Truthfully, I was mostly ignoring everyone that was all for firing Fuente and Cornelson (which I agree with), but would defend JHam. I like him, but he's in over his head. This defense is as sad as the offense. The WHOLE staff has to go.
Apologize in advance, but I am now officially rooting for us to lose every remaining game - including UVa - until Fuente is gone. We are all assuming Fu will be gone soon, but until I see it, I am not convinced.
Now watch, with me rooting for losses, we will rattle off 4 straight wins.
Maybe. I hope you are correct. But unless you have inside sources, I'm not buying it until the formal announcement is made. Granted it is a moot point as the odds of us winning out are so low that not even Mr. Spock could calculate them, but if we win out that means 9-4 with a win against UVa and probably a win against a good team in the bowl game. Not many good teams in the ACC so 8-4 is probably a higher conference bowl.
Fuente and Corn need to go, and JHam is in WAY over his head... be mad at JHam all you want, but he's just not ready and shoudn't have been given the job yet.
Did Waller play today? I know it seems silly to say having one player out could affect a D that much, but not having Caleb Farley for the last couple of games 2 seasons ago really seemed to mess with our effectiveness. Having him in makes it harder for them to pass, meaning they have to rely on the run more, making them more one dimensional and easier to defend. Or Waller played, or I don't know what I'm talking about. Just seemed like JHam's defense has been better than what this game showed. This is only his second season as DC, so not an ideal time for him to building a defense, when the offense has been a dumpster fire. I still think JHam will be successful, seems like it's just the right time for him here.
As soon as we punted the last time I knew we'd lost. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory yet again. The thing that pisses me off the most is this team is a hair away from being 6-1 and That better not be enough to save Fuente.
Our Fanbase deserves better. Fire everyone on this staff. They are in over their head and very under qualified for this level of job. Fuente is at best a coordinator. Burn it down and please bring in a guy who wants to recruit Virginia.
I don't think he can pull someone in right now. But strategy wise, if you can him now or at least put out a strong signal that Fuente is done (whether you officially make the move this week or not), you can use that time to sell donors that we need your cash for a full rebuild. Turn apathy into motivation. If you let this play out another month or two, its just wasted time of people wondering if we're gonna make a change or not.
Hell, I wish we could fire Corny. I wonder if the O would improve if it was actually Fuente running the O? Who would be interim HC if we just fired Fuente? Corny? I wonder what that would look like? And how ironic would it be if Corny started performing better on O if Fuente was gone? Or it could just be throwing more gas into the dumpster fire.
An athletic director at Virginia Tech will live and die by football. Not basketball and not the non-revenue sports. Sorry about it. Come up with all the scenarios you want but a Virginia Tech AD will always live or die by football and no other sport.
Doesn't even register any more. I never believe we're going to get stops on defense and I never believe we can hold a lead. Over it. Can't even be mad. Just don't even really care. It's all too predictable at this point.
We made them burn all of their timeouts and all we needed was a first down. Once again, we get ourselves into third and long and then try to pass the damn ball, only to not catch it.
Even if we didn't the first down by running, we'd at least have burned 30 more seconds off the clock and punted 10-15 yards further.
Technically, it ended up being the better outcome since it burned more clock. Worst outcome would have been if he threw it away. Either way, its not the smartest call to be passing right there anyway
First let me say this sucks for the players. They fought hard today and that was a brutal way to lose. I know they haven't quit this year and for that I respect each of them.
But, I hope this is finally it for the Fuente era. Enough is enough. It was going to take this to force Whit's hand and make a move. The bar has lowered so much that in his mind, as long as fans are still showing up and we are mathematically in the Coastal race, that is enough. A loss today all but seals it. If Pitt takes care of business versus Clemson, Pitt would have to lose three with the tiebreaker over us.
If we are going to move forward, we have to cut ties and move on. We can't afford to see how things play out and wait until late November when all of our candidates are gone because the job isn't officially open here. We will end up in the same shitty boat as last year with Whit making an awkward press conference on why we have to keep Fu again. I can't stand watching him destroy this program and doing just enough to get by so he can eventually jump ship whenever another Baylor comes along. Get him and Corn out.
Game is blacked out for me. I checked the score periodically. We were up 36-34 with, what' a minute and a half to go and had the ball. Just checked, final score 41-36. I literally laughed, because, of course that's what would happen.
Reminds me of a UVa joking comment after a loss. We are becoming as big a joke as them.
Reading an article probably 15-20 years ago. The guy writes he left his season tickets on the dashboard of his car. Someone broke into his car and left their season tickets on his dashboard.
Also Fuente is clearly done, and we aren't waiting until December 15th, so just get rid of him now. Then any wins the rest of the way can be positive momentum and not Fuente trying to hold on.
I have no idea what to believe. How bad does Whit let it get before he takes action of some sort to show he's going to? Will donations dry up? Will revenue from games plummet? (How much do they make on each home game anyway?) Will commits start going elsewhere figuring he's gone, but they don't know who the new coach will be? Seems like there are a lot of potential implications.
Whit is cool and calculated. I'm sure he has a break even point that he's closely watching where waiting longer becomes more expensive than waiting until 12/16. Rumors (from the media) are that initial conversations with potential replacements started before last week.
Even if Fuente is fired tonight, we are not going to know who the new coach is until the end of the season unless we hire a retread who is currently not coaching.
Someone posted a response to me earlier this year about when to Fire Fuente. He linked to a list of coaching changes and it seemed like a lot were announced in late November and early December. As someone pointed out, if other teams are already trying to hire. I mean, I guess I'm so used to the end of the season being in January because we've gone to bowl games for so long, but we're not going this year, so I guess season ends after the UVA game. And I can't bring myself to write LOLUVA, because - us. But if Whit waits until then to pull the trigger, seems like you wait a couple more weeks and save the $2.5M. I think you rip the band aid off now. How much worse will we do without a coaching staff on O than we are now?
We won't be able to announce an already employed coach until after the regular season. That doesn't mean Whit isn't already looking if he's decided to make a move (and maybe even if he hasn't finalized the decision).
Frank announced his retirement about this time in 2015. We were able to conduct the search over the next month. If Whit doesn't pull the trigger after this, he either has someone completely locked up in principle (doubtful) or he just doesn't get it.
You can quietly execute a search all you want, but the job isn't officially open until it's announced Fu won't return. We had that benefit from late October when Frank retired. You can't run the risk of losing out on all your candidates because of other opportunities by waiting.
The candidate can only agree to an MOU at this point. Fu is under contract until he's not. Our top candidates (and the ones we should be going after) will be hearing offers from big programs that already have official openings. If you were getting interest from job, would you rather be talking "hypothetically if we have an opening" or negotiating the actual contract?
This job search process is nothing like what most of us would go through. All of Whit's targets have agents who do the work for them. Whit knows the business and how to work with agents. This is how the game goes.
Whit is widely regarded (by coaches and the media) as one of the sharpest ADs on the country. He knows what he's doing.
I know I said it in the game thread, but keeping up with this via ESPN's Gamecast, all I could do there at the end was literally laugh. It was expected. I didn't know how we'd do it, but we did the deal in the end.
Whit shouldn't even allow them to make it to the table for the post-game presser. And all the rumors I'm seeing on Twitter seem to be saying that the FIRE FUENTE chants are strong from those few still left in attendance.
if Fu gets canned, promote JHam, yes I know everyone is not pleased with him today, but it's just for the rest of the season and this season is a lost cause
Ha ha, I came here to say that at least the next coach will have a pretty good RB. Maybe we'll even get a guy who can develop talent and an offense to go with it.
He's not waiting that long. You miss potential candidates and any attempt at salvaging a recruiting class. There is reason that buyout date is December 15 and not December 1st.
My feelings exactly. You risk losing out on too many quality candidates if you wait till the 15th. It's going to be as competitive as ever this off-season.
Don't be surprised if we are not bowl-eligible until 2024. Assume none this year. New coach installing a new system + the last 2 year's of pathetic recruiting, 2022 will be extremely hard. Will be a major rebuild and even 2023 is not certain.
If we are not bowl eligible til 2024, it's a sign of systematic issues within the Athletic Department, and/or a complete misalignment between the university, the AD, and the football team.
With the transfer portal being a thing, there's no need for a new coach to go <.500 for >2 years at VT.
Not if we get right guy. If you can hang onto some key players and with the portal etc, it is possible to turn it around quicker than that especially in our division. But your point well taken, won't be easy.
If they cannot do it within a few years, yes, they are the wrong guy. But I'm thinking some people - not you as I think your statement is totally correct - are are going to expect too fast of a turn-around. Assuming this year is lost, bringing in a new coach with the talent level of Fu's recruiting classes and installing a whole new system, I'll be surprised if we get 6 wins next year. 2023 would be a toss-up.
My big thing is that whoever is hired, we have to have some patience and let them try and climb out of the hole Fuente has dug us into. If it happens right away, great. If it takes them a couple of years, don't be discouraged as long as actual progress is seen. Looking at the coaching threads and you hear a lot more we can't take X because of Y issue and I can imagine lots of people disappointed for anyone other than Saban being hired.
Like JHam and feel like he has lots of potential but the utter inability to stop a completely one-sided attack doesn't bode well. He may need some more seasoning before he is really ready to DC at this level. I think to an extent, he's gotten too much credit because we have the Offensive Staff to compare him to.
As for Fuente and Cornelson, they should have their offices cleared out before the end of the day. Leave the contents on the sidewalk if necessary.
I paid for a VPN in order to get around the insane RSN blackout. I won't make this mistake again, gonna find anything to do next week other than watch VT football if Fuente is still the coach.
If that game wasn't enough the first thing I do after was go relieve myself of beers it took to watch and my fucking belt buckle I bought freshman year fell apart. #FireFuente
As long as he's the coach, if it's a pick 'em line...pick against VT. Amazing how consistently we blow close games. There was some doubt in me vs ND, but I thought this one was in the bag
Bitter is often one of the guilty parties here. That said, I'm not watching the press conference, so it's possible that there isn't any missing context today.
Imagine wanting to pay $10 mil to Fuente just to make Hamilton head coach... the whole team is so poorly coached. I want to see all those guys fired end of the season
I'm sure he's a good guy and the D recruiting has been bad recently, but I saw some inexcusable mistakes from JHam last year that blew my mind.
End of the Liberty game: Playing a prevent with 15 yards of cushion when Liberty had time to run a quick out and gain 10 yards to turn a 60yd FG attempt into a 50yd attempt. It was so obvious that I was screaming at my TV while they were lined up, and NO ONE on the coaching staff noticed.
End of 1st half against Louisville: Not running a prevent D (There was only one high safety) on the final play of the half where it was 80 yard TD or bust for Louisville. The one high safety took a poor angle and got dusted for the long TD.. We won that game, so most people forgot about it..
Those mistakes were so bad that I have never trusted JHam in critical situations..
At this point you have no choice if you are Whit. You must fire Fuente or you will lose the fans. It's that simple. Fire him or lose your fans. It's literally one or the other right now
Lol. Well, kinda gotta blame this on the defense, I guess. Idk, couldn't watch but based on the score that's how it looks. I think we need to clean house. I'm checked out until then. Peace. Go Hokies
I'm happy for Malachi, and I hope he has a great VT career. But isn't it funny that guys "developing" under Fuente like Holston and King were passed by a true freshman? Such a Fuente thing. Never develops anyone and they usually end up transferring when he finds a new guy he likes better.
This statement is damning but true. It is to easy to say that we are losing more players to the portal just like other schools. It isn't the number of players transferring as much as the quality that bothers me. That's 2 names I would not be surprised to see gone at the end of the season if not before.
So I fell asleep at the start of the 4th quarter. Rewound it when I woke up (having not seen the score yet) and watched the quarter...... and have only one reaction.
BURN THIS MOTHERFUCKER ALIVE IN FRONT OF THE GODDAMN CITY HALL
You fire Fuente now to avoid continuing to propagate the Culture of Losing that he has created.
He didn't intentionally do this but it has now become firmly embedded just the same. Just like we as fans see us Punt late in the game and know what is coming, the players have that same "been here before," feeling. It causes them to play tight and promotes mistakes. There are still quite a few young players on this team (for now at least until they hit the Portal), getting Fuente out of here allows then to develop without the overarching cloud of underachievement
Fire Fuente cheer was really loud though after the game winning TD for Syracuse. Must be an interesting experience to be a coach or player on the field and hear that. We've had some small Fire Fuente cheers here or there this season and even small ones a couple years ago. But this is the first time that I have heard anything like that in Lane Stadium. Whit got us into this mess and if he doesn't want Fire Whit chants, he needs to get us out of it
Yeah it was tongue in cheek lol
thought about adding an /s but it should have been a /tic because I wasn't disagreeing more shade at the whit meisters comments
Idk i think it's important that Whit was there to hear that. He needs to know how we all feel and that his & Fuente's jobs have been completely unacceptable.
Don't see anything wrong with a fan base saying fire Fuente at this point . It's not an overreaction and at the end of the day if he gets fired he still gets paid .
I'm saying that fans booing the coaches or players on TV isn't a great look, and isn't necessary. Same with throwing things on the field, like Tennessee did last week. You don't think they feel bad enough after losing a close game like today? Why add insult to injury?
I'm thinking that Whit is smart enough to understand that VT football isn't meeting standards without that.
I cannot stand when fans boo our players, but I have a hard time feeling bad about the fans making their thoughts known about the coaching staff, especially with the wording of the infamous presser. My head-canon of that debacle is that whit had someone lined up and it fell threw, but anyhoo he made it clear that he was sticking with Fu and I think fans making it known that we don't agree with that decision is reasonable with how this season has gone.
Of course it's not necessary but you can't ask for both the most rowdy, passionate, emotional, and dedicated fans in the country to create a "terror dome" atmosphere but then also turn around and tell them to sit there silent like good little boys and girls and write an unread letter to Babcock. I'm sorry, you just can't have it both ways.
lol "terrorize"? no one is chasing them down the street or threatening them. people are literally just saying to fire the guy paid $4mil/year for a poor job. no potential coach worth his/her salt would register this as a problem
Every fan base that's boo's a team is not on the players . It's on the coach . At the end of the day the coach is the one that gets the axe not the players. Honestly at this point I think the players feel vindicated the fans are booing the coach . They know it's not on them . I know all these players are busting their ass . At the end of the day it's mostly every players dream to get to the next level .
It's the reality of sports . NFL, NBA , soccer . Fans have a right to be pissed unless there was some outrageous behaviors occurring if fans want to boo they have that right to do so .
Same with throwing things on the field, like Tennessee did last week.
Booing and throwing things on the field are nowhere close to comparable. There is zero reason to say that Tech fans booing Fuente after yet another poor coaching performance and pelting players, coaches, refs and any innocent bystanders with trash...why in this world you'd try to make that a parallel is beyond me.
Firing everyone doesn't deal with the need for an interim staff. I'm not saying the staff shouldn't be done. Just saying not everyone can go.
I don't lay as much blame on the defense as others have. The offense has to do a better job of getting them off the field. That said, it sounded like we were taking some atrocious angles and letting them break contain a lot more than we should have. So, defense is accountable.
Okay, seriously? He clearly wasn't indicating that the problem is the offense scoring too quickly. Jesus. That hasn't been a thing in like four years. The problem is 3 and outs or a long play, then 3 and out. No points to show for a very quick outing. That is the problem and I think you know it.
Syracuse's second drive is three plays for five yards. Our offense capitalizes by doing four plays for fifteen yards. Defense then holds syracuse to 8 yards on three plays. Offense goes three plays for -2 yards. Syracuse scores on next drive.
The defense was solid in this stretch. Our offense failed to capitalize.
At the same time their QB averaged, I am just going to guess here, 9.6 ypc? If they could have just held him to 10 yds on scrambles instead of 20+ might have been a different game. Defensive Line takes a lot of blame for hardly any pass rush and absolutely no contain.
My only input is it's a good thing Fuente only has one last home game this season cause if not the turnout would be laughable if there were more home games to go.
Who would want him for a head whistle? I bet Fu himself will be fine and catch on as an OC somewhere, but I can't see anyone wanting him to bring in his boys with him as a head coach.
Yeah, I live just outside Knoxville and its getting harder and harder to wear my Hokie gear because I am really getting irked from all the Tennessee fans thanking me.
Hooker has a really interesting story - In 5(?) years of college football, he has never won a starting job outright. In 2019, he replaced an (at best) inconsistent Ryan Willis four games in. In 2020, Braxton won the starting job, but got injured. In 2021, Joe Milton wins the starting job, looks pretty ugly, gets hurt, and Hendon comes in, and lights it up.
I wonder if he doesn't look good in practice or what?
No he would not be the starter. Hooker was not hurt for the UVA game (Fuente said so much) and BB was started over him. Also, before the season Fuente said he feels better about the pass game then he ever has at VT. BB was Corn and Fuente's QB1 at the end of last season and going forward.
Fuente hated Hooker from day 1 for whatever reason. He never would have played him in 2019 if Willis didn't get hurt even though Willis was actively losing games. He tried to replace him with Burmeister before 2020 and got his way until Burmeister being injured force his hand again. Then obviously he replaced him again at the end of the year and ran him off the team in the offseason.
Honestly not sure why he even talked Hooker out of the portal the first time because it was clear the entire time Hooker was here that Fuente had zero confidence in him as a starting QB.
This is such a horrible take. Fuente literally refused to discuss Hendon's medical episodes with the public in deference to their family. That alone is enough evidence to me that he doesn't "hate Hooker".
Ok you just completely changed the parameters by saying he would be starting "by now". The season is lost now. Who cares. You said in your comment compete for an ACC championship
I didn't "completely change" any parameters. I think Hooker would be starting at VT right now. And I believe that change would have been made several games ago.
That's what I meant by "He'd be starting at Virginia Tech". At the beginning of this season, he wasn't starting for Tennessee, either. If that wasn't clear from my comment, I've clarified it.
I believe Fuente has been pretty clear that the QB1 is the QB on the team that puts VT in the best position to win. I think it's reasonably clear that that would be Hooker.
Why? By all accounts, publicly anyways, BB was CornFu's preferred QB. Sure it would be great for us fans if Herndon Hooker stayed at VT, but the young man wanted to play and this coaching staff didn't seem willing to play him as QB if they had an alternative.
Saw some Twitter smoke about Tech having a "grease man"? I won't post my screenshot because the poster in question deleted the tweet and I don't want to put them on the spot but hopefully that means a donor or two are helping with the buyout
If you're talking about that Jim Howington guy or whatever, 99% that's a fake account like that Friedman guy that's been pretending he's CFB insider for the last couple of years. It's probably the same guy behind both accounts
Just watched Fu's postgame. Horrible leadership skills; slumped over, mumbling, no eye contact, etc. What a horrible position we are in with him at the helm. Hopefully that will be the last time we ever have to see him.
1. When Garrett Schrader went into the portal, I was hoping we would get him. He's a Charlotte kid and has the size we need for a running qb
2. Fuente has to go now. I know we can still get to a bowl game but we ain't winning the coastal. Outside of Malachi Thomas running becoming the Main running back not much else is happening
3. Defense is good but it's not a sustained defense for 60 minutes.
Whit needs to sack up and do his job if for no other reason because this has now reached a tipping point where fans are openly rooting against the team until Fuente is gone - and largely because Whit's shitty press conference last year has scared them into thinking he won't do the right thing unless this gets even worse. At least if he gets this loser out of Blacksburg everyone can unite and just root for the players for the rest of the year without this cloud over everyone's heads.
College football is a sport where you should literally never have any reason to root against your own team. There's no draft to tank for, the AD failing to take action is the literal only situation a fan should ever be put into to root against their team and Whit has put us in in it.
Babcock was a defensive mess in that "year one" press conference. Like, I went back and re-watched it and his body language and tone was sooooo defensive.
Went to watch my alma mater W&M so I missed the VT game. W&M won big. Afterwards there was a player lingering outside of the locker room talking to a woman who looked like his mom. My 5 year old went up to him and told him how she had a great time and how happy she was they won. He laughed and talked to her for a minute. I didn't recognize him but looked at his name plate and saw "BABCOCK".
I didn't say, "tell your dad to drive Fuente to the airport and fire him." Did I think it? Absolutely. I didn't want to ruin his day by being an a-hole. It took a lot of self-restraint.
The minutia will be ironed out and the playbook will be opened up for the U.VA game... On a serious note I know the coaches and AD were hoping to win out and say "See, we only lost 3 games and 2 were somewhat expected but close (ND and WVU) and the other was the ACC champ." and try to make it appear like things aren't as bad as they really are. I like bringing back the old jerseys, upgrade the facilities, try to keep the recruiting class in place, and welcome back the old players who could be big time donors if they were shown love. IDK who Tech should get as a coach at this point or where they should even look. Get excited for a winning small school coach again, try to get a big name coach that is a coordinator at a top 10 school right now, or God forbid promote someone within to head coach. So much good is going for the program except for coaching... We keep this staff around and QB's, WR's, and RB's are going to stop committing altogether.
I was at a wedding in Roanoke yesterday. It was the first time I was in the New River Valley in four years. At the wedding, someone offered me free tickets to the game. I turned them down.
In college, I never missed a Virginia Tech home game live. The closest I got was during my redshirt senior year, I got arrested after drunkenly trying to steal a traffic cone after a double rail night at TOTS. After not sleeping the entire night, a friend I made in jail offered to drive me back home. When we got near the stadium, I told him to drop me off there. After blowing a .18 12 hours earlier, I decided mama didn't raise no pussy and I went straight to my fraternity's tailgate. The story of my arrest made the rounds so I came into the tailgate with a standing ovation. Immediately afterward, one of my friends tossed me a beer which I subsequently shotgunned. (Yes, this is 100% a real story)
The first year after I graduated, I was a poor grad student in Boston. I wanted to watch a game live so badly that I purposely over-drafted my bank account to pay for a flight from Boston to Roanoke. That game was the Miami "these people are losing their minds" game back in 2011. I had to eat ramen noodles for a week after I got back but it was worth it to see one of the most memorable games of my life with my closest friends.
Over the years, my Hokie fandom hasn't wavered. Yes, I've been to fewer games live after I graduated due to the inconvenience of driving to SWVA, trying to find a place to stay, etc. But, Saturdays have always been planned around Virginia Tech football. I remember I was a groomsman for one of my closest friend's wedding in 2016 and I almost messed up the beginning of the wedding because I was too entranced by the Battle of Bristol. I watched big games in bars all over Richmond, DC, Virginia Beach, New England, Peru, London, India, and probably a bunch of other places I can't remember.
If you had told the 22-year-old version of me that the 33-year-old version of me would turn down free Virginia Tech football tickets when I was 30 minutes away from Blacksburg, he wouldn't have believed it. Virginia Tech football, for better or worse, has been a critical element of my identity for over a decade. I hope this doesn't sound overly dramatic, but I think today is the day I finally have become an apathetic fan. I'm not going to cancel my TKP membership because I love this community and appreciate what Joe has put together. But I did cancel my Athletic membership (Sorry Andy!) and will cancel my 247 membership on Monday.
While watching the game day, I honestly didn't care if we won or lost. I don't think I've ever felt that way about Virginia Tech since I enrolled in 2006. Do I think that'll change when we fire Fuente and bring in a new coach? Probably. But right now, I can honestly say I have better things to do on my fall Saturdays than watch football.
Same. We decided on Friday evening we would not invest our time in observing mediocrity. We drove to Western NC got a hotel room and went to a cool microbrewery Friday evening. Saturday we hit the Green River hiking trail. A gorgeous hike along the river on a clear day. We came off the trail about 30 minutes after the game ended. I check my phone. Saw we lost. Saw we also surrendered 21 points in last quarter, and had another epic last minute collapse. Not to worry. We had a beautiful day and I was so glad we dedicated no time to this circus. I am not coming back until I see a change.
Hell yea . I'm not an alumni or from the state of VA . In h
Born and raised in texas but fell in love with VT program with Vick. I've been a die hard fan w we since then . Until this year I had only missed watching less than 5 games over the last 10 years . I've now missed watching 3 in a row . There's too many red flags around this program right now . I know Fuente is a great human being but his tenure as a head coach here at VT has become a failure
I hate that you feel so let down by a program that has been such a big part of your life. It seems you came to it during the height and those were great times to be a Hokie. There was anguish then too, but the frequency of successes carried us right passed any troubles.
I became a hokie fan as a child watching the Liberty bowl in '68 of a previous century. It was on ABC, the worst of three networks available out of Roanoke. It was a black and white set and the quality was snowy/grainy. The Hokies took and early lead, but Ol'Miss proved the stronger team.
Without taking you through the ups and downs of every regime, I'll just say we were always lost in the middle, whipping the VMI's, throttled by the Bama's, and suffering the occasional William and Mary. The season definer was the UVA game, win or lose. My soul purpose in fandom was to bring on the UVA win and have a competitive chance near game end against a real football team opponent.
That didn't change much, a nudge with Dooley's successes, until Fancy Gap Frank. CFB grew up a SWVA kid and knew the Hokies the way I knew them. (Same feelings about CMY). Frank's vision and drive bought him time through a 2-8 season, (thankfully before social media), and built us the program that so many people took into their hearts. That's gone now and we fans are grieving. For me it's the 1970's all over again, but with narrower ties and lapels.
What can we do? UT Prosim, serve up the school with some cash for the future. Trust in Whit. Hope CMY succeeds because that can bleed over into our football team attitude. Learn the words to Tech Triumph. Rest assured, better days ahead.
After watching another game get pissed away with the almost insurmountable lead being...surmounted? I'm done. Fire Fu. Do it now. I can't believe a few weeks ago I said to my wife and friends "let's go to the Duke game". Now I feel like I'm stuck and also a jackass because we're going. Thankfully we get to see friends at the tailgate but for the first time in my life I'm bummed about going to a sporting event. Like this just isn't right.
Can Fuente, elevate someone (Shibest?) for the rest of the year and move on when the season ends after Thanksgiving. The team and this school deserve better than the garbage we've been enduring.
Whit show some pride and do what's best for us. Make the effin move.
Hooker keep the Vols in the game for awhile, but he also threw an INT that put Alabama by 3 TD late in the game. Not trying to throw shade on Hooker, only pointing out that HH was not perfect playing for VT, either, and wasn't loved by everyone.
Until I see an official press release/announcement from the Virginia Tech Athletic department declaring a new football coach, I'm just going to assume they will keep CornFu as HC of VT. As some others have stated before in other threads, I get the feeling the university is fine with the current state of our program. Why? Because we are firmly in the ACC now and they (VT Administration) like that there are no scandals coming from the VT football program and the kids are graduating. Sports is really just a marketing ploy for universities and I'm guessing the VT admin is happy our marketing ploy is actually turning a $2-$3 Million dollar profit as opposed to that mess at Rutgers....Woof....How the heck does one go nearly $200 Million in debt while cashing in B1G tv checks...???
P.S. The above analysis is based upon pure conjecture and at this point, pure apathy for our Athletic Department. Still love the school, but I'm not making VT Sports a priority in my life anymore. 🤷♂️
Problem is those profits will go away in a hurry when fans stop buying season tickets and making donations. That is where I am unless a significant change is made.
Honestly, I can't wait to find out where Fuente and Cornelsen both end up. Apparently, Fuente spent more time with the first team offense this week and it showed. Offense was markedly better than it has been all season. Fuente usually runs scout team offense. Point is, I think Fuente might finally be figuring out that Cornelsen is a huge liability and probably a big reason why he'll likely be looking for work soon. Bad luck for Fuente that the defense completely grit the bed on a day that the offense looked halfway competent. 🤷♂️
I won't be shocked either way but I'm very interested to see if they wind up together in the future.
Lol I love it, that is the new thing. Team played like grit today! What a gritty performance! Fu is full of grit!
Seriously though, why has it taken Fu this long (too late now) to get more involved with the offense? I know that once you're an HC you typically spend more time on overall team management and the coordinators prep their respective squads. But how he has not realized that Corn is awful and needed to step in until now is unbelievable. Did he just think things would suddenly click one day? That's why I am completely frustrated and done with this staff at this point. Too little, too late.
Fuente has had two significant flaws to his coaching strategy.
1.) He believes Corn is a good OC.
2.) He believes that he can just be the CEO-type coach and fully delegate to his staff.
Now, it's entirely possible that #2 can be true, just not in the current situation, and he should have realized that he needed to take extra measures to improve the team.
Either he's known about both problems but has been too proud or stubborn to address them, or he's just figured it out now that those are problems. Or even worse, he's not aware of those problems. All of those scenarios are bad.
I think Corn is just a coaching buddy he's stuck with throughout the years and took under his wing. He showed him the ropes and trusted him via their friendship to carry out the offense. Either Fu has not been aware that Corn is lost (really bad) or he has allowed his friendship to cloud his judgment and not see that objectively he has been failing the team. Also a very bad option. And this is why both need to go.
not aware? fans have been saying it for years, he's been asked about Corn's performance directly defending him by saying "he's the same guy that broke records year 1", Hired a great football mind and straight shooter in Coach Kill whole allegedly got to fisticuffs with the guy he defends because he sucks so much at his job and now facing losing his job because of it. If he's not aware then Fuente is a seriously stupid person.
Absolutely gut wrenching losses.
3 out of the 4 losses were just hard to watch because you knew the inevitable was coming.
The creative ways to just give the game away to teams that weren't that good and had such glaring weaknesses boils down to coaching.
The play calling... has been putrid on offense after the first drive and too soft in the second half for the defense. I don't understand why the play calls get so conservative or cute when the opportunity to put the game away is just gift wrapped and handed to VT. IMO when Jerry Kill was on staff the in-game play calling seemingly appeared to make sense. The players appeared to be in the positions to succeed and use their talents and when watching the offensive playcalling made sense. Unfortunately a lack of player talent and or development has always limited the effectiveness of the offense.
When the defense is playing lights out, the offense is dragging. When the offense finally starts to gel, the defense just gets gashed with huge plays. When a player goes down, there's not a backup available to adequately fill the position. Using the fragile QB as a battering ram, but they seeming push the QB to play even at a very limited capacity. I find this interesting since they have a 3 to 4 deep running back rotation every few plays even when a back starts to find their rhythm.
There seems to roster mismanagement, lack of player development, and other coaching issues that lead me to believe that this coaching staff is just not a right fit for the Hokies even though they are seemingly over their heads. Situation is not as bad as other colleges but the fans deserve better. The atmosphere in Blacksburg on gameday is one of the best in college football.
Didn't watch the game, went to Ole Miss LSU instead and had a great time tailgating in the Grove.
Checked the score near the end and thought we'd won only to find out an hour later that we fumbled the bag again somehow. It's just comical at this point. I want Jeff Hafley and maybe Spavital or Drinkwitz at OC after they get fired.
I locked this one up. I think it's important for everyone to have a space to vent and as one TKPer put it, attend a group therapy session. But the down side is there's always a few comments that take it too far and make life more difficult for the mods.
Feel free to start new threads continuing any conversations out of here, with the expectation that it's more conversational, less yelling into the wind.
Comments
#___h e M o v e W
_M___T___h
__a_e____i
___k____t
FU Fu
I'm surprised it took you this long to create the thread 🍻
Yea. The fan base left in the rafters is yelling it.
It's time
Truthfully, I was mostly ignoring everyone that was all for firing Fuente and Cornelson (which I agree with), but would defend JHam. I like him, but he's in over his head. This defense is as sad as the offense. The WHOLE staff has to go.
Yeah I'm cool with an all new crew coming in now...J Hams D has blown 2 late 4th quarter leads in the last 3 games.
To be a little fair, if the offense gets a first down in each of those situations, we win.
The defensive performance was thoroughly embarrassing
Oh did I miss something?
Apologize in advance, but I am now officially rooting for us to lose every remaining game - including UVa - until Fuente is gone. We are all assuming Fu will be gone soon, but until I see it, I am not convinced.
Now watch, with me rooting for losses, we will rattle off 4 straight wins.
Sadly, I think I may have fallen to those depths as well.
I agree I literally just looked over at my girlfriend and said the exact same thing. Every game Fuente coaches from here on out I hope we lose.
I honestly don't know if there's another win on this schedule...maybe Duke?
Duke is pretty darn bad so I'd lean a win in that game. But this team has a habit of finding new ways to lose so who knows
I'm just completely mentally checked out at this point. Almost didn't even turn the game on, and probably shouldn't have.
Basketball in 17 days!
I didn't turn it on. My Saturday was infinitely more enjoyable because of it.
I agree with you and didn't even watch today. But no way we winning 4 in a row, may not win another
As they got in position to jack up the hail mary, I turned to wife and said: 'honestly, I don't want this ball to caught, because he's gotta go'.
He's literally gone even if we win out. I'm rooting for us to win for recruiting and perception purposes. 4-8 season does permanent damage for us
"He's literally gone even if we win out."
Maybe. I hope you are correct. But unless you have inside sources, I'm not buying it until the formal announcement is made. Granted it is a moot point as the odds of us winning out are so low that not even Mr. Spock could calculate them, but if we win out that means 9-4 with a win against UVa and probably a win against a good team in the bowl game. Not many good teams in the ACC so 8-4 is probably a higher conference bowl.
Up 9 at home with 4 minutes to go and lose...again. fire fuente
technically up 9 with 2.5 minutes left
Fucking sick of Fuente's shit.
Drive this entire coaching staff to the airport and leave them on the tarmac. Today.
Punt them to the next galaxy
You've paid them a lot of money, they can drive themselves
Not shocked at all. Now I'll be refreshing twitter constantly waiting for the moves to be made ....
I have a feeling that you'll be waiting a while
Fuente and Corn need to go, and JHam is in WAY over his head... be mad at JHam all you want, but he's just not ready and shoudn't have been given the job yet.
It's time for a clean slate.
I think that's what I guess I was trying to say. I'm not mad at JHam like I am Fuente. I think it's just apparent he wasn't ready.
Did Waller play today? I know it seems silly to say having one player out could affect a D that much, but not having Caleb Farley for the last couple of games 2 seasons ago really seemed to mess with our effectiveness. Having him in makes it harder for them to pass, meaning they have to rely on the run more, making them more one dimensional and easier to defend. Or Waller played, or I don't know what I'm talking about. Just seemed like JHam's defense has been better than what this game showed. This is only his second season as DC, so not an ideal time for him to building a defense, when the offense has been a dumpster fire. I still think JHam will be successful, seems like it's just the right time for him here.
I can't watch this shit anymore
Numb
Lol. I'm not even mad or sad. That ending legit got some laughter out of me. You knew it was coming and its still funny.
*goes back to researching head coaching candidates to get disappointed about when Whit doesn't make the move*
Yep... I actually laughed out loud as the receiver ran into the end zone. I can't believe what Justin Fuente has done to me.
You're right —- knew it was coming.
Yep this is where I'm at. Not angry, just resigned, and (im)patiently waiting for what I believe is an inevitable move.
See, I laughed bc I thought the game would end on a field goal as time expired...didn't expect the surprise TD!
As soon as we punted the last time I knew we'd lost. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory yet again. The thing that pisses me off the most is this team is a hair away from being 6-1 and That better not be enough to save Fuente.
The fact that we should be 6-1 is the #1 reason why Fuente has to go. A competent head coach would be 6-1 with this team.
Yup
Exactly!!
"Good teams find ways to win, bad teams find ways to lose"
We Glennon'd this game away.
First Blocked XP returned for a score since the 08 ECU game.
I'll give you 1 guess who started that game.
Yep. We punted and I got that powerless feeling I get when Aaron Rodgers gets the ball back and time left. Lol
"It's gonna happen again, isn't it"
My exact words.
To be fair we returned a punt for a TD to give Aaron Rogers the ball back.
I hate that man!
Wonder if Whit grew some balls yet. Probably not. Where's this great AD who continues to let the cash cow sport dig itself into a grave?
It's stupid that inexcusable losses are now expected. If you're gonna lose those it should at least be a surprise.
Our Fanbase deserves better. Fire everyone on this staff. They are in over their head and very under qualified for this level of job. Fuente is at best a coordinator. Burn it down and please bring in a guy who wants to recruit Virginia.
So when do head coaches get fired Sunday or Monday? (You can't clear out the entire staff because you still need to finish out the season)
My guess: The conversation happens tonight/tomorrow but it isn't made public until Monday.
Pls.
Is 6 weeks worth 2.5 million? I'd say no. Pocket that cash and give it to the next guy for support staff
You would have to think it happens tonight right?
Announce Monday.
Unless Whit already has someone lined up. If he can pull someone in now, would he do that?
I don't think he can pull someone in right now. But strategy wise, if you can him now or at least put out a strong signal that Fuente is done (whether you officially make the move this week or not), you can use that time to sell donors that we need your cash for a full rebuild. Turn apathy into motivation. If you let this play out another month or two, its just wasted time of people wondering if we're gonna make a change or not.
It's just Fuente and Cornelson. Or just Fuente. Then the message is sent. No one else needs to get fired (yet).
Hell, I wish we could fire Corny. I wonder if the O would improve if it was actually Fuente running the O? Who would be interim HC if we just fired Fuente? Corny? I wonder what that would look like? And how ironic would it be if Corny started performing better on O if Fuente was gone? Or it could just be throwing more gas into the dumpster fire.
An athletic director at Virginia Tech will live and die by football. Not basketball and not the non-revenue sports. Sorry about it. Come up with all the scenarios you want but a Virginia Tech AD will always live or die by football and no other sport.
Shitcan all of 'em! This can no longer be tolerated. Tired if Fuente's bullcrap.
Doesn't even register any more. I never believe we're going to get stops on defense and I never believe we can hold a lead. Over it. Can't even be mad. Just don't even really care. It's all too predictable at this point.
We made them burn all of their timeouts and all we needed was a first down. Once again, we get ourselves into third and long and then try to pass the damn ball, only to not catch it.
Even if we didn't the first down by running, we'd at least have burned 30 more seconds off the clock and punted 10-15 yards further.
Even worse, we got sacked 10 yards
Technically, it ended up being the better outcome since it burned more clock. Worst outcome would have been if he threw it away. Either way, its not the smartest call to be passing right there anyway
First let me say this sucks for the players. They fought hard today and that was a brutal way to lose. I know they haven't quit this year and for that I respect each of them.
But, I hope this is finally it for the Fuente era. Enough is enough. It was going to take this to force Whit's hand and make a move. The bar has lowered so much that in his mind, as long as fans are still showing up and we are mathematically in the Coastal race, that is enough. A loss today all but seals it. If Pitt takes care of business versus Clemson, Pitt would have to lose three with the tiebreaker over us.
If we are going to move forward, we have to cut ties and move on. We can't afford to see how things play out and wait until late November when all of our candidates are gone because the job isn't officially open here. We will end up in the same shitty boat as last year with Whit making an awkward press conference on why we have to keep Fu again. I can't stand watching him destroy this program and doing just enough to get by so he can eventually jump ship whenever another Baylor comes along. Get him and Corn out.
Enough is enough - Make the Move.
Game is blacked out for me. I checked the score periodically. We were up 36-34 with, what' a minute and a half to go and had the ball. Just checked, final score 41-36. I literally laughed, because, of course that's what would happen.
InexCUSEable.
Heh, this guy
Oh hey
Gut this program like a fish. I couldn't even give away my Cuse and Duke tickets
Reminds me of a UVa joking comment after a loss. We are becoming as big a joke as them.
Reading an article probably 15-20 years ago. The guy writes he left his season tickets on the dashboard of his car. Someone broke into his car and left their season tickets on his dashboard.
UVa is 5-2...I wish we were 5-2
Looking for a Fuente extension? Because that's how you get a Fuente extension.
I'm ok with a full gut job. Let's take it down to the studs and start over.
How do you blow two separate 9 and 10 point leads with less than 4 minutes left in the span of 3 weeks?
It's almost impressive.
It's called "Fuing."
J Hamming it up?
Also Fuente is clearly done, and we aren't waiting until December 15th, so just get rid of him now. Then any wins the rest of the way can be positive momentum and not Fuente trying to hold on.
There were a lot of rumors floating around that if we lost today he and Corn would be fired Monday. We will see.
I'll believe it when I see it.
I have no idea what to believe. How bad does Whit let it get before he takes action of some sort to show he's going to? Will donations dry up? Will revenue from games plummet? (How much do they make on each home game anyway?) Will commits start going elsewhere figuring he's gone, but they don't know who the new coach will be? Seems like there are a lot of potential implications.
Whit is cool and calculated. I'm sure he has a break even point that he's closely watching where waiting longer becomes more expensive than waiting until 12/16. Rumors (from the media) are that initial conversations with potential replacements started before last week.
Even if Fuente is fired tonight, we are not going to know who the new coach is until the end of the season unless we hire a retread who is currently not coaching.
Someone posted a response to me earlier this year about when to Fire Fuente. He linked to a list of coaching changes and it seemed like a lot were announced in late November and early December. As someone pointed out, if other teams are already trying to hire. I mean, I guess I'm so used to the end of the season being in January because we've gone to bowl games for so long, but we're not going this year, so I guess season ends after the UVA game. And I can't bring myself to write LOLUVA, because - us. But if Whit waits until then to pull the trigger, seems like you wait a couple more weeks and save the $2.5M. I think you rip the band aid off now. How much worse will we do without a coaching staff on O than we are now?
We won't be able to announce an already employed coach until after the regular season. That doesn't mean Whit isn't already looking if he's decided to make a move (and maybe even if he hasn't finalized the decision).
Frank announced his retirement about this time in 2015. We were able to conduct the search over the next month. If Whit doesn't pull the trigger after this, he either has someone completely locked up in principle (doubtful) or he just doesn't get it.
Or he's quietly executing a search and not announcing it until it's locked up.
You can quietly execute a search all you want, but the job isn't officially open until it's announced Fu won't return. We had that benefit from late October when Frank retired. You can't run the risk of losing out on all your candidates because of other opportunities by waiting.
There's no coach who wants this job but saying no bc Fuente hasn't been officially fired.
Whit knows what he's doing here.
The candidate can only agree to an MOU at this point. Fu is under contract until he's not. Our top candidates (and the ones we should be going after) will be hearing offers from big programs that already have official openings. If you were getting interest from job, would you rather be talking "hypothetically if we have an opening" or negotiating the actual contract?
This job search process is nothing like what most of us would go through. All of Whit's targets have agents who do the work for them. Whit knows the business and how to work with agents. This is how the game goes.
Whit is widely regarded (by coaches and the media) as one of the sharpest ADs on the country. He knows what he's doing.
Sadly, I don't believe.
don't get my hopes up
Cuse's QB was a damn warrior. Our next coach should try and get him to transfer in.
Don't confuse playing good against Tech with being good.... besides we have a Orji scheduled for next season.
I wouldn't hold it against any of our players (especially on offense) for bailing if Fu and Corny aren't fired.
I know I said it in the game thread, but keeping up with this via ESPN's Gamecast, all I could do there at the end was literally laugh. It was expected. I didn't know how we'd do it, but we did the deal in the end.
Whit shouldn't even allow them to make it to the table for the post-game presser. And all the rumors I'm seeing on Twitter seem to be saying that the FIRE FUENTE chants are strong from those few still left in attendance.
What is the telethon number I can call hourly to voice my support to get rid of Fuente, and whomever else?
VT football is lost, and I want to help reclaim it's lost identity.
if we fire fuente, we should fire corn immediately too
I'm trying not to imagine the darkest timeline, where Fuente is fired immediately and Corn promoted to interim HC.
..... I hate that Im not sure this is out if the question
Well, look at it this way...it could be popular with the players because the long hours of film study would go away.
Head Coach Corny has never watched Gamefilm..why should anyone else have to?
He probably isn't calling plays anymore if that happens.
if Fu gets canned, promote JHam, yes I know everyone is not pleased with him today, but it's just for the rest of the season and this season is a lost cause
Hell I'd prob watch then out of morbid curiosity, it'd be like this guy was coach:
At this point, should we just let BB sit and heal? Just bring him back for the UVA game for a hopeful W.
100%
Based off the box score I am guessing it is good this was blacked out and I could not watch?
You did miss the coming out party for Malachi Thomas. He looked great today.
Ha ha, I came here to say that at least the next coach will have a pretty good RB. Maybe we'll even get a guy who can develop talent and an offense to go with it.
He'll have 10 to choose from
$10 says Whit still waits till the end of the season.
$2.5m decision
He's not waiting that long. You miss potential candidates and any attempt at salvaging a recruiting class. There is reason that buyout date is December 15 and not December 1st.
Nov 28-29th the move will be made, buyout be dammed.
My feelings exactly. You risk losing out on too many quality candidates if you wait till the 15th. It's going to be as competitive as ever this off-season.
Why wait till then if we don't care about the buyout? Why not just do it now and publicly get into the coaching hunt?
We home for the holidays y'all!!!
Don't be surprised if we are not bowl-eligible until 2024. Assume none this year. New coach installing a new system + the last 2 year's of pathetic recruiting, 2022 will be extremely hard. Will be a major rebuild and even 2023 is not certain.
If we are not bowl eligible til 2024, it's a sign of systematic issues within the Athletic Department, and/or a complete misalignment between the university, the AD, and the football team.
With the transfer portal being a thing, there's no need for a new coach to go <.500 for >2 years at VT.
Not if we get right guy. If you can hang onto some key players and with the portal etc, it is possible to turn it around quicker than that especially in our division. But your point well taken, won't be easy.
If we hire someone who can't win 6 games in the ACC Coastal, then we hired the wrong guy.
If they cannot do it within a few years, yes, they are the wrong guy. But I'm thinking some people - not you as I think your statement is totally correct - are are going to expect too fast of a turn-around. Assuming this year is lost, bringing in a new coach with the talent level of Fu's recruiting classes and installing a whole new system, I'll be surprised if we get 6 wins next year. 2023 would be a toss-up.
My big thing is that whoever is hired, we have to have some patience and let them try and climb out of the hole Fuente has dug us into. If it happens right away, great. If it takes them a couple of years, don't be discouraged as long as actual progress is seen. Looking at the coaching threads and you hear a lot more we can't take X because of Y issue and I can imagine lots of people disappointed for anyone other than Saban being hired.
I'm okay for a full cleaning of the House.
Like JHam and feel like he has lots of potential but the utter inability to stop a completely one-sided attack doesn't bode well. He may need some more seasoning before he is really ready to DC at this level. I think to an extent, he's gotten too much credit because we have the Offensive Staff to compare him to.
As for Fuente and Cornelson, they should have their offices cleared out before the end of the day. Leave the contents on the sidewalk if necessary.
I paid for a VPN in order to get around the insane RSN blackout. I won't make this mistake again, gonna find anything to do next week other than watch VT football if Fuente is still the coach.
Can we negotiate with Fuente and just place him in the transfer portal if Whit doesn't want to fire him mid season?
If that game wasn't enough the first thing I do after was go relieve myself of beers it took to watch and my fucking belt buckle I bought freshman year fell apart. #FireFuente
Honestly, it looks kinda cool with only the orange outline.
Yeah, I think it's OK, but if you don't like it, you could probably paint it.
It actually doesn't look too bad, but I'm definitely going to rehab it eventually.
#Symbolism
Thank you for not showing what hangs below the belt...
Don't have to worry about that, no Hokie D today.
At least Malachi Thomas is the real deal?
I'll be downtown drinking... y'all keep it as nice as you can in here.
When me, Rayo, HF, and DC are all on the same page I'd say you're good.
Have fun! Blacksburg is a special place.
I don't think there's going to be much arguing on here, for sure
Always have a good time in Blacksburg. It truly is special.
State of our program: TKP mod hands us the keys and tells us to behave as he goes to drink after this loss. Lol
Why would he not be the first into the portal?
Fuente now 0-2 vs Demon Baobabs.
As long as he's the coach, if it's a pick 'em line...pick against VT. Amazing how consistently we blow close games. There was some doubt in me vs ND, but I thought this one was in the bag
I agree "inexcusable" is the exact right word.
Administration is lucky there's only 1 home game left. Lane is gonna be emptyyyy
Reading Fuente's post-game quotes on Twitter is fucking infuriating.
Not defending Fuente, and I haven't seen what he's said yet, but it's quite common for his post-game comments to be taken out of context on twitter.
I'm judging based on the direct quotes from Bitter, Cunningham, etc.
Bitter is often one of the guilty parties here. That said, I'm not watching the press conference, so it's possible that there isn't any missing context today.
I can't even get mad anymore. We all knew this was going to happen. Who else thought we weren't going to be able to run the clock out.
I can't even get mad anymore. We all knew this was going to happen. Who else thought we weren't going to be able to run the clock out.
Drink!
Fu on the radio now.
Kids fought hard to the end, lost on the last play. He hurts for the kids and wants them to get rewarded.
How about you resign and give up half off your buy-out? That would be a great way to reward them.
Better yet, he should give his buyout to the players as an endorsement deal and set them up for life
Okay maybe it wouldn't be for life, but still would be a good start to invest or something
$10,000,000 / 85 = $117,647/scholarship player
That is pretty crazy way to look at the compensation not to coach players he recruited.
Don't think I can root against Tech on a UVA week but the rest are fair game.
I will always root for the players. I am just guessing this coaching staff will keep setting them up for failure
I won't root against them... but I'm also done w watching for the season.
Imagine wanting to pay $10 mil to Fuente just to make Hamilton head coach... the whole team is so poorly coached. I want to see all those guys fired end of the season
I'm sure he's a good guy and the D recruiting has been bad recently, but I saw some inexcusable mistakes from JHam last year that blew my mind.
End of the Liberty game: Playing a prevent with 15 yards of cushion when Liberty had time to run a quick out and gain 10 yards to turn a 60yd FG attempt into a 50yd attempt. It was so obvious that I was screaming at my TV while they were lined up, and NO ONE on the coaching staff noticed.
End of 1st half against Louisville: Not running a prevent D (There was only one high safety) on the final play of the half where it was 80 yard TD or bust for Louisville. The one high safety took a poor angle and got dusted for the long TD.. We won that game, so most people forgot about it..
Those mistakes were so bad that I have never trusted JHam in critical situations..
I haven't seen much evidence that he can coach or recruit at high levels, so giving him more responsibilities doesn't make sense. Just clean up
And we don't know whether JHam or Fu made the call.
I am guessing my 6-6 preseason prediction is in jeopardy at this point?
We're losing out
At this point you have no choice if you are Whit. You must fire Fuente or you will lose the fans. It's that simple. Fire him or lose your fans. It's literally one or the other right now
If fans are worth > $12.5-mil, then "fire."
If fans are worth < $12.5-mil, then "do not fire."
It's really a simple decision.
I think fans are already lost
In all fairness to Whit, the majority of the fans don't donate enough for him to care about their opinion. /wish it was S
ironically we gave the ball back with 1:15 ish left... If we convert and keep the ball we win TOP and the game
What's the hit for letting Fuente go this week?
Less than the long term impact of completely losing the fanbase.
If Fuente is still the coach come Monday it better be because Whit wants to leave him on the tarmac in Atlanta.
I feel like I should go stare at a lake or something
But how did the uniforms look?
Honestly I thought they looked great
So, the uniforms can stay when we clean house.
Yes
Great.
Things needed for next season.
1. Coaching staff
2. Recruits
3.
Uniforms4.
5. Profit
Expected outcome.
Solid burn.
It's funny(?) because it's true.
We are so close to being 6-1, I don't see the problem. /s
Lol. Well, kinda gotta blame this on the defense, I guess. Idk, couldn't watch but based on the score that's how it looks. I think we need to clean house. I'm checked out until then. Peace. Go Hokies
I'm happy for Malachi, and I hope he has a great VT career. But isn't it funny that guys "developing" under Fuente like Holston and King were passed by a true freshman? Such a Fuente thing. Never develops anyone and they usually end up transferring when he finds a new guy he likes better.
This statement is damning but true. It is to easy to say that we are losing more players to the portal just like other schools. It isn't the number of players transferring as much as the quality that bothers me. That's 2 names I would not be surprised to see gone at the end of the season if not before.
I'm not sure you can teach the kind of elusiveness Thomas displayed today.
Some of that is just raw ability.
3rd game in a row I haven't watched . Never have I missed more than 1 game before this season .
I stopped after wvu. These sorry coaches have run the program into the ground.
But they haven't, we are a few better decisions away from 5-1, the program isn't in the ground, its 100% salvageable ... just not by this staff.
So I fell asleep at the start of the 4th quarter. Rewound it when I woke up (having not seen the score yet) and watched the quarter...... and have only one reaction.
BURN THIS MOTHERFUCKER ALIVE IN FRONT OF THE GODDAMN CITY HALL
Didn't you hear? The townies aren't happy with partying.
Um... mods really gonna let this comment stick around?
You fire Fuente now to avoid continuing to propagate the Culture of Losing that he has created.
He didn't intentionally do this but it has now become firmly embedded just the same. Just like we as fans see us Punt late in the game and know what is coming, the players have that same "been here before," feeling. It causes them to play tight and promotes mistakes. There are still quite a few young players on this team (for now at least until they hit the Portal), getting Fuente out of here allows then to develop without the overarching cloud of underachievement
GRUDEN #makethemove
#GRUMORS
Tough crowd in here.
Yep. The Church Picnic was the right move. And Frank Beamer is still revered, even by those who didn't go to our alma mater.
The sad part is no loss is surprising now.
Fire Fuente cheer was really loud though after the game winning TD for Syracuse. Must be an interesting experience to be a coach or player on the field and hear that. We've had some small Fire Fuente cheers here or there this season and even small ones a couple years ago. But this is the first time that I have heard anything like that in Lane Stadium. Whit got us into this mess and if he doesn't want Fire Whit chants, he needs to get us out of it
I'm not a big proponent of that kind of fan behavior.
It's just not necessary.
If you're unhappy, leave. Or don't go. Or come to TKP and set up a pitchfork and torches thread. Or send an email to Whit.
But don't taunt the coaches and players. Nobody feels good after losing.
But then how would whit realize that more than just the "Twitter mob" think Fuentes doing a piss of a job?
It may come as a surprise, but Whit's pretty aware of Fuente's job performance.
Yeah it was tongue in cheek lol
thought about adding an /s but it should have been a /tic because I wasn't disagreeing more shade at the whit meisters comments
Ah, yes, I see that now.
Have a leg.
The /s should be understood there.
His chickenshit performance in last years press conference says otherwise.
Who's taunting the players?
Idk i think it's important that Whit was there to hear that. He needs to know how we all feel and that his & Fuente's jobs have been completely unacceptable.
I think Whit gets it.
Don't see anything wrong with a fan base saying fire Fuente at this point . It's not an overreaction and at the end of the day if he gets fired he still gets paid .
I'm saying that fans booing the coaches or players on TV isn't a great look, and isn't necessary. Same with throwing things on the field, like Tennessee did last week. You don't think they feel bad enough after losing a close game like today? Why add insult to injury?
I'm thinking that Whit is smart enough to understand that VT football isn't meeting standards without that.
But, you know, that's just my opinion.
I cannot stand when fans boo our players, but I have a hard time feeling bad about the fans making their thoughts known about the coaching staff, especially with the wording of the infamous presser. My head-canon of that debacle is that whit had someone lined up and it fell threw, but anyhoo he made it clear that he was sticking with Fu and I think fans making it known that we don't agree with that decision is reasonable with how this season has gone.
Of course it's not necessary but you can't ask for both the most rowdy, passionate, emotional, and dedicated fans in the country to create a "terror dome" atmosphere but then also turn around and tell them to sit there silent like good little boys and girls and write an unread letter to Babcock. I'm sorry, you just can't have it both ways.
That sounds like an excuse for poor behavior.
I love the terror dome. But I don't want to terrorize my own coaches or players, even if they're not living up to my expectations.
Think of it more as situation where we're trying to attract a new coach and players.
lol "terrorize"? no one is chasing them down the street or threatening them. people are literally just saying to fire the guy paid $4mil/year for a poor job. no potential coach worth his/her salt would register this as a problem
Every fan base that's boo's a team is not on the players . It's on the coach . At the end of the day the coach is the one that gets the axe not the players. Honestly at this point I think the players feel vindicated the fans are booing the coach . They know it's not on them . I know all these players are busting their ass . At the end of the day it's mostly every players dream to get to the next level .
People don't realize that it looks bad when they boo their own team.
I laugh at Tennessee when they throw things at their own coach. But it's not a good look for them.
It's the reality of sports . NFL, NBA , soccer . Fans have a right to be pissed unless there was some outrageous behaviors occurring if fans want to boo they have that right to do so .
Booing and throwing things on the field are nowhere close to comparable. There is zero reason to say that Tech fans booing Fuente after yet another poor coaching performance and pelting players, coaches, refs and any innocent bystanders with trash...why in this world you'd try to make that a parallel is beyond me.
Without looking at who you were responding to I knew it had to be vtkey. I love that guy but he also has some epically bad takes. IIWII
He didn't last year
We pay a lot of money to see the product on the field. We are certainly entitled to our opinions of it. Fu doesn't want to hear it? Win.
Paging JUGS. Pls help us.
Firing everyone doesn't deal with the need for an interim staff. I'm not saying the staff shouldn't be done. Just saying not everyone can go.
I don't lay as much blame on the defense as others have. The offense has to do a better job of getting them off the field. That said, it sounded like we were taking some atrocious angles and letting them break contain a lot more than we should have. So, defense is accountable.
Today the defense needed to do a better job of getting themselves off the field.
"The offense scored too quickly" shouldn't be viewed as a problem.
Okay, seriously? He clearly wasn't indicating that the problem is the offense scoring too quickly. Jesus. That hasn't been a thing in like four years. The problem is 3 and outs or a long play, then 3 and out. No points to show for a very quick outing. That is the problem and I think you know it.
The defense's problem today was being ineffective against the Syracuse offense.
It wasn't like the offense went 3 and out every series.
Let's be honest about what we saw.
Syracuse's second drive is three plays for five yards. Our offense capitalizes by doing four plays for fifteen yards. Defense then holds syracuse to 8 yards on three plays. Offense goes three plays for -2 yards. Syracuse scores on next drive.
The defense was solid in this stretch. Our offense failed to capitalize.
The problem wasn't that stretch. Was the other complete lapses.
This one wasn't on the offense.
At the same time their QB averaged, I am just going to guess here, 9.6 ypc? If they could have just held him to 10 yds on scrambles instead of 20+ might have been a different game. Defensive Line takes a lot of blame for hardly any pass rush and absolutely no contain.
My only input is it's a good thing Fuente only has one last home game this season cause if not the turnout would be laughable if there were more home games to go.
Or the turnout would be hostile to the coaching staff.
If the chant today is any indication the Duke game is going to be ugly if fuente is still on the sideline.
Especially if we're losing to friggin' Duke.
Assuming Fuente is canned, how can we prevent him from using resource where he could recruit guys to his next destination?
It's pretty unlikely he'd be able to pull a Brent. And besides who is he closing on anyway?
Oh no, he's gonna take all of our 4 and 5 star recruits!!!!
It's not quite the same as basketball.
Do that by hiring a better coach that the recruits want to play for.
😂 thank you needed the laugh
Who would want him for a head whistle? I bet Fu himself will be fine and catch on as an OC somewhere, but I can't see anyone wanting him to bring in his boys with him as a head coach.
Fingers crossed that Whit comes out with a statement pledging his support for Fu. \s.
#KissofDeath.
If things ended well they wouldn't end.
✌ Fuente
Watching Hooker kill it for Tennessee right now (and I am very happy for him), just irks me more about Fuente.
Haha, you beat me to it by a minute and thirty seconds. I just posted his first quarter statline below.
Yeah, I live just outside Knoxville and its getting harder and harder to wear my Hokie gear because I am really getting irked from all the Tennessee fans thanking me.
Hooker has a really interesting story - In 5(?) years of college football, he has never won a starting job outright. In 2019, he replaced an (at best) inconsistent Ryan Willis four games in. In 2020, Braxton won the starting job, but got injured. In 2021, Joe Milton wins the starting job, looks pretty ugly, gets hurt, and Hendon comes in, and lights it up.
I wonder if he doesn't look good in practice or what?
Did Burmeister really "win" the starting job when Hooker missed a bunch of fall camp with an injury/covid quarantine?
Entirely unrelated, but while we're piling on Fuente - Hendon Hooker's first quarter (so far) against 'Bama:
8-10, 144 YDS, 2 TD
But we've never felt better about our passing game.
12/16 for 175 and 2 at the beginning of the 3rd quarter now
He should have stayed at VT.
He'd be the starter, and would have a great chance of winning the ACC this year.
Fuente should have talked him into staying. Maybe it would have saved his job.
No he would not be the starter. Hooker was not hurt for the UVA game (Fuente said so much) and BB was started over him. Also, before the season Fuente said he feels better about the pass game then he ever has at VT. BB was Corn and Fuente's QB1 at the end of last season and going forward.
Fuente hated Hooker from day 1 for whatever reason. He never would have played him in 2019 if Willis didn't get hurt even though Willis was actively losing games. He tried to replace him with Burmeister before 2020 and got his way until Burmeister being injured force his hand again. Then obviously he replaced him again at the end of the year and ran him off the team in the offseason.
Honestly not sure why he even talked Hooker out of the portal the first time because it was clear the entire time Hooker was here that Fuente had zero confidence in him as a starting QB.
This is such a horrible take. Fuente literally refused to discuss Hendon's medical episodes with the public in deference to their family. That alone is enough evidence to me that he doesn't "hate Hooker".
Source? Because that sounds like a whole lot of conjecture to me.
hate is a strong word, but he was slow to move to him from willis and quick to move on from him to bb
weird at the very least to me considering he recruited hh out of high school
Are you kidding?
Not a doubt in my mind he'd be starting by now. Fuente's job is literally on the line, and Burmeister appears to be fighting health issues.
Ok you just completely changed the parameters by saying he would be starting "by now". The season is lost now. Who cares. You said in your comment compete for an ACC championship
I didn't "completely change" any parameters. I think Hooker would be starting at VT right now. And I believe that change would have been made several games ago.
That's what I meant by "He'd be starting at Virginia Tech". At the beginning of this season, he wasn't starting for Tennessee, either. If that wasn't clear from my comment, I've clarified it.
I believe Fuente has been pretty clear that the QB1 is the QB on the team that puts VT in the best position to win. I think it's reasonably clear that that would be Hooker.
Why? By all accounts, publicly anyways, BB was CornFu's preferred QB. Sure it would be great for us fans if Herndon Hooker stayed at VT, but the young man wanted to play and this coaching staff didn't seem willing to play him as QB if they had an alternative.
Wonder How It was decided That braxton would be Expected to start?
Not a clue.
Accusing Fuente of being racist because he can't manage a quarterback room is over the line
Saw some Twitter smoke about Tech having a "grease man"? I won't post my screenshot because the poster in question deleted the tweet and I don't want to put them on the spot but hopefully that means a donor or two are helping with the buyout
Meaning wheels are in motion?
I hope so, couldn't totally tell, was vague
If you're talking about that Jim Howington guy or whatever, 99% that's a fake account like that Friedman guy that's been pretending he's CFB insider for the last couple of years. It's probably the same guy behind both accounts
Just watched Fu's postgame. Horrible leadership skills; slumped over, mumbling, no eye contact, etc. What a horrible position we are in with him at the helm. Hopefully that will be the last time we ever have to see him.
So, I think we've been ignoring what Fuente has been trying to tell us for quite a while, folks...
G - gonna
R - really
I - implode
T - this year
Gonna
Really
Infuriate
Them
Only time he has lived up to his words.
G - Getting
R - Ready (to)
I - Invest
T - The ($10,000,000+ you suckers agreed to give me for destroying your football program.)
All I want for
ChristmasHalloween ismy two front teetha new head coach.Fire Fuente and Corn tomorrow and bring Bud back to finish the season as HC. This is the only acceptable option.
Bud's ticker doesn't need the HC stress
1. When Garrett Schrader went into the portal, I was hoping we would get him. He's a Charlotte kid and has the size we need for a running qb
2. Fuente has to go now. I know we can still get to a bowl game but we ain't winning the coastal. Outside of Malachi Thomas running becoming the Main running back not much else is happening
3. Defense is good but it's not a sustained defense for 60 minutes.
Whit needs to sack up and do his job if for no other reason because this has now reached a tipping point where fans are openly rooting against the team until Fuente is gone - and largely because Whit's shitty press conference last year has scared them into thinking he won't do the right thing unless this gets even worse. At least if he gets this loser out of Blacksburg everyone can unite and just root for the players for the rest of the year without this cloud over everyone's heads.
College football is a sport where you should literally never have any reason to root against your own team. There's no draft to tank for, the AD failing to take action is the literal only situation a fan should ever be put into to root against their team and Whit has put us in in it.
He's losing control of the situation and the mob will turn on him.
Babcock was a defensive mess in that "year one" press conference. Like, I went back and re-watched it and his body language and tone was sooooo defensive.
Went to watch my alma mater W&M so I missed the VT game. W&M won big. Afterwards there was a player lingering outside of the locker room talking to a woman who looked like his mom. My 5 year old went up to him and told him how she had a great time and how happy she was they won. He laughed and talked to her for a minute. I didn't recognize him but looked at his name plate and saw "BABCOCK".
I didn't say, "tell your dad to drive Fuente to the airport and fire him." Did I think it? Absolutely. I didn't want to ruin his day by being an a-hole. It took a lot of self-restraint.
Dang, I should've gone to that game today. Looks like they really beat up on Towson.
The minutia will be ironed out and the playbook will be opened up for the U.VA game... On a serious note I know the coaches and AD were hoping to win out and say "See, we only lost 3 games and 2 were somewhat expected but close (ND and WVU) and the other was the ACC champ." and try to make it appear like things aren't as bad as they really are. I like bringing back the old jerseys, upgrade the facilities, try to keep the recruiting class in place, and welcome back the old players who could be big time donors if they were shown love. IDK who Tech should get as a coach at this point or where they should even look. Get excited for a winning small school coach again, try to get a big name coach that is a coordinator at a top 10 school right now, or God forbid promote someone within to head coach. So much good is going for the program except for coaching... We keep this staff around and QB's, WR's, and RB's are going to stop committing altogether.
I was at a wedding in Roanoke yesterday. It was the first time I was in the New River Valley in four years. At the wedding, someone offered me free tickets to the game. I turned them down.
In college, I never missed a Virginia Tech home game live. The closest I got was during my redshirt senior year, I got arrested after drunkenly trying to steal a traffic cone after a double rail night at TOTS. After not sleeping the entire night, a friend I made in jail offered to drive me back home. When we got near the stadium, I told him to drop me off there. After blowing a .18 12 hours earlier, I decided mama didn't raise no pussy and I went straight to my fraternity's tailgate. The story of my arrest made the rounds so I came into the tailgate with a standing ovation. Immediately afterward, one of my friends tossed me a beer which I subsequently shotgunned. (Yes, this is 100% a real story)
The first year after I graduated, I was a poor grad student in Boston. I wanted to watch a game live so badly that I purposely over-drafted my bank account to pay for a flight from Boston to Roanoke. That game was the Miami "these people are losing their minds" game back in 2011. I had to eat ramen noodles for a week after I got back but it was worth it to see one of the most memorable games of my life with my closest friends.
Over the years, my Hokie fandom hasn't wavered. Yes, I've been to fewer games live after I graduated due to the inconvenience of driving to SWVA, trying to find a place to stay, etc. But, Saturdays have always been planned around Virginia Tech football. I remember I was a groomsman for one of my closest friend's wedding in 2016 and I almost messed up the beginning of the wedding because I was too entranced by the Battle of Bristol. I watched big games in bars all over Richmond, DC, Virginia Beach, New England, Peru, London, India, and probably a bunch of other places I can't remember.
If you had told the 22-year-old version of me that the 33-year-old version of me would turn down free Virginia Tech football tickets when I was 30 minutes away from Blacksburg, he wouldn't have believed it. Virginia Tech football, for better or worse, has been a critical element of my identity for over a decade. I hope this doesn't sound overly dramatic, but I think today is the day I finally have become an apathetic fan. I'm not going to cancel my TKP membership because I love this community and appreciate what Joe has put together. But I did cancel my Athletic membership (Sorry Andy!) and will cancel my 247 membership on Monday.
While watching the game day, I honestly didn't care if we won or lost. I don't think I've ever felt that way about Virginia Tech since I enrolled in 2006. Do I think that'll change when we fire Fuente and bring in a new coach? Probably. But right now, I can honestly say I have better things to do on my fall Saturdays than watch football.
Same. We decided on Friday evening we would not invest our time in observing mediocrity. We drove to Western NC got a hotel room and went to a cool microbrewery Friday evening. Saturday we hit the Green River hiking trail. A gorgeous hike along the river on a clear day. We came off the trail about 30 minutes after the game ended. I check my phone. Saw we lost. Saw we also surrendered 21 points in last quarter, and had another epic last minute collapse. Not to worry. We had a beautiful day and I was so glad we dedicated no time to this circus. I am not coming back until I see a change.
Hell yea . I'm not an alumni or from the state of VA . In h
Born and raised in texas but fell in love with VT program with Vick. I've been a die hard fan w we since then . Until this year I had only missed watching less than 5 games over the last 10 years . I've now missed watching 3 in a row . There's too many red flags around this program right now . I know Fuente is a great human being but his tenure as a head coach here at VT has become a failure
We're you in SAE?
I hate that you feel so let down by a program that has been such a big part of your life. It seems you came to it during the height and those were great times to be a Hokie. There was anguish then too, but the frequency of successes carried us right passed any troubles.
I became a hokie fan as a child watching the Liberty bowl in '68 of a previous century. It was on ABC, the worst of three networks available out of Roanoke. It was a black and white set and the quality was snowy/grainy. The Hokies took and early lead, but Ol'Miss proved the stronger team.
Without taking you through the ups and downs of every regime, I'll just say we were always lost in the middle, whipping the VMI's, throttled by the Bama's, and suffering the occasional William and Mary. The season definer was the UVA game, win or lose. My soul purpose in fandom was to bring on the UVA win and have a competitive chance near game end against a real football team opponent.
That didn't change much, a nudge with Dooley's successes, until Fancy Gap Frank. CFB grew up a SWVA kid and knew the Hokies the way I knew them. (Same feelings about CMY). Frank's vision and drive bought him time through a 2-8 season, (thankfully before social media), and built us the program that so many people took into their hearts. That's gone now and we fans are grieving. For me it's the 1970's all over again, but with narrower ties and lapels.
What can we do? UT Prosim, serve up the school with some cash for the future. Trust in Whit. Hope CMY succeeds because that can bleed over into our football team attitude. Learn the words to Tech Triumph. Rest assured, better days ahead.
After watching another game get pissed away with the almost insurmountable lead being...surmounted? I'm done. Fire Fu. Do it now. I can't believe a few weeks ago I said to my wife and friends "let's go to the Duke game". Now I feel like I'm stuck and also a jackass because we're going. Thankfully we get to see friends at the tailgate but for the first time in my life I'm bummed about going to a sporting event. Like this just isn't right.
Can Fuente, elevate someone (Shibest?) for the rest of the year and move on when the season ends after Thanksgiving. The team and this school deserve better than the garbage we've been enduring.
Whit show some pride and do what's best for us. Make the effin move.
I honestly think we maybe win one more
Hendon Hooker put up 3 TDs on Alabama....so....there's that....
Hooker keep the Vols in the game for awhile, but he also threw an INT that put Alabama by 3 TD late in the game. Not trying to throw shade on Hooker, only pointing out that HH was not perfect playing for VT, either, and wasn't loved by everyone.
Hooker still has some real limitations but the massive difference is Heupel and Co. have designed Gameplans to play to his strengths.
It's called competent coaching...now a distant memory in Blacksburg.
Until I see an official press release/announcement from the Virginia Tech Athletic department declaring a new football coach, I'm just going to assume they will keep CornFu as HC of VT. As some others have stated before in other threads, I get the feeling the university is fine with the current state of our program. Why? Because we are firmly in the ACC now and they (VT Administration) like that there are no scandals coming from the VT football program and the kids are graduating. Sports is really just a marketing ploy for universities and I'm guessing the VT admin is happy our marketing ploy is actually turning a $2-$3 Million dollar profit as opposed to that mess at Rutgers....Woof....How the heck does one go nearly $200 Million in debt while cashing in B1G tv checks...???
P.S. The above analysis is based upon pure conjecture and at this point, pure apathy for our Athletic Department. Still love the school, but I'm not making VT Sports a priority in my life anymore. 🤷♂️
The mob and corruption are a hell of a drug
🤣. 👍. +1 leg for making me laugh. That scene from Goodfellas flashed through my mind, but then I remembered that would be Boston College....
Problem is those profits will go away in a hurry when fans stop buying season tickets and making donations. That is where I am unless a significant change is made.
Honestly, I can't wait to find out where Fuente and Cornelsen both end up. Apparently, Fuente spent more time with the first team offense this week and it showed. Offense was markedly better than it has been all season. Fuente usually runs scout team offense. Point is, I think Fuente might finally be figuring out that Cornelsen is a huge liability and probably a big reason why he'll likely be looking for work soon. Bad luck for Fuente that the defense completely grit the bed on a day that the offense looked halfway competent. 🤷♂️
I won't be shocked either way but I'm very interested to see if they wind up together in the future.
Lol I love it, that is the new thing. Team played like grit today! What a gritty performance! Fu is full of grit!
Seriously though, why has it taken Fu this long (too late now) to get more involved with the offense? I know that once you're an HC you typically spend more time on overall team management and the coordinators prep their respective squads. But how he has not realized that Corn is awful and needed to step in until now is unbelievable. Did he just think things would suddenly click one day? That's why I am completely frustrated and done with this staff at this point. Too little, too late.
Fuente has had two significant flaws to his coaching strategy.
1.) He believes Corn is a good OC.
2.) He believes that he can just be the CEO-type coach and fully delegate to his staff.
Now, it's entirely possible that #2 can be true, just not in the current situation, and he should have realized that he needed to take extra measures to improve the team.
Either he's known about both problems but has been too proud or stubborn to address them, or he's just figured it out now that those are problems. Or even worse, he's not aware of those problems. All of those scenarios are bad.
I think Corn is just a coaching buddy he's stuck with throughout the years and took under his wing. He showed him the ropes and trusted him via their friendship to carry out the offense. Either Fu has not been aware that Corn is lost (really bad) or he has allowed his friendship to cloud his judgment and not see that objectively he has been failing the team. Also a very bad option. And this is why both need to go.
not aware? fans have been saying it for years, he's been asked about Corn's performance directly defending him by saying "he's the same guy that broke records year 1", Hired a great football mind and straight shooter in Coach Kill whole allegedly got to fisticuffs with the guy he defends because he sucks so much at his job and now facing losing his job because of it. If he's not aware then Fuente is a seriously stupid person.
Absolutely gut wrenching losses.
3 out of the 4 losses were just hard to watch because you knew the inevitable was coming.
The creative ways to just give the game away to teams that weren't that good and had such glaring weaknesses boils down to coaching.
The play calling... has been putrid on offense after the first drive and too soft in the second half for the defense. I don't understand why the play calls get so conservative or cute when the opportunity to put the game away is just gift wrapped and handed to VT. IMO when Jerry Kill was on staff the in-game play calling seemingly appeared to make sense. The players appeared to be in the positions to succeed and use their talents and when watching the offensive playcalling made sense. Unfortunately a lack of player talent and or development has always limited the effectiveness of the offense.
When the defense is playing lights out, the offense is dragging. When the offense finally starts to gel, the defense just gets gashed with huge plays. When a player goes down, there's not a backup available to adequately fill the position. Using the fragile QB as a battering ram, but they seeming push the QB to play even at a very limited capacity. I find this interesting since they have a 3 to 4 deep running back rotation every few plays even when a back starts to find their rhythm.
There seems to roster mismanagement, lack of player development, and other coaching issues that lead me to believe that this coaching staff is just not a right fit for the Hokies even though they are seemingly over their heads. Situation is not as bad as other colleges but the fans deserve better. The atmosphere in Blacksburg on gameday is one of the best in college football.
Didn't watch the game, went to Ole Miss LSU instead and had a great time tailgating in the Grove.
Checked the score near the end and thought we'd won only to find out an hour later that we fumbled the bag again somehow. It's just comical at this point. I want Jeff Hafley and maybe Spavital or Drinkwitz at OC after they get fired.
I locked this one up. I think it's important for everyone to have a space to vent and as one TKPer put it, attend a group therapy session. But the down side is there's always a few comments that take it too far and make life more difficult for the mods.
Feel free to start new threads continuing any conversations out of here, with the expectation that it's more conversational, less yelling into the wind.