Disagree if you like but Key on his worst day doesn’t hit the depths of ineptitude that Collins displayed regularly.
I agree. Key has not proven he’s the answer yet, but he proved pretty quickly that he’s far, far better than TFG. We may be embarrassed to lose to lesser teams still, but we aren’t hearing jokes about the circus on the sidelines.
 

JacketFan137

Banned
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I think you are forgetting that it was known that Collins hamstrung his staff including Key.
Plenty of assistants have come from similar situations and become HC to turn things around. Dabo comes to mind
Key already talked about keeping Thacker was due to his performance the last few games last year.
However I can see things changing at the end of the year with that side of the staff.
if key was so hamstrung under collins can anyone explain why we see many of the same issues? poor uses of timeouts, the defense can’t tackle and we typically lose the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball. we still have had plenty of special teams mishaps and we have blown double digit leads in multiple games including one against a MAC team at home that has genuinely been horrendous in every single game except against us at home.

i think i would have far more patience if there were different problems but everything is so eerily similar it’s hard to believe there is any progress in the right direction outside of now we only lose games by 2 touchdowns instead of 3. all of them show up the same in the win column and our only home win this season is gonna be against SC state.

again, i hope and pray that key can turn it around but i really don’t wanna listen to silly excuses and people blaming the fans anymore.
 

Northeast Stinger

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key was here the whole time under collins and decided to retain his defensive coordinator. acting like key was some brand new presence that deserves the same level of patience i think is a little bit dishonest when he bares a lot of the responsibility for the hole collins dug. key was the assistant head coach he wasn’t some lowly WR coach or linebackers coach who’s unit was a lone bright spot on an otherwise bleak looking team.

we had key as assistant head coach and offensive line coach for 4 years and the whole time the offensive line looked terrible and our program in general looked like it was ran poorly. collins got a lot of the blame but if key was some major culture changer and program driving force i think he should have made that difference the whole time.

it benefits me and everyone on here, regardless of how negative any of us are if key turns it around, but this is just the same **** over and over and over after these losses. i will be at every home game in my tech stuff watching the warm ups and drinking my helluvenia’s and ale of an engineers, but i just can’t pretend like i see key turning this around when he has demonstrated that he is just a small step better than the absolute rock bottom **** show we were before.

maybe with a new squad after some guys get processed we will be better, but with the portal so crazy it won’t make a difference when the few bright spots on this roster are off to get the 💰at UNC, ole miss, or whatever other p5 school with a fanbase that gives a damn that wants to pony up NIL.
It’s understandable to think that everybody associated with Collins is tainted. For good reason. But I don’t believe every single player is beyond redemption even if most of them might be. I don’t believe every single coach is beyond redemption though most may be.

I see Key as a brand new coach. You are free to disagree but I will not be dissuaded from that belief. I also believe Key will learn to be a good coach. Getting better players will be critical. Getting some stability in the program is equally critical.

The open question for me is whether Tech fans will see Key as just starting or whether they will blame him for the previous coach’s ineptitude. The former seems fair to me the latter does not.
 

JacketOff

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There is: they gave the previous coach time to get the program up to par. The current coach has taken that foundation that the previous coach laid (that had a ton of crappy years) and has started construction on and solid program. We have to give ADJB and GT our time and money to recover what he who shall not be named part duex did to us.
Cutcliffe was 10-25 in his last 3 seasons at Duke. Sound familiar? Geoff Collins was 10-28 across his 3.5 seasons at Tech. Mike Elko took over last year and made an immediate difference at Duke. Even though they didn’t really have any impressive wins last year, they were a solid team and went 5-3 in conference. That’s a better conference record than we’ve had since 2018.

Now, in 2023 Duke has beaten Clemson, they lost to Notre Dame by 7 points and had a chance to tie or take the lead with less than a minute to play, and they’re currently beating #4 FSU at halftime on the road. Duke is a totally different team in just over 1.5 years of Mike Elko, while we basically just look like a slightly better version of the same BS team we’ve been for the last 4 seasons.

Duke is also 9-2 at home in the last 2 years with their only losses to Notre Dame and North Carolina. Meanwhile, Tech is 3-7 at home over the same time period with 2 of the wins being FCS teams.
 

tomknight

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697
if key was so hamstrung under collins can anyone explain why we see many of the same issues? poor uses of timeouts, the defense can’t tackle and we typically lose the battle in the trenches on both sides of the ball. we still have had plenty of special teams mishaps and we have blown double digit leads in multiple games including one against a MAC team at home that has genuinely been horrendous in every single game except against us at home.

i think i would have far more patience if there were different problems but everything is so eerily similar it’s hard to believe there is any progress in the right direction outside of now we only lose games by 2 touchdowns instead of 3. all of them show up the same in the win column and our only home win this season is gonna be against SC state.

again, i hope and pray that key can turn it around but i really don’t wanna listen to silly excuses and people blaming the fans anymore.
I actually think you don't hope he will be successful, because you non-stop complain about him, in every single thread. you wanted sanders, we get it. grow up and move on.
 

lv20gt

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I see Key as a brand new coach. You are free to disagree but I will not be dissuaded from that belief. I also believe Key will learn to be a good coach. Getting better players will be critical. Getting some stability in the program is equally critical.

It's not a matter of belief. This is Key's 5th year here. This was Key's 15th game as head coach. But I agree. You won't be dissuaded from your delusion.
 

wvGT11

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Cutcliffe was 10-25 in his last 3 seasons at Duke. Sound familiar? Geoff Collins was 10-28 across his 3.5 seasons at Tech. Mike Elko took over last year and made an immediate difference at Duke. Even though they didn’t really have any impressive wins last year, they were a solid team and went 5-3 in conference. That’s a better conference record than we’ve had since 2018.

Now, in 2023 Duke has beaten Clemson, they lost to Notre Dame by 7 points and had a chance to tie or take the lead with less than a minute to play, and they’re currently beating #4 FSU at halftime on the road. Duke is a totally different team in just over 1.5 years of Mike Elko, while we basically just look like a slightly better version of the same BS team we’ve been for the last 4 seasons.

Duke is also 9-2 at home in the last 2 years with their only losses to Notre Dame and North Carolina. Meanwhile, Tech is 3-7 at home over the same time period with 2 of the wins being FCS teams.

Again I don't think you are taking into account the bigger picture at tech.
Going from CPJ to Collins was already a mountain,.then fixing Collins mistakes and.fixing the hole he left us , even bigger.

I'm tired of this thinking all the time that Tech should have done better.
People did this all during CPJs tenure, even after we won the orange bowl, did this during Collins tenure and now with key.
 

JacketFan137

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I actually think you don't hope he will be successful, because you non-stop complain about him, in every single thread. you wanted sanders, we get it. grow up and move on.
you guys keep making excuses for a guy who has proven after several weeks he is collins without the skinny jeans. we get it you want a mediocre program. just move on
 

JacketOff

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Again I don't think you are taking into account the bigger picture at tech.
Going from CPJ to Collins was already a mountain,.then fixing Collins mistakes and.fixing the hole he left us , even bigger.

I'm tired of this thinking all the time that Tech should have done better.
People did this all during CPJs tenure, even after we won the orange bowl, did this during Collins tenure and now with key.
Dude. I’ve defended Key almost every time people have called for us to move on from him. You can find multiple posts from me defending him in this very thread. I supported his hire from the start. I agree he is infinitely better than Collins, but when you look at what Duke has been able to do in an extremely short amount of time, it makes you wonder what we’re doing wrong.
 

green&gold

Jolly Good Fellow
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261
Im so sad. I agree we should’ve hired Deion for 7 million a year. Boo hoo.

Key will get a real DC this off-season.

5-7 6-6 7-5 9-3
 

awbuzz

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We all say blame the coach, players aren't amped at home, hire a new coach etc. One question: why, with 9 minutes of game time left and we go down 8, is there all of a sudden a mad rush to the exits? If we want our guys in white and gold play all of 4 quarters, we need to support them FOR ALL 4 QUARTERS.
That was an even team we played today. Pick 6 and a missed PAT hurt. They had the upper hand at that point. Its a tough loss, not a shocking loss.
It takes time to turn the ship around. Dont jump off. For the players not bought in, don't worry, they won't be here next year. Key had to play the hand he was dealt this past year and now he's building his own deck. Got to throw out some from time to time.
Also, trust me when I say this as a former college athlete and coach at multiple collegiate levels; a head coach will never play a lesser talented player over a superior athlete. If you're wondering why your favorite player isn't playing, it could be because he's not as talented. It could be he's one of those not bought in. It could be he's already told the staff he's hitting the portal when he's able but still needs film. The head coach's job is to put the best product on the field.
We had a great crowd today, parents weekend helped a ton, and I hope we have a good crowd next week.
I know ill have some armchair coaches disagree with me and say dieon this and saban that and whatnot. Well come talk to me at section 121 Saturday. Just be sure to buy by your ticket from the GTAA so you will help out the the team you love. See yall there!
Go Jackets and THWg!
👏👏👏👏👏
 

JacketFan137

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There is a difference between making excuses and realizing that we can't make another coaching decision based on emotion.
Am I happy about being mediocre, hell no,
Do I wish we had better hires, definitely
Am I jealous of other schools, sure

But I'm being a realist here , clearly that's something that's lacking with some.
We're still 2-3 years out from being good whether we keep key or rebuild once again. Firing key is simply not the right answer.
firing key tonight is not the right answer but if this team goes 4-8 or 3-9 again then some conversations need to be had with some people with some money cause that is flat out unacceptable at this point.

i remember the threads about how if collins knew what he was doing that this team should be going to bowl games and now we have a coach that ALLEGEDLY (jury is still out) knows what he’s doing, and we aren’t making significant progress. you’ve lost two games at home against teams north of the mason dixon line with less talent than us. recruits have decommitted off the first one and i assume more will follow in the coming days. at some point keeping key around is just riding a sinking ship down to the bottom. if this is the product for 3 years holy **** this program is finished
 

Thwg777

Ramblin' Wreck
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816
firing key tonight is not the right answer but if this team goes 4-8 or 3-9 again then some conversations need to be had with some people with some money cause that is flat out unacceptable at this point.

i remember the threads about how if collins knew what he was doing that this team should be going to bowl games and now we have a coach that ALLEGEDLY (jury is still out) knows what he’s doing, and we aren’t making significant progress. you’ve lost two games at home against teams north of the mason dixon line with less talent than us. recruits have decommitted off the first one and i assume more will follow in the coming days. at some point keeping key around is just riding a sinking ship down to the bottom. if this is the product for 3 years holy **** this program is finished

I remain convinced that the school wants out of football. Geoff did his job too well and 2.0 has to slow it down a bit.
 
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