Your choice for Head Coach

[CEB]

I disagree about keeping Thacker and staff. They have done a great job but we still get blown out against any competent offense (UNC will likely be the same). I think they are riding the opportunistic turnovers and it is an equalizer against bad/average teams. Losing guys like Charlie, Ace, and Keion after this year will also be a big hit. We need to clean house and bring in a new staff as well as some transfers at key spots.

I think we should do this across the board and Im not supportive of keeping Key. If we somehow decide to do that though I think we need to invest in a proven staff on O and D.

The bolded I agree with. I think FSU is the only GOOD team we have seen since Ole Miss. As nasty as our schedule looked to be, its proving full of paper tigers and under achieving teams.
UNC is going to be a real interesting test for the entire staff.
Their D is bad; we get to see if there is anything brewing in the minds of our offensive staff and if there are really signs of improving parts and pieces.
Their O is awesome: this D that we are so bullish about has a legit test coming. They didn't slow FSU much, and I suspect the same with UNC...

 

[WreckinGT]

Tell us you don't understand the job of a HFC without telling us you don't understand the job of a HFC.

That's like saying "Saban has Lane Kiffin at OC, and Kirby Smart at DC...why do we need Saban?!!"

Everyone knows that Saban is well involved in the crafting of his defense and always has been. Kirby Smart is somewhat of a product of Nick Saban. Are you suggesting Brent Key controls the offense and hires an OC to shape the offense in his image or are you suggesting that Key needs a quality offensive staff that can operate on their own with limited input? Key has to have some strength we need. Is it recruiting? Not really. Can he build a successful staff? Maybe, who knows. If the rumors that he was heavily involved in bringing Long and Weinke here are true then im dubious on this point. Will he make the offense better himself? Probably not based on recent results and his history as an OC. Will he make the defense better? No. He has no defensive coaching experience at all. So again, what is his value? Why should we keep him and give him millions of dollars instead of trying to find someone who might have strength in some of these areas?

 

[Techster]

The bolded I agree with. I think FSU is the only GOOD team we have seen since Ole Miss. As nasty as our schedule looked to be, its proving full of paper tigers and under achieving teams.
UNC is going to be a real interesting test for the entire staff.
Their D is bad; we get to see if there is anything brewing in the minds of our offensive staff and if there are really signs of improving parts and pieces.
Their O is awesome: this D that we are so bullish about has a legit test coming. They didn't slow FSU much, and I suspect the same with UNC...

According to Sagarin ratings, we are ranked #96.

College Football Ratings Page

Key beat Duke (#56), VT (#100) and Pitt (#51). Lost to UVA (#82) and FSU (#21).

I'll let others interpret that however they'd like, but Key has punched above GT's weight so far according to Sagarin ratings.

 

[Techster]

Everyone knows that Saban is well involved in the crafting of his defense and always has been. Kirby Smart is somewhat of a product of Nick Saban. Are you suggesting Brent Key controls the offense and hires an OC to shape the offense in his image or are you suggesting that Key needs a quality offensive staff that can operate on their own with limited input? Key has to have some strength we need. Is it recruiting? Not really. Can he build a successful staff? Maybe, who knows. If the rumors that he was heavily involved in bringing Long and Weinke here are true then im dubious on this point. Will he make the offense better himself? Probably not based on recent results and his history as an OC. Will he make the defense better? No. He has no defensive coaching experience at all. So again, what is his value? Why should we keep him and give him millions of dollars instead of trying to find someone who might have strength in some of these areas?

I'm suggesting you're making statements without understanding the job of a HFC.

 

[yeti92]

Everyone knows that Saban is well involved in the crafting of his defense and always has been. Kirby Smart is somewhat of a product of Nick Saban. Are you suggesting Brent Key controls the offense and hires an OC to shape the offense in his image or are you suggesting that Key needs a quality offensive staff that can operate on their own with limited input? Key has to have some strength we need. Is it recruiting? Not really. Can he build a successful staff? Maybe, who knows. If the rumors that he was heavily involved in bringing Long and Weinke here are true then im dubious on this point. Will he make the offense better himself? Probably not based on recent results and his history as an OC. Will he make the defense better? No. He has no defensive coaching experience at all. So again, what is his value? Why should we keep him and give him millions of dollars instead of trying to find someone who might have strength in some of these areas?

I think Key's biggest strength as a HC right now is his passion for Georgia Tech and as a motivator. The guys seem to want to play harder for him than they did for Geoff. Reminds me of my HS coach who was the same way - not an offensive or defensive minded guy, but he knew how to motivate his players and was very very successful doing so.

 

[WreckinGT]

I'm suggesting you're making statements without understanding the job of a HFC.

Help an idiot like me understand then. Share your incredible knowledge instead of personal insults.

 

[CEB]

According to Sagarin ratings, we are ranked #96.

College Football Ratings Page

Key beat Duke (#56), VT (#100) and Pitt (#51). Lost to UVA (#82) and FSU (#21).

I'll let others interpret that however they'd like, but Key has punched above GT's weight so far according to Sagarin ratings.

there is no doubt that we are punching above our weight... we're just in a featherweight class!

I suspected UCF was decent, so maybe I went a week too far in qualifying our last "good" opponent, but in any case, only Clemson, Ole Miss, UCF and FSU are in the top 50. We "should" beat Miami, but UNC at 40 is going to be the best team Key has faced outside of FSU. That UNC game will be telling. If the miami game tells us anything, it will be bad.

 

[Techster]

Help an idiot like me understand then. Share your incredible knowledge instead of personal insults.

I'll give you two examples:

Dabo Swinney at Clemson. Sam Pittman at Arkansas.

Neither of them even had coordinator experience at this level. So what's the value they bring to Clemson and Arkansas, respectively? They help organize the program to help the coaches and coordinators. They oversee the strengths and weaknesses of the offense and defense and help coordinators with an "outside" view. They are the "closers" in recruiting. They help with fundraising and asking mega donors to help with the program...in Key's case, he's VERY well liked by mega donors. They are the first to take bullets when the athletic department has issues.

That's just a few of the MANY MANY things a HFC has to deal with. If you haven't noticed, if Key didn't matter, than why has GT been playing better since he's taken over? How come Thacker and Long couldn't just operate without him?

 

[RamblinRed]

Keep in kind you can't talk about the Coastal anymore, after November it no longer exists.
Starting next season there will simply be an ACC Conference with no divisions and the 2 teams with the best conference records (and highest rankings if there are ties) going to the ACC CG.
On paper GT's conference schedule is likely to be more difficult going forward as it has kept Clemson as a permanent opponent but will play more games against former Atlantic teams and fewer games against former Coastal teams.

 

[bobongo]

I'll give you two examples:

Dabo Swinney at Clemson. Sam Pittman at Arkansas.

Neither of them even had coordinator experience at this level. So what's the value they bring to Clemson and Arkansas, respectively? They help organize the program to help the coaches and coordinators. They oversee the strengths and weaknesses of the offense and defense and help coordinators with an "outside" view. They are the "closers" in recruiting. They help with fundraising and asking mega donors to help with the program...in Key's case, he's VERY well liked by mega donors. They are the first to take bullets when the athletic department has issues.

That's just a few of the MANY MANY things a HFC has to deal with. If you haven't noticed, if Key didn't matter, than why has GT been playing better since he's taken over? How come Thacker and Long couldn't just operate without him?

I was thinking maybe we could just let Buzz take over HC duties. He'd be a big hit with the fans, and we could pay him like $50 a game extra.

 

[WreckinGT]

I'll give you two examples:

Dabo Swinney at Clemson. Sam Pittman at Arkansas.

Neither of them even had coordinator experience at this level. So what's the value they bring to Clemson and Arkansas, respectively? They help organize the program to help the coaches and coordinators. They oversee the strengths and weaknesses of the offense and defense and help coordinators with an "outside" view. They are the "closers" in recruiting. They help with fundraising and asking mega donors to help with the program...in Key's case, he's VERY well liked by mega donors. They are the first to take bullets when the athletic department has issues.

That's just a few of the MANY MANY things a HFC has to deal with. If you haven't noticed, if Key didn't matter, than why has GT been playing better since he's taken over? How come Thacker and Long couldn't just operate without him?

Pittman was hired because he was known as the best OL coach and one of the best recruiters in the SEC. That wasn't a real mystery. He adds significant value in multiple ways. He is also involved in offensive game planning. Dabo is the interesting case that people like to bring up. He was one of the best recruiters in the country and a fine WR coach but was still a major risk. Many within the program didn't want him in that position. Im not sure that chasing the next Dabo is a sound hiring strategy though, nor do I think Key is even at the level Dabo was.

As for the results. I do think the team got a boost from finally getting out from under the Collins black cloud that kept lingering. I also think Key made a good move changing kickers which has played a big part in improvement. But if we are being honest, we have also played mediocre teams since the change happened. Collins was fired after losing to teams ranked 16th, 19th, and 21st in FEI. Since then we have only played one team in the top 50 and that team utterly destroyed us. It's hard for me to gauge our teams improvement comparing games against Ole Miss and Clemson to games against UVA and VT.

 

[WreckinGT]

I was thinking maybe we could just let Buzz take over HC duties. He'd be a big hit with the fans, and we could pay him like $50 a game extra.

Apparently if you give him a good offensive staff and just let the defense do what they are doing now, then that is a sound strategy.

 

[bobongo]

Apparently if you give him a good offensive staff and just let the defense do what they are doing now, then that is a sound strategy.

I guess if an HC has a great staff around him, his main duties revolve around organizing, discipline, setting the tone, cheerleading (Geoff's specialty), filling out the two-deep, etc. Which are important, and I'm not denigrating it. But at any rate, all these guys are wildly overpaid IMO, from HCs down to the long snapper coach. But that's the stipend the market demands, so IIWII. You have to pay the going rate or you really will end up with Buzz. I'm being facetious of course. Sort of.

 

[lv20gt]

It looks like we're probably 3-4 weeks away from finding out who our next coach is. I don't think it will be Key, that UVA game put a HUGE dent in his chances, but we could do a LOT worse than the scenario above.

I disagree. The worst case scenario basically involves what you are saying. For example, lets say the following happens

We hire Key, keep the defensive staff, and bring in a new offensive staff. However, the offense still struggles as it has the past 4 years, and the defense regresses to the mean with respects to turnovers and has some key losses to being back to closer to what it was the past 3 years (and what we have seen against better teams this year at times), and we go back to being a 3-9 team. Then we are the laughing stock who decided to fire a coach and AD mid year just to keep most of the staff and still get terrible results.

I really do not understand the love for Key. Pitt was a great game. Beyond the change at kickers, which I'm not sure we wouldn't have done anyways as it wasn't like the old kicker was entrenched as a multi year starter, I doubt it had much to do with anything he did during the 4 days after Collins got fired and was more just to general relief of not being under the cloud of a coach about to be fired. Since then we've had a mediocre showing against Duke and then three bad performances coming off a bye week. You would expect that we'd continue to improve as more time has gone away but we haven't.

 

[4shotB]

Since then we have only played one team in the top 50 and that team utterly destroyed us. It's hard for me to gauge our teams improvement comparing games against Ole Miss and Clemson to games against UVA and VT.

OTOH, we have lost many, many times to the likes of Duke, Pitt and VT when they were middling programs such as they are now over the last several years even predating the Collins era.
It's not hard for me to see obvious improvements and yes, it can be argued that it WAS low hanging fruit.

 

[awbuzz]

...I think they are riding the opportunistic turnovers and it is an equalizer against bad/average teams...

This is so true.

If we were forcing more punts I would be more impressed with the D. Don't get me wrong, I love it when we get a turnover. But not being on the plus side last week, we more than likely lose.

 

[Gtech50]

Tell us you don't understand the job of a HFC without telling us you don't understand the job of a HFC.

That's like saying "Saban has Lane Kiffin at OC, and Kirby Smart at DC...why do we need Saban?!!"

I think he was suggesting the only contributions Key has made to the team has been on offense (OL, hiring the OC, QB, and WR coaches). If we think the offense is the problem and we don’t want to retain that staff, then why would we retain Key? He has very little to do with the defense and has no prior HC experience to measure his ability to run a program.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Keep in kind you can't talk about the Coastal anymore, after November it no longer exists.
Starting next season there will simply be an ACC Conference with no divisions and the 2 teams with the best conference records (and highest rankings if there are ties) going to the ACC CG.
On paper GT's conference schedule is likely to be more difficult going forward as it has kept Clemson as a permanent opponent but will play more games against former Atlantic teams and fewer games against former Coastal teams.

As good a time as any to wipe the slate clean and start anew. IIWII

 

[Randy Carson]

I disagree. The worst case scenario basically involves what you are saying. For example, lets say the following happens

We hire Key, keep the defensive staff, and bring in a new offensive staff. However, the offense still struggles as it has the past 4 years, and the defense regresses to the mean with respects to turnovers and has some key losses to being back to closer to what it was the past 3 years (and what we have seen against better teams this year at times), and we go back to being a 3-9 team. Then we are the laughing stock who decided to fire a coach and AD mid year just to keep most of the staff and still get terrible results.

I really do not understand the love for Key. Pitt was a great game. Beyond the change at kickers, which I'm not sure we wouldn't have done anyways as it wasn't like the old kicker was entrenched as a multi year starter, I doubt it had much to do with anything he did during the 4 days after Collins got fired and was more just to general relief of not being under the cloud of a coach about to be fired. Since then we've had a mediocre showing against Duke and then three bad performances coming off a bye week. You would expect that we'd continue to improve as more time has gone away but we haven't.

You can make up any worst-case scenario you want. So what? How does that line up with the most-likely scenario (aka reality)?

IHCBK may or may not be our guy long term, but I don't think he's a one-game wonder. For starters, we've heard that he's changed the way the team practices, and it appears he's instilling grit and determination to win. That's showing up on the field.

Here's the thing...no one in this forum took CGC seriously when listening to his press conferences. Do you think the players took him any more seriously in the locker room? Conversely, IHCBK instantly had everyone's attention when he stepped up to the mike. You knew you were listening to a hard-nosed football player-turned-coach.

I think the players get that, too.

 

[lv20gt]

You can make up any worst-case scenario you want. So what? How does that line up with the most-likely scenario (aka reality)?

Way more than you want to pretend it does.