Coach Brent Key Scenario

[JacketFan137]

Even with CT on the field, our defense was putrid. Literally all 3 phases of our team has improved in a week's time since Key took over. Our Defensive and Offensive FEIs have risen in just a week's work. Pitt was the least amount of points we gave up to a FBS team this season.

I respect your opinion that you think GT might have won 4-5 games this season, but I'm not sure where GT would have gotten those wins if CGC were still the coach. With Key and the performance against Pitt, there's actually hope against teams like Duke/VT/UVA now.

saying there was no hope against duke, vt and uva seems like a major stretch to me. those teams haven’t been very impressive, elliot is just collins with less catch phrases. duke’s impressive wins have been against some horrendous teams. vt has been awful too.

we are better than we were, but saying there was no hope is more just residual collins disdain than reality.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Even with CT on the field, our defense was putrid. Literally all 3 phases of our team has improved in a week's time since Key took over. Our Defensive and Offensive FEIs have risen in just a week's work. Pitt was the least amount of points we gave up to a FBS team this season.

I respect your opinion that you think GT might have won 4-5 games this season, but I'm not sure where GT would have gotten those wins if CGC were still the coach. With Key and the performance against Pitt, there's actually hope against teams like Duke/VT/UVA now.

We played three pretty good offenses in UCF, Clemson and Ole Miss. We played a pretty poor offense in Pitt and the second half they were down their best RB. In several of our games CT has only played one half of football. We may or may not have won the game with CGC leading it, but I don't know that CBK is the magic reason why we did.

Either way, I'm rooting for him to make it very hard for GT to pick anyone other than him as our next HC. If he does, we will have won quite a few more games this year.

 

[Techster]

saying there was no hope against duke, vt and uva seems like a major stretch to me. those teams haven’t been very impressive, elliot is just collins with less catch phrases. duke’s impressive wins have been against some horrendous teams. vt has been awful too.

we are better than we were, but saying there was no hope is more just residual collins disdain than reality.

Let me rephrase it...I did not have hope CGC could win any of those games. Others may have felt differently.

 

[bobongo]

Although with CGC here I'm sure he would have found a way to mess up.

This.

 

[CEB]

Let me rephrase it...I did not have hope CGC could win any of those games. Others may have felt differently.

Thats fair, and I agree completely. "No hope" of winning may be a stretch, but we are a team that consistently plays down to the level of competition (I hope I can say "were" but the jury is still out on that). Every game was going to be a struggle, so every game was in considerable doubt. On top of playing down, we did not look like a team, or a staff, that could do what needed to be done in order to overcome a challenge and adversity down the stretch. Seeing us respond that way to end the game last week is the single most encouraging thing to me.

 

[MidtownJacket]

We played three pretty good offenses in UCF, Clemson and Ole Miss. We played a pretty poor offense in Pitt and the second half they were down their best RB. In several of our games CT has only played one half of football. We may or may not have won the game with CGC leading it, but I don't know that CBK is the magic reason why we did.


Either way, I'm rooting for him to make it very hard for GT to pick anyone other than him as our next HC. If he does, we will have won quite a few more games this year.

One tangible difference with CBK is he does more good on good live practice in pads. CGC tried to adopt the NFL style minimized contact approach and I think that led to many of our problems. QBs not getting hit in practice make them more gunshy in games, Lines not hitting make hand fighting less valuable, blockers not being run over makes blocking for punts less effective, etc.

I do agree that the limited time under CBK necessitates that some of the improvement is the team rallying and circling the wagons emotions (though would suggest he has a big part in that too).

 

[RonJohn]

We may or may not have won the game with CGC leading it, but I don't know that CBK is the magic reason why we did.

There is no way to know for sure if we would have won with CGC as HC. However, there are some things that to me indicate that the change to CBK had a big impact. The most visible is punting. There were obvious issues with punting in the Clemson game. Those issues were not corrected in the WCU game, but didn't cause problems. Those issues were not corrected in the Ole Miss game, and did cause problems. Those issues were not corrected in the UCF game, and did cause problems. Last year there were obvious issues with substitutions and getting play calls in. Those were obvious in the NIU game and still remained as issues in the ND game close to the end of the season.

Would CGC have made corrections to punting before the Pitt game? I can't say for sure, but judging from last year's issues with getting play calls in, I would say corrections would not have been made. In less than a week, CBK addressed punting problems that everybody could see and got them fixed. It is a valid point that any competent HC should address such issues, so it is valid to question whether Key is a legitimate candidate or whether he is just better than Collins.

Just from a personal point of view, I now feel as though we have a decent chance of winning Saturday against Duke. It has been a while since I have had any level of confidence before a game.

 

[danny daniel]

Charlie Thomas is doing a great job. He is football smart, tough, intuitive, making big plays, and all in 100%. There can't be that much difference between Charlie and the rest of the players in athletic ability. Charlie is not the biggest, strongest, or fastest. Key/Thacker's goal needs to be to bring the rest of the players (they have the potential) closer to Charlie's performance. I think we saw some of that closure in the Pitt effort on D. We need a Charlie effort/performance from players on O.

 

[g0lftime]

Charlie Thomas is doing a great job. He is football smart, tough, intuitive, making big plays, and all in 100%. There can't be that much difference between Charlie and the rest of the players in athletic ability. Charlie is not the biggest, strongest, or fastest. Key/Thacker's goal needs to be to bring the rest of the players (they have the potential) closer to Charlie's performance. I think we saw some of that closure in the Pitt effort on D. We need a Charlie effort/performance from players on O.

I have been a fan of Charlie for last 2 years. He is a hard hitter and play maker on D. He needs to avoid head first targeting calls to stay in the game. He also hits so hard he has injured himself at times. He gives 100% out there. Twenty more lbs and he is an NFL linebacker.

 

[bke1984]

It's crazy, but all three are winnable games. Win all three (fingers crossed) and we're sitting at 5-3 and a win away from being bowl eligible. How crazy would that be given a week ago it seemed this team was dead in the water?

That’s a pie in the sky scenario though. How often does any team win every game that’s winnable, let alone one with deficiencies like we have on offense. If that were to happen then Key would deserve to be the head coach.

 

[Techster]

I have been a fan of Charlie for last 2 years. He is a hard hitter and play maker on D. He needs to avoid head first targeting calls to stay in the game. He also hits so hard he has injured himself at times. He gives 100% out there. Twenty more lbs and he is an NFL linebacker.

Charlie is a bit of a tweener for the next level, however, his instincts for making plays is uncanny. Even when he was a freshmen he was making plays...now that he's a senior, his off the charts plays are now more consistent, and his overall game has gotten a lot better. He's definitely playing at All ACC levels.

 

[bke1984]

I really don't think either of those is a big assumption. Assuming they can't seems like quite a stretch.

Jenkins drops multiple catchable passes every game and Sims makes easy throws look hard every game. It was a low percentage play. But hey, we won - so who cares.

 

[bobongo]

I have been a fan of Charlie for last 2 years. He is a hard hitter and play maker on D. He needs to avoid head first targeting calls to stay in the game. He also hits so hard he has injured himself at times. He gives 100% out there. Twenty more lbs and he is an NFL linebacker.

The second half he was like Tommy Nobis out there. 7 tackles, 6 of them solo, a 43-yard fumble recovery, an interception, and a pass breakup. He was all over the field.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

Jenkins drops multiple catchable passes every game and Sims makes easy throws look hard every game. It was a low percentage play. But hey, we won - so who cares.

They could not hook up on a easy pass where there was no one within ten yards of either player. Every reception at this point should be considered a gift from the gods.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Jenkins drops multiple catchable passes every game and Sims makes easy throws look hard every game. It was a low percentage play. But hey, we won - so who cares.

I agree with that. That's a far cry from assuming a routine pass and catch are not makeable by the QB/WR combo.

 

[Em_Jae20]

 

[JacketOff]

We’ll see how the rest of the year plays out, but it’s going to be very hard for me if we let Key walk away if he wins 3-4 more games. I think there are definitely some better candidates on paper, but Brent Key loves Georgia Tech, and being the head coach here probably really is his dream job. If he takes us to a bowl through all the turmoil he’s facing I think you have to give him the job. The players have responded to his leadership. The 3rd down play against Pitt where Hall was 7 yards short of the marker until the whole team came together and pushed him 10 more yards was more effort than I’ve seen out of a GT football team in 4 years.

There was definitely a lot of luck that went our way in that Pitt game, but the fight and the want to win was more obvious than it was in any game Collins coached, outside of maybe UNC last year.

 

[SowegaSting]

One tangible difference with CBK is he does more good on good live practice in pads. CGC tried to adopt the NFL style minimized contact approach and I think that led to many of our problems. QBs not getting hit in practice make them more gunshy in games, Lines not hitting make hand fighting less valuable, blockers not being run over makes blocking for punts less effective, etc.

I do agree that the limited time under CBK necessitates that some of the improvement is the team rallying and circling the wagons emotions (though would suggest he has a big part in that too).

One thing that caught my attention during the media interview was the comment that he wanted to close the gap between practice (intensity, speed of the game) and game day. Seems he is doing just that.

 

[bigrabbit]

I think we’ll continue to see improvements with Key, but resisting the urge to project how that translates into near term #wins. Winning’s the bottom line, but we’re digging out of serious damage from prior leadership.

I hope whoever decides on our next coach can manage the “grass is greener” bias and make a good decision on a risk adjusted basis. Key may or may not be our best choice, but we will soon know far more about how can perform at GT than anyone else under consideration.

 

[iceeater1969]

I think we’ll continue to see improvements with Key, but resisting the urge to project how that translates into near term #wins. Winning’s the bottom line, but we’re digging out of serious damage from prior leadership.

I hope whoever decides on our next coach can manage the “grass is greener” bias and make a good decision on a risk adjusted basis. Key may or may not be our best choice, but we will soon know far more about how can perform at GT than anyone else under consideration.

Agree
Baylor had a catastrophe and took a year w grobe as a place holder to find a head coach.
They had integrity issues.
We have some structual issues and long term $$ issues that if solved woild facilitate better coach wanting our job.