Brent Key knows what Georgia Tech football ‘is gonna look like next year’

“I have a pretty good idea of what this is gonna look like next year,” Key said Thursday on 680 The Fan.

The next month or two arguably could be the most impactful of Key’s young tenure at his alma mater. He needs to hire an offensive coordinator and ride with one of the quarterbacks currently on his roster or shop for one in the transfer portal — and bat at an All-Star clip in free-agency signings in order to take his program to a championship level.

No easy tasks by any stretch.

“I know exactly what I want the program to look like,” Key said. “And I know exactly the right fits for the staffing and player acquisition, which is part of it. My job as the head coach is to improve the talent on the roster and improve the talent in the coaching staff every year. You stay the same you’re going backwards. Everybody’s working to improve, to get better.”

A 13th game to finish the 2025 season for the Yellow Jackets has almost become an afterthought with all the side action.

Offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner has departed to take the same position at Florida, a move that made national headlines. Running backs coach Norval McKenzie and offensive line coach Geep Wade left for Virginia Tech and Nebraska, respectively, giving the outside appearance that maybe Key’s own men were abandoning ship.

Then came the news that Philo, Tech’s backup quarterback, had decided to test the open market by going into the NCAA’s transfer portal in January.

The question of course is how could a coach handle all the sudden changes to his own program?

“Look, it’s not even Plan B. It’s Plan A. That’s what college football is now. To sit back and think you’re immune to it and it’s not gonna happen, you’re living in a hole if you think that. It’s part of it,” Key said. “With success comes that. I don’t think people are plucking people off a four-win team.”

Key continued later: “Look at the Heisman Trophy. What was it? Six or seven out of the 10 finalists were transfers? That’s the world we live in. You can sit there and complain about it and live in a bunker and go, ‘Oh, woe is me.’ That’s so stupid. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard. Because that’s what this is. If you sit there and take time today, you’re not planning on what you’re doing moving forward. We’ve been planning for this for the last four months, for these things.”

As for Key’s coaching staff, the departures this month are maybe more magnified because of Tech’s success.

When the former Tech offensive lineman was hired after the 2022 season, only quarterbacks coach Chris Weinke and tight ends coach Nathan Brock remained on the on-field staff for 2023. Offensive assistant Josh Crawford, defensive assistants Andrew Thacker, Marco Coleman, Kevin Sherrer and Tyler Santucci, and special-teams coordinator Ricky Brumfield have left in recent years.

Faulkner, McKenzie and Wade, though, had been on Key’s staff since 2023 and all been a major part of Tech’s offensive prowess. The familiarity had been nice, but Key hinted a change could be beneficial in the long term.

“Everybody wants continuity,” the coach said, “but I truly believe continuity breeds complacency in a lot ways.”