Brent Key addresses expectations for Georgia Tech: 'It's a new program'

Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key has been around the program for a long time. He was first a player for the team before becoming a graduate assistant and then an assistant coach.

Now, Key is starting his first season as the team’s full-time head coach. He said Tuesday at ACC Media Days that observers should expect a new team this year.

“We’ve got a lot of things we’ve got to get better at,” Key said. “Every season is a new season. We have new players. We have new coaches. It’s a new program. Do you have a little bit of insight and knowledge previously on the roster and strengths and weakens and things to improve on? Yeah, but it’s a constant evaluation of your roster. It’s a constant evaluation of the staff. It’s a constant evaluation of every part of the program that needs to improve.”

It was a difficult run for former head coach Geoff Collins with the Yellow Jackets. He won just three games each of his first three years on the job before he was fired in the middle of the 2022 season.

Key replaced him, going 4-4 the rest of the way and leading to him earning the full-time role as the head coach of the Georgia Tech program.

“I don’t care if you win 15 games or lose 15 games in a year, there’s always things to improve on,” Key said. “That’s my job. My job is to find those things, to focus on the small things, to focus on the details, and to focus on what makes a difference in winning and losing. So really from the top-down every part of the program is a constant state of working to get better, improving — it starts with improving your staff, improving your roster, improving in the weight room, strength and conditioning, improving your fundamental play in football, improving every position across the board. I mean, there’s only one way to go, and that’s up. That’s the way you have to trend.”

The Yellow Jackets will open their season with Louisville at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for the Aflac Kickoff Game. They will then face Ole Miss in the third week of the season in Oxford, Miss.

Along with its regular rivalry game versus Georgia, Georgia Tech will have 10 Power Five conference games on their schedule.

“Our goal is to win games,” Key said. “That’s on the field our job. People ask about expectations and how you feel leak you’re going to do and those things. I mean, how am I going to sit here and say we’re going to put a number count on the amount of wins we have? Well, now I’m conceding the other games? I don’t feel that way. I don’t operate that way. I don’t want these guys to operate that way. Our job is to go out and do as good as we can possibly do at all times. Every part of the program, that being said, is working to improve.”