Georgia Tech absolutely made the right call with this hire.
I’ll be frank. I did not want Georgia Tech to hire Brent Key to be the head coach. I was hoping to hire either Jamey Chadwell, Willie Fritz, or another guy who had experience as a head coach. I was unsure if Key would be able to engineer the turnaround that Georgia Tech needed following the Geoff Collins era. So when the hire was announced, I was bummed.
Now, after his first full season, I am happy to say that I am no longer bummed. To the contrary, I am incredibly excited about the future of Georgia Tech football with Brent Key in the driver’s seat. Although he has not completed the full turnaround, he has constructed the framework of this turnaround, so now he simply has to keep building up.
Culture
When Geoff Collins was named the head coach of Georgia Tech, one of the things he constantly talked about was instilling this culture at Georgia Tech. During his tenure, it became clear that the culture he instilled was one of talk and image, but overall very little actual substance. It came across as fake and turned off a lot of fans. By the end of his tenure, it was clear that the players didn’t buy into it either.
But when Key came in, there was a shift. The players cared and started playing harder. Sure, that’s impossible to quantify, but I full believe that Georgia Tech does not win 5 games in 2022 if Collins is there the entire year.
In the last year, it’s become even more clear that Key is establishing a new culture. I remember reading in interviews following Key’s hire that he had to teach the players how to play to win instead of playing not to lose. Again, it’s hard to quantify, but it’s very clear that the team that took the field last season is a much more bought-in team than any that Collins ever fielded.
In doing this, Key has made himself an easy guy to root for. You can tell that he truly wants the best for each and every one of his players.
Relationships
I think my favorite thing that Brent Key has done in his tenure is make establishing and cultivating relationships with Georgia high schools a top priority. This was something that the previous coaching staff utterly failed at. And now several of Key’s prominent hires have been people who are well-connected and well-respected among Georgia high school football coaches.
That is going to be a difference-maker in the coming years.
In the age of the transfer portal, you see a lot of players come back to their home state. We even see it a lot with Georgia Tech. A lot of players who left the state of Georgia came back and enrolled at Georgia Tech. Moving forward, I expect to see more of that.
But even more than that, I expect Georgia Tech to make a larger impact with in-state recruiting. As these coaching relationships continue to develop, Georgia Tech is going to become a more appealing option to these kids.
Coaching
Brent Key is not a perfect coach. We talked a good deal about his game management skills last year, and as a first year head coach, it’s expected that he’s going to struggle with that somewhat. But he’s also made some great decisions, especially with his coaching hires.
I don’t think it’s any stretch to say that hiring Buster Faulkner may be one of, if not the, best hire of the last coaching cycle. The offensive turnaround that Faulkner engineered is unparalleled. Faulkner also seems to be interested in sticking around for a while, which is great to see.
Beyond making good hires, though, he knows when to cut folks loose.
The defense was bad last year, and Key saw that. He dropped the underperformers and seems to have brought together a very solid new defensive coaching staff. Ultimately, we’ll have to wait to see how the hires turn out, but at this point, I trust Key’s decision-making when it comes to personnel.
We are headed into Year 2 under Brent Key, and I couldn’t be more excited.