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Brent Key made one thing very clear from the jump when he was named head coach at Georgia Tech in his introductory press conference, beating the team to the east was the top priority. Key made no bones about it leading up to the UGA game talking about the Jackets haven't held up their end of the rivalry for many years now going back to the win in Athens seven years ago in Kirby Smart's first year there.
The Jackets have been up and down all year but they beat Syracuse to get bowl-eligible and then they proceeded to score the most points on UGA all season while running the ball well and pushing around a team that manhandled Tech for many years up front.
It was a good sign for renewing the competitiveness of the rivalry and it was the first close game in Bobby Dodd Stadium since 2015 when the Jackets lost 13-7.
Key wasn't giving out moral victory awards (as he would say, **** moral victories), or even remotely satisfied with the performance against the #1 team in the country that had won 28 straight games going into last night, he was pissed off. His voice was completely shot from coaching hard the whole game and he wanted to win that game more than almost anything.
Having that drive is what you need at Georgia Tech. Paul Johnson had it early on and that edge made his teams have a shot every time they took the field throughout most of his tenure. Key wasn't aiming to keep the game close, he coached to win the game with a few gambling moves and some very specific strategies like taking points early and going for it on fourth downs on certain parts of the field. It was refreshing to see after watching the previous crew seem to be intentionally playing things safe and trying to avoid blowouts which ultimately backfired horribly.
Key has put together a strong staff and he will have a tough decision on what to do on the defensive side of the ball with a resume of Kevin Sherrer running things and some personnel deficiencies that both Sherrer and Andrew Thacker were aiming to overcome through the scheme. I have no idea what Key will do, but he interviewed a lot of DC candidates a year ago per my sources and I expect him to conduct and open search and Sherrer to be in the mix to both DC and/or return on the staff.
I'm sure there will be some changes on that side of the ball.
Offensively Buster Faulkner did a helluva job so much so that there are entire threads on our sister UGA site dedicated to how he outcoached the Dawgs. UGA faithful are hoping that Faulkner leaves for SEC pastures namely Arkansas but Faulkner turned down multiple jobs and then lobbied for the GT job so he could be close to home and watch his son play football and be with his family. If he can keep growing the offense here he will have an opportunity at a top-tier OC job or even a head coaching job in a year or two and he knows that. Arkansas is a dead-end job and their AD is doing everything he can to quell the masses who want Sam Pittman fired.
I believe Brent Key is going to be successful here. I've thought that from pretty early on when I saw how the team performed with him as the interim coach. Key is a solutions guy, he is a problem solver, he is a Tech man. That is what the Institute creates and he will do everything he can to win and win big. He wants GT to win national championships. Whether that ever happens is not important right now, what is important is Key can get Tech back into the ACC hunt, back in the ACCCG soon than later, and continue making COFH a must-watch game instead of a 24.5 point line and a cakewalk for the team to the east.
Tech fans need to help now and buy-in with the program, support NIL, support JOL who covers the program, and be good fans and show up next year and for the bowl game if they can. That is how you all can help Key and the players.
Brent Key made one thing very clear from the jump when he was named head coach at Georgia Tech in his introductory press conference, beating the team to the east was the top priority. Key made no bones about it leading up to the UGA game talking about the Jackets haven't held up their end of the rivalry for many years now going back to the win in Athens seven years ago in Kirby Smart's first year there.
The Jackets have been up and down all year but they beat Syracuse to get bowl-eligible and then they proceeded to score the most points on UGA all season while running the ball well and pushing around a team that manhandled Tech for many years up front.
It was a good sign for renewing the competitiveness of the rivalry and it was the first close game in Bobby Dodd Stadium since 2015 when the Jackets lost 13-7.
Key wasn't giving out moral victory awards (as he would say, **** moral victories), or even remotely satisfied with the performance against the #1 team in the country that had won 28 straight games going into last night, he was pissed off. His voice was completely shot from coaching hard the whole game and he wanted to win that game more than almost anything.
Having that drive is what you need at Georgia Tech. Paul Johnson had it early on and that edge made his teams have a shot every time they took the field throughout most of his tenure. Key wasn't aiming to keep the game close, he coached to win the game with a few gambling moves and some very specific strategies like taking points early and going for it on fourth downs on certain parts of the field. It was refreshing to see after watching the previous crew seem to be intentionally playing things safe and trying to avoid blowouts which ultimately backfired horribly.
Key has put together a strong staff and he will have a tough decision on what to do on the defensive side of the ball with a resume of Kevin Sherrer running things and some personnel deficiencies that both Sherrer and Andrew Thacker were aiming to overcome through the scheme. I have no idea what Key will do, but he interviewed a lot of DC candidates a year ago per my sources and I expect him to conduct and open search and Sherrer to be in the mix to both DC and/or return on the staff.
I'm sure there will be some changes on that side of the ball.
Offensively Buster Faulkner did a helluva job so much so that there are entire threads on our sister UGA site dedicated to how he outcoached the Dawgs. UGA faithful are hoping that Faulkner leaves for SEC pastures namely Arkansas but Faulkner turned down multiple jobs and then lobbied for the GT job so he could be close to home and watch his son play football and be with his family. If he can keep growing the offense here he will have an opportunity at a top-tier OC job or even a head coaching job in a year or two and he knows that. Arkansas is a dead-end job and their AD is doing everything he can to quell the masses who want Sam Pittman fired.
I believe Brent Key is going to be successful here. I've thought that from pretty early on when I saw how the team performed with him as the interim coach. Key is a solutions guy, he is a problem solver, he is a Tech man. That is what the Institute creates and he will do everything he can to win and win big. He wants GT to win national championships. Whether that ever happens is not important right now, what is important is Key can get Tech back into the ACC hunt, back in the ACCCG soon than later, and continue making COFH a must-watch game instead of a 24.5 point line and a cakewalk for the team to the east.
Tech fans need to help now and buy-in with the program, support NIL, support JOL who covers the program, and be good fans and show up next year and for the bowl game if they can. That is how you all can help Key and the players.
