Georgia Tech’s investment in Key when he was 18-16 is paying off
On a day when Georgia Tech honored some of its greatest coaches of the past with a celebration of the 1990 national title team and the 50th anniversary of the Bobby Dodd Award, its current coach basked in the glow of having an undefeated team for at least one more Saturday.
And USA Today thinks that coach isn’t getting paid enough for his efforts.
The publication this week named Brent Key one of the five most underpaid coaches in college football.
Key’s $4.5 million in total compensation this season puts him among the bottom half of the ACC coaches and tied for 52nd among nationally among reported salaries, USA Today notes.
The former Tech offensive lineman received a $50,000 bonus Saturday for leading the Yellow Jackets to a sixth regular-season victory. Tech beat Virginia Tech 35-20 and is off to their best start, both overall and in league play, since 2011.
“I talked to the team (Friday) night about external noise,” Key said. “And I said, ‘I could sit up here and be very naive and say don’t listen, don’t pay attention to it. But everybody in this room hears everything that’s said.’ But what I told them was, ‘Not one point before we started this season in our journey do we say our goal is to be 5-0 this year. Our goal isn’t to be the No. 13 ranked (team).’ Those aren’t our goals, so it’s all about what they put their attention to, and their full attention.
“They’re gonna hear things. But it’s what’s internal that they need to put their full attention to. And I think they’ve done a good job of that, of listening. And it comes down to trust. They trust what I say, that they trust what their coaches say to them, and I think these guys do. They’re really good.”
Key was hired after Tech’s 2022 season. He coached the Jackets on an interim basis over the final eight games of that season and finished with a 4-4 record.
The .500 mark was a predecessor to the 2023 season in which Tech alternated wins and losses for the first eight games. Tech went 2-2 over its final four, including a Gasparilla Bowl victory over Central Florida, to finish 7-6.
Tech’s 2024 season ended up 7-6, too, but that mark was somewhat misleading. The Jackets were 5-2 in the middle of October ahead of a matchup with Notre Dame at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but injuries to star quarterback Haynes King and star linebacker Kyle Efford the next two games turned into two losses.
The Jackets went 2-4 over their final six, but Key was given a contract extension in December before Tech lost to Vanderbilt in the Birmingham Bowl. The Alabama native received a raise from an originally contracted $3 million for 2025 to $4.15 million. Key will make $4.25 million in 2026.
Tech’s investment in Key, who came into the season with a career record of 18-16, appears to have been the correct one.
“Just seeing how it was built from the ground up, trying to build it with who (Key) hired and who he brought in this program,” King said Saturday. “He really cares about the locker room and what we do, and he wants it to be a player-led team. You just see that and we have a lot of input on kind of what goes on.”
There will be more financial gains for Key this season if his team continues to win. He’s in line to make $100,000 for eight regular-season wins and another $100,000 for 10 regular-season wins. There are possible bonuses for an ACC title game appearance or championship win, bowl game win, College Football Playoff appearance and/or wins, being named an ACC or national coach of the year and for Academic Progress Ratings.
Key’s 24 wins ranks him 11th for career victories by a Tech coach. Four more would move him into the top 10 alongside names like Heisman, Alexander, Dodd, Curry, Rodgers, Ross, O’Leary, Gailey and Johnson.
“Just an incredible team that we have, and it starts with our head coach in Brent Key and what he has instilled in these young men from a toughness standpoint,” Tech athletic director Ryan Alpert said Tuesday at the Georgia Tech Athletic Association board of trustees meeting. “He has taught them how to become a team.
“The thing that impressed me the most, when I met with coach Key, about this team is he said, ‘We have a great culture and a great locker room.’ And I think you’re seeing that.”
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