Brent Key sends support to legendary Georgia Tech coach Bobby Ross

Former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Ross has chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a form of cancer, according to a report by the USA Today.

Ross, 88, went 36-26-1 at Tech and led the Yellow Jackets to the 1990 national championship, a championship shared with Colorado. Tech and Colorado play at 8 p.m. Friday in Boulder, Colorado.

“It’s been a tough time for him and his family,” Tech coach Brent Key said Tuesday. “And just to let Coach Ross know that everyone here has him and his family in their prayers. It’s someone that’s been on our mind a lot as a program here the last, really, week as we’ve been preparing for this football game, knowing the outcome of the 1990 season.”

Ross took over the Jackets in 1987, and after going 5-20 in his first 25 games, went 26-6-1 over his final 33 games with the program. Tech went 12-2 in the ACC in Ross’ final two seasons.

In 1990, Ross and the Jackets went 11-0-1 and beat Nebraska in the Citrus Bowl. They were voted the No. 1 team in the nation by United Press International, the poll conducted by college football coaches.

“What a great coach, great man,” Key added. “The stories I hear about how he ran the program and built the program and then went on to the NFL and had his success there (such as leading the Chargers to the Super Bowl in the 1994 season). It’s an honor to sit in the same seat that he sat in, and you look at the coaches that came out from underneath him and really his coaching tree, a lot of outstanding coaches and a lot of coaches that really impacted me in my life that came from underneath Coach Ross.

“So I just want Coach to know that everyone here at Georgia Tech is thinking about him, and he’ll be with us as we go to play this game on Friday.”