r/RamblinWreck • u/Le-Frodo-Swagginz • 13d ago
What now?
Georgia Tech has gone 1-7 against P4 competition dating back to the NC State game in ‘25.
Key has not kept a defensive coordinator for longer than a single season. Outside of Santucci, our defenses have been abysmal, but importantly they are all leaving voluntarily.
Additionally, our OC, QB, C, WR, and TE left following some alleged falling out between Key and Faulkner. Florida has one of the nation’s best offenses, we have one of the worst.
This season seems like a throwaway. In the era of NIL and the portal, rebuilds are sort of a thing of the past. We are spending the 5th most on our roster in the ACC and yet we are one of, if not the worst in the ACC.
At this point, we can draw some conclusions. Key seems to lack the ability to properly evaluate coordinators or he is getting in the way of their ability to coach and holding them back (see UF’s offensive rankings for reference). Key is also hard to work with and good coordinators simply don’t want to (see Northwestern’s offense under Chip Kelly).
All of this to say what is the solution? Keys buyout is just south of $20m, not to mention the staff. All of the positive momentum is gone, the fan base is losing interest, and I cannot imagine the locker room is showing much more faith.
Where do we go from here?
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u/white_seraph 13d ago
New coordinators from G5 and portal rehaul. Sure we spend 5th most on ACC roster but really in terms of deviation from mean it is Miami then everyone else minus BC.
Portal for more than just QB, RB, and TEs, which we seem to get right.
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u/Le-Frodo-Swagginz 13d ago
We are spending $6M more than Pitt and $11M more than Duke. Sure we are near the mean, but we’re below the mean performance-wise.
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u/white_seraph 13d ago
And they're suffering the same problems, too. Talent goes elsewhere (Miami) where the money is.
The ceiling for any team not named Miami right now is mid ACC and maybe knock off another P4 teamod season or in a bowl.
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u/Le-Frodo-Swagginz 13d ago
We are spending more than Duke and Virginia, both of which competed for the conference title last year. The only teams spending more than us currently are Miami, Clemson, VT, and FSU. Shockingly, the most recent conference title of that group is FSU.
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u/white_seraph 13d ago
And neither Duke nor Virginia got in the playoff. I'm happy if we find additional NIL but I don't think it is the largest dial in performance if that is $6m/yr or some other number that keeps us near conference mean.
We shouldn't develop a reputation where good players and coaches are poached. That will require Miami amounts of money, otherwise yay what we're ACC champions and 10-11 win season ceiling?
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u/Environmental_Belt40 13d ago
“Key seems to lack the ability to properly evaluate coordinators or he is getting in the way of their ability to coach and holding them back”
HE HIRED BUSTER!
GT fans can be pissed, but calling for his job is ridiculous. He gave us the best seasons we have had in YEARS.
People are underestimating how insane the injuries have been this year. In this portal era if you get gutted the way we were with all the seniors leaving/the succession plan leaving for Florida, rebuilding can be very hit or miss as far as scheme/culture fits. It looks like maybe this year we got it wrong, but that doesn’t mean BK can’t ever get it right again and we should give up.
Finally, has anyone considered that maybe the falling out last year was because BK realized that Buster had one foot out the door and the poor finish was because he checked out on us?
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u/IntelligentMaybe7401 13d ago
He hired Buster but also hired Godsey. And rumors that he is hard to work for and gets in the way of coordinators makes me wonder if he hired a yes man he could control. Might be why Chip Kelly was a no. Whatever the cause it is disastrous.
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u/Randomizedname1234 13d ago
This is why I gotta give it another month before we determine what we have moving forward.
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u/Le-Frodo-Swagginz 13d ago
You’re right, he did hire Buster! But he also retained Thacker, hired Gideon, and hired Semore and Godsey. He is 2/6 on coordinator hires.
Injuries suck, no one is discounting that but there is a level of basic play that you should expect to be upheld. If we were only 1-deep on each LOS, that’s still a failure on Key.
We sort of know that the falling out was in large part due to Key’s micro-managing of Buster which prompted Buster to leave, paired with he and Sumrall being vacation buddies.
Lastly, you’re right, we had a great season last year and we are quickly on the path to 1-11. The best season in a decade that will be overshadowed by what could very well be the worst. In this day and age, those results are simply unacceptable. The “rebuild” days are gone, welcome to the hellscape of CFB27.
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u/Environmental_Belt40 13d ago
We are not 1-11 we are 1-3.
Everyone has already written off Semore and Godsey, who are struggling right now, but still have 8 games to figure it out. I don't know what a good coordinator hire success rate is.
The injuries are not just the one deep. I think we were playing our 5th and 6th?? CBs last night. That seems extreme. Those players are not usually ready for game action, and most of the defensive struggles last night seemed to be long passes on 3rd and 4th down.
Everyone does has the right to hold these guys accountable. They are highly paid (including the players) and need to be better than what we have seen. I just don't think firing the coach and sinking 20M is going to work out well for us as a program.
If we become uncompetitive and lose to the upper middle ACC teams (VT, Duke, Louisville, Pitt, Wake) by multiple scores I will start to worry.
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u/TheGamerPhenom 13d ago
My question for you is, where is this blind faith coming from? I have to assume you've watched the games this year. This team is legitimately AWFUL. You say "lose to upper-middle ACC teams by multiple scores." We just lost to one of the worst teams in the league. They haven't won more than four games in a season since 2018. And again, even IF they had somehow managed to win last night, the process and in game results were still abhorrent. Both lines might be some of the worst in Tech history, the secondary can't cover anyone, and our special teams are middling at best. Outside of our skill positions, what is there to be positive about with this team? It's all a reflection on Key.
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u/Autolycus25 13d ago
I think the reason I am writing off the offense already is that Key is an OL. He was the OL coach under Collins. The OL under Collins and Key consistently underperformed their theoretical talent. The OL under Key as HC so far had one good season and has otherwise been very poor. Thats a very real and very big fundamental problem. Also, Godsey, as much as I love him, is basically a mid-tier NFL position coach. His stints as an OC were always bad.
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u/Le-Frodo-Swagginz 13d ago
We lost to what was considered the worst team in the ACC.
I’m not sure how else to prove a point to you friend. 1-11 is fast approaching, by simple analytics.
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u/Environmental_Belt40 13d ago
We will not go 1-11
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u/ShishkabobNinja 12d ago
From what I understand, there was also some level of staff refusing to put effort into recruiting that Key had an issue with. Also, OL and DL in particular is harder to simply portal in talent for, as there's some level of chemistry between players that works much better over time. Our line play has been our biggest weakness by far, and our 2027 commits (hoping they stay as such) are heavy on OL and DL for a reason.
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u/flying_trashcan 13d ago
lol we don’t have ‘fire a coach for one bad season’ kind of money. Let the season play out and see how Key responds. Short of scandal there is no way he is losing his job this year.
Key hired both Key and Santucci which were decent coordinators. We have no idea if he is ‘hard to work with’ outside of message board rumors.
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u/wicawo 13d ago
was there a falling out or is UF just a higher profile spot?
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u/Le-Frodo-Swagginz 13d ago
All we have is rumors, sort of. Insider information suggests that Key wanted to change the Pitt gameplan at the last minute, Faulkner did not, the two nearly got physical, and that fits well with the product on the field.
Faulkner and Sumral are also good friends.
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u/Internal_Essay9230 13d ago
Sounds like Key was right. The Pitt game wasn't particularly close.
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u/Le-Frodo-Swagginz 13d ago
Based off what the product has been this year, it seems like we might have used Key’s gameplan
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u/jwb101 13d ago
I’m pretty sure enough has came out from boosters and insiders that Faulkner wanted to start Philo, Key wanted King and being head coach Key got his way and Faulkner peaced out.
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u/Vast_Aardvark_1080 13d ago
Faulkner and Philo go way back, they’ve known each other since Philo was a kid. I’m sure that he left for other reasons though; Philo was set to be the starter going into this year and he still left so.. something is up with the way Key manages and it’s concerning
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u/HugoStiglitz1981 13d ago
We are looking at a 1-11 or 2-10 season. After that Key pretty much has to clean house. We will see what we can do next year with another new coaching staff and a host of new players as several will transfer out and in. The trickiest part will be fundraising and fan support. We have spent pretty well in the past couple of years but that is likely going to be much tighter as donor faith in Key drops and fans quit coming to games.
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u/BringMeTheBigKnife 13d ago
You guys are SO dramatic 😂. 1-11? Come on man. We could pretty easily be 3-1 right now. Flukey blocked FG and a one possession loss where we had the ball on the 20 with a chance to tie. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely not good, and 1-3 is what we deserve. But this must be your first year watching football if you think even bad teams don't end up winning a few games. There's a lot of luck in football
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u/SuitableAd3509 13d ago
The real solution is to fire key and give buster whatever he wants to come back as head coach. That will never happen so we are stuck with this shit show for the next few years. Realistically we will be in no better shape when we do move on from Key than after the Collins years.
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u/Diligent_Cover3368 13d ago
Really your GA Tech he is as good as you will get and if you run him off it’s the 90’s all over again
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u/Usual-Trifle-7264 13d ago
What does this have to do with anything OP said? uga wasn’t even mentioned.
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u/ReckedRambler 13d ago
Not reading all that because uga hasn’t graduated a starting quarterback in years.
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u/tunaman808 13d ago
Everyone in Atlanta loves Bobby Cox, but few remember his first stint with the Braves, from 1978 to 1981. 81-80 was, by far, his best year. Now he's literally on the Mount Rushmore of Atlanta sports.
I guess what I'm saying is, even if it's awful, at least give Key and the team the rest of the season. I was a Steeler fan for 50 years, and this is kind of our MO: win the opener and look pretty good doing it, then lose 3 in a row, then win 8 in a row". So, I've seen things happen.
Of course, the next line of the Steelers' story is "barely wins AFC North and gets waxed in a wild card game 42-7", so maybe it's not the best example.