General News about Key and his Staff

[MWBATL]

A dawg blawg post about Buster Faulkner as the heir apparent as OC at UGA should Todd Monken take the HC job at Purdue.

Money Quote: "Buster Faulkner would actually be an improvement over Todd Monken in terms of recruiting and the ability to go out and get players."

It helps to have a 25 year old QB with all those years of experience running your offense. Just wait until Pyron's 8th year in the program and think how good he'd be and how well our offense would look...

 

[BCJacket]

The OC and the OLC hires are both head scratchers for me.

Reportedly, CBK got 30% more for assistants. We don't know the contract details, yet. But I'd be shocked if we were paying either guy big money. Faulkner was making 250k at UGA. He wasn't a hot name for any other OC openings. If we're paying him more than we were paying long ($850k), you'd think we could have hired someone with a more impressive track record. Geep was making $145k at App state so, he's is almost certainly less than we were paying CBK as AHC/OL - $650k. So, it definitely raises the question of: where is the extra money going?

Aside from money, neither one has an impressive resume. Both are ~20 years into their careers and getting their first shot at P5 assistant roles. Faulkner's been at UGA for three years. For all the talk of him being a candidate to succeed Monken, he wasn't well regarded enough there to get promoted to a true assistant position. Nothing jumps out to say that these are coaches that really elevate their position groups. They look like fairly average G5 coaches. Faulkner appears to run a system similar to the last two OCs and he's not a difference-making play caller.

I'm still in the trust-until-proven-otherwise phase with HC Brent Key. My hope is that he has a clear plan and vision for the program and these hires fit into it. We're just not privy to the bigger picture, yet. But these hires don't make a lot of sense on paper, IMHO.

 

[MWBATL]

Now we have to sit back and see how this all plays out on the field...that will be the ultimate judge of how good these decisions were.

Bingo.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

I wish people who posted their opinions (good or bad) would additionally state their qualifications to do so. I can't tell the people with the skills, experience and deep connections inside the industry from the random uninformed idiots spewing opinions about people they don't know or have ever seen coach in this thread. It would save a lot of time for the general readership imo.

My qualifications are the same as everyone else's. My keyboard.

 

[Techster]

My qualifications are the same as everyone else's. My keyboard.

I'd be more impressed with your resume if you stayed at a Holiday Inn...

 

[4shotB]

My qualifications are the same as everyone else's. My keyboard.

I appreciate your candor.

 

[MonroeJacket]

In Middle and South Georgia, if you know anyone, they’re a dog fan. I used to know all 8 Tech fans in our county.

Dang y’all got 8?

 

[forensicbuzz]

Just cleaned up this thread a bit. Some collateral damage may have occurred.

@JacketOff & @Techster please take any further heated debates to DMs please.

Can Mods force "ignore" onto some fonts? Also, how can you bring a general complaint to all the moderators at once (not just the heavy-handed, overreaching, biased ones)?

 

[Lil G]

If we are supposedly going cheap on coordinating jobs when compared to our assistant salary pool that is higher this year, I’m excited to see who else we grab. Could mean big bucks for RB?? I keep hearing BK likes to run it, maybe he thinks the money needs to go towards somebody who can recruit a 4-5 star backfield.
Tashard?…

 

[forensicbuzz]

It doesn't change the point. Long may have been a markedly better OC next year after the team had a year in his system under their belt. I simply trust that whatever Key saw at practices and during games that led to a lack of confidence in Long is well founded.

I don't think it was a lack of confidence. I think they either butted heads or Key wanted a different type of offense than Long, and they decided to part ways. Long has a year's severance to sit around for a while and then go do something he likes doing again.

 

[forensicbuzz]

I tend to think coaches who go into a new situation and get immediate results speak volumes. Those coaches are usually well paid...so that limits GT. Faulkner's history is not bad, my overriding point is GT is not a "plug and play" type situation. Coaches here have to have the ability to coach above where we recruit...that is develop talent, and outscheme the other side. Since I've been following GT football there have been only 2 offensive coaches who came in and got high level results immediately: Ralph Friedgen and Paul Johnson. Those two were also some of the top offensive minds for their times. GT was very lucky to have those two lead us.

Not to derail what you've said because I agree with your sentiment, if not the exact thought, but we were 2-9 and 3-8 Friedgen's first 2 years at Tech (87-92). We were 7-4 his 3rd year and 11-0-1 his 4th, then back to 8-5. The second time around (97-00) he took a 5-6 team to 7-5 and then 10-2, 8-4, and 9-3. Ralph didn't come in right away and get high-level results. I have mad respect for Ralph as one of the most innovative and creative offensive minds in college football. Sometimes, it just takes a couple of years to get it done.

Edit: Looks like you qualified "immediately" in a follow-on post.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Can Mods force "ignore" onto some fonts? Also, how can you bring a general complaint to all the moderators at once (not just the heavy-handed, overreaching, biased ones)?

No to the first question, though it would be useful. DM us as a group if you want to bring us a concern. The DM conversations can have multiple participants.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I don't think it was a lack of confidence. I think they either butted heads or Key wanted a different type of offense than Long, and they decided to part ways. Long has a year's severance to sit around for a while and then go do something he likes doing again.

Maybe so, either way, I don't think one year of Longs offense at GT is enough to judge him properly.

 

[slugboy]

Can Mods force "ignore" onto some fonts? Also, how can you bring a general complaint to all the moderators at once (not just the heavy-handed, overreaching, biased ones)?

No to the first question, though it would be useful. DM us as a group if you want to bring us a concern. The DM conversations can have multiple participants.

There should also be a “allow users to add more participants to the conversation” option. It’s easier if you message all of us, but if you don’t check that box we can’t add others

 

[forensicbuzz]

Maybe so, either way, I don't think one year of Longs offense at GT is enough to judge him properly.

If the rumors are true about Weinke calling the plays the last two games, then it might have been as simple as Long was too conservative for CBK (which could have led to head-butting or not). I have always thought the reason Gailey was not highly successful here was his offenses were way too conservative. Had he been innovative (or allowed his OCs to be innovative) and attacked the way our defense was, I think we things would have been VERY different around here now.

 

[RonJohn]

If the rumors are true about Weinke calling the plays the last two games, then it might have been as simple as Long was too conservative for CBK (which could have led to head-butting or not).

I don't understand the difference between "lack of confidence" and not being willing/able to run the offense that the HC wants to have (butting heads). Maybe one of them seems insulting or dismissive to you?

In my opinion, the offense looked much better in the last two games. I thought that before I heard tale that play calling duties were taken from the OC and given to someone else. I think it is a large negative whether it is because the OC was unable to or unwilling to. Then again, there could be other factors that the public doesn't know about. (personal issues, etc.)

 

[stech81]

We've now hired personnel from two of the best programs: AD Batt from 'Bama, and OC Faulkner from UGA. Geep was taken from one of the best G5 programs. GT is certainly a program you have to think "outside of the box", and I think GT has certainly done that with these hires. If you want to view Key as a 'Bama product under Saban, there's another one.

Now we have to sit back and see how this all plays out on the field...that will be the ultimate judge of how good these decisions were.

Not to be a downer next will be ok 6 or 7 wins but year 2 people will know who we are, and year 3 people will not want to see us on their schedule

 

[stech81]

If the rumors are true about Weinke calling the plays the last two games, then it might have been as simple as Long was too conservative for CBK (which could have led to head-butting or not). I have always thought the reason Gailey was not highly successful here was his offenses were way too conservative. Had he been innovative (or allowed his OCs to be innovative) and attacked the way our defense was, I think we things would have been VERY different around here now.

People need to understand that Key played when Friedgen was the OC at Tech.

 

[Techster]

Not to be a downer next will be ok 6 or 7 wins but year 2 people will know who we are, and year 3 people will not want to see us on their schedule

In my years of being a GT fan, only 2 coaches were not able to qualify for a bowl game by their 3rd year: Lewis and Collins.

If Key gets 6-7 wins next year, he'll be ahead of that curve. IMO, we can count that as a success for Key's Year 1. He almost got us there this year.

 

[forensicbuzz]

I don't understand the difference between "lack of confidence" and not being willing/able to run the offense that the HC wants to have (butting heads). Maybe one of them seems insulting or dismissive to you?

In my opinion, the offense looked much better in the last two games. I thought that before I heard tale that play calling duties were taken from the OC and given to someone else. I think it is a large negative whether it is because the OC was unable to or unwilling to. Then again, there could be other factors that the public doesn't know about. (personal issues, etc.)

To me, lack of confidence connotes that CBK doesn't believe Long can do the job. Having a difference in philosophical approaches to how the offense should be run and two strong personalities are drastically different. CBK could have all the confidence in the world that Long could run the offense Long wants to run, but that may not be the offense CBK wants to run. Ergo, they part company.