Georgia Tech makes official hire of offensive coordinator George Godsey

Godsey was named Tech’s offensive coordinator Tuesday, two days after the Baltimore Ravens, for whom Godsey was the tight ends coach, had their season end with a loss to rival Pittsburgh on Sunday night. Godsey, 47, is returning to college football for the first time since he was the running backs coach at Central Florida in 2010.

A former star quarterback for the Jackets and former teammate of Tech coach Brent Key, Godsey said he was presented the idea to consider returning to his alma mater about a month ago.

“It gets put across your desk, and it seemed like there was quite a few applicants, if you will, 30-something, and it took a while. It went about a month,” Godsey said. “When you go through that process, there’s a lot of things that you gotta check off. (Key) and I have a relationship, but first and foremost comes winning and being aligned in philosophies.

“We’ve taken our paths separately for a while here, but it’s good to be back in The Flats, good to be back with Brent. He’s got an amazing setup here.”

Godsey and Key have long been close friends, since the late 1990s when Key was an offensive lineman blocking for Godsey to their simultaneous stint as assistant coaches on George O’Leary’s staff at UCF. A little more than two years ago, when the Jackets played in the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa, Florida, Godsey’s father, John Godsey, was a team host for Tech ahead of that postseason matchup.

While Key has stayed in the college coaching ranks, Godsey has been on staffs with the New England Patriots, Houston Texans, Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins and Ravens. His lone offensive coordinator job came with Houston from 2015-16.

In Baltimore, Godsey worked with Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken. Monken was the offensive coordinator at Georgia from 2020-22 alongside Buster Faulkner, then a Georgia quality-control coach who spent the past three seasons as Tech’s offensive coordinator before departing for Florida.

“When we set out to hire our next offensive coordinator, the No. 1 goal was to identify the best person to help our program continue to grow and consistently compete for championships. George Godsey is that person,” Key said in a release Tuesday. “He has more than 20 years of coaching experience and spent the last 15 years coaching at the very highest level, including four seasons as a primary play-caller in the NFL.

“He has worked with some of the best coaches in football history, including John Harbaugh, Bill Belichick and George O’Leary, and has helped develop some of the best players in the world. His offensive philosophy aligns closely with ours at Georgia Tech, which has produced some of the nation’s most productive offenses over the last three seasons. I’m excited to welcome him home to The Flats and can’t wait to get to work with him and the rest of our staff.”

Godsey will inherit an offense that will have gone through a complete overhaul, as far as personnel is concerned, when the Jackets kick off the 2026 season against Sept. 5 against Colorado.

Gone are quarterback Aaron Philo, wide receiver Bailey Stockton, centers Harrison Moore and Tana Alo-Tupuola, who all transferred. Wide receiver Isiah Canion is in the NCAA’s transfer portal as well. Quarterback Haynes King, wide receivers Malik Rutherford, running back Jamal Haynes and guards Joe Fusile and Keylan Rutledge exhausted their eligibility.

Thus, Godsey and Key have about eight months to build the roster back to a level that can compete for an ACC title.

“It’s all about production. We’re all here to win. Period,” Godsey said. “The bottom line is that we’re gonna try to get you up to your utmost ability and perform at a high level. You’re getting scrutinized when you’re not performing, and so you might as well put the work in to perform when it’s game time. That’s what our job is.

“We take it very personal when that doesn’t meet. So you’re gonna get scrutinized. We’re all on the same page here about developing and getting the best out of the athlete. We’re gonna give you the ball and see what you can do, and we’re gonna rely on you to do it when it’s game time.”

Godsey enrolled at Tech in 1997 and was a four-year letter winner and two-year starter at quarterback. He was a second-team all-ACC selection as a junior and team captain as a senior. Godsey threw for 6,137 yards and 41 touchdowns as a Jacket, and his name is a fixture in Tech’s record book, including as the program’s all-time leader for passing yards in a single season (3,085 in 2001) and passing yards in a single game (486 vs. Virginia in 2001).

Godsey played one season professionally in the Arena Football League before joining the UCF staff as a graduate assistant in 2004.

More than two decades later, he’s back in Atlanta to try to help Key and the Jackets reach the next level of success.

“One of the main philosophies that (Key) and I have that align is basically our establishing the game on our terms, which starts in the running game. You can tell how we did it the past few years in Baltimore, and really at the professional level, that’s how it’s done. And compliments work off that.

“Obviously from Brent’s background as a line coach and running the ball with as many different offenses that he’s been through and different programs and running backs and linemen that he’s been with, it just meshed perfectly as far as the schemes and mixing the actions off it. That’s where we aligned right away. And obviously we know each other, we’ve stayed in touch quite a bit, and I think that’s kind of where it goes.”