Great read by Steven Godfrey in the WaPo on VT/Fuente/Pry.
Nothing ground breaking here, but there are some very honest quotes about the past administration - Whit admits to making a "$9 million mistake" with Fuente, and Pry described Fuente as "a good Midwestern guy that didn't have in his plan and vision all the things that I think most people believe and now fully realize are really important to Tech's success."
This morning, Steven Godfrey released a podcast (on the Split Zone Dou paid feed, hence why no link) with the last half focused on VT. He talks about quotes, context, and opinions that weren't included in the WaPo piece. It's a must listen for any VT fan - he just did a great job of summarizing (1) the VT/Fuente problem (which, anecdotally, many non-hokies in SEC country appear to be mystified by), (2) why Pry is a great fit (and why fit matters/why VT is a unique place), and (3) what VT means to the sport at large.
Notable quotes/conversation that got edited out of the WaPo piece:
- Pry called VT "Clemson before Clemson was Clemson"
- Pry saying "the narrative in Virginia was Penn State and North Carolina, I didn't understand how until I got here"
- More talk about Pry not hiring talented assistants who weren't a fit for VT - Godfrey got him to expand on that, and Pry offered a quote that basically said 'I know a lot of good coaches, but I don't think they would do well if a local tried to strike up conversation on the sidewalk with a local.' Just shows the amount of thought that Pry put into assembling his staff
Godfrey on what VT means to the sport:
I want to offer you the tiniest bit of hope that we're not all just turning into uniform war machines that are using television money to... ...fill their team with the best personnel possible. Sadly and inarguably, that's the only way to win a national title.
But that's not what I need from this sport... ...I need Virginia Tech to keep its identity and its soul. I need Kansas State to do the same thing. And I need Texas Tech to be a little off-kilter... ...I need these things to exist to make it interesting for me personally... ...I need those things to stay in tact, and I don't know about you... ...But my thought, and my hope, and my prayer is that we can't lose that little bit of facade that is hanging over the reality of this sport, because it means a lot to us, because it's coming an heirloom. This idea that things are weird and whacky up there in the hills of southwest Virginia, and it's a scary place to play at night. And how different that is than Kansas State. But, it's also the same.
I don't think I've ever listened to anyone in the media explain tie these themes together in such a succinct and eloquent manner. I feel like Godfrey just took the entire VT fanbase to therapy, and gave us breakthrough.
Comments
Its also worth repeating that Godfrey is very well connected in SEC circles and has repeatedly said that VT is very high on their list for when they expand again. Basically, if you were to believe him, the Grant of Rights is the only thing keeping us out of that conference right now.
Maybe it's just my O&M glasses, but I think VT really does have a lot going for it.
A lot of potential, and an actual character and history as a team.
It may have been the reason for Fuente's failure, but I'm looking forward to seeing if Pry understands something about it that he didn't. I'm hoping that it's the case.
Also if TV markets still matter to the SEC, VT is the best way to get into the Washington DC metro market. According to he Nielson data for 2021, the Washington DC market is the 9th largest in the country. If we were to join the SEC, we would immediately add one of the biggest media markets available to the SEC.
And TV markets still matter because that is what ESPN is able to negotiate with cable companies to get different fees for home markets. Given they effectively just lost DC to the Big Ten severing ties with them, you darn well know that ESPN would want to hold it any way they can if/when the ACC folds. And its not like the SEC would really want UVa, because that school has never shown a willingness to invest into football. Hell, Bronco quit after last year directly because of it. So if ESPN and the SEC want to capture the DC market, VT is the best/only option there.
Its not OM Glasses... compare VT football- the support, the juice, the passion to UVA, MD, UNC, Wake, Rutgers, Purdue, etc. No comparison. VT is a football school. One of 4-5 in the ACC total- Clemson, FSU, Miami, VT, NC State. If the SEC expands, it won't be about basketball.
The question is how many programs will the SEC take. If they take 4+, VT is in. If it's less than that, I'm not super confident.
They might have to take 8 to get any right now... They can kick out the other after a couple of years.
They wouldn't need 8 if the B1G takes some too. There aren't 8 teams in the ACC that would upgrade those conferences though.
I think HokieAlum was saying that if they want any ACC teams, they need to take 8, or wait until 2036 (supposedly, the GOR is no longer binding if 8 teams leave).
Correct, especially if the B1G has stopped. 8 teams have to go to get rid of the GOR.
My interpretation (from multiple times he's spoken about this) is that he thinks VT is a great fit for the SEC, not necessarily that he believes/knows that VT is a top choice for the SEC.
I agree with this take. He's always been VERY careful to add disclaimers like, "If I (ME, STEVEN GODFREY) was in Birmingham, I'd be looking at Virginia Tech."
I mean of course he's not going to come out and say that the SEC is looking to bring in UNC and VT right now, because that kicks off a shitstorm of media churn. But he's also more than enough connected to be able to make informed statements based on the actual strategies that the conference would favor.
I second bar1990. He has said it makes the most sense for the SEC to grab us and UNC. He has not said they are champing at the bit to do so, just that those two make the most sense culturally and geographically.
Split Zone Duo just released a Godfrey solo show on their Patreon. He talks about how he was constrained to 1,500 words in this article and did not get to everything he wanted. He shared a lot of stuff that was left out. Good listen if you are a subscriber of theirs.
EDIT: I missed your notes on this in the post as I skimmed quickly. I'll add that the best money you can spend as a college football fan are TKPC and SZD Patreon, in that order.
Can anyone elaborate? What's the SEC perspective on our program?
From some SEC people I know the consensus was, how did it go on so long, how did it get that bad
I guess the answer to the first question is $10mm
the answer to the second question is in the pudding. Virtually no one from Fuente's staff has landed a gig elsewhere. Cornelsen is busy scamming high-schoolers in Missouri or something
haven't most of them not landed jobs due to having signed two-year contracts? that was the sauce last I heard and seems to make sense giving the better of the bunch still haven't gone elsewhere.
Yeah but even assistants with buy outs still usually find another job if they are good. Very few just take a year off. I think it's pretty telling that virtually no one from his staff landed a coaching gig.
The SEC member sitting next to me answered this with, "he wouldn't have lasted 2 years at F'n Tennessee. The only place in the conference he might have lasted longer is Vandy.
I mean, after 2 seasons he was 19-8 compared to Beamer's 14-12 in his last two years, and he had won ACC coach of the year. The wheels didn't come off until after that when he ran out of Beamer recruits
If we join the SEC, you can't be afraid to spend a relatively low buyout (in SEC terms) of 10M just because it might "look bad" during a pandemic. SEC decision makers don't give a damn about that.
Lets also be realistic for a second. If we were pulling in SEC tv money, that decision would have been a lot easier to undertake, but because we're in the ACC with a shit sandwich of a tv deal, decisions had to be made.
not really disagreeing, but if we had the donations like Clemson does I dont think the lack of a good TV deal would have been a factor.
Yeah, but just because I want a better paying job doesn't mean I can spend like I'm already getting those paychecks
I've heard from multiple places the money was provided for the buyout.
I've heard a lot of things from multiple people/outlets. I am choosing to believe that we had money for a buy out 2020, but we didn't have the money to both buy out Fuente and make a competitive offer to a new staff. But who knows 🤷♂️
Surely makes no sense to second-guess it without the actual information.
When I talk football with SEC fans in Atlanta, and they find out that I'm a VT fan, I always get some form of "What happened there? Y'all were an SEC Team in the ACC, then just fell off the map." It's not really easy to explain that we made a bad hire as the college football landscape was changing and we didn't exactly have the infrastructure in place to quickly turn it around.
I've learned to just say 'we hired a bad coach'. Sometimes they say something about how they really thought Fuente was going to work out (me too bud), or they ask why we didn't just fire him sooner (it's complicated), but usually they say something to the effect of 'Whelp, the Auburn/VT Sugar bowl was the hardest hitting game I've ever seen, I respected VT after that game' (thanks man)
SEC fans tend to have a weird perception of the sport. They have the luxury of living in their bubble.
Almost every SEC fan I grew up with had a healthy respect for VT. Bama, LSU, UGA, etc. all these fans I've been around often viewed VT the same way you mentioned, as an "SEC team in the ACC" because of the physical style of play and mentality. Nowadays they generally present some level of disappointment that we fell off, or some level of confusion as to how it happened.
What happened?
We declined the SEC invite, and y'all got Missouri. I'm sorry.
....Sucks for both of us, but more for us.
We lost control of recruiting in VA (along with UVA) in 2006, and 10 seasons later the 5th most winningest FBS coach retired, that's what happened.
If you can recruit and can't develop players then you're going to lose.
This x100. I wish people would take this into account. Consider, one of the worst things to have happened to VT (and completely beyond our control) was when Maryland left the ACC and joined the B1G. This allowed schools like Penn St to start recruiting more regularly in VA and they could legitimately tell recruits "Your family will see you play when we play Maryland." I really believe this played a part of the decline in VT recruiting in its home state.
To be fair, the ACC is it's own bubble. My intermarriage has taught us both a lot about the conference of the other. And we really enjoy a double win weekend and support the other if it's only one. A double loss is rare, thankfully.
I'm choosing to be optimistic - and it might be a hot take, but I'd be good with an SEC move along with Clemson, Miami and FSU (a 4h is up for grabs IMO). regardless of what people say about our other sports and how much better they are, this is always a football school. Just look at the number of topics and posts for each sport on this site.
The best advantage in sports and life is obviously money. Barring that you better find another edge somewhere. For VT that edge has historically been that blue collar LPD identity. That identity served will on the field and in recruiting - and it resonates with the fanbase. If we can't have all the money, I at least want that identity back. And if we can have both, watch out.
I've been looking forward to this article all summer since he started talking about it on SZD. The podcast was a great listen because he mentioned he was limited in how much he could write for the article so it was his chance to expand on a lot of the points and read the quotes mentioned above. It was nice hearing him talk about genuinely believing what Coach Pry says and how rare that is in the business now. It's cool hearing his fondness for the late-90s/early 00s Tech teams and his desire to get Tech back to that.
I guess we are one of the few schools that can say Steven Godfrey doesn't hate our team lol.
Godfrey is awesome, if you don't listen to Split Zone Duo you're doing yourself a disservice.
EDIT: Leg to LifetimeHokie12, he had it first.
Also, don't be this guy:
That whole exchange is so embarrassing for this fan and makes us all look bad.
It's awful. Godfrey probably didn't even write the title.
He absolutely did not write the title
Yeah newspaper journalists don't usually write titles
Doesn't even matter who wrote the title. The idiot screenshot the university style guide. It's guidelines for faculty, staff and students when writing papers etc for publication, not for the media.
Hey now, we paid like 10 million dollars to put a little loopiness into our logo and product that document, the least the media could do is submit a foia request to the university to make sure it has all the information of our branding, which I am pretty sure is different between the university and athletic department, and then follow the guidelines recieved from said inquiry so that they correctly promote the Virginia Tech brand. /s
FTFY.
Because VTU is so much better than VPI....
We should copyright Tech like USC did for USC.
There are a few truly moronic "VT fans" on Twitter. Make me cringe.
The irony is incredible in the worst way possible. When you attack someone's ability to write and/or read then you should make sure what you write makes grammatical sense, even more so when you use "Hokie Grammar" as a name. What a fucking moron.
FTFY, you dumbass.
You are incorrect, he used "hokie grammar" as his name. It was not capitalized like it should have been per the style guidelines, which i would assume some one using social media would know because it's media and thus bound by the university style guide. If I read the guidelines correctly I believe grammar should be capitalized too, but that is no explicitly clear. /s
good catch!