Looks like the bugs are gonna make the right decision.
ATHENS — Seeing was believing for Georgia Tech leadership where interim head coach Brent Key was concerned.
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Seeing was believing for Georgia Tech leadership where interim head coach Brent Key was concerned.
The 44-year-old Key, who led the Yellow Jackets to a 4-4 mark after taking over for Geoff Collins, is in the final stages of working out a deal to take over the program, per multiple reports.
There had been previous reports that new Georgia Tech athletic director J Batt had an interest in hiring Tulane coach Will Fritz.
Key was the choice of the vast majority of the Georgia Tech fans and alumni, a former Yellow Jackets player himself (1997-2000) who earned All-ACC and team captain honors as an offensive lineman and put some sting back into the program as its coach this season.
Key does not have prior head coaching experience, but the recent successful hires of Oregon coach Dan Lanning, Arkansas coach Sam Pittman and South Carolina coach Shane Beamer have proven that first-time head coaches can have success if provided with the necessary resources.
Of course, Kirby Smart had not been a head coach, either, when Georgia chose him to follow Mark Richt in 2016.
While Beamer, Pittman and Lanning had the benefit of coaching under Smart at Georgia, Key’s resume features an important and well-noted stop as he served three years as the offensive line coach at Alabama.
Key was part of Crimson Tide coaching staffs that won a national championship in 2017 and an SEC title in 2018 — before returning to his alma mater as assistant head coach and run game coordinator.
Coaching under Nick Saban provided Key with valuable experience in seeing and learning how to structure and build a championship environment.
Smart pointed out Key also had the benefit of playing under one of the Yellow Jackets’ finer head coaches, George O’Leary, as well.
“When he played there, it was George O’Leary, (and) the job that he did there goes unrecognized,” Smart said. “It was during some of the time that I was playing here. He had some of the best Georgia Tech teams there were.
“They were so physical, so competitive. I think Brent playing under him shaped him into who he is and who he has become as a coach. What a tremendous job he did, and now Brent is doing.”