Coach Brent Key Scenario

[WreckinGT]

Some more Key metrics to consider. I can't find the Defensive FEI rankings by the week, but I belive our DFEI when Collins was fired was in the 90's. Our DFEI is currently #57. I think that's the highest it's ever been in the last 3+ seasons since Collins took over for CPJ.

Our OFEI rankings rose to the 80's last week after beating Pitt, but slid back to #90 after beating Duke.

Pretty crazy how much better our defense has been...of course, the first four games of the season we had to play against the teams with OFEI of #9 (Ole Miss), #27 (Clemson), #41 (UCF). Key has faced teams with OFEIs of #56 (Pitt), #57 (Duke). Nonetheless, still an impressive feat for a team that struggled to consistently stop anyone the last 3 years.

The defense was solid against UCF. I think they were turning a corner already. The embarrassment of the Ole Miss game probably lit a fire.

 

[Techster]

The defense was solid against UCF. I think they were turning a corner already. The embarrassment of the Ole Miss game probably lit a fire.

Agree. Defense definitely looked better against UCF. I wouldn't say they were turning the corner...there have been quite a few instances our defense looked good under Collins...only to crap itself the next game.

I would say this is the best stretch the defense has played in a long time. I don't think our defense has been ranked this high this deep into the season in the last 3+ years.

 

[bke1984]

I'm not. The people who are using only a part of his time coaching are the ones who are only looking at 8 games against a partial schedule where he was interim head coach. I don't get why people would overlook and completely discount the other near 40 games he was here because he largely beat up on a weak coastal. A lot of the things people complained about Collins for were still present against Duke. Inconsistency in the redzone, lack of aggression both at the end of the first half, and second, key penalties that nearly cost us the game, punt game issues etc.



And Key was a big part of the reason why. I know for some reason people want to pretend that Collins was the only one coaching the team the past three years, and maybe that explains the product if he was, but the reality is the entire coaching staff was part of the issue. And if we turn it around and get to a bowl, it won't be all because of Key, or likely even primarily because of him. It'll be on the staff. We have a new OC so it makes sense the offense will take time to adjust some, if it does. And defense, which has been the primary reason we won the last two games, is hardly on Key either.

I’d be right there with you if he hadn’t come out publicly with some statements that showed he clearly disagreed with the way Collins was running the program…and then changed stuff up that made an immediate impact (punt unit, full contact practices, holding players accountable, etc). To argue otherwise would be saying that we would have the same record right now if Collins were still the coach. Maybe we were this close all along and just needed a little discipline that he instilled?

 

[Billygoat91]

Just thought I'd post this here. Bryce Koon tries to bring some of us back down to earth on Key a little bit. I don't know if I fully agree with his assessment.

1. He ponders whether Key will be able to elevate us or is he in effect a band-aid that can maintain the status quo. I would argue that Key has shown changes in a short time-frame and, if they bear fruit, it is more proof than other candidates. Chadwell and McGee are coaches that were mentioned as other candidates. Chadwell, who I love, has a losing record without Grayson McCall, that is a red flag for me. McGee may be respected on the high school front, but he has never been a college head coach and uGA recruits itself to a degree. Key, if we go bowling, will be the first coach with a winning record at Tech in 4 years, will know the players, recruits, and AD staff, and is already well known with our boosters.

2. Mentions that if Key wins more this year, then it will create a CPJ effect where we fall back into the lull of doing a lot with a little resources. I think getting the hill on board regardless of our coach is tough. That has been a problem at Tech for years and goes deeper than Key being our Head Coach. A new coach will not have the fire power to change the hill unless we get Leon Sandcastle as our next coach. We have already fallen behind our competitors but we are far ahead of where we were under CPJ in terms of support staff, social media presence, and marketing. To imply that Key would be doing more with less where we are today and to compare that to CPJ would be a disservice to CPJ.

 

[85Escape]

2. Mentions that if Key wins more this year, then it will create a CPJ effect where we fall back into the lull of doing a lot with a little resources. I think getting the hill on board regardless of our coach is tough. That has been a problem at Tech for years and goes deeper than Key being our Head Coach. A new coach will not have the fire power to change the hill unless we get Leon Sandcastle as our next coach. We have already fallen behind our competitors but we are far ahead of where we were under CPJ in terms of support staff, social media presence, and marketing. To imply that Key would be doing more with less where we are today and to compare that to CPJ would be a disservice to CPJ.

Nice young man who is welcome to his opinion. It's usually interesting, but in this case he doesn't understand politics and the way things work in organizations. At least that is my take. The Coach isn't going to change the way the Hill behaves. It works the other way...he who rules the money rules.

 

[g0lftime]

Nice young man who is welcome to his opinion. It's usually interesting, but in this case he doesn't understand politics and the way things work in organizations. At least that is my take. The Coach isn't going to change the way the Hill behaves. It works the other way...he who rules the money rules.

I hope our president asks what he can do to help the football & other sports to be successful without compromising the integrity of the school. Good things could happen.

 

[TromboneJacket]

Just thought I'd post this here. Bryce Koon tries to bring some of us back down to earth on Key a little bit. I don't know if I fully agree with his assessment.

1. He ponders whether Key will be able to elevate us or is he in effect a band-aid that can maintain the status quo. I would argue that Key has shown changes in a short time-frame and, if they bear fruit, it is more proof than other candidates. Chadwell and McGee are coaches that were mentioned as other candidates. Chadwell, who I love, has a losing record without Grayson McCall, that is a red flag for me. McGee may be respected on the high school front, but he has never been a college head coach and uGA recruits itself to a degree. Key, if we go bowling, will be the first coach with a winning record at Tech in 4 years, will know the players, recruits, and AD staff, and is already well known with our boosters.

2. Mentions that if Key wins more this year, then it will create a CPJ effect where we fall back into the lull of doing a lot with a little resources. I think getting the hill on board regardless of our coach is tough. That has been a problem at Tech for years and goes deeper than Key being our Head Coach. A new coach will not have the fire power to change the hill unless we get Leon Sandcastle as our next coach. We have already fallen behind our competitors but we are far ahead of where we were under CPJ in terms of support staff, social media presence, and marketing. To imply that Key would be doing more with less where we are today and to compare that to CPJ would be a disservice to CPJ.

I find it silly to assume that McGee will do well recruiting at Tech just because he did really well recruiting at georgie while ignoring that Brent Key was named recruiter of the year by one of the big recruiting services while he was at Bama. Brent Key is not new to recruiting I just read an article from when he was hired by Saban, and Key had a reputation as a good recruiter even at UCF. Even if we’re just going off ability to recruit, Key has a much more impressive resume than McGee. I think it’s premature to assume that the recruiting will resemble CPJ’s recruiting if Key is retained.

 

[CEB]

Just thought I'd post this here. Bryce Koon tries to bring some of us back down to earth on Key a little bit. I don't know if I fully agree with his assessment.

1. He ponders whether Key will be able to elevate us or is he in effect a band-aid that can maintain the status quo. I would argue that Key has shown changes in a short time-frame and, if they bear fruit, it is more proof than other candidates. Chadwell and McGee are coaches that were mentioned as other candidates. Chadwell, who I love, has a losing record without Grayson McCall, that is a red flag for me. McGee may be respected on the high school front, but he has never been a college head coach and uGA recruits itself to a degree. Key, if we go bowling, will be the first coach with a winning record at Tech in 4 years, will know the players, recruits, and AD staff, and is already well known with our boosters.

2. Mentions that if Key wins more this year, then it will create a CPJ effect where we fall back into the lull of doing a lot with a little resources. I think getting the hill on board regardless of our coach is tough. That has been a problem at Tech for years and goes deeper than Key being our Head Coach. A new coach will not have the fire power to change the hill unless we get Leon Sandcastle as our next coach. We have already fallen behind our competitors but we are far ahead of where we were under CPJ in terms of support staff, social media presence, and marketing. To imply that Key would be doing more with less where we are today and to compare that to CPJ would be a disservice to CPJ.

Thanks for posting. He is good at this game. He has perfected the art of talking a lot and saying very little. I do appreciate that he talks about tech, but there is not much here.

This is exciting and emotional, but don’t make an emotional hire. Duh!

Georgia Tech needs the right coach long term, not the “right now” coach. Duh!

Admin, AA, etc need to make positive changes to program to compete long term, regardless of coach. OK valid.

On that topic he hints at is that B Key’s success and eventual hiring would potentially make it easy for the school / admin / AA to say, “yup, Collins was the problem, glad Key fixed it,” and then continue status quo without making necessary changes. He didn’t advocate for any other coaches (just dropped names in a “for instance” scenario), just said the changes and investment in the program needs to be made regardless of the hire.
We have talked a lot about that here; that’s a good point and viable topic, but he didn’t expand on it at all...

 

[85Escape]

On that topic he hints at is that B Key’s success and eventual hiring would potentially make it easy for the school / admin / AA to say, “yup, Collins was the problem, glad Key fixed it,” and then continue status quo without making necessary changes. He didn’t advocate for any other coaches (just dropped names in a “for instance” scenario), just said the changes and investment in the program needs to be made regardless of the hire.

That's making a presumption that GT doesn't want to fix the problem and therefore hiring Key would allow them an excuse. My point is that if they don't want to spend the money we should expect them not to spend the money no matter who they hire. I choose to take Angel at his word, so would not hold that as a reason to not hire Key if he is the best person for the job.

 

[CEB]

That's making a presumption that GT doesn't want to fix the problem and therefore hiring Key would allow them an excuse. My point is that if they don't want to spend the money we should expect them not to spend the money no matter who they hire. I choose to take Angel at his word, so would not hold that as a reason to not hire Key if he is the best person for the job.

Oh, I totally agree with your point then!

I took his comment more along the lines that if Key fixed things so easily, maybe our problems aren’t that big after all...

I hope you’re right and I have no reason not to take Cabrera at his word. Just a wise cautionary statement... Our program needs to finish this hiring process just like the team need to finish 4th quarters!

 

[g0lftime]

Cabrera can have a lot to say about the next hire regardless of the new AD.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Just thought I'd post this here. Bryce Koon tries to bring some of us back down to earth on Key a little bit. I don't know if I fully agree with his assessment.

1. He ponders whether Key will be able to elevate us or is he in effect a band-aid that can maintain the status quo. I would argue that Key has shown changes in a short time-frame and, if they bear fruit, it is more proof than other candidates. Chadwell and McGee are coaches that were mentioned as other candidates. Chadwell, who I love, has a losing record without Grayson McCall, that is a red flag for me. McGee may be respected on the high school front, but he has never been a college head coach and uGA recruits itself to a degree. Key, if we go bowling, will be the first coach with a winning record at Tech in 4 years, will know the players, recruits, and AD staff, and is already well known with our boosters.

2. Mentions that if Key wins more this year, then it will create a CPJ effect where we fall back into the lull of doing a lot with a little resources. I think getting the hill on board regardless of our coach is tough. That has been a problem at Tech for years and goes deeper than Key being our Head Coach. A new coach will not have the fire power to change the hill unless we get Leon Sandcastle as our next coach. We have already fallen behind our competitors but we are far ahead of where we were under CPJ in terms of support staff, social media presence, and marketing. To imply that Key would be doing more with less where we are today and to compare that to CPJ would be a disservice to CPJ.

I would say that Key has as much right to be considered as McGee, if not more. I'm always leery about bringing up a guy from a lower level. Not because his scheme and coaching won't be up to snuff, but because the recruiting is just a different level of all out hell.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

People who are hyper focused on recruiting tend to value the best recruiters at the top programs as potential coaching hires without regard to whether they can recruit here or not.

I have said it in the past, but Tashard recruiting four stars to GT is more impressive than McGee recruiting 5 stars to Ugag. I have no interest in McGee unless he wants to become top recruiter for Tech underneath an established head coach.

 

[CEB]

I would say that Key has as much right to be considered as McGee, if not more. I'm always leery about bringing up a guy from a lower level. Not because his scheme and coaching won't be up to snuff, but because the recruiting is just a different level of all out hell.

More. Exponentially more.

 

[Techster]

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

I hope our president asks what he can do to help the football & other sports to be successful without compromising the integrity of the school. Good things could happen.

This may have or may never happen. But the President, new AD, HC, and the Hill need to sit down and iron out a lot of things that will benefit athletics. Or it will be back to the same ole same ole.

 

[85Escape]

I personally think we would have to get extraordinarily lucky to hire a coach who wanted to stay at GT and was good enough to dictate terms to the Hill (ala Saban)...I'm thinking if I'm that lucky I should use it to buy a lottery ticket instead.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

I personally think we would have to get extraordinarily lucky to hire a coach who wanted to stay at GT and was good enough to dictate terms to the Hill (ala Saban)...I'm thinking if I'm that lucky I should use it to buy a lottery ticket instead.

That’s the reason it must come from the President.

 

[croberts]

If we finish out the year with a 30 point loss to UGA I don't think either an AD or a new HC will be on thin ice with at all due to not keeping on the coach. Fans are fickle. The same fans that are talking about Key being the head coach, two weeks ago were calling him one of the four horsemen that needed to be run out of town along with TStan and Collins. Losing to UGA will flip those same fans right back over or at the very least having them not be upset with going with a different HC.

And that's not including the fans, and likely a large number, who are just happy Collins is gone and expect Key to also be gone at the end of the year because they still view him, at the rest of the staff, as part of the problem and see the same things that characterized our issues under Collins as still being present. I think that group just assumes there is no chance Key is retained barring a win against UGA and would likely be upset if he was hired following a 30 point loss to UGA, expected or otherwise. At the very least they certainly won't be upset with not keeping someone from the previous staff.

To me the bold was assured when we fired Collins and TStan mid year and I think it's a big reason Key won't be a real consideration unless he beats UGA. The next hire has to be a "We are serious about this" splash hire, and promoting from within the program that was in shambles to the point of firing the AD mid year doesn't accomplish that, especially with as weak as the coastal looks at the moment.

I’m sorry, winning the UGA game will not be the litmus test. Being blown out and not competing would be. I despise giving the mutts any credit but we will probably be one of the 11 teams to lose to them, many by a huge score. The difference between the top 4-6 teams and the rest is huge.

If he wins 4 more games and plays the rest close, he deserves a shot. Short contract, heavy incentives, then the new AD could kick him to the curb in two years or give him a very competitive contract after his success.

 

[BCJacket]

I think the missing element in a lot of these conversations (and a long-time problem at Tech) is that we put too much expectation on the coach and give the AD a pass. The head football coach should not be driving branding, fundraising, politicking with the hill, media relations, keeping the boosters happy, etc.

C**** came in with a lot of branding and culture ideas. A lot of them were good. But that shouldn't have been taking up his time. The AD and the GTAA should have been handling that so the HFC can focus on football. Yes, the coach has duties that support those functions - appearances, meet and greets with donors, lunches, media appearances, etc. But those should pretty much be: 'Show up at X time, here's your talking points'. Of course, any messaging the coach wants to send for recruiting purposes should be incorporated. But the GTAA should be freeing the coach up to spend every possible minute on football issues.

CPJ wasn't real interested in that nonsense and so, under M-Bob, it just didn't happen. C**** was too concerned with that and, IMHO, it distracted him from doing his real job. (These things are relevant to every other team as well. C**** shouldn't have wasted bandwidth brainstorming branding ideas that the basketball and baseball team adopted. The AD and their staff should be doing this for the whole AA.)

Key has shown, as much as possible through two games, that he can motivate a team, manage a staff, implement a vision. He has a tough nosed no nonsense demeanor. I believe that was one of the two things that made both O'Leary and CPJ successful at Tech. The drive to push the team to work hard and achieve their maximum potential. (Saban also has this attribute.) The other thing that made them both successful was having a great OC.

Long way around to say that (based on limited evidence) I think Key could be a great coach for Tech. But the next AD needs to handle the non-football stuff. The AD/Hill/Donors need to provide the resources to hire a good staff.