The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Brent Key

Brent Key held Georgia Tech at National Program II for 5 seasons.

27–20

2022–now · 1 stint

Georgia Tech

← all coaches

In his own words

Awaiting signal — no quotes collected from this staff yet this cycle.

Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Reached National Program in his 1st career season — faster than 41% of the 675 FBS coaches who have ever reached National Program (rank #1 of 675 by seasons-to-arrival).

Georgia Tech, 5 seasons (active)

+2.6

National Program II → National Program II.

Style position and drift

Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.

Pass rate — share of offensive plays that were pass attemptsfirst covered seasonmost recent covered seasonfull season-to-season range (3+ covered seasons)

How much that is, against every other stint

Season-to-season pass-rate range for all 258 FBS coaching stints with at least three covered seasons, 2014–2025.

Typical stint7.010.2 median13.9middle half of all stints

Georgia Tech7.7pt#176 of 258 · a typical amount

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

0–3 against his rivals. Winless in 3 tries against Kirby Smart.

Rivalry record

0–3

0.0% · 1 rival

One-score games

9–8

52.9% · margin ≤8

vs. Blue Blood or better

0–1

0.0%

Buyout owed

$11,123,333

bigger than 57% of FBS buyouts

Rivalry ledger

Georgia0–30%

The toughest matchup

vs. Kirby Smart0–3

3 meetings, 2023–2025

’23 L · blew a 7-pt lead’24 L · blew a 17-pt lead’25 L · blew a 3-pt lead

0% win rate across a real, 3-meeting series — short of the bar this site uses before badging a series “Nemesis.” Shown here as the toughest matchup on record, not an algorithmic crown.

Performance by opponent class

Dynasty

0–1 0.0%

Blue Blood

1–3 25.0%

Power Program

3–6 33.3%

National Program

9–3 75.0%

Regional Program

3–5 37.5%

What fans are saying

Fan claims · every quote verified verbatim

job securityOne fan's take that season

One fan believes Haynes King's performance directly impacts Brent Key's success

Brent Key is lucky as fuck he got Haynes King. If King didn’t transfer here his ass would he unemployed

Based on 1 comment from 1 poster across 1 thread · Nov 15, 2025 · via CFB

Coaching career

2022–now

Georgia Techcaretaker

National Program II → National Program II

Brent Key held Georgia Tech at National Program II for 5 seasons.

12th-best Georgia Tech tenure of 14 by the numbers.

Recruiter or developer?

Performs about as expected for his recruiting talent on offense and underperforms his recruiting talent on defense.

Offense vs. talent

+2.8 pts

#97 of 208 · a typical amount

Defense vs. talent

-14.3 pts

#161 of 208 · less than most

Recruiting talent is team-wide (no offense/defense split exists in the source data) -- both sides are scored against the same talent input, only the outcome is side-specific.

Season	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
Record & result
Record	4–4	7–6	7–6	9–4	0–0
Postseason	—	W bowl	L bowl	L bowl	—
Recruiting rank	#54	#62	#33	#21	#41
Style — pass rate
Pass rate	47.2	43.5	45.5	46.0	51.2
Coordinators
OC	Chip Long	Buster Faulkner / Chris Weinke	Buster Faulkner / Chris Weinke	Buster Faulkner / Chris Weinke	Chris Weinke / George Godsey
DC	Andrew Thacker	Andrew Thacker / Kevin Sherrer	Tyler Santucci	Blake Gideon	Jason Semore
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense	10	72	69	87	11
Defense	72	23	53	19	35
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only)
1st-down pass%	48.2	32.1	34.6	37.6	44.0
Red-zone pass%	43.0	33.1	34.0	31.6	57.9
4th-down go%opp. territory	21.9	30.0	40.0	30.0	—

Roster construction · portal era

A typical amount of portal roster-building.

Portal arrivals

3.0★ avg rating

Portal departures

123

left via the portal

Net portal flow

-35

#53 of 187 FBS stints

Notable portal arrivals with a modeled NIL value

Justice Haynes On3 modeled · $1,000,000

On3’s modeled estimate (social reach / exposure), not money actually paid — shown per player, never totaled.

Who they bring in

Typical size for position, once adjusted for position mix.

A typical class-year mix of incoming transfers.

Avg. size (raw)

6′2″, 240 lbs

across 74 of 88 arrivals — unadjusted for position mix

Size vs. position-typical

+5.3 lbs

#84 of 255 · a typical amount

Avg. class year

#93 of 255 · a typical amount

Top states: GA (27), FL (13), TX (5), PA (4), AL (4)

Who won the portal our read

Talent added

58.0

position-weighted

Talent lost

62.1

position-weighted

Net

-4.0

arrivals minus departures

Best addition: Zach Gibson (QB) from Akron

Biggest loss: Jeff Sims (QB) to Nebraska

Position-value-weighted (QB/CB weighted highest, depth-decayed within each position) — the same scoring engine as the Portal Heat feed, not a separate grade.

Does the system survive a coordinator change?

OC: Buster Faulkner / co-Chris Weinke → co-Chris Weinke / George Godsey · 2026

1-season window either side — numbers shown, not enough to badge a verdict.

1st-down pass rate: 37.6% → 44.0% (+6.4 pts)

Confound, shown not hidden: only 13% of offensive production returned the year the coordinator changed — the roster turned over at the same time, not just the play-caller.

DC: co-Andrew Thacker / Kevin Sherrer → Tyler Santucci · 2024

1-season window either side — numbers shown, not enough to badge a verdict.

DC: Tyler Santucci → Blake Gideon · 2025

1-season window either side — numbers shown, not enough to badge a verdict.

DC: Blake Gideon → Jason Semore · 2026

1-season window either side — numbers shown, not enough to badge a verdict.

Roster size, by position

Skill positions · usage-weighted (real participation)

Quarterback

217 lbs

6′3″ avg · #253 of 767 · a typical amount

Running back

198 lbs

5′10″ avg · #672 of 791 · less than most

Wide receiver

192 lbs

6′0″ avg · #435 of 791 · a typical amount

Tight end

242 lbs

6′4″ avg · #508 of 731 · a typical amount

Trench & secondary · recruited roster, not confirmed starters

Interior line

308 lbs

6′5″ avg · #410 of 779 · a typical amount

D-line

291 lbs

6′4″ avg · #237 of 753 · a typical amount

Linebacker

227 lbs

6′2″ avg · #437 of 772 · a typical amount

Cornerback

193 lbs

6′1″ avg · #230 of 771 · a typical amount

Offensive-line size is one undifferentiated bucket — the source data almost never distinguishes tackle from guard from center, so we can't split them out.

Where the roster comes from, by position

Buys Tight end via the portal

71%

#21 of 188 stints

Grows K from high school

100%

#52 of 56 stints

Grows Interior line from high school

76%

#172 of 224 stints

Postseason detail2023: Beat UCF 30–17 Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl2024: Lost to Vanderbilt 27–35 Birmingham Bowl2025: Lost to BYU 21–25 Pop-Tarts Bowl

6 NFL Draft picks: Tariq Carpenter (2022), Keion White (2023), Jackson Hawes (2025), Zeek Biggers (2025), Keylan Rutledge (2026), Jordan Van den Berg (2026)

AI Narratives — “Georgia Tech's Ups and Downs in 2025” and 2 more on the team page.

27–20