Georgia Tech coach Brent Key’s staff, especially among the coaches on offense, will have a virtually completely new look in 2026.
Key already has seen his offensive coordinator and offensive line coach depart Atlanta this month. Now, multiple other assistants are reportedly moving on as well.
On Thursday, Buster Faulkner was announced as Florida’s offensive coordinator. Nebraska announced Friday that it had hired Geep Wade as its offensive line coach.
Over the past few days, other reports have surfaced that Tech assistants Norval McKenzie, Trent McKnight, A.J. Erdely, Mike Polly, Dylan Dockery, Ryland Goede and Emil Ekiyor also are leaving the Yellow Jackets.
Key signed a contract extension earlier this month, and part of that revised contract was a $2 million increase in the salary pool for his assistant coaching staff.
“That was the A-No. 1 most important thing, the ability to acquire and retain quality assistants and quality players. That’s how you improve yourself as a program,” Key said this month about the increase in funds for his staff. “You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse, I say it all the time, and we’ve gotta continue to get better. So, yes, that was an extremely important thing.”
McKenzie, a Vanderbilt and McEachern High School graduate, spent three years on Key’s staff coaching running backs. He is reportedly expected to be hired by Virginia Tech and its new coach, James Franklin.
Tech’s running backs coached by McKenzie over the past few seasons have included Jamal Haynes, Malachi Hosley, Dontae Smith, Trey Cooley and Chad Alexander.
Hired by Key ahead of the 2024 season, McKnight may be leaving Tech to join Faulkner in Gainesville, Florida, according to On3. McKnight spent seven seasons at Georgia State before joining the Yellow Jackets.
Malik Rutherford, Isiah Canion, Eric Rivers, Jordan Allen, Bailey Stockton, Dean Patterson, Zion Taylor, Eric Singleton Jr., Chase Lane and Abdul Janneh have been some of the standouts in McKnight’s wide receiver group over the past two seasons.
FootballScoop reported Sunday that Erdely, Tech’s offensive assistant coach for quarterbacks, is taking a position at Florida. CBS Sports reported that Florida also will add Ekiyor, a Tech offensive analyst; Dockery, Tech’s H-backs coach; and Polly, Tech’s assistant offensive line coach.
Tech (9-3), scheduled to face BYU (11-2) on Dec. 27 at the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando, Florida, still has co-offensive coordinator and associate head coach Chris Weinke as part of the offensive staff, as well as tight ends coach Nathan Brock.
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