General News about Key and his Staff

[Augusta_Jacket]

So you would take out three of our four national championships? 1917 with Heisman, 1927 with Alexander and 1952 with Dodd? I would like to make the last four years irrelevant myself.

No. But I wouldn't call NCs from prior to 1989 very useful in judging how good a program is, which was the gist of the conversation.

Read back further, you'll see I said Pitt has 9 NCs, does that make them a powerhouse?

 

[buzz_wiser©]

Nope. I go way back to the days of Eric.

ahh, the good ole days...how I miss thee

 

[forensicbuzz]

If indeed it is Norval McKenzie it looks like he was very successful when he was working as a special teams coach according to his bio on the Vanderbilt website. Plus he is familiar with recruiting to a high academic college as well. I always doubted that Choice would come back for a similar or even slightly bigger role to get him away from Texas. So this will be interesting perhaps we get a 2 for 1 in McKenzie’s experience coaching both RB and taking over special teams as well?
“Before joining the Louisville staff, McKenzie, a 2018 Broyles Award nominee, spent the previous three seasons as the running backs coach at Arkansas State. The Broyles Award is given to the best assistant coach in college football.”
“As the special teams coordinator, McKenzie’s units were some of the best in program history. The Red Wolves set an NCAA record for punt return defense by holding opponents to minus-15 yards for the season, and closed the year ranked sixth nationally in kick return defense.”
Link:https://vucommodores.com/coach/norval-mckenzie/

Named after a 3-sport letterman at Tech (Football, Baseball, Basketball) and a former assistant Coach for Bobby Dodd before heading to Arkansas (via Missouri) to be a head coach. His tree is broad and deep. So, that would also mean Dodd's tree is broad and deep.

 

[awbuzz]

I stole Stech81’s identity and immediately started getting solicitations from AA, beer of the month clubs, and The American Association of Hen Pecked Husbands.

Now .. that's just too funny

 

[GTBillyJosh]

Based on the hires of Geep and Norval, it seems like he is gathering guys he's worked with before. Here are some WR coaches he's worked with at Arkansas St , Southern Miss and Middle Tennessee. Just food for thought. My preference is Kodi Burns or Scott Walden, but they seem far fetched. I'm thinking Justin Watts or Chris Buckner are more realistic.

Chris Buckner (currently Texas State WR coach)
Kyle Cefalo (Utah St WR coach)
Scott Walden (Austin Peay HC)
Kodi Burns (Saints WR coach)
Justin Watts (App St WR coach)

 

[TromboneJacket]

Based on the hires of Geep and Norval, it seems like he is gathering guys he's worked with before. Here are some WR coaches he's worked with at Arkansas St , Southern Miss and Middle Tennessee. Just food for thought. My preference is Kodi Burns or Scott Walden, but they seem far fetched. I'm thinking Justin Watts or Chris Buckner are more realistic.

Chris Buckner (currently Texas State WR coach)
Kyle Cefalo (Utah St WR coach)
Scott Walden (Austin Peay HC)
Kodi Burns (Saints WR coach)
Justin Watts (App St WR coach)

I believe he has also worked with Luke Paschall, who would definitely be a solid candidate too.

 

[Randy Carson]

Have I missed something? Where is Weinke in all of this?

 

[stech81]

Based on the hires of Geep and Norval, it seems like he is gathering guys he's worked with before. Here are some WR coaches he's worked with at Arkansas St , Southern Miss and Middle Tennessee. Just food for thought. My preference is Kodi Burns or Scott Walden, but they seem far fetched. I'm thinking Justin Watts or Chris Buckner are more realistic.

Chris Buckner (currently Texas State WR coach)
Kyle Cefalo (Utah St WR coach)
Scott Walden (Austin Peay HC)
Kodi Burns (Saints WR coach)
Justin Watts (App St WR coach)

Just pick with hair

 

[yeti92]

Is the gap between the two programs going to get significantly larger if they do?

It's going to get larger, and any bit larger is too much.

 

[stech81]

Have I missed something? Where is Weinke in all of this?

here he is

 

[bobongo]

here he is

View attachment 13795

And still smiling, I see.

 

[RhoChi]

FWIW, Deep Throat messaged me that Key has reached out to Jeremy Pruitt Re DC. Saban said he was the best DC he ever had.

I forgot that Deep Throat was the Watergate code name for a second and was very confused what message board I was on

 

[Jim Prather]

I forgot that Deep Throat was the Watergate code name for a second and was very confused what message board I was on

We know what message boards you've been frequenting.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

No. But I wouldn't call NCs from prior to 1989 very useful in judging how good a program is, which was the gist of the conversation.

Read back further, you'll see I said Pitt has 9 NCs, does that make them a powerhouse?

It makes them respected as a traditional college program more so than say Mississippi State, Texas A&M, or any number of wannabe factories that are spending millions of dollars chasing a rainbow that somehow always seems just beyond their grasp.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

It makes them respected as a traditional college program more so than say Mississippi State, Texas A&M, or any number of wannabe factories that are spending millions of dollars chasing a rainbow that somehow always seems just beyond their grasp.

Really. I wonder how that respect helps them against those same schools when it comes to recruiting, funding, etc...

To be completely fair, I get what you are saying, but in context of the conversation my statement was a part of, anything that happened prior to the turn of the century really doesn't matter anymore. It's the last 20-25 years that are most likely to indicate how good a program is.

 

[JacketOff]

It's the last 20-25 years that are most likely to indicate how good a program is.

And really it’s more like the last 5-10. Florida State isn’t looked upon with nearly the same shine as they were from 2010-2015. Same with regular Florida from 2005-2010. Auburn in the 2010s, Stanford in the late 2000s. Nobody would really consider those places to be legit contenders right now because they haven’t done it since current recruits were in middle school. You can even refer to Tennessee in the 90s into the early 00s, USC in the 2000s. Those were premier programs that attracted the attention of everyone, but when they went through purgatory for the last 15 years everybody forgot how dominant they once were. Now you look at those 2 and Michigan and you think of legitimate powerhouses again, because of their recent success. If Tennessee and USC would’ve went 8-4 this year would anybody really be talking about them as contenders in the future based on their past? No, probably not. Especially now in the transfer portal era, one single good year can completely change your perception of a program. Hell, Deion hasn’t even coached a game a Colorado yet and people are predicting him to get into the CFP within 5 years.

At this moment in time, anything that happened before 2010 doesn’t really matter. And anything that happened before 1950 might as well be lost and forgotten history. How many people care about Minnesota’s 6 national championships? Or Cal’s 5 national championships? Basically nobody we’re recruiting cares about our 1990 national championship really. It’s just a trophy to show off and hope one day we can get there again.

 

[steebu]

Totally agree. Thacker is looking around now, too, which is a shame and which wasn't his plan. Key should let his defensive staff know that's he's keeping them ASAP. Why mess with the part of the program that showed immediate improvement after Collins left?

Who knows? Maybe the money guys are at it again? Maybe they told Key he had 1 million to spend on a DC?

Sure is funny how our attitudes about Thacker have changed; remember this tweet? Knowing what we know now, does this caption make more sense?

"I knew Kiffin was gonna run all over us so we were gonna play this Bear front. But Collins overrules everything I call and makes us run a 2-2-7. 'It's Kiffin! He's gonna throw it all over the yard!' Man ... what the heck is the point of even coming up with a gameplan if he's just gonna take a dump on it ... Maybe I shoulda followed Suddes to UNC ..."

 

[HurricaneJacket]

Who knows? Maybe the money guys are at it again? Maybe they told Key he had 1 million to spend on a DC?

Sure is funny how our attitudes about Thacker have changed; remember this tweet? Knowing what we know now, does this caption make more sense?

"I knew Kiffin was gonna run all over us so we were gonna play this Bear front. But Collins overrules everything I call and makes us run a 2-2-7. 'It's Kiffin! He's gonna throw it all over the yard!' Man ... what the heck is the point of even coming up with a gameplan if he's just gonna take a dump on it ... Maybe I shoulda followed Suddes to UNC ..."

Is that an actual quote?

 

[Papa Foxtrot]

Is that an actual quote?

Maybe you missed this - doesn't sound like an actual quote....

Knowing what we know now, does this caption make more sense?

 

[Randy Carson]

I'm aware of North Avenue Trade School, I used to have that shirt myself and my wife still does. I meant specifically "Little Nerd School on North Ave". No one has ever called Tech that.

My apologies. I misunderstood.