Coach Brent Key Scenario

[Randy Carson]

Unless you have Chadwell or Deion in line ready to go, I think you keep Key in that scenario. He would finish his year 4-3, beating every team he should on paper, as well as upsetting a team he shouldn’t have beat, and all 3 losses would be expected losses. A team who’s best record in the previous 3 years was 3-7, suddenly turning around and going 4-3 (with one loss coming via a probable CFP participant) and 5-7 on the year after starting 1-3 it would be blatantly obvious that the program is moving forward, rather than laterally or backwards.

Any new coach we bring in is going to come with their own set of growing pains. There will be transfers in and out, a completely new staff, a new playbook, a new culture. If we hire somebody new I don’t think we are immediately successful in 2023, and getting to a bowl game would probably be pretty difficult again. Retaining Key limits the growing pains, and I think he has a very solid vision for the program. Key played here during what was probably the best stretch of GT football since the Dodd years. Tech finished the season ranked in all 4 of Key’s years as a player and a captain. The last time Tech had 4 consecutive ranked seasons before that? Never. It had never been done before, and it hasn’t been done since. Key’s teams went 3-1 against UGA, and still have the most recent win at home against them. They also have the most recent win by more than 1 score.

Brent Key knows the culture at Georgia Tech. He loves the school, and he loves the place. AND he was a large part of one of, if not the most successful stretches of GT football in the modern era. Now all of that doesn’t automatically qualify him as the best candidate to be our head coach, but it does make him very attractive. Key has worked closely with some of the most successful college head coaches ever. He’s been part of conference and national championship teams. So far he seems competent as a head coach, and he even made less mistakes regarding time management and discipline than Collins did who had many more years of HC experience.

I think with the challenges that come along with being the head coach at Georgia Tech, you need somebody willing to embrace it and take it head on. With some help from Cabrera and the Hill, we can definitely work to mitigate some of those challenges, but they will never disappear entirely. Key seems like the guy most willing to embrace that, and he will do it because he loves this place, and not because he loves his job or the money that comes along with it.

And of course Key may retain the job as the permanent head coach and be a total bust. But with the hand he’s been dealt, getting this team to 5-7 would be a massive accomplishment, one I think is worthy of serious consideration for getting the full time gig. Because we’ll already have information on how he handles himself and the team as Georgia Tech’s coach. If you get somebody from the outside, there’s risks in that you don’t really know what you’re going to get.

You make a compelling argument. Does Key love GT enough to accept a 3-year contract with an automatic, one-year extension if the team bowls?

 

[Jacket4Life]

Let's say we beat Duke, UVA, and VT and lose to FSU in the middle. We finish the season with three losses losing to UNC, Miami, and we get blown out by UGA. This is actually a pretty realistic scenario. Do you keep Key?

Miami is terrible and UNC has no defense. I think we could beat both those teams.

 

[WreckinGT]

Miami is terrible and UNC has no defense. I think we could beat both those teams.

Miami will depend on how much they work through their issues. I wish we were playing them now. UNC will depend on whether their QB comes back down to earth. We can’t outshoot them the way he is playing. But yeah, aside from UGA we can win or lose every game we have left.

 

[Randy Carson]

If Coach Key does well but DOESN'T get the job, it will be because someone thinks we can't afford to wait 3+ years for him to achieve success.

Instead, they may want to go for Sanders, Chadwell or someone who will be expected to turn things around overnight because of the cachet of the hire.

Whether that will work or not is the question.

 

[billga99]

If Coach Key does well but DOESN'T get the job, it will be because someone thinks we can't afford to wait 3+ years for him to achieve success.

Instead, they may want to go for Sanders, Chadwell or someone who will be expected to turn things around overnight because of the cachet of the hire.

Whether that will work or not is the question.

If Key can go 4-4 or 5-3, I think he has to be seriously considered. He would hang on to most of his staff and I believe reduce the number of transfers (though they are going to happen to an extent under any coach since players not playing will look elsewhere). The big question to me beyond the wins is recruiting. Collins was not a good coach but he could sell people on a vision. Brent Key appears to be very low key. I don't know enough about our current coaching staff to know their strength in recruiting. But for a football staff to be successful they need to be both solid coaches and have the ability to recruit competitively.

 

[bobongo]

If Coach Key does well but DOESN'T get the job, it will be because someone thinks we can't afford to wait 3+ years for him to achieve success.

If he does well, he's achieving success now.

 

[georgiatech22]

If Key can go 4-4 or 5-3, I think he has to be seriously considered. He would hang on to most of his staff and I believe reduce the number of transfers (though they are going to happen to an extent under any coach since players not playing will look elsewhere). The big question to me beyond the wins is recruiting. Collins was not a good coach but he could sell people on a vision. Brent Key appears to be very low key. I don't know enough about our current coaching staff to know their strength in recruiting. But for a football staff to be successful they need to be both solid coaches and have the ability to recruit competitively.

If we do end up keeping Key as HC, his first call should be getting Choice back and making him Assistant HC and recruiting coordinator.

 

[LongforDodd]

Miami will depend on how much they work through their issues. I wish we were playing them now. UNC will depend on whether their QB comes back down to earth. We can’t outshoot them the way he is playing. But yeah, aside from UGA we can win or lose every game we have left.

UNC's QB has been very good. If his OL can give him protection, he very well could be QB #1 in the ACC for a while.

 

[BCJacket]

I feel like Duke is pretty much a must-win game for Key to have a chance at the job. Win Saturday and his list of 'accomplishments' checks a lot of boxes - first ranked road win since 2017, first back to back wins since 2018. Not only was he able to rally the team to a tough win on the road, he'll have kept them focused for an easier-on-paper home game. Tech will have reached the 'Collins-line' and be even on the year.

Go into the bye with a lot of positive energy around the program. Be a lot easier to get the team to buy-in on making changes, settle in and setting the trajectory for the rest of the season. Second half is like a 'new season'. Just need to go .500 to make a bowl game, against a less challenging schedule (outside the last game). All of a sudden that UVA night game looks really fun. Might get a good crowd to turn out. White out game under the lights? Based on the interim AD's timeline, there's a decent chance the new AD is in the stadium for the UVA game, whether they're officially hired or still in the process. Win that one and Key should go to the front of the interview line.

Lose to Duke and you go into the bye with a lot of question marks. I imagine it'll negatively influence transfer decisions. Then have to go 4-1 against a conference schedule to make a bowl. Have to win at least two on the road... Even if so, Key probably won't be able to show enough progress before the HC interview process gets rolling...

 

[rfjeff9]

I feel like Duke is pretty much a must-win game for Key to have a chance at the job. Win Saturday and his list of 'accomplishments' checks a lot of boxes - first ranked road win since 2017, first back to back wins since 2018. Not only was he able to rally the team to a tough win on the road, he'll have kept them focused for an easier-on-paper home game. Tech will have reached the 'Collins-line' and be even on the year.

Go into the bye with a lot of positive energy around the program. Be a lot easier to get the team to buy-in on making changes, settle in and setting the trajectory for the rest of the season. Second half is like a 'new season'. Just need to go .500 to make a bowl game, against a less challenging schedule (outside the last game). All of a sudden that UVA night game looks really fun. Might get a good crowd to turn out. White out game under the lights? Based on the interim AD's timeline, there's a decent chance the new AD is in the stadium for the UVA game, whether they're officially hired or still in the process. Win that one and Key should go to the front of the interview line.

Lose to Duke and you go into the bye with a lot of question marks. I imagine it'll negatively influence transfer decisions. Then have to go 4-1 against a conference schedule to make a bowl. Have to win at least two on the road... Even if so, Key probably won't be able to show enough progress before the HC interview process gets rolling...

This is what I hope for, especially hoping that if we start winning some games then we can get some on TV commentary about how Key has turned the entire program around on a dime and has the Jackets winning. That’s good press, especially for those kids in state that are looking for a landing spot out of HS.

If we can get to 4 more wins (5 total under Key), I think he earned the lead job since he did it mid-season. It isn’t about just by fixing the glaring issues we all saw, he did all that in 4 days. Forget all these other candidates, I’m betting Key would be a good HC just based on this scenario and we can probably afford him and then some. And he WANTS to be here.

But of course, lose to Duke and it’s over.

 

[yeti92]

This is what I hope for, especially hoping that if we start winning some games then we can get some on TV commentary about how Key has turned the entire program around on a dime and has the Jackets winning. That’s good press, especially for those kids in state that are looking for a landing spot out of HS.

If we can get to 4 more wins (5 total under Key), I think he earned the lead job since he did it mid-season. It isn’t about just by fixing the glaring issues we all saw, he did all that in 4 days. Forget all these other candidates, I’m betting Key would be a good HC just based on this scenario and we can probably afford him and then some. And he WANTS to be here.

But of course, lose to Duke and it’s over.

The issue you kind of run into though, is did Key REALLY turn the team around that fast, or were those games we were likely going to win anyway or got lucky in? Determining how much improvement is due to the coaching change vs the expected improvement we thought we might see before the season is difficult to determine, so Key kind of HAS to win a bunch to get real consideration. Then you also have to look at how well do you think Key can recruit to Tech, and do you think he can sustain the success? That's a lot of unknowns to put up against some of the coaches being discussed as options that have shown they can build/rebuild a program and sustain success.

 

[Randy Carson]

The issue you kind of run into though, is did Key REALLY turn the team around that fast, or were those games we were likely going to win anyway or got lucky in?

I wasn't expecting to beat Pitt. Or anyone besides Duke for the remainder of the schedule. So, he's already one-up on my tally sheet.

And Duke has played well enough this year to make me nervous. Winning that game is anything but chalk for us.

 

[CEB]

The issue you kind of run into though, is did Key REALLY turn the team around that fast, or were those games we were likely going to win anyway or got lucky in? Determining how much improvement is due to the coaching change vs the expected improvement we thought we might see before the season is difficult to determine, so Key kind of HAS to win a bunch to get real consideration. Then you also have to look at how well do you think Key can recruit to Tech, and do you think he can sustain the success? That's a lot of unknowns to put up against some of the coaches being discussed as options that have shown they can build/rebuild a program and sustain success.

I agree with this and said the same somewhere on here.... if I didn’t, I meant to!
Key is going to have to be a “no brainer” of a hire with a new AD coming.
I really think he needs to win #6 against the Canes in front of an excited crowd at BDS. Maybe a groundswell of support gets him a chance to win #6 against UNC, but I think decisions are going to be made (even if not announced) before UNC or UGA.

 

[forensicbuzz]

All of this assumes the CBK wants the interim title removed. It may be that he decides he wants to leverage his effort into a different position.

 

[LargeFO]

All of this assumes the CBK wants the interim title removed. It may be that he decides he wants to leverage his effort into a different position.

At another school? He was already #2 here, so he knows this is his shot with his alma mater. I doubt he'd take a demotion on a new staff here.

 

[UgaBlows]

If Key can go 4-4 or 5-3, I think he has to be seriously considered. He would hang on to most of his staff and I believe reduce the number of transfers (though they are going to happen to an extent under any coach since players not playing will look elsewhere). The big question to me beyond the wins is recruiting. Collins was not a good coach but he could sell people on a vision. Brent Key appears to be very low key. I don't know enough about our current coaching staff to know their strength in recruiting. But for a football staff to be successful they need to be both solid coaches and have the ability to recruit competitively.

Key was considered an excellent recruiter when he was at Bama, of course probably anybody with a pulse could recruit to play there so idk how relevant that is?

 

[CEB]

Key was considered an excellent recruiter when he was at Bama, of course probably anybody with a pulse could recruit to play there so idk how relevant that is?

Which is why it’s mind boggling to me that we would chase anyone for their recruiting ability to a major P5 program.
I’m not saying that is all Key brings to the table, BTW... just pontificating on other “candidates” being tossed around here.

 

[UgaBlows]

I feel like Duke is pretty much a must-win game for Key to have a chance at the job. Win Saturday and his list of 'accomplishments' checks a lot of boxes - first ranked road win since 2017, first back to back wins since 2018. Not only was he able to rally the team to a tough win on the road, he'll have kept them focused for an easier-on-paper home game. Tech will have reached the 'Collins-line' and be even on the year.

Go into the bye with a lot of positive energy around the program. Be a lot easier to get the team to buy-in on making changes, settle in and setting the trajectory for the rest of the season. Second half is like a 'new season'. Just need to go .500 to make a bowl game, against a less challenging schedule (outside the last game). All of a sudden that UVA night game looks really fun. Might get a good crowd to turn out. White out game under the lights? Based on the interim AD's timeline, there's a decent chance the new AD is in the stadium for the UVA game, whether they're officially hired or still in the process. Win that one and Key should go to the front of the interview line.

Lose to Duke and you go into the bye with a lot of question marks. I imagine it'll negatively influence transfer decisions. Then have to go 4-1 against a conference schedule to make a bowl. Have to win at least two on the road... Even if so, Key probably won't be able to show enough progress before the HC interview process gets rolling...

This duke game is just SO big for us all of a sudden. I can’t recall a more important game for GT since PJ retired- To feel hope that the worst is past us, to bring the fans interest back, for Brent Key’s HC aspirations, to have a realistic chance at a bowl game, for recruiting, to prove that our problems were CGC and not the team. Team confidence will soar if we take this one.

“GT’s season stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while all the White and Gold are true.”

 

[g0lftime]

Duke will be a tough test this week. No one will overlook us after beating Pitt on the road. I went to the Duke Temple game. Duke is well coached with a solid good QB. They dominated both Temple lines and played assignment football on D with good one on one tackling. I haven't seen how Temple has done since that game but Duke did not look like the first game under a new coach. Adonicas Sanders played for Temple so I watched him quite a bit. He was their best WR in that game.

 

[Techster]

Which is why it’s mind boggling to me that we would chase anyone for their recruiting ability to a major P5 program.
I’m not saying that is all Key brings to the table, BTW... just pontificating on other “candidates” being tossed around here.

Yeah, that's why Dell McGee doesn't excite me at all. UGA recruits itself...even when they weren't recruiting at elite levels they were still getting top recruits. Dell McGee is a good recruiter but I don't see him pulling in consistent top 20 classes at GT. Especially in the age of NIL where GT isn't competing with the factories and their crazy donors.

If Key wins 6+ games, it's REALLY hard to overlook that. I think it would also give him momentum in recruiting as he can sell all the recruits on "his program" and show them tangible results. Also, I'm sure he'll want to bring in some staff on the defensive and offensive side that can be just as exciting for recruits as the HC.