Georgia Tech coach Brent Key makes emotional plea for action after Nashville school shooting

Six people were killed in a shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville earlier this week. There’s been plenty of reaction across the nation, including from the sports world, after three students and three adults were killed that morning — and Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key was among those voices.

Key opened his press conference Wednesday with an emotional statement and plea for action in wake of the tragedy. His mom was a longtime third-grade teacher and he has a six-year-old daughter, which is why it hit a little close to home for him. All three students killed by the shooter were nine years old.

That led Key to speak out while he was meeting with reporters, and he offered an impassioned statement with a goal of making an impact — and hopes of change following another school shooting.

I’ve never made a political social media post in my life, and I’m 100% comfortable posting this. It’s not political. I’m posting it because my wife is a teacher. And because we have 2 school-aged kids. And because I’m proud to work with @CoachBrentKey and call him a friend. pic.twitter.com/kJLTafvmOa

— Mike Flynn (@MFlynnGT) March 29, 2023

“I don’t want to sit here and make any political statements or any religious statements or anything about that. I will not do that,” Key said. “Something’s got to change. My mom was a third grade schoolteacher her whole career. I’ve got a five-year-old daughter … who was doing a school play when that happened. … My wife cried four or five times on the day. That’s magnified by millions across the country and the world. There’s nothing political and there’s nothing religious made about this, but something has to change and I had a chance to stand up here and be in front of a camera.

“And if one person hears me say that and agrees and does something to help force a change and something to happen and 1,000 other people say something negative about it, I don’t care because it worked.

“If this one thing I say can help somebody else say something and have the guts to stand up and say something and maybe the guts to stand up and do something, then maybe something will happen.”

According to the Washington Post, there have been 17 school shootings since the calendar flipped to 2023. Key’s voice broke as he went on during his statement, reiterating his calls for help and imploring people to share his message.

“As long as people sit there and bicker and argue, more and more kids are going to die because it hasn’t changed,” Key said. “So something’s got to change. Everybody, please. Do something. Whoever listens to this, send it somewhere else, send it to somebody. I don’t know.

“Let’s all do something together to help. It’s the most heartbreaking thing in the world to think about your daughter going to school, where she’s supposed to be safe and protected.

“It is. It’s bulls—. It is.”