What's Up At Georgia Tech?
Changes are afoot with Georgia Tech football . The 2026 deason has become bizarro world on North Avenue. A coach and his program, which together had built some steady forward momentum over the past four years have taken giant steps backward in 2026. Brent Key generated consecutive 7-6 records in his first two full seasons after going 4-4 during his interim status in 2022. When Tech improved to 9-4 last year, and appeared in their third consecutive bowl game, it seemed as though the program was on firm footing, with a highly -regarded head coach and a vision for continued success.
Many expected Tech to perhaps slide back a game or two this year, what with QB Haynes King and OL Key Rutledge heading off to the NFL, plus the departure of OC Buster Faulkner and several Tech players moving to Florida.
However, no one expected the saggy, sad season that has unfolded so far in 2026. During the summer, Key and his new coordinators seemed upbeat, borderline exuberant about the new talent they had brought in via the portal. Key himself spoke highly of his depth along both lines, something he said he'd not seen at Tech during his head coaching tenure.
But from the opening kickoff at home against a weak Colorado team, something seemed off. Tech lost their opener 14- 13 to the Buffs, in a game that ended with Tech surrendering a late lead and then watching Colorado block a field goal that would have been a game -winner. Moreover, Georgia Tech's run game, supposedly their football " brand", looked weak against the Buffs. At the same time, Tech's defense struggled to hold Colorado's run game. Tennessee also beat Tech, which was not a huge surprise. But the victory over Mercer in game three was, in a way, even more troubling. Despite their 33 point margin of victory, Tech looked ragged and Key spoke post- game of how he gave his team a hard talk at halftime to get them to play better.
From that point forward, a three- point win over Duke is the only bright spot. A loss to lowly Stanford via a second half collapse was difficult to comprehend. So is this stat– since the Mercer win, Tech has surrendered more than 400 yards to every opponent. The nadir came in the second half vs BC when Tech yielded 278 yards on the ground, on 25 carries. The BC QB noted with amazement post- game that the Eagles had run the same play 14 times in a row.
It's a fair question why staff changes did ot came after that game. The Jacket defense has played poorly and without intensity all season, but especially the last few games. Virginia Tech, and Pittsburgh and now Louisville all have had their way with the Yellow Jackets. What was likely to change at that point without an overhaul of the staff?
Their overall play has been listless and sloppy, with poor offensive execution and a total absence of zeal on defense.
Through it all, Key has shared his varying diagnoses, and given some info about what changes he was making, always being careful to avoid singling out any specific person .
Today, though, Key and Tech made substantial staff changes. New DC Jason Semore was let go. So was LB coach Kyle Pope. On offense, Allen Mogridge was released as O Line coach. WR coach Jafar Williams was also let go.
Their replacements wil come from within the curent coaching ranks.
At his Tuesday press conference, Key was circumspect regarding the changes. He did say that heightened frustration after seeing the same things repeatedly go wrong prompted him to make the decisions he made over the weekend. He insisted that personal relationships were not at play , either in the hiring or with the timing of the firing.
Tech travels to Clemson on Saturday. The Tigers at 6-3 are a 13 point favorite to avenge a huge Tech win from 2025 when Aidan Birr kicked a 55 yard game-winning field goal. Those were happier times at Tech.
Key said he hopes his team will bring stronger energy to the fore on Saturday. But he said that was not an expectation that drove his decisions.
It won't be long until we get an answer. It would be quite a surprise to see Tech play Clemson close on Saturday. But at this point, just playing with energy and focus would be a refreshing change
Patrick Conarro
RamblinSports