BREAKING: Georgia Tech has Reportedly Hired Former Duke Defensive Coordinator Tyler Santucci to Same Position

Santucci was the defensive coordinator at Duke last season

Georgia Tech finally has a defensive coordinator. 

According to Matt Zenitz at 247Sports, Georgia Tech is going to hire former Duke defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci as its new defensive coordinator. Santucci spent last season as the defensive coordinator for the Blue Devils under current Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko. 

Georgia Tech is expected to hire Tyler Santucci as its new defensive coordinator, sources tell @247sports.

Santucci was Duke’s DC the last two years and led the way the way for the ACC’s No. 1 scoring defense this year. Previously worked at Texas A&M.https://t.co/dJORJ80Uo5 pic.twitter.com/4zs8PpFk1g

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 12, 2024

Duke allowed only 19.8 PPG this past season, was 6th in the conference in rush defense, and No. 6 in passing defense. Santucci also has previous experience at Texas A&M as the co-defensive coordinator and as the linebackers coach at Wake Forest in 2019. 

This is an impressive hire for Key. Santucci appears to be a young and bright defensive mind who is an up-and-coming coach. Working under Mike Elko, who is one of the best defensive coaches in the country, is a huge plus, as is his experience being a coordinator. It is tough to ever call a hire a grand slam, but Key seems to have found a good hire with Santucci. 

There is no question that Georgia Tech had to do something on defense heading into 2024. The Yellow Jackets had the worst defense in the ACC and one of the worst in the country last season. They are bringing back 10 starters on offense and Santucci and the other hires on defense can get that unit turned around, the Yellow Jackets could improve on their win total next season. 

Brent Key has been making changes to the defensive staff this offseason / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

After the loss to Bowling Green earlier this season, Key demoted then-defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker and made Kevin Sherrer the new play-caller on defense: 

Here is what head coach Brent Key said regarding the move today:

"Our performance on defense this season hasn’t met the standard that we expect at Georgia Tech. While the responsibility for that does not fall on any one individual – in fact, as the head coach, that responsibility begins with me – I do feel that a new voice and perspective from the coordinator role is necessary for us to improve,” Key said. “Coach Sherrer is a veteran coach that has had great success in all aspects of coaching defense and at the highest levels of football. I’m confident in his ability to lead our defense and achieve the improvement that we expect and demand.”

When doing a radio appearance on 680 The Fan yesterday, Key was asked about the fluidity of the situation for hiring his defensive staff and this was his answer:

"Yeah, I would not say that it is fluid, I would say it is not like water it is more like a slow can of oil just kind of dripping out... We are really settling in to what we want to do and I am excited about the staff that we are putting together, here in the next few days, we should have everything completed. I have taken my time in this thing to really get this thing right and make sure these kids have the best opportunity to win and play really good football."

Key kept to that timeline. 

Earlier this week, John Brice at FootballScoop reported that Georgia Tech is going to hire Memphis defensive line coach and defensive run game coordinator Kyle Pope to be a defensive assistant.

Before working at Memphis, Pope was a grad assistant at Alabama (2017-2018) working with the defensive line, and then was the linebackers coach at Liberty. He was a grad assistant at Alabama at the same time that Brent Key was the offensive line coach in Tuscaloosa.

Former Duke defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator Jess Simpson is going to be joining the Yellow Jackets staff in a role to be announced at a later date.

Simpson was a fantastic high school head coach while he was at Buford from 2005-2016. He spent a year as a defensive assistant with the Atlanta Falcons before joining Mark Richt's staff at Miami in 2018. After a year with the Hurricanes, he returned to Atlanta to coach the Falcon's defensive line for two seasons before heading back to Miami for another year with the Hurricanes. After Manny Diaz was fired at Miami, Simpson joined Mike Elko's staff at Duke, where he was the co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach for the past two seasons. 

This appears to be a strong defensive staff that Key is putting together. This unit is going to need to be much improved next season, but they have taken steps to ensure that. 

Stay tuned for the latest. 

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