Babcock said he was told the offense is adaptive, hard to prepare for. Said identity is coming along.Said they've done a bad job of "dehumanizing" OC Brad Cornelsen. Said they'll work on that. #Hokies— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) December 15, 2020
Babcock on the coaching staff Fuente assembled: "We have not given this staff a fair shake, in my opinion." #Hokies— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) December 15, 2020
"We have not done a good job of de-humanizing Brad Cornelson (VT offensive coordinator) so you will hear from him tomorrow." -- Babcock.— David DeGuzman (@ddeguzmanTV) December 15, 2020
I have no words. We are so mismanaged its depressing.
It really feels like VT football as we knew it died today at the 1pm press conference.
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F---!
edit: Can we for once in my existence have a real OC?
Prior "real" VT O-coordinators are really limited to Michael Vick, Bryan Randall, and Tyrod Taylor improvising in terms of consistent production.
Although, I think Stinespring's offenses might have been much better had we managed to recruit a better offensive line in his day. I can remember games that he seemed to call pretty good and it looked good when the team was executing. The Glennon in a GT jersey game, there was one against Maryland that just seemed everything was hitting on all cylinders. The VT logo on UVA's field and 50 point thrashing. I think Stinespring ran the offense and the offensive game plans that Frank wanted.
Heck, if they'd canned Fuente and brought in Stinespring to helm the ship while the $$$'s were tight to pay off the buyout, I'd have been happy. Given some good coordinator help, and the right support in the athletic department, I still think Stinespring has the personality to recruit well and lead a program as a head coach.
Rumor for the GT game was that Kevin Rogers took over the play calling.
fuck your feelings you drain - WB (probably)
You know Brad may be a good guy, but from my dumb fan perspective he ain't a P5 OC. But my opinion doesn't matter because I'm not in Fuente's close circle.
And here's where the site implodes...
honestly this is a crushing emotional blow that may cause me to just not care anymore.... this is a premeditated decision - at least the losses we tried to win - this is giving up
Yeah, this is the single most upsetting piece of info coming out of this mess. Everything else can be chalked up to spin doctoring. But this was the one change I wanted to see the most.
Pathetic.
Please make Brad Cornelson more available/accessible to us. Put his ass on this website and let us talk at him. He'll quit by friday.
Sit him down and make him study French's film reviews
I'll let him borrow my password.
This is a total kick in the nuts.
We have officially given up.
Human or not, Cornelson is a terrible OC who is over his head as this level.
Whit has lost me on this one.
I keep hoping maybe he's calling games how he does because of some player performance limitation. I also think like I posted above about Stinespring running things the way Frank wanted, Cornelson is probably running things the way Fuente wants. That leads me to the thought that I don't know if the OC problems are really the OC, or stemming from the head coach.
What I do know is that if we canned this staff, a staff that is respected by the rest of the college coaching profession, we'd hamstring ourselves financially so we wouldn't really be able to upgrade the staff anyway AND we'd potentially piss off the rest of the profession and not be trusted by the best candidates, so they wouldn't come to VT anyway.
We need a COVID free version of this season where the pieces looked to be lining up to take the next step forward, and we need one QB prospect to come in and develop into a top performer. That will put us into contention with most of our peers. And then upgrade the Dline and LB talent, and we'll be close to competing with Clemson. I think canning Fuente and his staff now is more counter productive than productive, as long as they can get one or two puzzle pieces worked out. If they can't, then a coaching staff of Bear Bryant, Nick Saban, Frank Beamer, Bud Foster, and Vince Lombardi himself wouldn't get any better results.
I mean no disrespect but who are the coaches or teams that highly respect our staff? By the way don't be surprised when Vice gets poached by a good team this off season and we replace him with another cheap hire
At this point 2020 needed one more dagger to make it completely absurd.
RIP us
Time for a new AD? #Makethemove
Might be...it was Whit that gave Fuente the extension that resulted in the increased buyout that's become a sticking point right now, after all.
I don't think I've ever seen anything like this before. A full gaslighting from an athletic director. I've also never seen Whit like this either.
I'm guessing this was not the press conference he planned on giving when it was scheduled. Look at his body language, even he looks defeated.
so how 'bout that basketball team huh
haven't had a chance to watch but if it really is as bad as the quotes make it seem....this is out of character for Whit. He had to know how he was coming across. Something went wrong somewhere, and he got hung out to dry for it.
Me reading tweets from today's press conference
I think Whit completely misread the room. The issue isn't anger. It is waning emotional investment. The fanbase is looking for hope, a vision you can believe in. The results aren't there. There has been no explanation of what the plan has been, so there is no way for fans to determine if the observed results are fair or unfair. And today was a list of excuses and a request for blind faith. The Virginia Tech football program has been getting that since 2012. And, if it wasn't for capturing lightening in a bottle with that 2016-2017 defense (which had nothing to do with this braintrust), this is a .500 team or worse for the length of the Fuente era.
I am frustrated, not because there are no changes in the staff, but because there is no roadmap for getting back where the program should be. Nothing. What will be different in the on the field product in 2021 and 2025 that justifies taking spending capital (in very uncertain times) out of my pocket and putting it into yours? There are crickets when that question is asked.
Yeah. They're a year or two late addressing the anger
To be fair, Whit has taken my relative apathy towards the end of the season and turned it into full on anger, so that's something.
i'm hoping the "15-20" donors have some knowledge of what that roadmap is (shocked he didn't have an exact figure, really i am). I'm with you - I want to know what that plan is because it would better inform my donation(s)... the lack of a plan leaves me to my own data and, huge shocker, continuing to donate is a questionable investment.
That's how I feel about this and the stupid Buzz quote. I need to know what you plan to do with my "fountain" cringe if you think I plan to keep throwing money at something that is obviously not working. If Whit and Fu's plan was amazing enough that a few donors ponied up multiple millions for it why not share a little with the fan base?
This is what Beamer did at the end of the 1992 season. He gave a plea that they were just a few plays away, and then proceeded to own everything that had happen, make changes, and move on/win.
My fear is that this is similar to the 1992 event(s) yet we will not make changes and continue with mediocrity and under performance.
Didn't he fire (almost) everyone?
Yeah, they cleaned house.
And he were are - with a D-1AA/D-2 OC at best
Very well put.
Don't worry, we're keeping him, but also dehumanizing him. We can build him back stronger, faster, we have the technology.
I'm not happy right now (with this whole situation) but his made me laugh.
What does this even mean?
We are turning him into a goat, apparently.
Dehumanizing is what you do to soliders going into battle so they can perform without remorse.
It's literally the opposite of what he thinks it means. Just dumb.
I'm not sure it means the opposite of what he thinks, I think he worded it weird, as in we're doing a bad thing (not a bad job) by dehumanizing him. I think he thinks the fans have dehumanized him and if they knew him as a person, wouldn't be screaming for his head. I wonder what Whit thinks the right play call on 3rd down is? Maybe we're going to roll out Offense 2.0 next year than includes more passing, higher percentage passing, and a lot more talented receivers. We have crap tons of promising receivers, right, like more than Tre, right, RIGHT?
He's right, all we have to judge him on is the body of work at his job...not him as a person. If we get to know him, we'll think he's doing a much better job
Whit Babcock's legacy...
.
He put VT basketball back on the map.
Wrestling and baseball have a pulse.
Football has been harder than I thought it would be, but I'm not willing to throw in the towel on that yet.
I wouldn't give up on Whit just yet.
I admire your optimism. This feels a lot like 1992 when Dave Braine retained CFB...but at least then Frank was forced into staff changes. Hopefully Fuente can straighten this mess out, and I'm trying to type this with a straight face.
Fair points...
Sometimes I get a little annoyed that you are more optimistic than I am but right now this was exactly what I needed to keep from jumping off a cliff. Thank you.
Identity is coming along...after five YEARS?
At this point I'm a bit surprised Whit didn't give Cornelson a raise.
i have bad news for you
Welp...this pales in comparison to the Woy Hodgson era at LFC. At least that one was short....ugh this sucks
This is the answer that's pissed me off the most. Then if its like year 1, then make a damn coaching change! You just admitted you're back at square one and that money isn't an issue. To quote Taylor Twellman, "WHAT ARE WE DOING!!!???"
To quote Taylor Twellman, "WHAT ARE WE DOING!!!???
Yes a Taylor Twellman Quote and I love it when he says "Back-Shoulder"
This needs to go plaid...today, pretty much every Hokie football fan feels like Nancy Kerrigan after that Gilooly job.
hard pass. far from my lowest moment as a person
this isn't or shouldn't be the worst day in any of our lives. Just one of those days that needs to be marked on the football program's timeline as a major event.
My second hot-take concerning VT-Football during the Fuente era.....
.
I know this is just a website, so it can't be done literally, but I would very much like for someone to look me square in the eye and tell me that anything they have seen/saw out of this presser today inspired any type of confidence in them whatsoever...and do it with a straight face and a rational explanation.
Not trying to troll in the slightest, I just don't see how you can sit through all of that and come out of it on the other side with the slightest bit more of optimism than they may have gone into it with.
They've all disappeared again because they can't ignore what's in front of their faces. You know who you are.
literally the only positive i see is the 12.5m raised for football infrastructure fund. am i confident it will be better spend than the buyout? no. but at least the news that Fu is staying comes hand in hand with some investment on the side.
can't do it. All I know is that I know nothing. I can only suspect that there is a LOT more going on behind the scenes than any of us will ever know.
Time to let em flow, fam.
Whoa! I get it now. Whit is trying to play up Corny to get some Louisiana Lafayette et al to hire Corny away.
Shrewd!
Every answer Whit gives in this presser so far is basically the exact opposite of what he should be saying to put out fires, energize the fanbase, or at the very least, patch things up to keep the cart rolling along for a few more miles. Tone deaf does not even begin to describe it.
"Dehumanizing"?!...It's all good Corny does a good job of dehumanizing our QBs by turning them into battering rams on 3rd and long.
Okay, I'm officially on team "fuck this shit"...didn't have a problem with keeping Fuente for another year as long as SOME kind of change happened. No changes are apparently happening and that's the dumbest and most tone deaf shit ever.
lol, that's what I said in reply to Bitter's tweet I think
great minds...or just pissed off ones lol
I would like to come out and say that I am not that Brad.
Big if true.
BrAD
In that case, do you have any interest in calling plays next year?
I've played NCAA 14 so I might as well give it a go.
Four Verticals pls
Don't forget the RB wheel route, Seam routes to the tight end and WR crossing routes.
TE always open
Qualified! based on Fuente standards.
Sources?
Not happy about the announcement, but there's no excuse now when he loses the next (insert Liberty, ODU, JMU, etc.) game. Just hate to see the brand dragged down with it.
We play Richmond next year. So, Richmond it is...
I go to law school there now and the QB really progressed over the season last year and played well. The team not playing this season may hurt, but they were practicing every day they were allowed to this semester.
"Nobody runs the ball on Richmond!"
- Mike London
And the next word after that quote was "timeout!"
You guys remember when Duke football didn't win an ACC game for a few years? Well... guess who's the new Duke.
Well we are definitely better at shooty hoops now that football...
Playcalling is often criticized within every fanbase. I try not to get too invested in it. Even if you look past that, though, it just doesn't seem like Corn is cut out for the position of OC or QB coach. His gameplanning has been below average, and quarterbacks have regressed. Plus, read the room. I haven't even seen the people still on board with Fuente still supporting Corn.
WoooooW!!!! Happy for the kids, but this decision is so destructive for us in the future. My Orange and Maroon shades have just shattered and been ran over by a SEMI!
I haven't watched the presser yet, but based on what I'm reading here, I'm feeling disappointed, disheartened, and defeated.
Ever since it was announced that Fuente was to be retained, I really had no idea what the purpose of today's presser was. I can't imagine this was the plan all along; I have to believe that something had changed between the time the presser was announced, and the time when it was announced that Fuente would be retained.
Pictured: a thoroughly dehumanized Brad Cornelson:
Except this has a killer instinct.
I don't get the impression, based on previous interviews with Whit, that he would be the type of AD to dictate to any of his coaches staffing decisions. While I also think that is probably time for the non-human OC to go, no matter what reason Fuente is still the coach, Whit would probably let that decision stay with Fuente, and we've seen that it seems like a topic he is unwilling to even broach.
Is this where we do what Tennessee did?
Except Tennessee could still recruit
how many wins did that earn them again?
Considering what Tennessee currently looks like and the huge step forward Rutgers took (at least for Rutgers) this season, are we sure we want to do that?
Why not? The give up play on any 3rd down over 6 yards is awesome. Keep that guy forever. The guy that can't generate touchdowns after the defense adjusts at halftime. Keep him for life.
CAN THIS YEAR GET ANY FUCKING WORSE. GOD DAMN IT.
I can't even hope for the best for this sorry-ass program anymore.
What's baffling me is why Corny is being retained. If the coach Whit had lined up dropped suddenly, we could still make the change at OC to appease the fanbase and get higher quality play calling.
Fu is now officially a lame duck coach. Based on body language Whit is not happy with the situation at all. You have to think he's going to be spending the next 12 months courting a new guy. That's going to bomb recruiting even worse given the unknowns beyond 2021.
RIP Football
I just wanted to look at how were doing based on some kind of relative metric to other schools (FEI - what Bill Connelly previously worked on before SP+ at ESPN)
Basic Analysis:
Defense:
Years 2010 - 2017 - fiftyCentsGetIn.gif
2018 - massiveAirplaneExplosion.gif there were no survivors
2019-2020 - Saving Private Ryan D-day, looking for arm scene
Offense:
2010 - 2011: dealWithIt.gif
2012 - 2019: the entire first season of lost from plane crash to failed survival on the beach to - ut oh someones name isnt on the manifest list to dramatic ending
2020: noWellMaybeYes.gif
of all years to go after Cornelson this seems the least likely and the best offense, hopefully this trend continues??
does this take only yards into account? I feel like we do a good job of putting up big yardage but stalling in the redzone and not getting points
I honestly dont know the specifics of how they calculate it but from the Football Outsiders site it "represent the per possession scoring advantage" for either offense or defense rating
Ive heard Bill Connelly talk about it on some podcasts about explosiveness (plays over 15+ yards) of offenses and defensive havoc (sacks, turnovers, TOLs) are pretty big parts that go into those ratings
He weights explosiveness with success too, which I think is gaining 35% of needed yards on first down, 50% on second, 100% on 3rd and 4th down. I think SP+ is more "per play" driven whereas FEI is drive based. They used to do a meld of the two which I thought gave the best overall rankings but they haven't done that in a few years.
Bottom line, offense was pretty alright. I think the big thing is it aesthetically doesn't look like a top offense since we are extremely limited throwing the ball.
Yeah - i agree, honestly i kind of went into it thinking 'hm im about to tank brad cornelsen with this' ....only to find out huh...okay, i guess we were a lot better on offense than I thought...
eye test we were in the top 50 I thought, I wouldnt have thought top 25/6 ish
Define fair shake? At the urinal 2 or 3 shakes is fair but 5+ is just nonsense
At that point, you're just playing with yourself
If you shake it more than twice you're playing with it
I remembered when I looked forward to Saturday Fall afternoons to watch my Hokies play.............I just can't with this staff though. I just don't understand how you can keep 3rd and always QB draw Corny on this staff. I guess I'll still watch, but I won't be emotionally invested.
When I was in school in our heyday (2008-2012) I got so excited during games, even just watching road games on tv with my friends. But this past weekend was weird. We were beating UVA soundly, had some very explosive offensive plays and I just wasn't excited. I'm assuming thats how I'll be next year, pleasantly surprised when we win, not surprised when we lose, just no emotion, games will be on in the background only
Wow... just... wow
I was gonna say "I wish I could be that bad at my job and still be employed" but really, I kind of mail it in and no one has noticed yet. Respect!
Dehumanizing Brad Cornelsen?
Don't worry Whit we have that covered.
I wish I was a casual fan. Stuff like this legitimately hurts my heart. How can anyone with a set of eyes say Cornelson is not a problem, I get it he's Fuentes buddy and we wanna save $250k instead of spending more and making a great hire, typical VT move that got us right in this hole to begin with.. You cut corners and take the cheap options, then you get the cheap results. Don't expect anything different next year. Wonder if Whit will be dehumanizing Brad after we win 6 games next year and sink our program more into UVAdom
I got nothing. I'm at a complete loss of words.
Go pound sand Whit/Fuente/Corny
I got a scouting report Whit...how about you Jet Sweep yo' ass out of Blacksburg, since ya heard they are are so hard to prepare for....
This is great. The fanbase and small donors are the problem. I was the one who coaches not to lose, I was the one who called QB runs on 3rd down, called for 55 yard FGs, called timeout in the liberty game.
The first step to curing your addiction is accepting you have a problem. According to the AD it lies with us and not the head coach.
So the real question isn't if Fuente is incompetent and bad at his job, the question is what are you going to do as fan?
Of course it's OUR problem....remember when CFB called Jason In Arlington a little bit outta whack?
Seems almost quaint in light of what we heard today
I remember.
You, sir....are a legend
Are you *the* Jason in Arlington?
Depends. I just got out of protective custody. Is that you coach?
Hey I just wanna talk, I won't really get after ya.
Said it before and I'll say it again I love this man and his adoption of his moniker.
He must be planning to clean house next year so why bring in a new OC for a 1yr term. My thoughts....
If next year is a disaster Whit needs to go too, this is ridiculous to blatantly ignore the core base of your fans and donor support. We're currently pulling a Cincinnati when Whit took over there, took a decent Football team brought them down notches and brought the bball team up and now that he's gone their football is finally taking off again. Maybe Fuente isn't the only change we need
Two thoughts:
1) Sure. We can dehuminize Cornhole. Give him a TheKeyPlay account and have him join our conversations.
2) Apparently the fans are the problem and Whit would like us to go away.