https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/texas-hires-special-team...
Banks, 45, just completed his third season at Alabama coaching tight ends and special teams. He is considered one of the best special teams coaches in the country. He has signed a three-year, $3.15 million deal with Texas with an opening salary of $1 million in 2021. Banks was paid $750,000 annually at Alabama
The top of the mountain is just getting higher and higher.
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All that state oil money being put to use.
VPI&SU needs oil money.
I'm working on that, gimme some time.
That being said, if I had any influence...we'd wish Fuente well and move on, back in December.
Think we are still top 10 in highest paid ST coordinators so we aren't too far behind in paying Shibest a ton of money. Shibest was 7th highest paid in a 2019 footballscoop article.
Yes at 445,000 so less than half what Texas is paying. Now watch what Bama pays someone to replace him, same with Auburn and others.
Gun to my head I would've sworn he was getting $600,000 when Fuente's regime came to town.
One could argue Frank was the first...
I mean, he was paid over $1M...and was the ST Coach.
Not good bang for the buck in my opinion. That isn't a knock on special teams either. Frank proved you can win and lose on special teams. I just don't think there is a supply problem for quality special teams coordinators.
He got the pay raise for his recruiting, specifically in the state of Texas.
I should go coach in Texas then. Because I am pretty sure I could recruit to Alabama. (Sort of kidding)
Still not worth it in my opinion. But, if you have the money to blow, it doesn't really matter if you overpay.
It's like a kardashian buying a $30,000 purse. Bang for your buck isn't the top concern.
You're right. I do wonder how effective you can be by buying success. It definitely never worked for the WFT in early Snyder years. I think Bama might be the closest to making it work. I hope it does work. We need more better teams or less super teams to re-energize college football.
Interesting comparison-- the biggest problem with Snyder is that he doesn't know d*ck about the game of football but wants to make football decisions. At least Jerry Jones played the game and has some football knowledge. Although I agree it shows it takes more than just throwing money at something. Hopefully someone can cut down Bama but no one recruits like Saban and then also no one motivates 4 and 5*s like Saban.
fuente and shibest have also proven how easy it is to lose games on special teams
There is a large disparity between the "value" of one buck at UT as compared to VT. I'm pretty sure it is somewhere in the neighborhood of a $20 bill to us = $1 bill to them.
I think our entire fan base would like to find out where that supply is after the 2nd half of the season we just had.
It is easy to point to a few special teams gaffs this year but our special teams in general since Shibest got here has been solid. If I gave you a half a million dollars annually (above our current revenue) right now, how many places would you rather put it versus replacing Shibest with a million dollar coach?
overall yeah, he tenure has been good. This last year was awful. We had a platoon of kids scared of fielding a punt and I have to think that goes right back to coaching. I can see maybe one of them getting a case of the yips, but towards the end of the season everyone had zero interest in trying to field one. I dont know how much of that is to blame on all the chaos that COVID had this season and whether that is to blame (i.e., we didn't get to practice ST nearly as much as we should have).
punt returns have been an adventure (and not in a good way) since stroman left... savoy had surprisingly unreliable hands, hazelton had one functional shoulder and could only fair catch, this year was awful in terms of actually cleanly fielding the punt, and so on
Insanity
now we can just redirect the difference between Claeys's and Tyler's salaries to Shibest to make sure we keep him, right? right?
I just Googled 'Top Virginia Tech Special Teams Plays Of All Time'
and I got nothing. I mean I got something but not what I wanted.
We don't even have a top plays of all time compilation on youtube.
What are we doing with out lives?!?!
If we were to make that compilation, which plays would be on it?
David Wilson finishing off GT
That WVU guy getting leveled
...
What else?
Wouldn't they just get taken down for copyright violation?
Leg.
Boooo
Eddie Royal PR TD and Macho Harris 100 yard KR TD in the same game against Clemson in 2007
(edited to add a missing word)
That whole first half was a Beamerball masterpiece. In my opinion, the best half of Beamerball ever played.
The scoring for the night opened up with an interception return for a TD as well.
that first half was a clinic on how to play ST (VT) and not play ST (Clemsoning). I think our only blemish that half was a holding or block in the back during one of the returns that otherwise would have been another return for 6.
Yup I remember. I think Macho had both a punt and kick return for a TD in that game and I think there was a third that got called back. Maybe it was one of the first two.
IIRC Macho was only returning kicks because our regular kick returner was injured, though I can't recall who that would have been.
from what i pulled from the old box scores I dont think anyone was injured. It just looks like Harris was platooning with Josh Morgan and Brandon Ore, and I think they were trying to lighten the load on Ore because he was needed more in the run game.
Could be. Macho had the kick return and Eddie Royal had the punt return, and another one called back. I think I may have been thinking that they were trying to lighten the load on Royal. I don't exactly recall if Royal was a KR as well as the PR.
Royal handled a lot of KRs early in the season but then things tapered off after the LSU game, at which point his return stats were exclusively PRs until 6 weeks later when he returned one KR vs. Miami. In between Morgan got the majority of returns along with a cadre of others here and there.
Ref. Link - https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/virginia-tech/2007-schedule.html
Andre Davis, although that may be the WVU one.
Stroman had one really good PR for TD.
How about the Vinny Fuller scoop and score?
I'm blanking on lots of them from the mid 2000s, probably because I was too drunk.
Finally, we definitely need to add this season's blocked FG and scoop and score to beat Liberty.... wait.
Kids still made the play even if the coach is a raging...
Booooo
Jump shot fake punt
Walk On QB disguised as a punter.
The ones that put us on the map in the early days of Beamer Ball, when the team was just getting good.
FG block and run back for TD just before halftime in the Independence Bowl vs. Indiana
Punt return for TD just before halftime in the Sugar Bowl vs. Texas
Suggest they be done in chronologic order with these at or near the start. Might be others from even earlier before my day as well.
1994 Independence Bowl blocked FG attempt caught and returned for a TD. First time I'd ever seen that happen
Shane Graham 1999 Wvu kick...Bryan still td against Texas in the 1995 sugar bowl...the punt block then Brandon Manning scoop and score Miami 2001(even though we lost I've never heard a stadium that loud)....1986 Chris kinzer kick to Win the 1986 peach bowl....fake punt against Clemson in the acc championship (again another loss but one hell of a play)....2002 lsu blocked punt in the end zone...2019 liberty blocked kick scoop and score....wait that last one is on me because I took a timeout while writing this.🤷🏼♂️🤷🏼♂️😂...anyway someone make a montage of all these ASAP......I miss those days😔
Another great Special Teams game in a losing cause - 1998 Syracuse at the Dome. Blocked a punt for a TD, and then also blocked an XP late and returned it for 2 points.
Lost on the final play when someone blew an assignment despite being reminded in the defensive huddle. One of the only games I ever had trouble sleeping after we lost.
Lane was insane after that 2001 Miami punt block
i need to start making shirts that say "I was there"
Someone remind me again how everything is fine in Blacksburg and we can keep up with the Big Dogz.
Everything is kinda fine in Blacksburg. We can't keep up with the big dogs, so we have to be different. That either means giving up and settling, or coming up with a novel strategy. We will see what happens over the next few years.
VT has never kept up with the big dogs, every fucking game we do a good thing in special teams they call it Beamer Ball because to compete we had to be better at special teams we had to be different. We put starters on special teams when no one else did.
Our defense used under sized DEs before lots of teams did, we have been different since the mid 90s, thats always been who VT is.
The first step to increasing donations and revenue : WIN... losing to Liberty does not boost donations.
In our case neither did going to a NC game by that much. Whit and he need to make people feel included and hopefully it's not just about wins.
Shibest's best value is the fact that he has coached at a P5 program other than VT as an on field coach. Rare on this staff. Special teams are not great. Can't field a punt, etc. But he knows how to recruit at the p5 level. Not many others do yet.
Not to mention he'll have put some TE's in the NFL. Shibest deserves praise for our TE play.
ST has been not great longer than this staff, Gayle and Kyle F. said they'd go back to play ST their senior year cause we struggled back then. Then Shibert came in having the #1 ST unit at Memphis and we blocked more punt/kicks in 2016 than we had in a long time. Greg Stroman played very well under Shirbert.
But how we have a TE returning kicks because our recievers can't catch is insane. We haven't had a returner in 3 seasons. I dont see many other issues that that single issue of not having a returner on the team. I could be wrong because the one issue is so glaring all other ST issues don't matter.
I'm fine with calling him Shibert until we start actually doing well on punt returns. Read it as Shirbert both times and would be ok with that as well.