Brent Key, head coach at Georgia Tech
Photo: Thomson200, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Brent Key

Brent Key went 29–⁠24 as a head coach, 2022–⁠2026, at Georgia Tech. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 2–⁠3); by them his record is 29–⁠23.

Record
29–⁠24 career
Seasons
5
Schools
1
Final AP top 10
0 seasons
Born
Aug 1, 1978
Alma mater
Georgia Tech 2001
Best season
2025 9–⁠4

Season by season

Wins and losses each seasonfinal AP rank above★ national titleline: the team’s Elo at season’s end, best 1566 in 2025
SeasonSchoolRecordConference finishBowlAP final
2022Georgia Tech interim, remainder of season4–⁠411th
2023Georgia Tech7–⁠6T–4thGasparilla Bowl W
2024Georgia Tech7–⁠66thBirmingham Bowl L
2025Georgia Tech9–⁠46thPop-Tarts Bowl L24
2026Georgia Tech2–⁠4 (Wikipedia: 2–⁠3)

Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.

Players he coached

Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick.

How his teams did

Kind of gameGamesRecord
Against ranked teams167–⁠9
Against top-10 teams62–⁠4
Against rivals167–⁠9
Conference games3421–⁠13
Bowls and playoffs31–⁠2
Decided by 8 points or fewer2515–⁠10
At home2416–⁠8
On the road2211–⁠11
At neutral sites72–⁠5
As our Elo’s favorite2414–⁠10
As our Elo’s underdog2915–⁠14

His own 53 games on file, 2022–⁠2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.

Against other head coaches

CoachRecordTheir schoolsGames
Kirby Smart 2022–⁠20250–⁠4Georgia4
Mack Brown 2022–⁠20243–⁠0North Carolina3
Manny Diaz 2024–⁠20263–⁠0Duke3
Mario Cristobal 2022–⁠20242–⁠1Miami3

Brent Key’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.

Most-faced opponents

OpponentGamesRecord
Dukeseries44–⁠0
Virginia Techseries42–⁠2
Georgiaseries40–⁠4
North Carolinaseries33–⁠0
Syracuseseries32–⁠1
Miamiseries32–⁠1
Wake Forestseries22–⁠0
Coloradoseries21–⁠1

National title staffs

Every title staff

The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.

How he was hired

Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.

Career

YearsTeamJob
2001–⁠02Georgia TechGraduate assistant
2004Western CarolinaRunning backs and tight ends coach
2005UCFGraduate assistant
2006–⁠07UCFTight ends coach and recruiting coordinator
2008UCFSpecial teams and tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator
2009–⁠11UCFOffensive line coach and recruiting coordinator
2012–⁠13UCFAssistant head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator
2014–⁠15UCFAssistant head coach, offensive coordinator, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator
2016–⁠18AlabamaOffensive line coach
2019–⁠22Georgia TechAssistant head coach, offensive line coach and running game coordinator
2022Georgia TechInterim head coach
2023–presentGeorgia TechHead coach

Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.

Coaching tree

Worked under

Brent Key

Assistants who became head coaches

Worked under (7)
Head coachTeamYearsHis job
Mac McWhorterGeorgia Tech2001Graduate assistant
George O’LearyGeorgia Tech2001Graduate assistant
Chan GaileyGeorgia Tech2002Graduate assistant
Kent BriggsWestern Carolina2004Running backs and tight ends coach
George O’LearyUCF2005–⁠152005: graduate assistant; 2006–⁠07: tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator; 2008: special teams and tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator; 2009–⁠11: offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator; 2012–⁠13: assistant head coach, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator; 2014–⁠15: assistant head coach, offensive coordinator, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator
Danny BarrettUCF2015Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator
Nick SabanAlabama2016–⁠18Offensive line coach
Geoff CollinsGeorgia Tech2019–⁠22Assistant head coach, offensive line coach and running game coordinator
Coached under him, later head coaches (2)
CoachWith himHead coach at
Jim ChaneyGeorgia Tech, 2022: offensive analystTennessee
Brian BohannonGeorgia Tech, 2025–⁠26: assistant coachKennesaw State
Other assistants under him (11)
CoachWith him
Andrew ThackerGeorgia Tech, 2022–⁠23: defensive coordinator; 2023: safeties coach
Chip LongGeorgia Tech, 2022: offensive coordinator and tight ends coach
Chris WeinkeGeorgia Tech, 2022: quarterbacks coach; 2023: co–OC and quarterbacks coach; 2024–⁠26: assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
Jason SemoreGeorgia Tech, 2022: linebackers coach; 2026: defensive coordinator
Brian BakerGeorgia Tech, 2023: senior defensive analyst
Buster FaulknerGeorgia Tech, 2023–⁠25: offensive coordinator and tight ends coach
Kevin SherrerGeorgia Tech, 2023: co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach
Tyler SantucciGeorgia Tech, 2024: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach
Blake GideonGeorgia Tech, 2025: defensive coordinator
George GodseyGeorgia Tech, 2026: offensive coordinator
Vinnie SunseriGeorgia Tech, 2026: defensive backs coach

From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.

Pay

YearSchoolJobContract pay
2015UCFoffensive coordinatorbonuses up to $28,381$1,040,568 USA Today
2014UCFoffensive coordinatorbonuses up to $25,029$302,850 USA Today

USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–⁠17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.

Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.

How he coached

Key’s teams went for it on 24% of fourth downs and on 47% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 48% of plays and took 25.6 seconds a play, 2023–⁠2026.

SeasonWent for it on fourthWhen the model said goPass rateSeconds a playEPA a play
2023 11 g17 of 74 23%56%45%24.8+0.09
2024 13 g27 of 95 28%49%46%26.1+0.12
2025 12 g14 of 72 19%34%47%25.7+0.19
2026 6 g10 of 42 24%50%56%25.6+0.08
All 42 g68 of 283 24%47%48%25.6+0.13

His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.