Neighborhood podcast junkie here 👋 Very exciting VT talk on the Solid Verbal today. I tried my best to transcribe the two quotes below. VT talk at about 40:30, Napier talk at about 42:35.
When asked about how good of a job VT is compared to the rest of the ACC (specifically, compared to Clemson, FSU, Miami, UNC):
I think it's a very attractive job. There are people in the industry who actually think that is the second best job in the ACC.
Obviously they haven't won national titles like Florida State or Miami. They don't have as much talent around them, but they have a lot of talent in that area. Really good facilities, great home field environment. People in the industry think pretty highly of the AD Whit Babcock.
Whit Babcock, when he was at Cincinatti, he had a plan ready to go, and he ended up hiring Tommy Tuberville, and that was a complete dud, so we'll see how this part plays out going forward.
Is [VT] a better job than USC or LSU? No. Is it a better job than Florida if that comes open? I don't think so either. But relative to the rest of the ACC it's a really good job.
When asked about some of the hot names in the sport who have been reluctant to leave their current role:
Billy Napier has been patient, He knows he has a pretty good situation. I don't know how much longer you hold your cards to the vest. He's turned down like 3 pretty good situations where he was definitely going to be the guy. Virginia Tech offered him. I think the only thing that would make him go 'eh, I'm good' is if he thinks he has a shot at LSU, Florida, or he worked at ASU. Is ASU as good a job as Virginia Tech? I don't know, because ASU... could have sanctions coming down on the backend.
Regarding the bolded piece above, I couldn't tell if Bruce said "IF Virginia Tech offered him, I think..." OR if he said "Virginia Tech Offered him." I'll let you listen (or not listen) and decide.
Comments
2nd best job in the ACC isn't so far fetched when you think about Miami and FSU's dysfunctional systemic and organizational issues.
FSU definitely has more money, and still has a higher ceiling, but they they are still cleaning up the mess that was brewing in the late-Jimbo era, which was made worse by Taggart in many regards. I listened to some FSU podcasts that did a multi-part breakdown of that whole situation and it was way worse than I even thought.
FSU is the best job that nobody can hold onto. IIRC, Jimbo was close to being fired before he left for A&M.
Really good article on FSU: https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30331494/deep-deep-hole...
It's a complex situation - not as simple as impatient fans, bad coaches, etc. Lots of culture issues. I think Jimbo saw the writing on the wall and got out.
Several Brinks trucks worth of money helped.
the problem with miami if you're a coach compared to VT:
-alumni interaction and influence. everyone knows about the stars of "the U" days and big names. when things don't go well, everyone is going to here prominent opinions either online or on tv. because of the history there is going to be attention
-the administration support. from what I have understood based on people like steven godfrey, bomani jones, etc on podcasts is that miami admin aren't exactly keen to get back to the U days and view themselves basically as an academic institution for kids that didn't get into duke/vanderbilt etc
Yep. Miami has some of the same money issues in terms of funding, lacking a robust and traditional booster network that you'd expect from schools with similar levels of historical success, and some serious issues with misalignment between the leadership/admin and their views of the school as an academic vs. football institution.
They may have been lacking in administrative support for a while, but recent events suggest a change is brewing. For starters:
Seems odd to me to commit to that while firing your AD.
See to me that is going to help lure a bigger time AD to Miami. That says the Administration has changed in mind and is going to actively support you instead of making you a beggar asking for scraps.
One interesting thing I read, Nevin Shapiro is apparently out on house arrest due to Covid and is back being a booster again. More parties on yachts coming up for Miami.
The Nevin Shapiro bit was absolute gold.
Apparently the "best Miami source" is a Current Federal Inmate. So fitting that it almost hurts...you can't make this stuff up...
It just seems if you fire your AD while they supposedly have plans to increase football dollars either it's BS or there is a lot more castle politics going on than we know about.
But hasn't Miami hired several dud football HCs in a row? Not sure why it's BS, or the President looking to get an AD that will make better hires if they're going to commit that type of money to the football program?
What does hiring several dud HC coaches in a row have to do with it? Actually several different ADs have hired nothing but duds since Erickson. Why would a new one magically be any different?
You're not sure why the "new investment" could be BS? Really?
Sorry, sometimes the stuff I'm thinking doesn't always come out right (or bears further explanation - just ask my wife - it's her favorite lol).
What I was trying to say is I'm not sure why, if you were going to make a big new investment into the athletic department, why firing the AD somehow invalidates that? If you had several bad coaches that lost a lot of games, and replaced them with someone who also lost a lot of games, and a donor made a big contribution towards the football program, would it matter that previous coaches also lost a lot of games or would you want the new guy gone too? So what if previous ADs made bad hires, it looks like their current AD is also making bad hires (and maybe bad decisions like taking Diaz from Temple and paying a buyout to Temple even though the guy never actually coached there. Who knows, maybe the President doesn't like the vision James has (maybe it was more like Tech, "hey, just want to get Miami competitive" vs what sounds like the President wanting NCAA championships again.
Plus, making an announcement that you're going to commit a lot of new money, and then not doing it ruins credibility, potentially with donors who, for a school like Miami, I'd assume you REALLY don't want to alienate. What would Miami gain by announcing a big funding commitment but then not doing it?
And I'm just saying, how can you rationally and simultaneously say "we need to pump a lot more money into football" and "the AD just isn't cutting it"?
As I see it, the three options are 1) the AD epically sucks 2) there's more to the story 3) the money thing is just BS (perhaps as a cover for #2).
And I think #1 is the likely of the three.
Look at it this way. If VT had decided sometime around 2010 that they really wanted to jump into the arms race for athletics, would you really want Jim Weaver to have been the guy to allocate that budget?
I wouldn't have wanted Weaver to be the guy to have to raise the money, but that's a whole different issue.
However actually raising it comes before allocating it. And that all leads back to it's either BS or there's more to the story, no?
They're not raising money. The university is giving money to the athletic department.
Which brings me back to square one. I don't buy that the University is actually going to give $30 million to the athletic dept - if for no other reason than a one-time gift of $30 million isn't going to significantly improve the football program. They might be able to build a new facility or two but that's about it. And that'll take several years. They'll still be in the same crappy stadium, etc.
Miami gets athletes, but the reality is they've won almost nothing in nearly two decades. Miami (like VT) probably needs more like $25-30 million more EVERY year (present value) - starting next year - to really get back in the mix.
This seems ration to me. Put it this way: The leadership is saying "we want to make a large investment into the program, to ensure it's used effectively we want to make sure we have the best possible person in charge to put that money to use and we don't believe our current AD is that person". Makes perfect sense to me
I 100% believe that it's the 2nd best job if you want to play in great atmosphere and want to be the main event on campus.
FSU has money issues. Their staff is paid worse than our staff, and we are bottom 3rd in coaching pay for P5. Though they finally got around to opening a football facility this year. It looks nice, but it's been what 7 years since the Beamer barn and VT is never leading the charge on stuff like that. FSU is struggling to move on, similar to VT, from their iconic coach. They just got lucky that Jimbo was good and had enough talent, but that talent dropped off his last couple of years.
UNC has money, facilities, but is overshadowed by Jordan. If a coach is fine playing 2nd fiddle then UNC is a good job.
Napier is #1 with a bullet, for me.
I haven't heard his name associate with USC at all. Maybe he's made it clear he doesn't want to be in LA, it's not for everyone.
LSU makes a ton of sense, of course, but after listening to a lot of Stephen Godfrey this week it sounds like LSU doesn't see him as a big enough splash. They're still working on getting Mel Tucker, Jimbo, or someone at that level. If they all turn LSU down, they may be "left" with Napier as an option.
Godfrey also said if UF opens and offers, Napier is going there. Not sure why he thinks Napier likes UF more, but that's his opinion anyways. Black and white to me that UF is better than VT, interesting to me that Feldman waffles on that a bit.
I'm not sure what'll happen, but we can hope that the big dogs don't offer him, or don't offer him soon enough...or he looks at USC, LSU, and UF and decides that the pressure cooker that comes along with those roles just isn't worth it. There's no honeymoon period at those places, and maybe he doesn't want to deal with it?
If Mel Tucker *does* take LSU (he hasn't *signed* that deal yet...), we're now competing with MSU, which is closer to a peer program (but has the money that makes it a more attractive job).
Also, does he want to "go home"? He's from a small town in TN, about 5 hours from Blacksburg. Maybe he wants that?
It would be awesome to see a summary of average distance from "home" for current P5 head coaches to see if "close to home" has any merit. The list here has it dead last which, if prioritizing, is in line with my thought process.
Well there goes my weekend... *opens Excel*
"We will watch your career with great interest"
Don't ever say I didn't do anything for you, TKP community...
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1m5KTBf0geklogv_2Ivr7psYi0_8Akm7_...
A list of all D1 coaches and how far their current job is from their (a) birthplace, (b) high school, and (c) college, according to Wikipedia and cursory Google searches.
I'll try and do some analysis/visualizations on this over the weekend—(someone smarter feel free to use the data)—but here's some quick nuggets:
If you think our next coach will be close to the median in every category, our top picks are:
If you want the closest coach over all categories—ignoring Shane—you get:
Thank you. Also, you're a lunatic for looking all of this up.
In terms of people saying which job is better, they give opinions, but rarely give the rationale, and even if they do, they make it their perspective and not the coach's perspective. Is a job better because of pay? Conference? Facilities? Historical recruiting? Admin support? Expectations? Close to home? Alma Mater? Stadium/game/fan atmosphere?
I hate saying some of these SEC jobs are better. With some, based on expectations, you may only get 2 years, and you could be out. Nice for a payday, but not necessarily nice if you're bringing staff that aren't getting the payday or if you have to uproot family to go to a new job. Is $4M with more security better than $7M or $8M per year? I think there's a lot more subjectivity to what a "good" job is.
The reality is that coaches don't go into these jobs thinking they'll fail. Most who take these jobs have an a big time ego.
It's not even necessarily about failing. It's about whether you can recruit the kids you want and implement your system if you're only given 2 years. Plus, there's always the case where the shit hits the fan and your starting QB gets injured for the season and you wind up losing a couple more games than you ordinarily wouldn't have. At programs like LSU, that's an "excuse" and you could get fired for not much more than something like that, especially if it's your second season and you only win 7 games (even if all the losses are by less than 3 points - that's not the type of win total that flies for very long at a program like that).
Oh I get the reality. Those coaches think I'm too good for it to happen to me.
LSU let both Miles and Orgeron stick around more than either they should have (Les) or could (Orgeron) have based on all available reporting and evidence. LSU is one of the best jobs in the country given that level of patience, in no small part because you can pick any player in the state and have access to Texas
Great take. Not everyone wants the highest paying or highest profile job. Best fit is hard to find, different for everyone, and ideal.
Joel Klatt was on FSR yesterday morning discussing Riley to LSU and the comparisons of those two programs and made an interesting point about their fanbases. Oklahoma affords a down year here and there, but LSU is natty or bust. Orgeron wins the natty, has one and half years of okay and theyre basically running his ass out of town. Yea they have bottomless pockets but it's absolutely a high reward even higher risk job. He takes LSU and he'll be toast in no more than 4y.
At VT all he has to do it gets us to the ACC CG every other year, win a few nye6 games and we're happy as clams!
He also had some awful off field optic issues.
I listened to it this morning and it sounded like he said "if Virginia Tech offered him".
I would be absolutely floored (and furious) if we didn't.
I am *sure* Whit has reached out. So unless Napier's representation said it'll never happen, I am sure there's an "offer" out.
So basically if we want Napier, we need to pray UF keeps Mullen.
Do it, Florida. Your problems were totally all because of Todd Grantham and now he's gone. I'm not misleading you, I swear.
We also need LSU to (1) not hire Napier and (2) hire someone not currently employed by a school that Napier is interested in.
Yep, I agree, but I'm operating under the principle that LSU isn't hiring him. That could easily change if LSU strikes out on a lot of targets, but right now from what I've seen, it looks like they feel confident they can get at least one of their top targets. Napier, at least the gist I get from the fan base insidery types, is like their plan F. Napier, though, most definitely has LSU at the the top of his list.
Would Napier go to Ole Miss if Lane bolts to Miami?
I'd lean no. I believe he's one of the SEC schools he passed on the last time their job was open. But maybe things have changed with the layout of the SEC to where if he really wanted to be in the SEC, he'd be more likely to settle for Ole Miss this time. Everything I've seen about him mentions how he'd love to be in the SEC, but Auburn, Ole Miss, Ark, South Carolina, and Miss St all had openings and he didn't go to any of them despite those schools all having some level of interest in him. So that tells me he must want one of the BIG schools in the conference
Come to Blacksburg, Billy, and make VT the stepping stone to the blue blood job that you really want.
Why would Lane go to Miami? That seems like a big downgrade. I mean he has the ego to think he can beat Saban and win the SEC so why go to Miami where he doesn't get paid as well, doesn't have the same facilities l, doesn't have fan support, etc.
Assuming these reports are true, it's not farfetched at all, especially if they're willing to give him autonomy over how most of it is spent.
Kiffin certainly has an ego, but not enough to think he can ever beat Saban and/or Bama at Ole Miss.
Oh I'm sure he believes he can beat Saban, at least once. He probably doesn't believe he can beat Saban consistently, but... who knows what's going through his head, he's Lane Kiffin.
I responded to someone who said Kiffin thinks he can beat Bama and win the SEC. So by "beat Saban", I meant the whole enchilada. Kiffin knows that isn't going to happen at Ole Miss.
I actually think I have a pretty good idea of what's going on in Kiffin's head. It's "what's best for Lane Kiffin and his ambitions?". All Kiffin, all the time.
Didn't they just get rid of a bunch of assistants? Or an I thinking of someone else?
If so, I see it as them keeping him another year.
I think LSU is the biggest issue in our way. No way we out money them.
He did. But the fanbase is not happy with him and most are ready to move on, especially since they almost lost to Samford. The belief in the Gator community is mixed. Some in the know are saying booting the assistants is enough for the Admin to give him another year. Others are saying he's still on the hot seat, especially if he loses to Mizzou or FSU.
It would seem rather exceptional to fire the assistants, and then come in and fire the head coach a month later.
Edit: This did not age well.
I guess Florida is capable of some weird stuff, as their ego and money exceed their predictability.
Welp. Mullen just gagged another game away with some really dumb decisions. It was a fun few days thinking we were gonna get Napier. *sigh*
Lmao I came back to eat crow.
Me, too.
I forgot Florida thinks they're Georgia.
Florida should be Georgia+. They've owned Georgia in the last 30 years or so.
They haven't really owned them lately.
They have Alabama-level ego, and Florida-level ability.
Perhaps it's well deserved, but I'd be an Alabama fan before I'd be a Florida fan.
Then your personal bias showing through
I'll make no claim to the contrary.
Still, Florida is 1-4 vs Georgia over the past 5 meetings.
The last time Florida owned Georgia was in the 1990s, when they won 7 in a row.
There was also that period with Tebow and Percy Harvin. Idk what their record against Georgi was in that span but my guess would be fairly dominant
UF was 18-3 from 1990-2010. UGA is 7-4 since then.
And UGA was 10-2 before that vs UF. Pretty good rivalry, I guess.
But you've helped to put a fine point on when the more recent owning ended. I guess it was more like the 2010 than 2000.
7-4 in the last eleven meetings in Georgia's favor indicates an end to the "owning".
In fact, I'd say that of late, Georgia has been owning UF. Which is part of why Mullen isn't there anymore.
25-7 when you zoom out to "the last 30 years or so" is pretty one sided.
UGA is ahead now and by a fairly considerable margin, yes. And I agree the end of UF's long stretch of dominance certainly contributed to Mullen's firing.
2-1 (2006-2008)
But this page has the full list of outcomes in that rivalry.
3 out of 4 from 2006-2009.Since 1991, UF is 21-10 but since 2011, UGA is leading 7-4.They have more than UGA where it counts
JC Price for Head Whistle. No more stepping stones. He bleeds O&M.
Can we... let him coach a game first before we say that?
Leg.
Of course not.
Hard pass right now - he needs to learn to be a HC and he is going to take some lumps trying to do that at a P5 program.
Absolutely not.
Have we literally ever been a "stepping-stone" for a Head Coach?
- Justin Fuente: Fired
- Beamer: Retired
- Dooley: Resigned
Anyone who pre-dates Dooley gets us into an entirely different era.
Not in football, but Buzz in basketball.
that's more an apples to broccoli comparison than anything else
Don't forget that Beamer came VERY close to joining an ACC program long before VT was invited.
Beamer could have gone to UNC.
Dooley came from UNC, and went to Wake Forest afterwards.
By this logic, half of TKP could be next head whistle.
That's a ton of interviews for Whit to filter through.
I'm not advocating for JC Price as head coach, but I think he has a better NCAA coaching resume than
most peopleliterally everyone on TKP.Also, who's downvoting this comment? I guess some people are truly offended by a fan on a VT message board saying "hey give a Hokie the job!"
Billy Napier seems to think a lot of Billy Napier so much that Billy Napier is going to back Billy Napier into a self imposed sentence in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Besides, his offenses kinda stink and he's very, very similar to Justin Fuente. I got him about 8th.
please, let us know the 7 coaches you think are both realistic and better options for VT
I have Napier concerns too but 8th is absurd)
If a coach didn't have concerns then they wouldn't be a candidate for us. 8th is insane.
I think people won't name names because they want to reserve the right to complain about the eventual coach
How about Huff, Marcus Freeman, Chadwell, Clawson, Will Healy, Brent Pry, Mike Elko /S (sort of) Sorry just not jazzed by Napier at all
You like Chadwell and Healy more than Napier? 😬
There's certainly an argument to be made for Chadwell over Napier (I'm in that camp as well).
But I will never understand the love for Healy. 7-6, 2-4, 5-6 over three years in a bad conference. Compare that to Mike Houston's 4-8, 3-6, 7-4 over those same three years facing a tougher rebuild and stiffer competition (in and out of conference play). No idea why one guy is getting mentioned and the other isn't
Yes- dynamic personality and a massive injection of energy into program.
I got Billy in my top 3, probably #1. I like his resume, results and connections to TN and the SE region.
Interesting posts from the Bama fans. Sounds like they might pay the CJF buyout if we'll take their OC Bill O'Brien. Too funny. Maybe a trade for Corny .
Since this looks like the Napier thread, I'll drop this article from Steven Godfrey
https://athlonsports.com/college-football/college-football-hot-seat-watc...
Some good coaching tidbits throughout but the parts that pertain to us are TCU offered Napier but most likely was rejected by Napier. So anyone worried about him going there shouldn't have to worry anymore. On the VT section, he's sorta getting at that we fired Fuente when we did to go after Napier, but that the school would never admit that being the reason. He also says VT "has a strong coaching pool". While he lists no candidates, that caught my attention. Might be some bigger names out there looking at us than we realize.
So Saban and Smart are still on the table for us?
Getting the band back together. Saban as HC, Smart as DC
Nick Saban in his best Forrest Gump : ...And since I was a Gozillionaire, I went and coached the Hokies for free...
I joked with my friends that Saban mentioned he was growing old and tired of the stress related to coaching at Alabama and that he wanted to retire in the mountains. So he agreed in principal to $5 mil/year to do just half the work at VT than he does at Alabama to get us back to the ACC Championship yearly.
I see no reason to think "strong coaching pool" wouldn't mean the same names we've seen floating around here.
So... Tomlin confirmed?
Every time this thread makes it to the top of tracker I read "Napier Solid Verbal" and get excited.
If something actually happens, I'm assuming someone would start a new thread.
Ideally including the words "Whit announces", or "Whit press conference scheduled"...
I hope they create an entirely new thread titled "Bruce Feldman talks VT & Napier on the Solid Verbal" just to fuck with you.
Looks like Florida is locking up Napier.
ESPN just called it. Napier to Florida.
Boooo
They'll fire him in two years.
Our coach [insert name] will be looked as the better hire in 3 years, 100%
In all honesty. I would have been fine with Napier but I have some doubts, his offenses were almost as bad as cornelson this year.
I don't really get why people were so enamored.
He had 7 sub 400 offensive games against really bad teams.
11-1 with Wins over :
AppSt 10-2
GaSt 7-5
Liberty 7-5
Nichols 6-5
Troy 5-7
USA 5-7
ULM 4-8
TXSt 4-8
Ohio 3-9
GaSo 3-9
ArkState 2-10
For context...we had 8.
TLDR;
Louisiana had 7 sub 400 yard games.
VT had 8.
I was definitely uncertain of his offenses. I was mostly excited about him because getting Napier would mean that our Athletic Department was ready to act like a high end P5 program and spend to be near the top.
Total yardage is dumb stat that doesn't tell you anything - if you win the field position battle, you're going to have less total yards.
That's why I like SP+ and EPA. Both account for field position. SP+ is opponent adjusted as well.
They are ranked 55th on offense. SP+
It's not that dumb of a stat when total yardage is in the bottom 50 of college football.
I'm now convinced I would not have liked Napier if he were going to run the offense.
He's cornelson 2.0.
Well the good news is that if our next coach doesn't work out we can hire Napier in three years when UF fires him.
Main Line Florida....oh yeah!