Tim Salem is in his first season as a senior football advisor to the head coach (defense/special teams) at Georgia Tech.
Salem, who is also reuniting with Key, brings 37 years of collegiate coaching experience to The Flats, including the last nine as tight ends coach at Atlantic Coast Conference rival Pitt (2015-23). In addition to his nine seasons in the ACC, Salem also spent 13 seasons in the Big Ten with stints at Purdue (1991-96 – quarterbacks/offensive coordinator), Ohio State (1997-2000 – quarterbacks/wide receivers) and Illinois (2012-14 – special teams/running backs).
His vast coaching experience also includes working alongside Key for eight seasons at UCF (2004-11) – 2004-08 as offensive coordinator and 2009-11 as special teams coordinator. In addition to serving as a coordinator during his eight seasons at UCF, Salem also coached nearly every offensive position group for the Knights – quarterbacks (2004), tight ends (2005 and 2009-11), wide receivers (2006) and running backs (2007-08).
Additionally, Salem has coached at Eastern Michigan (2003 – offensive coordinator/quarterbacks), Colorado State (1989-90 – running backs/special teams), Phoenix College (1987-88 – offensive coordinator/quarterbacks). He began his coaching career with two seasons as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Arizona State, where he helped coach wide receivers (1985-86).
He’s helped lead his teams to five conference championships – Pac-10 (Arizona State – 1986), Big Ten (Ohio State – 1998), Conference USA (UCF – 2007 and 2010) and ACC (Pitt – 2021) – nine top-25 finishes and 17 bowl appearances as a coach. Highlights include a Rose Bowl victory and No. 4 final national ranking in 1986 at Arizona State, earning two Sugar Bowl berths in four seasons at Ohio State – including a 24-14 win over Texas A&M that capped an 11-1 season and No. 2 final national ranking in 1998 – and winning Pitt’s first ACC title in 2021.
Salem played quarterback collegiately at Minnesota, where he broke the Big Ten record for consecutive pass completions in 1980, and Arizona State, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in athletic administration/physical education.
He comes from a long lineage of coaches, including his father, Joe, who was head coach at South Dakota (1966-74), Northern Arizona (1975-78) and Minnesota (1979-83), his brother, Brad, a long-time college coach who is currently the tight ends coach at Memphis, and his grandfather, Nusier, who is a member of the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame as a high school coach.
Salem and his wife, Wendy, have two sons (Taylor and Landan), a daughter (Kylan) and four granddaughters (Julia, Callie, Scarlett and Peyton).
