As his star rises, Brent Key says he is ‘so happy’ at Georgia Tech

With the success and development of his program, Georgia Tech coach Brent Key has become a popular object of speculation that high-profile teams with coaching openings will make attempts to hire him away.

It isn’t difficult, for instance, to find Key on media-generated lists of potential candidates to fill the opening created by the firing of Penn State coach James Franklin on Sunday.

While he called such attention “flattering,” Key made clear his happiness with and commitment to his alma mater Monday. The mindset is based, in his words, on being “extremely confident” in his ability to win championships at Tech with the commitment that school president Ángel Cabrera and his administration have provided.

“That’s why I’m so happy here,” Key told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “And I fully expect that to continue to take place. The support we have from the administration, I cannot say enough great things about Dr. Cabrera and what he’s done to allow us to be able to have a football program that’s on accord with everything that takes place at the school. As long as that continues to take place, I’m going to be an extremely happy camper.”

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Key is in his third full season as Tech’s head coach after becoming the interim during the 2022 season. He has compiled a 24-16 record, including a 6-0 mark this season. The Yellow Jackets also are 7-1 against ranked ACC opponents under Key.

Tech is 6-0 for only the second time since coach Bobby Dodd’s tenure ended with the 1966 season and are ranked 12th in the AP poll. It is their highest regular-season ranking since the Jackets reached 12th in the 2011 season after a 6-0 start.

That success has followed the tenure of former coach Geoff Collins, who was 10-28 in three-plus seasons.

Key was awarded a contract extension at the end of the 2024 season, a new deal that added two years to his original deal and now runs through the end of the 2029 season. The five-year pact (2025-29) averages $4.35 million per year, including $4.15 million this year. He originally was scheduled to make $3 million in 2025.

Tech plays at Duke on Saturday.

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A win for Georgia Tech would equal the program’s best start to a season (6-0) and in the ACC (3-0) since 2011. The Jackets, favored by 14.5 points for Saturday’s matchup.