POLL: How do you feel about Key as HFC?

[laoh]

I dunno but one thing I do know is that he has more than proved himself for an NIL with Dasani.

 

[ThatGuy]

Collins was hired before the Portal and NIL. At that time it was very reasonable to believe it would take several years to transition the roster to run a different type of offense. That simply isn't the case any more, and unfortunately for coaches, they will get fired a lot quicker today than they were yesterday.

Fair point re: today's expectations (although I'm not sure how realistic they are, as we've dipped into the portal a lot, and have only gotten a handful of players who have turned out better than what we already had).

Also, as a point of information, the transfer portal was introduced to college football in the fall of 2018, and Collins was hired in December 2018.

 

[Richard7125]

I'm still not convinced the portal is going to make rebuilding a team faster or easier. Other than factories poaching elite talent, and the occasional QB diamond in the rough, I haven't seen many cases where teams got better in a hurry due to transfer portal guys.

"In 2020, 10.7% of FBS starters were transfers. In 2021, that number nearly doubled, to 20.9%, according to SportSource Analytics." I wouldn't be shocked to see that percentage higher in 2022. Good players are finding teams where they can play. That's a good thing. Roster turnover is faster. You can still have a crappy coach waste these good players (ie Collins), but a good coach should be able to thrive.

 

[Richard7125]

Fair point re: today's expectations (although I'm not sure how realistic they are, as we've dipped into the portal a lot, and have only gotten a handful of players who have turned out better than what we already had).

Also, as a point of information, the transfer portal was introduced to college football in the fall of 2018, and Collins was hired in December 2018.

That's fine, but the capability of the Portal (and with NIL pouring gas on that fire) wasn't really understood until a couple of years later.

 

[JacketOff]

I'm still not convinced the portal is going to make rebuilding a team faster or easier. Other than factories poaching elite talent, and the occasional QB diamond in the rough, I haven't seen many cases where teams got better in a hurry due to transfer portal guys.

I don’t know, Kansas brought in 15 transfers this year and had the 22nd ranked transfer class. They also brought in 13 last year, and many of Buffalo’s best players followed Leipold to Kansas.

Kansas started 2 of the 2021 transfers, and had 2 others on their two-deep, including Jason Bean who became the starting QB after Daniels went down. They also started 2 of their 2022 transfers, and had 7 others on their 2-deep. So that’s 4 of their starters and 9 of their depth players who came via the portal, 13 total impact players. That’s a good amount of their total production for a team who had their best season in over a decade.

44% of preseason projected QB1’s were transfers. While you can’t rely solely on the portal to build your team, it’s a very easy way to fill holes that may be left from seniors graduating, juniors declaring for the draft early, or losing transfers of your own. You do need to build up a solid HS recruiting base in order to maintain consistent class balance and to have a core culture of the team who will be around for 4+ years. But there is no denying the portal makes it easier to fill gaps than ever before. There are definitely pros and cons to it for the small to mid-size programs. Sometimes you pick off a fringe blue-blood guy, sometimes you lose to star player to said blue bloods.

Overall though, the rebuilding process is made much easier and quicker by using the portal. I’m sure Deion and Colorado will take a significant jump next year because of the portal, but you can’t do that every year. After a while there is a point of diminishing returns, and I think that’s where Deion will run into trouble if he falls too deep in love with portal recruiting.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I’m optimistic. I’ve said this before. I think we will see 8 wins by his second full year.

No, he was not my first choice but he was the strongest of my remaining choices.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

I doubt Key leaves if he becomes very successful. But never say never.

He would do what basically anyone would do - whatever he deems best for his family.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

"In 2020, 10.7% of FBS starters were transfers. In 2021, that number nearly doubled, to 20.9%, according to SportSource Analytics." I wouldn't be shocked to see that percentage higher in 2022. Good players are finding teams where they can play. That's a good thing. Roster turnover is faster. You can still have a crappy coach waste these good players (ie Collins), but a good coach should be able to thrive.

How many of those transfers had meaningful PT with their new schools? Sure, you can turn over a roster faster, but that doesn't mean you made that roster better.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I don’t know, Kansas brought in 15 transfers this year and had the 22nd ranked transfer class. They also brought in 13 last year, and many of Buffalo’s best players followed Leipold to Kansas.

Kansas started 2 of the 2021 transfers, and had 2 others on their two-deep, including Jason Bean who became the starting QB after Daniels went down. They also started 2 of their 2022 transfers, and had 7 others on their 2-deep. So that’s 4 of their starters and 9 of their depth players who came via the portal, 13 total impact players. That’s a good amount of their total production for a team who had their best season in over a decade.

44% of preseason projected QB1’s were transfers. While you can’t rely solely on the portal to build your team, it’s a very easy way to fill holes that may be left from seniors graduating, juniors declaring for the draft early, or losing transfers of your own. You do need to build up a solid HS recruiting base in order to maintain consistent class balance and to have a core culture of the team who will be around for 4+ years. But there is no denying the portal makes it easier to fill gaps than ever before. There are definitely pros and cons to it for the small to mid-size programs. Sometimes you pick off a fringe blue-blood guy, sometimes you lose to star player to said blue bloods.

Overall though, the rebuilding process is made much easier and quicker by using the portal. I’m sure Deion and Colorado will take a significant jump next year because of the portal, but you can’t do that every year. After a while there is a point of diminishing returns, and I think that’s where Deion will run into trouble if he falls too deep in love with portal recruiting.

This is a good post. Kansas did improve. At 6-6 and looking at their first bowl game in a long time, it's clear the portal helped them. I never said the portal was useless, but Kansas so far seems to be the exception to the rule. The best portal transfers will be the ones heading to the factories, who are only really looking for difference makers or key depth fillers. Teams in our position are usually getting either highly recruited busts at factory schools or underrecruited standouts at low FBS/FCS schools. Every now and then we get a Hassan Hall type who is a lateral from a similar level program.

To be fair, we had some good luck with our transfers this year once the coaching change occurred, but I still don't think relying on the portal for roster building is a really good idea.

 

[JacketOff]

This is a good post. Kansas did improve. At 6-6 and looking at their first bowl game in a long time, it's clear the portal helped them. I never said the portal was useless, but Kansas so far seems to be the exception to the rule. The best portal transfers will be the ones heading to the factories, who are only really looking for difference makers or key depth fillers. Teams in our position are usually getting either highly recruited busts at factory schools or underrecruited standouts at low FBS/FCS schools. Every now and then we get a Hassan Hall type who is a lateral from a similar level program.

To be fair, we had some good luck with our transfers this year once the coaching change occurred, but I still don't think relying on the portal for roster building is a really good idea.

I don’t think anybody suggests using the portal to build a roster. It’s impossible, unreliable, and also just way harder than recruiting full classes of HS players. I do think more people at Tech have a negative perception of what the portal can do just based on our measly W/L results the past 4 years in addition to losing some of our best players. I think had we performed better we might have kept some of those guys, and also had we won some more games we would appreciate our portal adds more.

Kyric McGowan was our best receiver last year, Brent Cimaglia was a competent kicker, Ace Eley was one of the best LBs in the conference, and Keion White was one of the best DL in the conference. Hassan Hall really helped fill the void left by Gibbs and Mason this year.

We’ve probably been net-negative through the portal so far in its existence, but we’ve been net-negative in most things since the portal came into play. I think has we performed better on the field we might have performed better in the portal as well. We might lose Nate this year, but I have a feeling we’ll get a solid RB and LB out of the portal this year.

As this thread pertains to Key, I think his demeanor and love for the Institute might attract some kids who might be looking for new homes, especially local kids who may have went out of state. I also think he will be able to retain some of our existing and best players who might be considering the portal.

 

[Randy Carson]

He would do what basically anyone would do - whatever he deems best for his family.

Oh, good.

Cause he was very clear that Georgia Tech is "family" to him.

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

Oh, good.

Cause he was very clear that Georgia Tech is "family" to him.

No school family is more important than your blood family. If it is, your priorities are misaligned.

 

[Randy Carson]

No school family is more important than your blood family. If it is, your priorities are misaligned.

No question.

But my point is that sometimes people turn down job opportunities that offer more money because the overall situation isn't better for the individual or the individual's family. As a former headhunter, trust me...people turn down more money ALL THE TIME. Besides, he'll already be earning more in a year than many of us will earn in a lifetime.

But let's say that five years from now, CBK has had a good run, and some big school with lots of cash to burn comes calling. Maybe he takes that job.

It's also possible that Ms. CBK says, "Honey, I like the church that we're attending, I like Harper's teachers, and she has a good friend group. We don't even know anyone in (Clemson, Tuscaloosa, etc.), and that job is a pressure cooker. You've got the team in a good place, and we're both happy. Let's just stay where we are."

If CBK has his priorities in order, he's not uprooting the family just to make more money.

 

[85Escape]

If CBK has his priorities in order, he's not uprooting the family just to make more money.

100% There's a point where you can make more money, but you've got enough to live the life you want. Not everyone wants more, more, more. Wealth is more than just $, despite what some would have you believe. I've made decisions that made me monetarily poorer and, at the same time, so much wealthier.

 

[UgaBlows]

Oh, good.

Cause he was very clear that Georgia Tech is "family" to him.

I believe if Coach Key wins big enough at Tech and other schools come after him that GT will actually step up to keep him. We got him on the cheap but eventually if he succeeds we have to treat him right, surely there‘s no way we let him get away if he proves himself.

 

[LongforDodd]

K

This is a good post. Kansas did improve. At 6-6 and looking at their first bowl game in a long time, it's clear the portal helped them. ...

I didn't follow Kansas in any way except their weekly ranking which seemed climb during the first half of the year. I see know they finished 6-6. They seemed to have lost their mojo.

Edit: checked their record/schedule...started out 5-0 and finished 1-6 against some pretty tough competition. And Sagarin had their schedule at 5

 

[AlabamaBuzz]

No question.

But my point is that sometimes people turn down job opportunities that offer more money because the overall situation isn't better for the individual or the individual's family. As a former headhunter, trust me...people turn down more money ALL THE TIME. Besides, he'll already be earning more in a year than many of us will earn in a lifetime.

But let's say that five years from now, CBK has had a good run, and some big school with lots of cash to burn comes calling. Maybe he takes that job.

It's also possible that Ms. CBK says, "Honey, I like the church that we're attending, I like Harper's teachers, and she has a good friend group. We don't even know anyone in (Clemson, Tuscaloosa, etc.), and that job is a pressure cooker. You've got the team in a good place, and we're both happy. Let's just stay where we are."

If CBK has his priorities in order, he's not uprooting the family just to make more money.

I never said he would leave only based on $$. I just stated that he would decide in the future what’s best for he & his family.

Let’s all hope his era as HC is so successful, he gets choices. That means we won a lot of games. Go Jackets.

 

[JacketOff]

K

I didn't follow Kansas in any way except their weekly ranking which seemed climb during the first half of the year. I see know they finished 6-6. They seemed to have lost their mojo.

Edit: checked their record/schedule...started out 5-0 and finished 1-6 against some pretty tough competition. And Sagarin had their schedule at 5

They also lost their starting QB midway through the season. They were 5-0 playing undefeated TCU when he went down. Then he came back for their last 2 games against Texas and Big 12 champion Kansas State.

 

[Randy Carson]

I never said he would leave only based on $$. I just stated that he would decide in the future what’s best for he & his family.

Let’s all hope his era as HC is so successful, he gets choices. That means we won a lot of games. Go Jackets.

Gotcha. Sorry if I misunderstood.

A lot of anti-CBK posters seem to think he'll jump at the first chance he gets to "move up", but I'm not so sure.

He may have already moved up to his dream job.

 

[85Escape]

Gotcha. Sorry if I misunderstood.

A lot of anti-CBK posters seem to think he'll jump at the first chance he gets to "move up", but I'm not so sure.

He may have already moved up to his dream job.

If he wins we'll figure out how to pay him. As long as we pay him competitively I think he'll stay as long as we want him.

I could be wrong, and don't fault him if he doesn't stay, but he just seems to be that kind of person. I fully believe he wants to make GT the desired destination, not go to a different desired destination.

I always respect people that are more interested in 'doing the hard thing well' than they are in taking the easier way.

Regardless, I really, really hope that this is a problem we've got to sort out in the next three to five years. That would be awesome.