Tech coach Brent Key talks his ‘hate’ for UGA football | Falling into the same old trap

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ATHENS – Stop me if you’ve heard this before – someone at Georgia Tech “hates” UGA football.

Yellow Jackets head football coach Brent Key does his part to highlight the hate in Clean Old Fashioned Hate. Wednesday the AJC reported that Key was asked about UGA football at a Tech alumni event and had this to say:

“There is nothing I hate more in the world. It’s probably the only thing I actually hate,” Key said. “When I say I hate, I really despise everything about it. I really.”

Lord.

He should have said, “I’m envious of what Kirby accomplished in Athens, and I’ll do everything I can to make sure we stop him from accomplishing anything else in the future. And to do that I need your help.”

But he didn’t. He did what tech people have learned to do over time – find the one thing that unites technology and distracts from the Jackets problems… hating the Dawgs.

A few things. The first thing that comes to mind is that Key is doing the same thing that many people in tech have been doing for a long time – being too consumed by what’s going on in Athens. This has been the case for a long time.

Raised in Atlanta; had my elementary school “adopted” by Tech; who played at the Thrillerdome; being behind the scenes at Tech; was at all but one Tech-UGA game since 1993 and had close coaching friends at Tech; I feel like I’m an expert on these matters.

Expert opinion: Tech people care too much about Georgia.

Geoff Collins, ridiculous as he was, would not use the color red. Forget Collins (as most of the college football world did), what about Paul “the fry” Johnson? The lovable former Tech coach told clear whiskey drinkers that the Jackets had “bigger fish to fry” after an upset over the Dawgs in 2009, a week before the ACC championship game.

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Yes. I was on the field for both games – Tech fans were much, much more interested in beating UGA at Mark Richt Field than beating the Taters in Tampa. I’ve never seen Mark Richt Field rock like that before, and I was there in 1999 when Tech won that wild game in overtime.

Tech literally has the phrase “To Hell With Georgia” in his fight song. And for the record – this is not a typo. Tech won’t even capitalize on the “G” in Georgia official website because they are so into their feelings about the Dawgs.

Dumbass.

Imagine getting your ass whipped decade after decade and still figuring out how to run to school while whipping your ass. Tech people used to (still do?) lecture anyone who would listen about their superiority in the classroom. And while Tech is still a better school than UGA, that argument isn’t what it once was…Georgia, sorry, “Georgia,” is beating them academically and that scares them.

All of this combined is the situation Brent Key finds himself in – surrounded by paranoia at Tech about all things Georgia. Then again, he chose this. He wanted this. Key was the guy who tipped us off about how recruiting at Tech would be “easier” than recruiting at Alabama.

“I know the truth about this place,” Key said as an assistant at Tech in 2019. “Somebody asked me, ‘How are you going to recruit at Georgia Tech any different than you were at Alabama?’ I said, “It will be easier. It will be much easier. I have more to offer.”

wow I mean. Indeed – 👀.

Does Key have vision and ambition or is he delusional? Can the answer be yes to all these things? Is Key simply much less of a disaster than Collins, so people like me give him more credit, or is Key actually doing a good job at Tech? I can assure you that it has a higher level of technology, but a step above the basement is still quite low. And history has proven that there is a ceiling on Tech – one no doubt crafted by a Tech engineer.

It’s important to remember that as a player, Key had as much success as any Yellow Jacket player against the Dawgs since the early 1960s. With the exception of a claimed national title in 1990, Key played in his prime of Tech football for the past sixty years. And unlike after the 1990 season, Tech didn’t collapse a few years after its three-year run against UGA.

The technique was sitting there at the balance between the center. They went to the Final Four. Things were OK. Then things slowly got worse and no one ever seemed to care enough to try to make them better.

Tech’s 1998-2000 wins are important to note because beating Georgia three years in a row hadn’t happened at Tech since Vince Dooley took over. It hasn’t happened since. Tech has beaten UGA exactly three times since Key stopped playing. Three in a row to three in over 20 years? I didn’t go to Tech, but that’s pretty bad math for the Jackets.

The key may be to do what many of us do – try to relive our glory years. But those years are long gone on North Ave, and it’s nobody’s fault. But It has it happened. I don’t know if Tech can reverse this now or not. They should try, but I think what they want to do is talk…it’s not the same as doing.

Technology has allowed a once proud and impactful athletic department to fall apart as top athletes don’t even consider playing on North Ave. If tech grads are as successful in life as we always hear (and I’m not being sarcastic – one of the major sponsors of tech athletics was BMW) then the jackets should be able to really take advantage of the NIL…that wouldn’t happened yet – at least that’s what I can tell.

The problem with tech is Tech – always has been and always will be (I can write the same article about UGA and I did). It’s a mindset issue. If Tech does what it’s supposed to do, it will win over the Dawgs. As long as Kirby Smart is in Athens, there won’t be many of them, but them can happen.

Anything else is just red meat throwing…am I allowed to use the word “red”?