HC Candidate/Rumors/Info Thread

[Vespidae]

It's sort of like saying my business won't hire any Germans because Hitler is from Germany.

I don't care if he is from ECU or if he is from Germany.

Cabrera said he wanted Tech to play at the highest level of competitive athletics. You should recruit a coach with experience doing so.

Harsin had a fabulous record at Boise State and completely bombed at Auburn. He simply could not adjust to SEC play. He is a good guy though.

I think we need definitely someone with P5 experience, and/or NFL experience.

 

[lv20gt]

I don't know if he's the answer, but I would hope the powers that be don't shy away from him just because he's ECU and Bill Lewis came from there.
Lots of fans would immediately jump on that, even if it's completely irrelevant. Every rough patch would be met with, "Here we go again with another ECU retread".

The Bill Lewis thing is pointless nonsense, but I would hope we would make a better hire. He could very well be a fine coach, but I would want to see more top end success at ECU before hiring him here. I could see him becoming a hot name in a couple years though.

 

[Deleted member 6494]

I don't know if he's the answer, but I would hope the powers that be don't shy away from him just because he's ECU and Bill Lewis came from there.
Lots of fans would immediately jump on that, even if it's completely irrelevant. Every rough patch would be met with, "Here we go again with another ECU retread".

I am not on the train for the ECU coach (can't remember his name at present), but the Lewis tenure would have zero effect on my choice of another coach from the same school. A good AD would look at the one prospect without considering another one that was not good that came from the same school. If memory serves me correctly, the offensive coordinator stayed at ECU and fared pretty well. Look at GT, O'Leary was 25-25 without Friegden and 34-14 with Friegden. Those years inflated O'Leary's record and got him a job at UCF. Yes, at least GOL hired Friedgen and maybe hired a good OC at UCF; UCF did well while he was there.

 

[slugboy]

I don't put any stock in these rankings ... it's not who you can recruit, it's who can you keep?

The reality is there ARE players in the recruiting zone for AU ... GA, AL, FL, and MS (some). Still, Auburn's problem is that of the top SEC schools that have the most players in the NFL, Auburn is last. Florida (33), Oklahoma (40; coming soon), Georgia (48), LSU (57) and Alabama (65) all have more, and in some cases, many more ... players with a path to the League.

And that gets back to the complaint against Gus. Schools like GA, AL, and LSU are running programs that are moving players directly from college into the NFL. AU wasn't. And the perception gap was growing. It wasn't developing players and getting them ready (even Harsin said the physical conditioning of Georgia was far superior to that of Auburn) and that in turn, affects the attractiveness of the school to other hi-pots.

I don't put much stock in them. It's hard enough for the coaches who see these players every day to know how good their players are and how good their opponents' players are, and it's their full-time job. The idea that the recruiting services have stack ranked all the college and the main high school athletes with one formula would be a breakthrough if they'd actually done it.

So, what's GT's best path to competing at the highest level? Trying to do the same thing that Alabama and Georgia and Ohio State are doing so much better than Florida and Texas and FSU and Miami and Auburn? To me, that seems like having my startup aim to disrupt Microsoft's spreadsheet and word processing business. If you're going to do that, and you're a lot smaller, have an original concept.

I'm not saying everything has to be different--we should do the smart thing in physical conditioning.

Also, we can get players ready for the NFL, but trying to be Alabama or USC (West) doesn't seem like the path to me. Cincinnati does seem like a football role model for us--they're not "recruiting" like LSU and UGA, but they're getting players into the league and they're playing well. I'd also add in--they're in an "urban" area, they're surrounded by B1G team, locally, they're overshadowed by Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, and some big land grant schools. Cincinnati has a lot in common with us from a recruiting and talent development standpoint--they're surrounded by schools with more money and a stronger recruiting base, but they're in the middle of a lot of talented players. According to the recruiting services, they don't recruit nearly as well as we do, but they keep fielding really good teams and they get players ready for the NFL.

https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/...nferences-most-players-drafted-2022-nfl-draft

SCHOOL	PLAYERS DRAFTED
Georgia	15
LSU	10
Cincinnati	9
Penn State	8
Alabama	7
Oklahoma	7
Baylor	6
Ohio State	6
Ole Miss	6
UCLA	6
Michigan	5
Tennessee	5
Wisconsin	5
Arizona State	4
Iowa State	4
Kentucky	4

 

[Gt2019]

Based off what I’ve heard, I belief it is most likely Brent Key’s job if we go 6-6. He will still be a candidate if we finish 5-7. His plan that he will present to President Cabrera and J Batt will go a long way.

 

[Techster]

Based off what I’ve heard, I belief it is most likely Brent Key’s job if we go 6-6. He will still be a candidate if we finish 5-7. His plan that he will present to President Cabrera and J Batt will go a long way.

If Key is retained, it will be interesting to see what he does with the offense. Our offense has actually regressed with a more seasoned OL and skill players. We were not good last year (#78 OFEI), but we are putrid this year (currently #107 OFEI). That's a huge drop. Our offense is one of the worst offenses in P5. As mentioned previously, Long is here in large part because of Key.

Hiring away Willy Korn from Coastal would be VERY interesting. You get one of the the architects of Coastal's offense, without having to revamp the entire team if we would have hired Jamey Chadwell. I think the GT fanbase would be energized as well given how popular Chadwell and his option/RPO offense is among us. Doubtful as Key seems to be of the Saban and O'Leary school of running certain offenses.

On the other hand, our defense has made a dramatic improvement. It's actually respectable (current DFEI #41). I think it will get better as Thacker can build on it...and I think Key would be crazy to replace Thacker (that's if someone else doesn't hire him away...which there's some smoke on the internet that he's becoming in demand).

I think GT can sell Key. I don't think it's an issue with Donors...from what I've heard, Key is VERY popular among big donors. More so to fans and recruits. From a recruiting standpoint, Key will be able to sell how much better the program has gotten under him, and the different direction he would take it. Fanbase will be a bit harder, but would hinge on his staff changes. Getting a top notch OC will do that for Key.

I'm more inclined to think Batt will want to put his "stamp" on the program and hire someone completely untethered from GT's past. This is his opportunity to take GTAA in a different direction with his hands all over the department. I think that's also why Cabrera was adamant about getting rid of Stansbury (and his #2) as well as Collins. I think Cabrera wants a clean slate.

We'll see. I've been an advocate for Key if he proves himself at a high level....BUT I wouldn't mind a new regime with new ideas.

 

[JacketFan137]

If Key is retained, it will be interesting to see what he does with the offense. Our offense has actually regressed with a more seasoned OL and skill players. We were not good last year (#78 OFEI), but we are putrid this year (currently #107 OFEI). That's a huge drop. Our offense is one of the worst offenses in P5. As mentioned previously, Long is here in large part because of Key.

Hiring away Willy Korn from Coastal would be VERY interesting. You get one of the the architects of Coastal's offense, without having to revamp the entire team if we would have hired Jamey Chadwell. I think the GT fanbase would be energized as well given how popular Chadwell and his option/RPO offense is among us. Doubtful as Key seems to be of the Saban and O'Leary school of running certain offenses.

On the other hand, our defense has made a dramatic improvement. It's actually respectable (current DFEI #41). I think it will get better as Thacker can build on it...and I think Key would be crazy to replace Thacker (that's if someone else doesn't hire him away...which there's some smoke on the internet that he's becoming in demand).

I think GT can sell Key. I don't think it's an issue with Donors...from what I've heard, Key is VERY popular among big donors. More so to fans and recruits. From a recruiting standpoint, Key will be able to sell how much better the program has gotten under him, and the different direction he would take it. Fanbase will be a bit harder, but would hinge on his staff changes. Getting a top notch OC will do that for Key.

I'm more inclined to think Batt will want to put his "stamp" on the program and hire someone completely untethered from GT's past. This is his opportunity to take GTAA in a different direction with his hands all over the department. I think that's also why Cabrera was adamant about getting rid of Stansbury (and his #2) as well as Collins. I think Cabrera wants a clean slate.

We'll see. I've been an advocate for Key if he proves himself at a high level....BUT I wouldn't mind a new regime with new ideas.

i agree with a lot of what you are saying here but i think the chadwell offense is way more popular on the swarm that it is in real life

i have been sitting in my season tickets for almost a decade and the majority of the surrounding people do not want to go back to anything like the option. purely anecdotal but i do not think this place is a good representation of reality. i think it’s pretty close to an even split as far as option fans vs non option people

something about polls in the last few years in this country. almost never accurate

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

i agree with a lot of what you are saying here but i think the chadwell offense is way more popular on the swarm that it is in real life

i have been sitting in my season tickets for almost a decade and the majority of the surrounding people do not want to go back to anything like the option. purely anecdotal but i do not think this place is a good representation of reality. i think it’s pretty close to an even split as far as option fans vs non option people

something about polls in the last few years in this country. almost never accurate

Oddly, I've been in my season tickets for over a decade, and almost everyone around me is pro-Chadwell. A couple want Key because they just like him and think he can get the donors to open up the pocketbooks for assistants. The only other name they bandy about is, oddly enough, trying to make a run at Luke Fickell, which everyone admits is an extreme longshot.

 

[Gt2019]

If Key is retained, it will be interesting to see what he does with the offense. Our offense has actually regressed with a more seasoned OL and skill players. We were not good last year (#78 OFEI), but we are putrid this year (currently #107 OFEI). That's a huge drop. Our offense is one of the worst offenses in P5. As mentioned previously, Long is here in large part because of Key.

Hiring away Willy Korn from Coastal would be VERY interesting. You get one of the the architects of Coastal's offense, without having to revamp the entire team if we would have hired Jamey Chadwell. I think the GT fanbase would be energized as well given how popular Chadwell and his option/RPO offense is among us. Doubtful as Key seems to be of the Saban and O'Leary school of running certain offenses.

On the other hand, our defense has made a dramatic improvement. It's actually respectable (current DFEI #41). I think it will get better as Thacker can build on it...and I think Key would be crazy to replace Thacker (that's if someone else doesn't hire him away...which there's some smoke on the internet that he's becoming in demand).

I think GT can sell Key. I don't think it's an issue with Donors...from what I've heard, Key is VERY popular among big donors. More so to fans and recruits. From a recruiting standpoint, Key will be able to sell how much better the program has gotten under him, and the different direction he would take it. Fanbase will be a bit harder, but would hinge on his staff changes. Getting a top notch OC will do that for Key.

I'm more inclined to think Batt will want to put his "stamp" on the program and hire someone completely untethered from GT's past. This is his opportunity to take GTAA in a different direction with his hands all over the department. I think that's also why Cabrera was adamant about getting rid of Stansbury (and his #2) as well as Collins. I think Cabrera wants a clean slate.

We'll see. I've been an advocate for Key if he proves himself at a high level....BUT I wouldn't mind a new regime with new ideas.

You are correct. Everyone at Tech loves Key. He just lives and breathes a tech man. I think Long has been held back due to some of the O line injuries. Specifically 2 projected starters on Tchio and Quick being injured. You see the big improvement with a new OC in year 2. But from what I’ve been told, no one is safe if Key gets the job. Brent will do anything possible to win. Brent loves Thacker, they get along really well. Brent told Thacker to run this defense how he wants and they together simplified the defense calls. Collins was trying to do too much within defensive calls and motions and that was cleaned up really nicely. Brent is an underrated recruiter IMO.

 

[JacketFan137]

You are correct. Everyone at Tech loves Key. He just lives and breathes a tech man. I think Long has been held back due to some of the O line injuries. Specifically 2 projected starters on Tchio and Quick being injured. You see the big improvement with a new OC in year 2. But from what I’ve been told, no one is safe if Key gets the job. Brent will do anything possible to win. Brent loves Thacker, they get along really well. Brent told Thacker to run this defense how he wants and they together simplified the defense calls. Collins was trying to do too much within defensive calls and motions and that was cleaned up really nicely. Brent is an underrated recruiter IMO.

thacker is almost at the point i just wanna keep him regardless of who is hired. our defense has looked solid when they aren’t being put in awful spots by the O.

 

[Techster]

You are correct. Everyone at Tech loves Key. He just lives and breathes a tech man. I think Long has been held back due to some of the O line injuries. Specifically 2 projected starters on Tchio and Quick being injured. You see the big improvement with a new OC in year 2. But from what I’ve been told, no one is safe if Key gets the job. Brent will do anything possible to win. Brent loves Thacker, they get along really well. Brent told Thacker to run this defense how he wants and they together simplified the defense calls. Collins was trying to do too much within defensive calls and motions and that was cleaned up really nicely. Brent is an underrated recruiter IMO.

I believe Brent played a big role in bringing Pyron to GT. Key was known as a really good recruiter, and that goes back to his days at UCF. There's a reason Saban moved his staff around to bring Key to 'Bama once Key was available. I think some of Key's shine has been dampened a bit by the OL recruiting here, and the development of the OL. Of course, it sounded like Collins dictated a lot of the recruiting and now we know the limitations Collins put on OLs during practice.


It's going to be REALLY interesting if GT wins the next two. As I said, I'm an advocate for Key if he meets certain standards. If a coach can win at GT under trying circumstance, you have to be crazy to overlook it. This isn't Key's program. If Key actually takes us to a bowl game, you have to wonder what kind of program Key can build when he's actually calling the shots from Day 1.

 

[CEB]

i agree with a lot of what you are saying here but i think the chadwell offense is way more popular on the swarm that it is in real life

i have been sitting in my season tickets for almost a decade and the majority of the surrounding people do not want to go back to anything like the option. purely anecdotal but i do not think this place is a good representation of reality. i think it’s pretty close to an even split as far as option fans vs non option people

something about polls in the last few years in this country. almost never accurate

Here’s an idea... don’t tell them it’s option!
Seriously... a LOT of teams are running some option. More than a handful are truly “option based.” At the far end of the spectrum is the CPJ / academy option, which is what most people conjure up in their heads when they hear “option.” Rightfully so, because Tech fans have seen it for years... the entire offense with a hand in the dirt, qb under center, we can count our pass attempts on one hand, and we run and run and run some more.
So I agree, I suspect most people hear “option” and have a very strong reaction based on CPJ years. I just don’t think they would receive the Chadwell / Coastal offense in the same way if they were watching it for themselves.

 

[Tech93]

If you want to be relevant year in and year out, you go with Sanders. He will move the dial for the program. GT won’t do that, though, bc they’ll want to play it “safe” and live with average records. If that’s the case, I would just hire Key instead of disrupting everything to not get too much in return for all the disruption.

 

[wrmathis]

If you want to be relevant year in and year out, you go with Sanders. He will move the dial for the program. GT won’t do that, though, bc they’ll want to play it “safe” and live with average records. If that’s the case, I would just hire Key instead of disrupting everything to not get too much in return for all the disruption.

Tech will be relevant with sanders for about 2-3 years. That’s whether he flips or is successful. That’s about how long I would expect him to be here.

 

[bikeseat]

I agree. For all the big talk about a refocus on football and injecting resources - keeping CBK would feel like a step backward to most fans/the entire college football universe - even if he was the correct choice.

I think CBK will get real consideration, but it would look like same old GT being cheap/not ambitious in the effort to resurrect the program. The optics will be bad on Cabrera/Batt

I also think it's hard to be a new AD and not want to put your stamp on the program with "your" hire.

Who knows, just speculating on my end. @Gt2019 always has a great pulse on it

 

[takethepoints]

i agree with a lot of what you are saying here but i think the offense is way more popular on the swarm that it is in real life

i have been sitting in my season tickets for almost a decade and the majority of the surrounding people do not want to go back to anything like the option. purely anecdotal but i do not think this place is a good representation of reality. i think it’s pretty close to an even split as far as option fans vs non option people

something about polls in the last few years in this country. almost never accurate

If you are like me, you are sitting among a collection of old guys and people who got their tickets for one game, usually off other old guys. I think if we want a younger fan base - and we had better - we need an O with real sizzle. For Tech that has always meant deception and not much else. Further, as The Slug has mentioned, trying to run an O like Bama's is a fools mission: Tech will never get the players that needs. We can get good athletes to run innovative Os. And that, imho, is what we should aim at. But … let's win 6 or 7 first. Then we'll see about the rest.

Chadwell will deliver that and so will several of the other candidates.

 

[takethepoints]

I agree. For all the big talk about a refocus on football and injecting resources - keeping CBK would feel like a step backward to most fans/the entire college football universe - even if he was the correct choice.

I think CBK will get real consideration, but it would look like same old GT being cheap/not ambitious in the effort to resurrect the program. The optics will be bad on Cabrera/Batt

I also think it's hard to be a new AD and not want to put your stamp on the program with "your" hire.

Who knows, just speculating on my end. @Gt2019 always has a great pulse on it

You know, I wish you weren't right. I think Key could deliver for us and I've been a fan of his since his playing days, but new kids on top usually means bad news for the people already in place below. Sometimes that's good and often its bad; I don't know one way or the other about Tech's situation.

One thing, however: I definitely don't want our AD to make decisions about our next head coach based on "optics". That got Tech into all kinds of trouble recently.

 

[85Escape]

You know, I wish you weren't right. I think Key could deliver for us and I've been a fan of his since his playing days, but new kids on top usually means bad news for the people already in place below. Sometimes that's good and often its bad; I don't know one way or the other about Tech's situation.

One thing, however: I definitely don't want our AD to make decisions about our next head coach based on "optics". That got Tech into all kinds of trouble recently.

There is only one optic I care about..okay maybe two. Second is "Wins" and First is "Class". And by class I don't embarrass the Institution with unethical stuff or hate crap.

 

[Deleted member 6494]

Tech will be relevant with sanders for about 2-3 years. That’s whether he flips or is successful. That’s about how long I would expect him to be here.

If Tech is desperate, just throw in the towel and take a long, long shot. The risk is no different than with Key or O'Brien.

 

[wrmathis]

If Tech is desperate, just throw in the towel and take a long, long shot. The risk is no different than with Key or O'Brien.

Oh I have no issue with Deion being hired. But I don’t think he would be here longer than 2-3 years one way or the other.