HC Candidate/Rumors/Info Thread

Deleted member 6494

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I'll also add that CPJ's system was one of the most nuanced offenses I've ever seen, and I'm not sure that we really saw it all. He is truly an offensive genius and too many tech fans don't see it.
Paul Johnson was an impressive coach and had a fabulous career. I talked with a person that knew him well and was told he was an outstanding moral individual. My only problem was not the TO, but his obstinate attitude toward making changes. Actually, the TO created a lot of great runs and great pass receptions.
 

Techster

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Back to the coaching search:

I've always said Key had to go 6-2 (with one of the losses to UGA). My reasoning was Key had to do something exceptional with an 8 game "tryout". Key's bar for serious consideration, fair or not, is always going to be higher than any candidate because of what most are mentioning. He was part of the staff that resulted in where we're at. How do you overcome that? By putting together a resume of wins that has GT going to a bowl game and puts us in the ACCCG.

Now if you look at what Key has done, he's actually done pretty good considering he took over an absolute sh!tshow and had to get the team performing at a higher level during the season. No ways around it, the UVA loss was not a good look for his resume. He beat a Pitt team that was ranked at the time, Duke which is 6-3, and VT which is tied for worse team in the Coastal and the ACC. FSU is turning the corner so that's not a bad loss.

As it stands now, Key deserves to be interviewed, but I'm not sure he would be the guy for me considering all the other good candidates out there.
 

g0lftime

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The assumption is that the candidate(s) we offer will accept. It is a two way street. Key may be the best alternative left on the list. He has at least shown some ability as a P5 HC and these are not necessarily his picks for his future staff. These are GC's guys.
 

ibeattetris

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Him and Collins had some disagreements about portal linemen vs taking high school guys.
I will never understand Collins strategy here. He was given a 7 year leash for a reason. It would have made way more sense to recruit a bunch of young lineman in 2019, and have them ready to go by 2022. Instead, he focused on trying to hit the lotto on transfers and promising to “win now”. He over promised and under delivered in an environment where the AD at the time had no expectations set for him.

Just an incredibly strange way to handle the transition.
 

Gt2019

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I will never understand Collins strategy here. He was given a 7 year leash for a reason. It would have made way more sense to recruit a bunch of young lineman in 2019, and have them ready to go by 2022. Instead, he focused on trying to hit the lotto on transfers and promising to “win now”. He over promised and under delivered in an environment where the AD at the time had to expectations set for him.

Just an incredibly strange way to handle the transition.
That’s exactly what happened. He cared way too much about the portal. His thought process was taking a former 4 star out of the portal instead of taking a 3 star high school kid. He should have focused on taking kids out of the portal that produced at smaller schools, just like Keion white from ODU. He instead took unproven guys who couldn’t make it at schools for a reason.
 

Deleted member 6494

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Back to the coaching search:

I've always said Key had to go 6-2 (with one of the losses to UGA). My reasoning was Key had to do something exceptional with an 8 game "tryout". Key's bar for serious consideration, fair or not, is always going to be higher than any candidate because of what most are mentioning. He was part of the staff that resulted in where we're at. How do you overcome that? By putting together a resume of wins that has GT going to a bowl game and puts us in the ACCCG.

Now if you look at what Key has done, he's actually done pretty good considering he took over an absolute sh!tshow and had to get the team performing at a higher level during the season. No ways around it, the UVA loss was not a good look for his resume. He beat a Pitt team that was ranked at the time, Duke which is 6-3, and VT which is tied for worse team in the Coastal and the ACC. FSU is turning the corner so that's not a bad loss.

As it stands now, Key deserves to be interviewed, but I'm not sure he would be the guy for me considering all the other good candidates out there.
This has really amazed me regarding anyone's interest in Key getting the nod. I would think he would not be considered as he has no prior coaching experience. If I was the AD, it would not make any difference if he had won the two games lost, plus the rest of the schedule including UGA.

What if the talent was already there, but they did not want to win as long as Collins was the coach. Key may be a very honest person and would do no wrong, but what if he was not honest and wanted a chance as the Head Coach, would he have also helped to get rid of Collins. These scenarios could happen, and a new AD would be foolish to choose that person as the new HC.

Now, assume the team is playing better because they really want to win and keep Key as the coach because they like him. Would this be a reason to select him as the HC? No, a smart AD would not even consider such a move; besides Key has no other coaching experience. A smart AD should not consider anyone on the previous staff.
 

Techster

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This has really amazed me regarding anyone's interest in Key getting the nod. I would think he would not be considered as he has no prior coaching experience. If I was the AD, it would not make any difference if he had won the two games lost, plus the rest of the schedule including UGA.

What if the talent was already there, but they did not want to win as long as Collins was the coach. Key may be a very honest person and would do no wrong, but what if he was not honest and wanted a chance as the Head Coach, would he have also helped to get rid of Collins. These scenarios could happen, and a new AD would be foolish to choose that person as the new HC.

Now, assume the team is playing better because they really want to win and keep Key as the coach because they like him. Would this be a reason to select him as the HC? No, a smart AD would not even consider such a move; besides Key has no other coaching experience. A smart AD should not consider anyone on the previous staff.

Guess Clemson should have fired Dabo...
 

LawTalkin Jacket

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So, I am sure no one cares, but since I am avoiding work at the moment, here is my list and some thoughts....


#1 Deion: A couple things here that may apply to others as well. If Deion can get kids to want to come to Jackson MS, he sure should be able to get them to come to ATL. This goes for assistants too. I just think that if someone offered me a job with double my salary, but said I had to live in Jackson MS or Starkville or somewhere, I would say no, so won't former NFL coaches (and players who want to coach) and others be willing to work for a little less to work under Deion and in ATL? I think he will recruit coaching talent as well. Also, I would think that hiring a diverse coach would/should be a priority, and the list of African American candidates is short; and finally, I haven't studied Deion's schemes, but I do follow on twitter and watch the videos of his monologues to his players, and he is inspiring and preaches discipline, so the people who thing he is a diva or his players won't be disciplined because he was a high-stepper when he played are not paying attention. He seems more in tuned with NIL than most as well. I know that this seems like a long shot, but again, Deion lived in ATL and may want to get out of MS to a low pressure, high ceiling, spot where his kid can compete to play, and team can compete for a conference title. He preaches academics at JSU so GT academics would be consistent with his message.

#2 Garrett Riley - this would win press conference, as he is coming off of an amazing offensive season at TCU which could have them in playoff. Sonny Dykes has been around, but there is something different this time around that is making them play way above expectations, and that may be Riley's offense. The fact that he is young and related to Lincoln, tells me he is hungry and understanding or trying to get a handle on the new college football NIL rules and related advantages. I am sure he and Lincoln share notes. AND, with Tech in ACC he is unlikely to have to play his brother anytime soon.

#3 Jamie Chadwell - he does look like a guy who has a plan to run a program and has exhibited that at his various stops. I like the option, but I would prefer running pro-style RPOs over triple O. I am sure he will adapt and so long as he throws more than 10 times a game, I think he would be fine.

#4) Brent Key if he beats UNC and Miami - But for that UVA loss, he might have the job, but that was a BAD loss. He also is stuck being associated with CGC and his O-line sucked for a long while. I am rooting for him (mostly). Beat UGA and he is in, and we are all on board. If we get someone else, maybe he could stay- like I said, who wants to move away from ATL?

I am sure there are some African American candidates that I am overlooking- anyone know who? I thought that Derek Mason might be getting another look, but last few weeks for Ok State have been baaaaad. Maybe Charles Huff at Marshall?
 

Buzzmaster

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Im honestly torn about retaining coach key as HC.
The team seems to like him and honestly there isn't much he can change right now, would.love to see what he could do with an off-season behind him .
But on the flip side the offensive side has had some quirks under him the last few years
He's a great recruiter and understands what it takes to be successful at Tech.
 

AugustaSwarm

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I am sure there are some African American candidates that I am overlooking- anyone know who? I thought that Derek Mason might be getting another look, but last few weeks for Ok State have been baaaaad. Maybe Charles Huff at Marshall?
I don't like him as a HC option, but what about Charlie Strong? I think he's the LB coach for Miami, but he was a stud DC a few years ago. If we're gonna hire Deion, he'll need some high end coordinators...
 

lv20gt

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I will never understand Collins strategy here. He was given a 7 year leash for a reason. It would have made way more sense to recruit a bunch of young lineman in 2019, and have them ready to go by 2022.


The fact that Collins was fired 4 games into his 4th year kind of goes against your main point that he was given a long leash.

2019 was the transition class where Collins had about a month and a half or so between when he was hired and signing day. Needless to say you can't expect Johnson to recruit players for a system that he doesn't run, and just loading up on OLmen very late in a recruiting cycle isn't easy.

Collins first real class was the 2020 class and he brought in 6 OLmen (Rankins, Williams, Vaipulu, Green, Spiers, and Kootsouradis. That group is only, effectively, redshirt sophomores. If your plan is to hit on all 5 positions from one class so that they are ready as redshirt sophs then that's a bad plan and unlikely to work. Even so, you aren't going to be starting them as freshmen so you'll still need guys to play in the meantime. Look at our OL recruiting prior to 2019.

2018 2 OLmen
2017 had 4
2016 had 2

I'm sure there were some that were listed somewhere else that Johnson viewed as OLmen but we weren't overflowing with OLmen and considering the transition in what the line was going to be asked to do it shouldn't be hard to understand why we would go to the portal.

2019 we took Southers.
2020 we took Johnson and Cochran
2021 we took Pendley and Kirby
2022 we took 4 but all 2 had a full 4 years of eligibility left and two had 3 years of eligibility making them closer to recruits than instant impact transfer types.

You could make the argument that the 2022 class should have been less portal targets rather and more recruits but that has little impact on this year as OL recruits that are freshmen this year likely wouldn't have made a difference. Otherwise I think it's hard to argue that we took so many transfer OLmen that Key didn't have younger players to develop. After all we did load up in the 2020 class.
 
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