We are all thinking it and have been for a while. It is time for some coaching changes at Virginia Tech. We get on here each week, even after winning, and it always comes up that someone has to go.
This week though I tried to look at it from a different angle. We all know that Frank Beamer is loyal to a fault with his coaches. That might keep his staff happy but it is not translating into anything on the field.
There has been a standard set at Tech that 10 wins will cut it. That an ACCCG appearance will cut it. Making another bowl game will cut it. There are programs in the SEC where winning 10 games each year doesn't guarantee that you will keep your job. If we want more then we can have to stop being satisfied with what we have always had. How many SEC schools have rebuilding years and still challenge for a NC?
The point can be made that we don't recruit that caliber of talent each year. But I disagree to a point because we are starting to get better recruits. It is to easy to use that as an excuse. I can't think of a team this year that we have played that before the game I thought we might lose to. I was nervous. But that is because on any given game day the team that executes correctly what they practiced can win.
I think that change for our program goes beyond a couple of coaching changes. It won't change until a standard is set that anything below competing for a NC is subpar and won't be accepted anymore.
I hope that this year the right changes are made to take our program in that direction.
Time for a Change
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Comments
Be careful what you say on this site. People get offended when you talk like this.
But I agree with everything you said. There needs to be change from top down because it seems like we're ok with being good and yea we want a national championship, but then we lose and its like "Oh well. At least we'll get 10 wins this year." I have national championship hopes and our coaching staff says they do, but I'm not feeling it anymore.
I made similar remarks a few weeks ago and called for Beamer's head, because I don't think he will ever win us a NC as head coach and to move forward as a program, he needs to go. (I'll take coaching changes below him for now because I understand everybody's loyalty to him, but at the end of the day I think all that's going to do if postpone the inevitable.) Anyways, after I made those remarks, there were so many Key Players saying things like "we're spoiled" and this and that about 10 win seasons. I appreciate the 10 win seasons and all, I really do, and you can call me spoiled if you want but I'm tired of just getting 10 win seasons.
We've had so many 10 win seasons (and the ACC sucks so bad) that 10 win seasons and acc championship appearances/wins shouldn't be enough anymore. That shouldn't be our measuring stick anymore. Our measuring stick should be BCS wins at this point, and I don't understand anybody that disagrees. (and everybody please understand this 10 win streak would have ended years ago if we were in a real conference. I also don't understand anybody that disagrees with that.)
Success breeds two things, complacency or a desire for more success. All of you that cry I'm spoiled from 10 win seasons, you fall on the complacency side (and so do our coaches and administration). I'm on the desire for more side.
I think most of Hokie Nation is in denial about our true potential, with and without Beamer. I also think that those in denial now, will come around soon enough when they realize what I'm saying is true. It sucks and it's hard to come to this realization, but it's true.
I completely agree.
Statements like "competing for a NC is our only goal" just seem to miss who we are.
Yes, trophy case. It was a bad idea used to steal the momentum of one specific point in time. But look around.
A national title is not coming through that door.
It's hard to find a good coach
I'm not saying you're wrong, but you're definitely not right. The fact is, we do not know what would happen. If VT were to fire Beamer (a ludicrous proposition), could VT supporters be assured a sure-fire quality coach would be hired?
All we know is this, Weaver has never had to hire any football coaches, so we can only look at his record at basketball hires:
Rickey Stokes was a terrible hire. Seth Greenberg was a great hire, but after the honeymoon, it ended very poorly, with both Greenberg and Weaver looking like douche bags. And, to me, the hiring of James Johnson just looks lazy.
However, I'll have to give Weaver some credit. He is a football guy, played for Joe Paterno, and knows a lot of people in the business. Could he find the right fit of HC for VT? We'll probably never know. But, ask Miami, ND, Michigan, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and pre-Saban Alabama how they feel about their last couple of coaching hires. All of those schools have a much greater football tradition than VT, but have had trouble making good coaching hires.
Whenever making coaching moves, there's obvious risk you inherit. There's a risk that we won't even be relevant in the ACC, the 10 win seasons could be a thing of the past, could be average and have to be on the search for another coach to replace the replacement, etc. I get all of that and I understand people's reluctance in the matters of Beamer because of it.
However, I think we have the resources and our situation is advantageous enough to attract a successful coach. I've said it before but here's why I think we're attractive: great facilities, great fan base willing to spend money, in a hotbed state for recruiting, and being in the ACC makes it easier to get into the 4 team playoff. Those are the just the main reasons in my opinion. There's others like good media exposure (thursday night games and primetime acc championship among other games/opportunities), already a proven program (wouldn't have to come in and build from the ground up), and the money wouldn't be bad (not as much as some of your sec/big 10 powers may pay, but it would still be competitive).
I just think the job would be attractive to some (maybe not all, but some) highly touted coaches and I think we have the resources to allow him to be great. Like I said, there's always risk when making bold coaching moves, but I'd rather take on that risk than continue to slide and/or know our current coach will not get us what we want.
And I sound cocky and say I know I'm right, because I've felt that Beamer should have been gone a while ago. But like everybody else, my loyalty to him made me feel like, "Give him another chance." So I kept my mouth shut about it and then jmu happened, stanford happened, clemson (twice) last year happened, then the fake punt in the sugar bowl. Now, this season just sucks but to make it worse, the double pass happened. My criticism of Beamer is a direct reflection of his decision making. I'm not just a blind fan saying we're struggling so it must be the head coaches fault. I feel this way for specific reasons that I find hard to argue against. We can go down the line though. He's too loyal to bad coaches. His big game record sucks. Not only that, in those big games (at least the past few years), we've been in the game going into halftime then we get flat out coached second half. I've never seen halftime be such a detriment for a football team. Point being, my criticism and feelings on Beamer aren't new and his decision making continues to spiral downhill. I think we've all given him his chances to prove the naysayers wrong, but time and time again, he proves them right.
I love the guy and love what he's done for us but it's time to move on. There's risk in making that decision, but it's worth the risk to me.
It sucks but you are right.
Addition
I am not quite at the point where I want Frank Beamer out. I think that the direction we are headed with some of the younger coaches is right. Bring in young coaching talent and let them see how to handle a program. I used to think that Bud was the way to go but he fits in the role he is in and I think other programs have seen this to when they reach out to him for vacancies.
If there was a ever a year to show alumni and fans you are serious about moving the prgram forward this is it. 8 or 9 wins will not cut it. There is enough talent on this team for it to be more successful but I feel the lack of execution comes back to the coaches.
No need to talk about play calling. The double pass play should have been the nail in the coffin.
My bad VTMidge
To clear up any confusion because I don't want KeyPlayers upset with VTMidge:
VTMidge never said anything about Beamer being replaced. He just wants a mentality change.
I brought up the Beamer thing.
#BUD4HEADCOACH