Thanks to our sponsor Inteleca for helping bring back Q's Take my weekly look at things around GT and college sports from my vantage.
I've enjoyed reading the DC search thread at times (minus the infighting) and seeing some of the funny names that have popped up as people put on tinfoil hats. The truth is Brent Key is keeping this intentionally under wraps. There are a lot of balls in the air and this week was the first serious week of interviews and vetting done by Key. He veered outside of my list as well in those interviews as I expected just like he did with his OC search. Key is not afraid to shoot his shot and he did the same thing before a really intensive search landed him with Buster Faulkner last year. I believe he interviewed 14 different OCs in person before going with Faulkner. I can count on one hand how many people Key has interviewed so far in person for the DC gig so this may take some time.
Some people have other jobs and the majority of the targets are not unemployed DCs.
Key is not going to rush into making a hire to satisfy anyone or speed up his process and he showed it with the OC hire. Key was named HC coach on Nov. 29, 2022, and he hired Buster almost two full weeks later despite the early signing period and not having to coach a bowl game or have holidays or guys still coaching games brushing against the search.
This one is different because some guys are on vacation, some guys are working currently elsewhere and some guys have multiple job offers as well they are mulling over. Key does not have $2.5 million to drop on a DC like Brian Kelly at LSU. When you can cut a check like that, you can move really fast if you want to.
GT has a budget, a decent one, but still a budget.
Key held out for Buster last time and he is going to trust his instincts and training and make sure he makes the right hire not a fast one.
The process will take as long as it takes. Nick Saban took a full month to hire Tommy Rees as OC last year and about as long hiring Kevin Steele as DC at ALABAMA. They both started after the second NSD.
Everyone is excited about GT football again and that is awesome, but the process will take as long as Key needs it to.
I'll share more after the hire is made like I did when Buster was hired and we will do our best to share what we can. The list is a lot more than unemployed coaches and Key even planted some bad rumors early on to fake some people out that I sniffed out and shot down.
Key values coaching, player development, but personality fit within his organization and that last bit helped put Buster over the top last time. I'm very curious to see how this plays out and my sources indicate Key has worked very hard to cast a huge net through his coaching connections so it isn't just guys he worked with or whatever. I think people are too hung up on that as well. No one he has hired other than Kevin Sherrer actually worked with Key before on the current on-the-field staff for 2024 other than Chris Weinke and that was here under MoBS.
So enjoy the process, feel free to speculate or whatnot and be nice to each other.
I've enjoyed reading the DC search thread at times (minus the infighting) and seeing some of the funny names that have popped up as people put on tinfoil hats. The truth is Brent Key is keeping this intentionally under wraps. There are a lot of balls in the air and this week was the first serious week of interviews and vetting done by Key. He veered outside of my list as well in those interviews as I expected just like he did with his OC search. Key is not afraid to shoot his shot and he did the same thing before a really intensive search landed him with Buster Faulkner last year. I believe he interviewed 14 different OCs in person before going with Faulkner. I can count on one hand how many people Key has interviewed so far in person for the DC gig so this may take some time.
Some people have other jobs and the majority of the targets are not unemployed DCs.
Key is not going to rush into making a hire to satisfy anyone or speed up his process and he showed it with the OC hire. Key was named HC coach on Nov. 29, 2022, and he hired Buster almost two full weeks later despite the early signing period and not having to coach a bowl game or have holidays or guys still coaching games brushing against the search.
This one is different because some guys are on vacation, some guys are working currently elsewhere and some guys have multiple job offers as well they are mulling over. Key does not have $2.5 million to drop on a DC like Brian Kelly at LSU. When you can cut a check like that, you can move really fast if you want to.
GT has a budget, a decent one, but still a budget.
Key held out for Buster last time and he is going to trust his instincts and training and make sure he makes the right hire not a fast one.
The process will take as long as it takes. Nick Saban took a full month to hire Tommy Rees as OC last year and about as long hiring Kevin Steele as DC at ALABAMA. They both started after the second NSD.
Everyone is excited about GT football again and that is awesome, but the process will take as long as Key needs it to.
I'll share more after the hire is made like I did when Buster was hired and we will do our best to share what we can. The list is a lot more than unemployed coaches and Key even planted some bad rumors early on to fake some people out that I sniffed out and shot down.
Key values coaching, player development, but personality fit within his organization and that last bit helped put Buster over the top last time. I'm very curious to see how this plays out and my sources indicate Key has worked very hard to cast a huge net through his coaching connections so it isn't just guys he worked with or whatever. I think people are too hung up on that as well. No one he has hired other than Kevin Sherrer actually worked with Key before on the current on-the-field staff for 2024 other than Chris Weinke and that was here under MoBS.
So enjoy the process, feel free to speculate or whatnot and be nice to each other.
