Georgia Tech AD: ‘We want Brent Key as our football coach’
Georgia Tech coach Brent Key has not been reported as a primary candidate for any of the current high-profile coaching vacancies. That doesn’t mean Key’s name hasn’t been thrown out there as a potential hire for openings from State College, Pennsylvania, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to Gainesville, Florida.
And even though Key doused the rumor flames Nov. 6 when he said “slice me open and see what colors I bleed,” there hasn’t been any official announcement from Tech about any changes to the third-year coach’s contract.
At least not yet, anyway.
“We’re working through some things,” Tech athletic director Ryan Alpert said Wednesday on 680 The Fan. “We wanna be proactive. We have been proactive. We want Brent Key as our football coach, there’s no question. His (records over) three years: seven and six, seven and six and sitting here at nine and two. The trend lines are incredible. He and I have got a great partnership.
“But it’s not just about him. We need to have the right support staff, the right player-acquisition plan, and I think we’ve got a great plan for the future.”
Key, 47, is in his third full season as Tech’s coach and will be coaching his 46th game at 3:30 p.m. Friday when the Yellow Jackets play No. 4 Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Key’s 2025 team is 9-2, finished 6-2 in the ACC and is No. 23 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Key’s current contract pays him $4.5 million in total compensation this season which puts him among the bottom half of the ACC coaches. He is tied for 52nd nationally among reported Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches salaries, according to the USA Today database.
Moving quickly to retain Key is important for Alpert and the Georgia Tech Athletic Association, given the number of high-profile openings in college football. Penn State, Florida, LSU, Arkansas and Auburn are among the programs who have already made a coaching change this season.
“People ask me about my job, I’m gonna tell ‘em what I feel,” Key said earlier this month on 92.9 The Game. “Don’t forget now, I left the University of Alabama (in 2019) after, what, three straight national championship games, to come back here for the same position (offensive line coach) basically? Now that I’ve got an opportunity, and I’m so fortunate to be able to sit in this seat, I’m not letting this thing go.”
A former Tech offensive lineman, Key took over Tech on an interim basis in 2022 and was officially hired to lead the program in November of that year. He has led Tech to back-to-back 7-6 seasons, a Gasparilla Bowl win in 2023 and seven wins in eight tries against ranked ACC teams.
Key, 27-18 overall and 20-11 in ACC games, reached 25 wins in the fifth fewest games among coaches in Tech history: William Alexander did so in 28 games, Bobby Dodd in 34, John Heisman in 36 and Paul Johnson in 39.
“Coach Key and I are aligned,” Alpert told 680 The Fan earlier this month. “We’ve obviously gotta continue to invest in the program in multiple different levels. But I’m absolutely confident we can keep coach Key and continue to build a championship-level program.”
In December, Key signed a new contract that extended his original deal through Dec. 31, 2029, and gave him a raise of $1.1 million. Key’s salary increased to $4.15 million for this season, $4.25 million for the 2026 season, $4.35 million for the 2027 season, $4.45 million for 2028 and $4.55 million for 2029.
If Tech beats Georgia on Friday, Key would be in line to receive a $100,000 bonus for reaching 10 regular-season wins. Key has received a $100,000 bonus this season for reaching eight regular-season wins.
“We don’t want this to be a one-year, great year and then regress back over time,” Alpert told The Athletic. “There’s going to be ups and downs in any program, but we want to be able to build a consistent, championship-level program. And so for me, there’s the head coach and what, what we’re going to do for Brent. So he and I are talking about what’s important to him.”
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