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Mario & Key: Same Roots, Opposite Direction

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TboneJones

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Brent Key is ascending. Mario is descending.

And the irony? They come from the same coaching DNA.

Both were offensive line coaches at Alabama under Saban.

Both learned the “bully ball, culture, recruiting machine” blueprint.

Both came home to rebuild their alma mater programs.

But here’s where the paths split:

Brent Key adapted.

He took the toughness/recruiting DNA and modernized it — tempo, creativity, QB-friendly offense, aggressive portal moves, and week-to-week adjustments. GT plays loose, confident, and hungry. They look like a program being built, not forced.

Mario doubled down on the old formula.

Recruit big, talk culture, line of scrimmage obsession, grind ball, lean on talent — like it’s still 2015. In the NIL/portal era, that’s not enough. Talent without evolution just exposes coaching gaps faster. Offense looks stuck, players look tight, and discipline isn’t matching the recruiting hype.

Same roots. Different era awareness.

Key is using Saban lessons as a foundation — not a ceiling.

Mario is trying to carbon-copy a blueprint the sport has already moved past.

Key is doing more with less.

Mario is doing less with more.

GT looks like it’s rising.

Miami looks like it’s fighting gravity.

Same tree, opposite branches.

One adjusted to modern college football.

The other still thinks stacking talent overwhelms scheme and development.

In 2024, you don’t win by being the biggest bully — you win by being the smartest one.

Right now?

Brent Key looks like the evolution of that coaching tree.

Mario looks like the fossil version.
 
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Bird4um said:
I’m a massive believer in not judging a coach on 1 QB. See belicheck.

Let’s see next year.
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I saw Haynes King look like trash surrounded by much more talent and a championship coach at A&M. Key and his OC Buster have Haynes playing at a Heisman level when he was thought to be a bust.
 
The more and more you see the Elko's, the Cignetti's, the Key's take a team from a have not to a contender in a short time frame, you can't help but think how far we are from the strategizing and team building that we desperately need.

Great we have resources and recruit, but to your point OP, this dude doesn't evolve, he's stuck in the same stubborn quicksand that he's known. Now with NIL, the parity with the Joe's has put the onus on the quick thinker, the adjuster, the maximizer of the tools in his toolbox. This unfortunately will not be Mario, he's just not that guy, and not sure you can learn this. Now, whether or not he hires the folks that can do so, that's a different story.

I think the man is somewhat self-aware considering some tweaks and hires and firings, but I just don't think he'll get us over that hump. I keep replaying that shot of him pounding his fist into the palm of his hand, and that is him through and through.

The real metric moving forward for me when forecasting Wins or Losses will be - Mario vs (enter other HC). and I'll guess the cleverer coach will win aka Lashless, Brohm, etc..

My 0.02
 
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Gi0logy said:
Brent Key just lost and went 7-6 last year.

I get what you're saying but it's a little early to jump on the bandwagon.
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This let you know people really let their emotions overtake their thinking on some of these post.

GA Tech was 7-6 last year and Let’s see what happens when Haynes King leaves.
 
ICANEDOIT said:
Didn't Key's team just give up 49 points on defense and blew a very easy trip to the ACC CG? Maybe they are more alike than you think.
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GT is like us last year. Refs gave them a win vs wake and Duke gave them the game by giving away the ball in the red zone.
 
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It’s frightening some are still giving Mario a pass when he has so much more talent than everyone else in the conference.

Once you get away from the sunshine pumpers you know that season 4 is always marks a demarcation line or tipping point. Mario isn’t the guy. Fixing one side of the ball for the other side of the ball to descend is a sign of a head coach who is failing.
 
TboneJones said:
Brent Key is ascending. Mario is descending.

And the irony? They come from the same coaching DNA.

Both were offensive line coaches at Alabama under Saban.

Both learned the “bully ball, culture, recruiting machine” blueprint.

Both came home to rebuild their alma mater programs.

But here’s where the paths split:

Brent Key adapted.

He took the toughness/recruiting DNA and modernized it — tempo, creativity, QB-friendly offense, aggressive portal moves, and week-to-week adjustments. GT plays loose, confident, and hungry. They look like a program being built, not forced.

Mario doubled down on the old formula.

Recruit big, talk culture, line of scrimmage obsession, grind ball, lean on talent — like it’s still 2015. In the NIL/portal era, that’s not enough. Talent without evolution just exposes coaching gaps faster. Offense looks stuck, players look tight, and discipline isn’t matching the recruiting hype.

Same roots. Different era awareness.

Key is using Saban lessons as a foundation — not a ceiling.

Mario is trying to carbon-copy a blueprint the sport has already moved past.

Key is doing more with less.

Mario is doing less with more.

GT looks like it’s rising.

Miami looks like it’s fighting gravity.

Same tree, opposite branches.

One adjusted to modern college football.

The other still thinks stacking talent overwhelms scheme and development.

In 2024, you don’t win by being the biggest bully — you win by being the smartest one.

Right now?

Brent Key looks like the evolution of that coaching tree.

Mario looks like the fossil version.
Click to expand...
I think everyone is beating a dead horse today so not sure what the point of this thread is, but in fairness to Mario, not sure why you're talking about Key being aggressive in the portal era. We have been, and we've hit too. There's a lot of criticisms about Mario you can make, that's not 1.
 
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