Georgia Tech coach Brent Key says being linked to other jobs is 'flattering' but 'slice me open and see what colors I bleed'

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Georgia Tech coach Brent Key knows he’s being mentioned as someone who could change jobs this offseason. And he wants people to know how committed he is to his alma mater.

The Yellow Jackets won their first eight games of the season before losing in Week 10 at NC State. At 8-1, Georgia Tech is still firmly in the mix for a College Football Playoff spot and the ACC title in Key’s fourth season in charge. While he said Thursday it’s flattering to be mentioned in association with open head coaching positions, he also talked about how dedicated he is to his alma mater.

“It’s flattering, it’s flattering,” Key said after chuckling at the question. "Not for me but this program. Since I came back here, since I was named the head coach here, outside the time with my family, every waking second of my life has gone towards building this program to get to the point it is right now, right? So that in turn we can continue three years from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, continue to elevate this place. To be in that conversation. Not to be in there for two or three weeks but to be a consistent team. Not when you lose one game, people say, ‘Oh, the storybook’s over.’ Nah, it’s just beginning.

“I could go on and on and I could say yes, no, all that crap. Slice me open and see what colors I bleed.”

Key took over for Geoff Collins four games into the 2022 season. The Yellow Jackets went 4-4 in the final eight games of the year and that record was good enough to get him the permanent job. Since then, Georgia Tech has gone 7-6 in each of the past two seasons and nearly pulled off an upset of Georgia at the end of the 2024 regular season.

Now, the Yellow Jackets are among the best teams in a wide-open ACC. That’s put Key among the many coaches who could be considered for other power conference jobs in what’s expected to be a wild coaching carousel at the end of the season.

But Key’s status as a former Georgia Tech player looks like it will be a significant hurdle for any school that wants to hire him away from Atlanta. He played guard at Georgia Tech from 1997-2000 and got his coaching start as a graduate assistant with the school in 2001. He returned in 2019 as an assistant after serving as the offensive line coach at Alabama for three seasons.

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