Technical Tidbits 12/17: GT football news

Hello, Tech fans, it’s been a couple of weeks since the last Tidbits, so there’s a lot of news to catch up with. I know the season is over for the Yellow Jackets football team, but technically the college football season isn’t over yet, so I’m still placing most of the focus there. There’s a good bit of Tech related articles circulating so I’ll include some of those from recent days. First, before getting into today’s Tidbits, I’d like to acknowledge the recent passing of Mike Leach. It was a massive loss for the college football community and he will be missed by many beyond the world of college football as well, I’m sure — condolences to his family and loved ones.

As I was reviewing some of the recent Tech football news, this article was one that I thought would be nice to include. It focuses on the contract details of newly appointed head coach Brent Key. Cutting to the chase, the numbers are 5 years, $15 million. This puts Key at the bottom of the ACC, salary-wise. Considering he is a first-time head coach, I do think the numbers are about right.

The way the contract is structured, the buyout does decrease over time, as the Sugiura post points out. The article brings up a good point about the 30% increase that will be going toward the assistant salary pool. More details of that in the next article. Overall, though, what are your thoughts about Key’s contracts?

So, this is another SI article and it provides updates from a couple of days ago regarding Key’s staff of assistant coaches. The most significant move was the hiring of Buster Faulkner as offensive coordinator/tight ends coach. Faulkner is an experienced OC and most recently served as an offensive quality control assistant at that school in Athens. I’m not too familiar with him as an OC or assistant for that matter. Judging from the comments and social media feedback, there are mixed feelings about the hire.

Overall, I think we need to give Key and his staff the customary pass for the first year, but nothing like what the previous guy got. For next season, my hopes are that Tech has consistency at the quarterback position and that there will (hopefully) be some improvement in the offense. Let’s see.

Okay, so this last article pretty much sums itself up. But I thought I’d include it to recognize the student-athletes who are graduating from Tech this weekend and wish them a well-deserved congrats.