Coach Brent Key Scenario

[iceeater1969]

This hire by Batt will be heavily scrutinized by everyone (players, fans, donors, media, search firm, Pres. Cab, etc…)! This is a critical hire and one that has been expensive to say the least. So I can’t imagine that Batt would not just look at Key and say “Job is yours!” Not to mention this is a resume building moment for his career as well. He also knows that he is afforded this opportunity due to the missteps of the man before him. Everyone is going to be watching/examining the head coach hire with a fine tooth comb. This will be interesting and a HUGE opportunity to move forward in a BIG way! The pressure is on and I assume Batt is expected to report immediately?

All good points.
We have had 2 ADs that were less than dynamic in all phases.
Could BATT be Angels man to unite all phases of Gt around a great student experience at winning athletic events.
Gt students experience tough competition in Class
room and deserve having fun at gtaa events. Over long term it will create generous giving alumni.

 

[GoldZ]

Losing to uga wouldn't affect my outlook of retaining him at all. Not sure why it would for anyone.

Losing and losing by 50 ain't same thang.

 

[iceeater1969]

Losing and losing by 50 ain't same thang.

Losing by 50 to NC is bad.

But but losing by 50 in final game of year and looking incompetent is another.

Thanks to Collins being unable to circle the square w have new energy in leadership.

 

[g0lftime]

This hire by Batt will be heavily scrutinized by everyone (players, fans, donors, media, search firm, Pres. Cab, etc…)! This is a critical hire and one that has been expensive to say the least. So I can’t imagine that Batt would not just look at Key and say “Job is yours!” Not to mention this is a resume building moment for his career as well. He also knows that he is afforded this opportunity due to the missteps of the man before him. Everyone is going to be watching/examining the head coach hire with a fine tooth comb. This will be interesting and a HUGE opportunity to move forward in a BIG way! The pressure is on and I assume Batt is expected to report immediately?

I would have asked Batt how many AFAM classes he took while at UNC. Just kidding,,,sorta.

 

[85Escape]

I would have asked Batt how many AFAM classes he took while at UNC. Just kidding,,,sorta.

Yeah, but now he Knows Things so if the NCAA or ACC try to play some game with us he'll be like "Oh, so you want me to talk about...."

 

[4shotB]

Thanks to Collins being unable to circle the square w have new energy in leadership.

Interesting that we may in fact look back at the Collins/Stansbury era as being necessary in order to involve the President into getting his hands dirty with the GTAA....something no other President has really ever done in my lifetime. And I ain't young. Is it possible that the recent historically bad era COULD lead to step changes going forward? That which didn't kill us in fact made us stronger??? Just spitballing here as I am well into the second of two very stiff Manhattans this evening. One can dream can't one?

 

[85Escape]

Interesting that we may in fact look back at the Collins/Stansbury era as being necessary in order to involve the President into getting his hands dirty with the GTAA....something no other President has really ever done in my lifetime. And I ain't young. Is it possible that the recent historically bad era COULD lead to step changes going forward? That which didn't kill us in fact made us stronger??? Just spitballing here as I am well into the second of two very stiff Manhattans this evening. One can dream can't one?

By the third you'll have solved for World Peace!

 

[Thwg777]

Interesting that we may in fact look back at the Collins/Stansbury era as being necessary in order to involve the President into getting his hands dirty with the GTAA....something no other President has really ever done in my lifetime. And I ain't young. Is it possible that the recent historically bad era COULD lead to step changes going forward? That which didn't kill us in fact made us stronger??? Just spitballing here as I am well into the second of two very stiff Manhattans this evening. One can dream can't one?

You’re not off base at all. I’ve had the same thoughts in the past couple weeks. In a parallel universe, we inexplicably beat Ole Miss, lost to UCF and Pitt, beat Duke… still 3-3 but with gSOSc still at the helm and primed to repeat 2021 history.

 

[4shotB]

By the third you'll have solved for World Peace!

That's ridiculous. The third has me thinking I was really good at calculus AND athletics as a younger man! You are talking about the 5th one my friend in your quoted post. I always come up with brilliant ideas but cannot remember them the next day. The one time I made it to 6 I was thinking about the fact that perhaps dinosaurs and man could have coexisted in the event that asteroids had not struck the earth when they did and how cool it would be to ride a triceratops.

As an aside, for the first time in a bit, I am actually pissed we AREN'T playing tomorrow.

 

[bke1984]

Well by virtue of Collins being let go prior to playing 6 games I would think it obvious that wasn't the actual bar.

But regardless, it's a different situation. By firing Collins and Tstan mid year, the president made it clear he had reached the conclusion that the current path wasn't the one we needed to be on, and that not only was it a problem with Collins, but we need to completely reset by also getting a new AD. Hiring Key would be done to keep continuity. You likely wouldn't be making many coaching changes because the argument for keeping Key despite his role in the last 3 years can be applied to anyone on staff and the new guys would have even less baggage. That would be a shockingly complete 180 in terms of direction since the midseason firings. Going from everyone, including the AD, must go, to keep most of the staff is drastic. So yes, something drastic is needed to cause that. Just making the bowl isn't that, to me.

Look at our upcoming schedule.

UVA is 2-4 with wins over ODU and Richmond. This is a bad team.
FSU. People are hyping this game up. It's very likely they will come into that game riding a 3 game losing streak, and if we beat them, it would be 4 in a row. More on this in a second but I doubt they look anywhere near as good a win at the end of the year as people are envisioning it now.
VT - they're probably worse than UVA. Do have wins over Wofford and BC but lost to ODU and the other 3 games by an average of 3 TDs.
Miami is 2-3 with wins over Bethune Cookman and Southern Miss. Probably will get a couple more wins before then because they play Vt/Duke/UVA the next 3 games, but it's likely if we beat them it will be either the middle of a three game losing streak, or the FSU game looks even worse as it would mean they are likely on a 5 game losing streak then.

The truth is, barring the UGA game, Key won't have much chance to do anything drastic unless we go to the ACC CG. Lets say we win the above 4, then lose to UNC and UGA to close out the season, hiring Key would be underwhelming to say the least. Removing the interim label before the UNC game and then losing two in a row would look even worse.

So let me get this straight. Three weeks ago we were widely regarded as the worst team in the conference. So hiring an interim coach that took us to the point where we are 6-2 in conference with wins over every team in our division but one would be underwhelming?

 

[Skeptic]

No one that we would want would jump all over a three year contract. In fact, name one head coach who has ever signed a three year contract that was not an extension.

I think there are all kinds of contract ephemera that can be used to get a coach. The problem is that we now allow football coaches to drive the entire athletic department and in some cases -- I am looking at you, Alabama, and USC, amongst many -- drive the university. Take all the time you want and convince me the last iteration of a make-believe, pixie world football coach would not have taken the job unless he had seven years, the last four needed apparently to finish driving it into the ground. I have been a Tech fan a long time, and remember with fading fondness when we actually competed with Georgia and Miami and FSU and Virginia Tech, and won our share. Three years will show something.

 

[Skeptic]

This can't be a serious response. Who would manage the team in that scenario.



Totally creating a strawman and totally not looking at the very real likely scenario and addressing both the scenarios of making the usual decision at the end of the year and making the decision when it would be best received by the fanbase and how both cases don't lend itself to the hire. You got me.



Not really. Going by current RPI the scenario I talked about has us losing to the top 5 highest rated teams we faced and losing to the lowest 7. It'd be shocking in the sense that nobody expected it, either before the season or after 4 games, but if you assumed we'd go 7-5 this year you would still likely predict we'd start 2-3 with losses to Clemson and Ole Miss and then one of either Pitt or UCF depending on how you felt about what Pitt gained/lost in the off season.

So I wouldn't call that a shockingly complete 180 in terms of direction of the program. It was an expected shift in the difficulty of our schedule. Our schedule went from 3 of the first 4 games being against RPI top 35 teams to 6 games where the average opponent is RPI 84.7 currently. Then ending on the road against two teams currently ranked in the top 25 RPI.

It would shock me. Geez. we hardly get a win before the perils of over optimism.

 

[Skeptic]

Do you think Cabrera is going to publicly say that there a few boosters that are having back channel conversations with coaching prospects even if he knew about it?

Are you surprised that there are a few boosters with enough influence at Tech to do this on their own even if it is without the President's explicit approval?

Are you saying to us we want a football coach who was hired by a booster? Why hire an AD at all? The onus is on the president to hire a good AD, and then get off the road.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

Are you saying to us we want a football coach who was hired by a booster? Why hire an AD at all? The onus is on the president to hire a good AD, and then get off the road.

That is not what I said or anything close to what I said.

 

[GTRambler]

Let’s see how Coach Key performs for the remaining regular season games first.

Then let’s see what the new AD does next.

 

[bartoma]

Having rewatched the Duke game, I am sold on CBK based on the fact that he lined up, at least a couple times, in the wing T formation (ABA backs, QB under center)...

This suggests to me that he's open to an eclectic style of offense we saw under his OC, Ralph Friedgen - one that includes a good dose of option... I would be extremely happy to return to sort of teams we had under O'Leary (if not CPJ)...

 

[bke1984]

Having rewatched the Duke game, I am sold on CBK based on the fact that he lined up, at least a couple times, in the wing T formation (ABA backs, QB under center)...

This suggests to me that he's open to an eclectic style of offense we saw under his OC, Ralph Friedgen - one that includes a good dose of option... I would be extremely happy to return to sort of teams we had under O'Leary (if not CPJ)...

We did that multiple times this year under Collins too

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

We have gone from gloom to euphoria in just a few weeks. Going to be interesting to see what the next 7-8 weeks bring.

 

[85Escape]

We have gone from gloom to euphoria in just a few weeks. Going to be interesting to see what the next 7-8 weeks bring.

If you've ever had the misfortune to suffer from severe pain that persists for a while then I think you'll recognize this 'euphoria'. It's amazing how great it is to feel 'normal' after a painful experience, and it can leave you pretty dang euphoric...

 

[leatherneckjacket]

I read the article. But when the the first quote you pull out is referencing the jury's finding of 'no clear and convincing evidence' of gross negligence without the acknowledgement that negligence was indeed found comes off as disingenuous to me.


I'm aware of what the difference between negligence and gross negligence is. But if your best defense is that it was just carelessness that led to an avoidable death, the kind of death that is rare at this level, it's not much of a defense imo.


At this point it's semantics. Do I think he intentionally killed the kid? Of course not. Do I think he, for lack of a better phrase, 'pulled the trigger' that killed the kid? No. But do I think he cultivated the environment and created the specific situation that directly led to the kid's death? Absolutely 100%. If someone says 'O'Leary killed the player' then that's what I'm assuming they mean so I personally don't have a problem with the phrasing. But you do do.


The money is not the point but that had to do with sovereign immunity bull**** rather then the facts of the case so it's irrelevant.


This is where it gets weird for me with y'all. It's got nothing to do with GT and it shouldn't. I think coaches that push a player with a known medical condition to their physical limit all the while verbally abusing him, not recognizing the physical signs of there being a serious medical issue, discouraging other players from helping said player when they notice those signs, and then lying about the length and intensity of the workout later they SHOULD be attacked. I don't give a flying **** what school they coached for or how many games they win. They should be run out of town on a rail. I'm not embarrassed by feeling that way at all.

Like I said, some would rather make excuses for that kind of thing. Sorry you feel that way.

Sigh, whatever. You are the one investing all this energy into trying to claim O'Leary is guilty of killing a student athlete, which he did not no matter how you try to spin it.

Like i said, I would say the same for any coach.

I am done with this discussion.