Valley grad Tyler Santucci takes on latest challenge as Georgia Tech's defensive coordinator

Last fall, Valley grad Tyler Santucci directed one of the best defenses in the ACC. In his first season as Duke’s defensive coordinator, Santucci oversaw a unit that led the conference in points allowed (19.0 per game) and finished 10th nationally in red zone defense (.744).

Those numbers helped Duke finish 8-5, including a 17-0 win over Troy in the Birmingham Bowl. They also got Santucci nominated for the Broyles Award, which is given to the nation’s top college football assistant.

But in the ever-shifting landscape of college coaching, his first season as the Blue Devils’ defensive coordinator turned out to be his only one. Duke coach Mike Elko was hired as the head coach at Texas A&M, where he and Santucci had worked together on the Aggies’ staff.

Santucci, however, wasn’t ready for a move back to College Station, Texas. Having spent four years there, he realized how difficult it was to see friends and family. Now, Santucci and his wife, who hails from Long Island, have a daughter, so staying closer to family was even more important.

They felt that connection in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., where a major airport is only minutes away. Santucci said during his year — 10 months, actually — at Duke, “we had more friends and family come to see us.”

So for his next coaching gig, Santucci was looking for the same benefits he had at Duke: a school with a sound academic reputation that played big-time football and was near a metropolitan area that would make trips home more feasible. He found it at Georgia Tech.

On Jan. 13, Santucci was hired by new Georgia Tech football coach Brent Key to be the Yellow Jackets’ defensive coordinator. Santucci also will coach the Yellow Jackets linebackers. From Duke, he brought with him defensive line coach Jess Simpson, who also served as the Blue Devils’ co-defensive coordinator in 2022.

Santucci said he didn’t know Key before the two of them started talks about the Georgia Tech job. But he was struck by Key’s pedigree and philosophy.

Key, who had coached the offensive line under Nick Saban at Alabama, is a Georgia Tech grad who also served as a grad assistant there in 2001-02, so, right away, Santucci knew he would be fully invested in the program. He also knew what Key demanded of his players from scouting his Alabama unit while serving as a defensive analyst at Texas A&M.

“When I was at Texas A&M and he was the offensive line coach at Alabama, I understood the standard they played at from a toughness standpoint,” Santucci said. “I think that’s what he wants. He wants a tough football program, and hearing his philosophy on that, that struck a nerve with me.

“This place means a lot to him. We have the same philosophy on why Georgia Tech is special and can be different than it has been the past couple of years.”

Certainly, Santucci has signed on for a task that seems monumental. Last season, the Yellow Jackets finished next-to-last in the ACC in scoring defense (29.5 ppg), last in rushing defense (221.3 yards per game) and last in total defense (437.1 ypg).

Georgia Tech did manage to finish the regular season 6-6 and qualify for a bowl, beating UCF in the Gasparilla Bowl. But the room for improvement is obvious.

Santucci, meanwhile, knows revamping Georgia Tech’s defense won’t happen overnight. He spent the first month of his tenure on the recruiting trail. It was only in mid-February that he began to work out with and get to know his new players.

That, he said, is an important first step in changing the culture and the results.

“The meaningful relationships have just started,” he said. “And I think the change in mindset and how we think about things will follow soon. But it has been good to be around them.”

GT has some experienced, capable players scheduled to return for the 2024 season: redshirt junior defensive back Ahmari Harvey, who had three interceptions last season; redshirt sophomore linebacker Kyle Efford, who led the team in total tackles (81); and senior defensive lineman Zeek Biggers, an honorable mention All-ACC selection.

Santucci said he won’t try to fit square pegs into round holes. His job as a coach, he said, is to figure out what the players are good at and play to their strengths.

More than X’s and O’s, however, Santucci wants his system to revolve around a certain style of play.

“I think my style is probably more of a mindset than it is a specific defense,” he said. “It’s more of like how we play not much like what we do.”

Down time has been hard to come by for Santucci in the past month-and-a-half. And with the spring game less than two months away (April 13), there is a lot more that needs to be accomplished to get his new charges up to speed.

Yet there is a level of comfort for Santucci. Being in the same conference as last season, he knows the competition. Being with the same type of players, who value academics, he understands what makes them tick.

Combine those with the peace of mind that comes from knowing his family isn’t far away, and Santucci is confident he can get Georgia Tech’s defense on the right track quickly.

“I think we have a talented group,” he said. “A good mix of younger guys and older guys, and I’m really excited to work with this group.”