Brent Key named to Dodd Trophy watch list

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech’s Brent Key is one of 20 head coaches on the official watch list for the 2026 Dodd Trophy, the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Peach Bowl, Inc. announced on Thursday.

Named after legendary Georgia Tech head coach and athletics director Bobby Dodd, the Dodd Trophy is awarded annually to the head coach of a team that enjoys success on the gridiron, while also stressing the three pillars of Dodd’s coaching philosophy – scholarship, leadership and integrity. Teams of coaches on the watch list must have an NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) score that exceeds the national average of 971 (Georgia Tech’s current multiyear APR score is 977).

Entering his fourth full season at the helm of his alma mater, Key has compiled a 27-20 record as the Yellow Jackets’ head coach (including eight games as interim head coach in 2022). His 23 victories in his three seasons as permanent head coach are tied for the second-most ever by a Georgia Tech head coach in his first three full seasons at the reins. The only other head coaches that have won as many as 23 games in their first three full seasons at Tech – Paul Johnson (25 – 2008-10), Bobby Dodd (23 – 1945-47) and William Alexander (23 – 1920-22) – are all enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Key has led Georgia Tech to fourth- (2023), fourth- (2024) and second-place (2025) finishes in the Atlantic Coast Conference, making Tech the only team that has finished fourth or better in the ACC each of the last three seasons. He has also led the Jackets to a gaudy 7-1 record against nationally ranked ACC opponents.

In 2025, Key’s Yellow Jackets won nine regular-season games for the first time since 2014 and only the 16^th time in the program’s 133-season history, rose to as high as No. 7 in the national polls (their highest regular-season ranking since 2009) and top-25 finishes in both the final College Football Playoff rankings and the coaches’ poll.

A midseason Dodd Trophy watch list will be released in the fall. A panel of previous winners, national media, a member of the Dodd family and a member of the College Football Hall of Fame will identify a final list of candidates at the conclusion of the 2026 season, and the winner of the 2026 Dodd Trophy will be announced in Atlanta during the week of the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.