Coach Brent Key Scenario

[Augusta_Jacket]

O'Leary was the DC for our national championship team and had pretty highly ranked defenses the entire time under Ross. That's not quite the same situation.

Key was an assistant on a National Championship team as well.

 

[CEB]

Key was an assistant on a National Championship team as well.

Agree. It actually is quite a similar scenario!
Key’s three years here have not been impressive (for whatever the reason) but it’s an odd argument that we should “consider his resume” but then only include what he has done here.

 

[WreckinGT]

Key was an assistant on a National Championship team as well.

Im not sure being an OL coach at Alabama has quite the difficulty level of being the coordinator of a top 20 defense at GT. Key actually stepped up to a coordinator position at UCF. It didn't go well.

 

[MidtownJacket]

I am probably echoing into the void here, but from where I sit, there is much to consider in the coaching search.

• What Key did as an OL Coach is part of the consideration (As is his performance as am IHC).
• What he would want in a contract (Allowing us to structure a contract against performance versus guaranteed buyouts).
• What the team looks like through these last 8 games (Compared to before he became IHC).
• How Brent deploys staff through the remainder of the season (He had a huge part in hiring CCL which is still TBD on good or bad; he'll also be hiring an open asst coach likely during the bye).
• Recruiting and holding the team together (As this plays out through the remaining 8 weeks).

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Im not sure being an OL coach at Alabama has quite the difficulty level of being the coordinator of a top 20 defense at GT. Key actually stepped up to a coordinator position at UCF. It didn't go well.

Then he went to Bama and won a National Championship.

BTW, Guess what HC Key was OC for that was forced to resign because of that debacle of a season at UCF?

 

[WreckinGT]

Then he went to Bama and won a National Championship.

BTW, Guess what HC Key was OC for that was forced to resign because of that debacle of a season at UCF?

Just so im hearing this correctly, you think Key was just as important to Alabama as O'Leary was to GT in the Ross years?

 

[stech81]

Guys look we don't have to name anyone as a Head Coach till we get a new AD. But to rule someone out because you don't like them for something you think or were told is not fair. But I wasn't happy the way our OL played but really not sure CGC had more to do with that if you don't let your asst. coaches coach.
To be honest there is not one person we could hire to make 100% of the fans happy. I just want a good Head Coach and if the players play good the rest of the year and we win ( NOT EVERY GAME BUT WIN MOST THE GAMES) I'll be happy with CBK as long as whoever we sign is not a 7 year deal . I can live with 4 years or 3 years and a roll over.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Just so im hearing this correctly, you think Key was just as important to Alabama as O'Leary was to GT in the Ross years?

I'm pointing out the fallacy of judging people by snippets of their resume. Key will be judged by how he navigates this time as IHC, same as G***** O'***** was.

BTW, I think G***** O'***** is the absolute worst coach GT ever had grace its sidelines and wish we were never associated with him. He may have won some games, but his behavior as a human is severely lacking.

 

[WreckinGT]

I'm pointing out the fallacy of judging people by snippets of their resume. Key will be judged by how he navigates this time as IHC, same as G***** O'***** was.

BTW, I think G***** O'***** is the absolute worst coach GT ever had grace its sidelines and wish we were never associated with him. He may have won some games, but his behavior as a human is severely lacking.

The problem is, I don't know how to judge his resume at Alabama. The year after he left Alabama's OL was ranked 3rd in the country by PFF. The year after that they were 9th and won the NC again. Maybe they hired another incredible OL coach and kept things going or maybe they had enough talent and coaches/analysts that losing any coach not named Nick Saban really doesn't matter much.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

The problem is, I don't know how to judge his resume at Alabama. The year after he left Alabama's OL was ranked 3rd in the country by PFF. The year after that they were 9th and won the NC again. Maybe they hired another incredible OL coach and kept things going or maybe they had enough talent and coaches/analysts that losing any coach not named Nick Saban really doesn't matter much.

So make it easy. Judge his resume as the interim Head Coach at GT, At the end of the season we will have 8 complete games to judge him in how he operates as a HC, at on OL or AHC or any other kind of assistant coach.

 

[bobongo]

One element of all this that will come into focus as we approach the end of the season is timing.

The new AD may prefer to have the luxury of judging Key on the full remainder of the schedule, but he'll also want to get a jump on other teams looking for a new HC in case he gets the feeling he might need to go in that direction. As the end of the season nears, he'll probably have a few names he's interested in and will want to get ahead of the game, but perhaps may also be considering Key if things are going well with him here. He'll have to make the judgement of whether to pull the trigger early or give Key his full 8 auditions.

It's a good problem to have in a way, but a potentially uncomfortable one. For instance, if he gives the job to Key with two or three games remaining on the schedule and things suddenly go badly south, he'll be heavily criticized for jumping the gun. Conversely, if he pulls the trigger early and gives it to a new guy but we smoke Miami and UNC and give Ugag a tough game, he'll be criticized for passing over the interim prematurely.

Overlying all this is the consulting firm and its recommendations If we just hire Key, they will be completely superfluous.

 

[BCJacket]

I definitely think if Tech can get Chadwell or a similar coach at reasonable terms they need to go that way. But I'm not convinced Chadwell, Deion, BOB or the like would be willing to take on our job at this point.

So, if the top names aren't on the table for us, Key wins at least a few more games and there's clear improvement the rest of the season, then the 'Brent Key scenario' that makes sense to me is: you offer to retain him at very favorable terms. So, Tech offers him a 4 year contract (minimum you can do for recruiting reasons), low/no buyout, relatively low base salary, lots of incentives/escalators. Use the money saved to surround him with quality assistants. Essentially give him a full year tryout and a short leash. Basically, what the Braves did with Snitker; giving him a year at a time until he showed he's a great manager. Key isn't getting another P5 head coaching job next year. So, does he take 700k to be an OL coach at

Ironically, though, if Key gets Tech to 5/6 wins then the job looks a lot less daunting for a Chadwell type hire and maybe Tech lands a better candidate available. But, I'd prefer giving Key an extended audition vs rolling the dice on a Dell McGee or another position coach without HC experience.

 

[jgtengineer]

In a completely different thought.
Can we go pick up coach O for the rest of the season to be our O-line coach. Just for the press conference

 

[Papa Foxtrot]

In a completely different thought.
Can we go pick up coach O for the rest of the season to be our O-line coach. Just for the press conference

Well - considering that our pressers have no audio.....

 

[slugboy]

Well - considering that our pressers have no audio.....

Orgeron speaks below the frequency range of conventional audio equipment anyway

 

[RonJohn]

Orgeron speaks below the frequency range of conventional audio equipment anyway

Maybe we can get Boomhauer for HC. Well, I guess he an Orgeron sound similar and Orgeron has more experience.

 

[UgaBlows]

IF Key shows he can win here it would be so crazy to me to let him get away. Think about how often you see coaches with good to great records at one school move to a new job and then fail miserably or become mediocre. I’m not saying we should lock him up with a Paul Hewitt contract or anything and definitely not a big buyout. The man understands Tech as a player and a coach, if he can win in this crappy situation than who could be better for the job?

 

[yoshiki2]

Im not sure being an OL coach at Alabama has quite the difficulty level of being the coordinator of a top 20 defense at GT. Key actually stepped up to a coordinator position at UCF. It didn't go well.

The company I joined after college has this TRACK program. You spent some time on different positions, I hated and did really bad on my 2nd position. Fortunately after track ended I was placed on a position that was challenging, but I did really good learning from my previous experiences. OL and HC are different positions, let's see how he does.

 

[g0lftime]

Key would also have to show he can recruit. PJ was arguably his best with players from the previous coach. Long term success is so dependent on being able to perpetuate good recruiting. That is one reason to go with a proven HC that has shown success over more than one recruiting class. Any assistant coach would come with that as an unknown unless with prior HC experience. We have found that just good recruiting does not necessarily translate into a winning program.

 

[jgtengineer]

Key would also have to show he can recruit. PJ was arguably his best with players from the previous coach.

Not sure i'd say this. 2011 was pretty much all him, and we finished 8-5 with a bounce at UVA that we got in 08 going the other way that would have put it hte same record but 2011 was a much more productive offense than 08. (for reference we did a lot of strange **** in 08, delayed draws out of offset I, lots of screens, converting tight ends to play tackle, converting Lucas Cox to play AB like a tight end. had that strange gardner webb game when we were down to our last QB the stuff johnson did this year to have a successful team. Sure we might have had some skill players but the OL situation johnson had to run his offense was worse than the one collins had we barely had any depth at all.)

2009 we win the ACC championship and if we had not loss to UGA and UM we would have been in the BCS conversation. and 2014 sorta lines up we were 2 points off of a ACC championship and hell we were damn close to a birth in the first CFB playoff had we taken a little longer vs UNC or and put byerly in vs duke. (same could be said for bebe catching the ball in 09 to beat UGA that year.) Then we hit 9-4 again in 2016.