For Brent Key to take Georgia Tech to new heights, perhaps unprecedented levels of modern success, there needs to be an alignment when it comes to the mission and vision of the athletic department and the institute.
Key, soon to begin his first season as Tech’s coach, told the Atlanta Touchdown Club on Wednesday at the Capital City Club that he sees that alignment in place.
“No football program is ever going to be great, no athletics program, especially in college, is going to be great unless you have the alignment of the athletics program, the athletic director and the president of the school. Bottom line,” Key said. “The vertical alignment we have now at Georgia Tech, from the president (Angel) Cabrera to (athletic director) J Batt to the football program, it’s where it’s never been. It’s a different feel now from the top down to be able to have the resources, to be able to have the pieces to put the right things together.”
Key, hired in November after an eight-game stretch as the Yellow Jackets’ interim coach, spoke for more than 50 minutes during Wednesday’s luncheon. After an opening statement the former Tech offensive lineman took questions from the crowd on an array of topics, mostly about how he plans to create a creative team on the field, but also how he hopes to keep Tech competitive off the field in the arenas of recruiting and NIL.
With a month-and-half remaining before the 2023 season opener Sept. 1, Key left his vacation on the Alabama coast to speak at Wednesday’s event. He was candid about Tech’s commitment not only to football, but to athletics as a whole and to how he foresees the future of Tech football success.
Key made it known that he wants the Jackets to be the pride of the city regardless of that success.
“We’re going to build a football team to make this place proud. You can cheer for us, you can be a fan, you cannot, you can unfortunately be a fan of another school. It don’t matter,” he said. “Everyone is going to be proud of Georgia Tech football. Everyone is going to be proud to say, ‘That’s a school in our city of Atlanta that plays football the right way.’ And that’s all I ask.”
Tech appointed Key as the team’s interim coach after Geoff Collins was fired following a 1-3 start to the 2022 season and 10-28 overall record for his tenure. Key then led the Jackets to a 4-4 record with wins coming over Pittsburgh, Duke, Virginia Tech and North Carolina.
He said his team’s 4-4 finish and 5-7 overall mark, despite the positive notoriety that brought to the program at the time (he joked it felt like the Jackets would be getting a parade down Peachtree Street), simply isn’t good enough. And even though he and his staff made inroads when it came to playing a disciplined brand of football, there is still a long road to go in that endeavor.
Key evoked the teachings of Alabama coach Nick Saban and his former Tech coach George O’Leary more than once in trying to encapsulate the type of program he’s trying to build.
“We don’t have a standard at Georgia Tech,” Key explained. “We’re in the process of creating a standard. We want to build what our standard is. I know what I want it to be. Everyone knows what it should be. But how do you get there. That’s what we’re doing. We’re building that standard.
“For them to continue to learn right now about accountability is important. The hardest thing to do right now that I see for our kids is to hold each other accountable.”
Tech players report to campus July 31, and the Jackets will begin preparing for the 2023 season (and their opening opponent Louisville) a day later. Key harped on discipline and toughness as the characteristics his team will have to have as constants to become a winning football program.
Tech last went to a bowl game in 2018 and last won 10 games in a season in 2014, each time under former coach Paul Johnson. Key has aspirations to return his alma mater to those sort of benchmarks sooner rather than later.
“I plan on building this foundation to last a long time. I’m not trying to find a quick fix. I’m not trying to get something that flips it and fixes it overnight,” he said. “Yeah, that would be great. But my objective and my goal is to go out every week and win every game we play in. I don’t care if it’s in this state, out of this state, where you are, what conference you’re in. That is our goal. We have a long way to go to do it. But that is the goal, and that is what we want.”
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