General News about Key and his Staff

[seanfloyd18]

This hire blows me away.

A little insight; Coach Stewart was Mill Creek HS’s DC my freshman and sophomore years at Mill Creek. My sophomore year was when Colquitt beat MCHS in the State Semis on their way to their state championship that year (New WR coach Josh Crawford was Colquitt’s OC a year prior - fun fact). That was the game where Colquitt’s HC bashed his skull into his players helmet and was bleeding on the sideline.

Coach Stewart was offered the Head Coaching job for North Gwinnett the next year, Mill Creek lost to Grayson in the state semi’s on Grayson’s path to the state championship (which some of us will attribute to rival North Gwinnett stealing one of our best coaches). Then Mill Creek kind of fell off a cliff for a year or two.

North Gwinnett proceeded to follow Grayson as the next State Champions in 2018, my senior year. Coach Stewart at the helm.

Our other coaches with HS experience in Georgia have lots of South Georgia roots, very strong connections outside of the Metro area for sure. But Coach Stewart is a Gwinnett County powerhouse - was Jared Ivey’s HC. (Barrett Carter starts as ILB for Clemson, was the 5* from north we were targeting at the time). Between Stewart and Kenyatta, there’s some serious connections to the high athletic and academic caliber of Gwinnett county. This is beyond exciting.

 

[g0lftime]

Key is making some very astute hiring moves IMO. He is adding some very successful HS coaches that should pay off big in recruiting. I look forward to see how we will do next year with recruiting in Georgia and particularly the metro Atlanta area. Let's hope the entire staff blends well and works effectively as a team. So far I like what I am seeing.

 

[Buzzbomb]

Not guaranteed for accuracy/or being totally updated(some may not be retained or in the same position). The concept is to give you an idea of the new staff within the expanded budget.

Bill Stewart, Analyst
Tim McFarlin, Director of HS Relations
Brian Baker, Defensive Analyst
Beau Davidson, Director of Player Personnel
Errin Joe, GM
Josh Thompson, Director of Football Ops.
AJ Artis, Head of Strength & Conditioning/Coordinator
Anthony Parker, Director of Player Development(was this position merged, DPP?)
Jim Chaney, Special Assistant to Head Coach
Jon Blake, Asst. Dir. of Football Operations
Pat Boyle, Football Research & Analytics Coordinator
Kenyatta Watson, Director of Scouting & Pro Liason
Tyler Almond, Quality Control Specialist, Defense
Will Glover, QCS, Offense
Kyle Glover, Director of On-Campus Recruiting
Graduate Asst. Coaches: Nathan Brock, Alec Brown, Kenny Lucky, Tom Gerhard

 

[LongforDodd]

This hire blows me away.

A little insight; Coach Stewart was Mill Creek HS’s DC my freshman and sophomore years at Mill Creek. My sophomore year was when Colquitt beat MCHS in the State Semis on their way to their state championship that year (New WR coach Josh Crawford was Colquitt’s OC a year prior - fun fact). That was the game where Colquitt’s HC bashed his skull into his players helmet and was bleeding on the sideline.

Coach Stewart was offered the Head Coaching job for North Gwinnett the next year, Mill Creek lost to Grayson in the state semi’s on Grayson’s path to the state championship (which some of us will attribute to rival North Gwinnett stealing one of our best coaches). Then Mill Creek kind of fell off a cliff for a year or two.

North Gwinnett proceeded to follow Grayson as the next State Champions in 2018, my senior year. Coach Stewart at the helm.

Our other coaches with HS experience in Georgia have lots of South Georgia roots, very strong connections outside of the Metro area for sure. But Coach Stewart is a Gwinnett County powerhouse - was Jared Ivey’s HC. (Barrett Carter starts as ILB for Clemson, was the 5* from north we were targeting at the time). Between Stewart and Kenyatta, there’s some serious connections to the high athletic and academic caliber of Gwinnett county. This is beyond exciting.

Yes, this hire and McFarlin;s is reason for more than just guarded optimism. If they can find the more and athletically and academically capable SA's in the state, things could really be looking up. Somebody tell Key to go hire Keith Maloof also. Keith has done his fair share in sending us his most capable over the years and he's got to be close to retiring and getting away from that grind. Keith has quite the connection (and hopefully soft spot) to GT that several of us know about.

 

[Buzzbomb]

In addition to Artis, Georgia Tech football’s strength, performance and conditioning staff will be rounded out by:

• Byron Jerideau – associate director of football strength and performance/accountability
• Jordan Diaz – director of speed and associate director of football performance
• Tyler Smith – assistant director of football strength and conditioning
• Sean Boyle – performance manager/assistant director of football strength and conditioning

 

[FlatsLander]

Not wild about that. I think our DBs were much more cohesive in working together in 2022. I think a lot of that was because we had one person coaching all of the defensive backs.

Hopefully, they can take the lessons learned from keeping the DBs separated and they'll just have Semore in direct support of the safeties while still falling under Tillman for all DBs.

 

[iceeater1969]

In addition to Artis, Georgia Tech football’s strength, performance and conditioning staff will be rounded out by:

• Byron Jerideau – associate director of football strength and performance/accountability
• Jordan Diaz – director of speed and associate director of football performance
• Tyler Smith – assistant director of football strength and conditioning
• Sean Boyle – performance manager/assistant director of football strength and conditioning

BUZZ - with content post of the month!

 

[iceeater1969]

This hire blows me away.

A little insight; Coach Stewart was Mill Creek HS’s DC my freshman and sophomore years at Mill Creek. My sophomore year was when Colquitt beat MCHS in the State Semis on their way to their state championship that year (New WR coach Josh Crawford was Colquitt’s OC a year prior - fun fact). That was the game where Colquitt’s HC bashed his skull into his players helmet and was bleeding on the sideline.

Coach Stewart was offered the Head Coaching job for North Gwinnett the next year, Mill Creek lost to Grayson in the state semi’s on Grayson’s path to the state championship (which some of us will attribute to rival North Gwinnett stealing one of our best coaches). Then Mill Creek kind of fell off a cliff for a year or two.

North Gwinnett proceeded to follow Grayson as the next State Champions in 2018, my senior year. Coach Stewart at the helm.

Our other coaches with HS experience in Georgia have lots of South Georgia roots, very strong connections outside of the Metro area for sure. But Coach Stewart is a Gwinnett County powerhouse - was Jared Ivey’s HC. (Barrett Carter starts as ILB for Clemson, was the 5* from north we were targeting at the time). Between Stewart and Kenyatta, there’s some serious connections to the high athletic and academic caliber of Gwinnett county. This is beyond exciting.

59 POSTS - awesome background on local high schools.
Some hardly post but when yhey do!

 

[ramblin_man]

Maybe these alumni will give the football team a deal on this “smart weight training equipment”.
Link: https://news.gatech.edu/news/2023/01/12/tech-alumni-appear-shark-tank

 

[LongforDodd]

Maybe these alumni will give the football team a deal on this “smart weight training equipment”.
Link: https://news.gatech.edu/news/2023/01/12/tech-alumni-appear-shark-tank

good luck to those guys. The next Tonal or something like that?

 

[Vespid]

I might not have been paying attention...okay, I wasn't...but isn't this emphasis on creating HS connections with the schools around the state something that was not a very high priority under the past few coaches? Or did we always have guys on staff specifically tasked with spreading the love in the high school ranks?

Don't know about TFG, but CPJ was quite vocal on a few occasions that the level of commitment from the Hill and the donor pool was incongruent with the expectations of the Hill, the donor pool and the GT community in general. I recall one occasion where he addressed it specifically with a reporter or broadcaster in a Q&A after the ACC Football Media Days one year. The interviewer was questioning if Paul was feeling heat because we had become uncompetitive with Clemson since 2014. Paul's answer, not excusatory at all, was rather matter of fact and revealing. He reeled off the number of recruiting staff and off field coaches or "analyst" that Clemson employed in relation to GT. It was like 20:1! (that ratio may be a little exaggeration, but wasn't far from it) He did mention it wasn't as ridiculous a disparity when he started at GT, but we were not keeping up at all, not even close. I think support staff and HS relations was an extremely high priority with Paul, he just understood what the budget was and worked within those constraints. It may have taken the abject failures of the TFG for the message to sink in, and I think it's obvious it has by the administrations' and associations' asking for more $$$ and opening up the purse strings to fund the positions we see Key filling that formerly did not exist. This is more commitment from the administration to the football program than I've seen in decades, maybe ever.

 

[TooTall]

Don't know about TFG, but CPJ was quite vocal on a few occasions that the level of commitment from the Hill and the donor pool was incongruent with the expectations of the Hill, the donor pool and the GT community in general. I recall one occasion where he addressed it specifically with a reporter or broadcaster in a Q&A after the ACC Football Media Days one year. The interviewer was questioning if Paul was feeling heat because we had become uncompetitive with Clemson since 2014. Paul's answer, not excusatory at all, was rather matter of fact and revealing. He reeled off the number of recruiting staff and off field coaches or "analyst" that Clemson employed in relation to GT. It was like 20:1! (that ratio may be a little exaggeration, but wasn't far from it) He did mention it wasn't as ridiculous a disparity when he started at GT, but we were not keeping up at all, not even close. I think support staff and HS relations was an extremely high priority with Paul, he just understood what the budget was and worked within those constraints. It may have taken the abject failures of the TFG for the message to sink in, and I think it's obvious it has by the administrations' and associations' asking for more $$$ and opening up the purse strings to fund the positions we see Key filling that formerly did not exist. This is more commitment from the administration to the football program than I've seen in decades, maybe ever.

Having the mutts win 2 in a row while we endured the worst stretch of seasons at the same is what caused the crack in the dam. Hopefully, if the right president is here at the right time, the right coach is here at the right time and the right AD is here at the right time; and all 3 of those things turn out to be true, we are going be rocking and rolling very soon. TCU making the playoff should show everyone that a middle of the road team can make it. The ball has to bounce at the right time, but it can happen. I'd trade a butt whoopin on the big stage like they took Monday for the last 4 years any day.

 

[UgaBlows]

Are the analysts allowed to help with recruiting?

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Are the analysts allowed to help with recruiting?

They are prohibited from going off-campus to recruit but, IIUC, can help in other ways with regards to recruiting. Their real value lies elsewhere though.

Link

 

[ramblin_man]

They are prohibited from going off-campus to recruit but, IIUC, can help in other ways with regards to recruiting. Their real value lies elsewhere though.

Link

Real question: How quickly can we expect to see fruits of these moves by hiring high profile high school coaches? Are these hires already producing results with the highly rated 2024 recruits being on campus this weekend? Do we expect to flip or gain any more recruits for the 23 class? I would love to know how much money Key has remaining in his staff budget and what his plans for spending it are?
I also believe that hiring high profile high school coaches and developing them through your own wants/mindset and it can pay dividends as they adjust to working with college athletes and your own management style. All the while preserving your money within your budget. Plus who knows if things go really well they can move up into a position coach role at a later date. These coaches also have a keen sense of the mindset of high school players and parents post NIL era at prominent high schools.

 

[Dinner_Jacket]

When does Buster hit the ground running as our new OC?

 

[yeti92]

When does Buster hit the ground running as our new OC?

Kirby wants to keep him through their spring game

 

[Techster]

Kirby wants to keep him through their spring game

If Kirby gives us Gunner Stockton, I'll allow it.

 

[Eli]

If Kirby gives us Gunner Stockton, I'll allow it.

Or vandergriff. Guy has a cannon

 

[ramblin_man]

I am curious to see how Key manages all expectations and responsibilities as the full time HC. I am excited to see how he utilizes the talent (strengths) of the staff that he has assembled. It will be interesting to see how as individuals the staff develops and coaches their position players. I would also like to see the staff gel quickly and coach with a sense of urgency to fine tune techniques and routines which will produce a high level of execution on the field.
I am curious to see how Key uses the analysts to provide insight and ideas as the staff game plans and executes those plans differently for each opponent.