HC Candidate/Rumors/Info Thread

[lv20gt]

Key wanted to prioritize taking high school linemen and playing the younger guys more. Collins wanted to go all in on the portal and getting guys to plug a spot for 1 year. This relates to Ryan Johnson, Devin Cochran and Southers, Kenneth Kirby, Nick Pendley. Key was the one that pushed for Quick and Tchio since he recruited them out of HS. Key wanted it to be his own decision with the offensive line group. Collins had his hands all over the offense when he had no experience with the offensive side of the ball.

Even if that is true, which doesn't make sense because took and played plenty of the young guys on the OL even as is, it's still on Key to develop and coach the OL. It's also not like he didn't have young players to coach up and develop for this year, and any quality OL coach should be able to develop players in practice even if it would be expedited by having game experience. OLmen not playing as freshmen or even much as R. Fr is completely normal and should be expected.

 

[yeti92]

If they told Key it’s his job they would’ve already announced it and cleared the air. No need to keep everyone guessing and making fans go at each other if the guy you’re hiring is already employed at the position you’re hiring for.

I personally believe the UGA game will make the decision for us. Nobody expects us to win, not even our decision makers. It’s obvious we don’t have the talent to compete with them, and our whole team is still learning how to win on the fly. But, how we lose, given that we do lose, will have a huge impact on the final outcome of the HC job, IMO. If it’s another 52-7, 45-0 type game, Key is out. If it’s 38-10, or 27-13, Key is in.

Perhaps more than the final score, is how we got there. 38-10 where it was 17-10 going into the 4th quarter is very different from 38-0 and we score 10 in the final 5 minutes.

 

[orientalnc]

if we want to be technical justin thomas and graham were the only 4* qbs and one of them was moved positions immediately upon transferring

The kid from NC that was injured in the ATV accident was also a 4* QB.

 

[JacketFan137]

The kid from NC that was injured in the ATV accident was also a 4* QB.

my mistake i forgot about him. real shame as i’ve always heard he could have been great.

 

[ibeattetris]

3 WR (not counting DT because he was a chan recruit) over 11 years is not exactly something to write home about for anyone else in power 5

if we want to be technical justin thomas and graham were the only 4* qbs and one of them was moved positions immediately upon transferring

I was counting Jaylend Ratliffe as well as he was a four star before his accident. Vad was a 4 on some site, but not 247. Point still stands that we had no trouble getting high caliber QB's to commit. Missing out on Ratliffe at the end of CPJ's tenure hurt.

We didn't *need* NFL receivers and yet we still put them in. (You also miss counted as Jalen Camp was CPJ recruit). Not sure it'd be fair to not count DT and also not count Camp.

We should have had more defensive players be high rated recruits and didn't. That's on CPJ and his staff. Any worries about what an offensive coach can do with his recruits is silly when we've proven an offense doesn't need to be loaded with 5 stars to be elite. I have not seen evidence that a defense can be elite without a bunch of stars though.

 

[ibeattetris]

The kid from NC that was injured in the ATV accident was also a 4* QB.

Yep, I was counting him.

 

[bobongo]

Perhaps more than the final score, is how we got there. 38-10 where it was 17-10 going into the 4th quarter is very different from 38-0 and we score 10 in the final 5 minutes.

No doubt it matters how he gets there. The Key audition has one final act. I understand your reservations. My thing is mainly that I have faith that Key is going to figure this out. He's shown a lot of fire and so has the team. A lot of heart, and that's the main ingredient that's been missing from this team in the past. I just think with some good assistants he'll get it done.

 

[bobongo]

So much interest in this thread and so many people earnestly pushing their point of view. Hard to know where to jump in.

My opinion. I think it’s really hard to evaluate the effectiveness of Key, offensive line coaching, our OC and our DC given how toxic Collins was for the whole program. We are just starting to see, finally, the potential some of our athletes had all along. Whether they can continue to grow and develop under the current coaching staff is an open question to me.

I completely understand the feelings of those who want to clean house and move on but to suggest this is based on solid evidence from past performance is misleading to me. Yes, I truly think Collins was that toxic for the program that even the best coaches in the country would have been smothered and stifled.

I will support whoever the next coach is as well as the configuration of the staff.

The way I look at it, we already cleaned house when Collins was axed to leave. If Key is hired, he'll probably make some alterations to it but most of this current staff is good to go IMO. And it's doing pretty good, especially considering the circumstances.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - Old American proverb

 

[leatherneckjacket]

Key wanted to prioritize taking high school linemen and playing the younger guys more. Collins wanted to go all in on the portal and getting guys to plug a spot for 1 year. This relates to Ryan Johnson, Devin Cochran and Southers, Kenneth Kirby, Nick Pendley. Key was the one that pushed for Quick and Tchio since he recruited them out of HS. Key wanted it to be his own decision with the offensive line group. Collins had his hands all over the offense when he had no experience with the offensive side of the ball.

Yet, we signed SIX lineman in 2020. Who exactly did Collins stop Key from recruiting when we signed six players. How many did Key want? Eight? Ten? Your point makes no sense. Whatever we did to shore up the OL with transfers, it still does not explain the lack of development of the six recruits from that class.

 

[southernhive]

Nice post. I think if CPJ had better passing QB's during his tenure, we would have been truly dominant.

As it was, D's were able to load up on the run game, and we couldn't give them any reason to respect the pass threat because there was none.

With an exception or two along the way, of course.

And a modicum of a defense would have helped our win/ loss record.

 

[Gt2019]

Yet, we signed SIX lineman in 2020. Who exactly did Collins stop Key from recruiting when we signed six players. How many did Key want? Eight? Ten? Your point makes no sense. Whatever we did to shore up the OL with transfers, it still does not explain the lack of development of the six recruits from that class.

Maybe read the part where I said Collins had his hand in the offense. I’ve heard the ways the practices went under Collins and it explains why the offensive line has been so bad.

 

[1956]

As far as the score Saturday it will about what Kirby wants it to be. We don't have a chance. I hope key gets the job.

 

[Oldgoldandwhite]

It’s going to be Chadwell. UNC gives us a glimmer of hope for Key but we are about to get beat down this weekend unfortunately.

We only scored 21 points against UNCs awful defense (2nd lowest all season). The UGA offense is going to score on us easily and we might not score a single point. I’m projecting a 45-3 type game. I obviously hope I’m wrong but it’s reality. The Key high will be gone and we will all rally behind Chadwell (at least I hope).

My guess.

 

[GoJacketsInRaleigh]

People are really going to judge Key on how he does with someone else’s team missing both QBs playing against the best team in the country? Just come out before the game and say you want him gone.

 

[JacketOff]

Perhaps more than the final score, is how we got there. 38-10 where it was 17-10 going into the 4th quarter is very different from 38-0 and we score 10 in the final 5 minutes.

I don’t disagree with this notion

 

[cpf2001]

People are really going to judge Key on how he does with someone else’s team missing both QBs playing against the best team in the country? Just come out before the game and say you want him gone.

It's more that if you want people to *ignore* the generally poor offensive performances and the general disasters of the UVA and Miami games then he has to show something extraordinary.

Otherwise, with very limited data - not all of it that positive - for what Key did in his interim stint and in his previous roles, what's the evidence to suggest he'd have a high ceiling? "Dabo did it"? Can you give me a dozen other Dabos, more than one for each interim conversion who *didn't* pan out?

 

[lv20gt]

People are really going to judge Key on how he does with someone else’s team missing both QBs playing against the best team in the country? Just come out before the game and say you want him gone.

No, people are going to judge him on his entire tenure here (and his resume as a whole). It's amazing that this is someone else's team like he hasn't been the #2 person in the program the past 3 years.

And the default isn't that he gets hired. He needs to do something drastic to justify hiring him as HC.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

i was mostly basing that off clemson and uga being better than they were for johnson and i believe we’ve played stronger teams OOC+ will see notre dame more frequently. i do think some of the acc teams are weaker like miami and vt.

with the divisions being kaput i think future we will be facing tougher acc schedules

also as that other user posted the difference is minimal and frankly insignificant. my point stands regardless we are getting a worse coach than johnson so i don’t think there are any guarantees we average more than 7 wins as even johnson couldn’t muster more

Anecdotal evidence often fails when compared to facts.

Nice movement of the goalposts though.

 

[leatherneckjacket]

Maybe read the part where I said Collins had his hand in the offense. I’ve heard the ways the practices went under Collins and it explains why the offensive line has been so bad.

Wait, I thought it was because Collins did not let Key recruit the players he wanted, but instead forced Key to sign from the portal. Which is it?

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

It conflicts with what I heard from my source, but Stech81 was my source, and he had consumed a few beers, so who knows.

LOL. FWIW, I have an old HS friend who works for the GTAA. They don't give me much, because they value their job, but sometimes they let me know if I'm hot, warm, or cold.