http://www.roanoke.com/sports/colleges/va_tech/new-hokies-coach-williams...
Mark Berman wrote an excellent article about Coach Buzz. I was thrilled at the hire, but after reading this I'm excited to see where this ride will end. It may be a long climb, but if anybody can get the Hokies to reach their full potential as a basketball program it's this man! Go Hokies!
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Thanks for sharing! Great article and I'm looking forward to seeing how Buzz can reinvent the future with the Hokies.
To get an idea of how much a grinder Buzz is - he lived in a cabin & drove 42 miles each way to a junior college. Remember when Whit said early in his 'coaching search' that he wanted someone who would roll up their sleeves and go to work?
Buzz Williams has been a Hokie all his life, it's just that nobody ever knew it until this spring.
Nicely done.
I know I am an eternal optimist who sees only a full glass of water but I have never felt so good about the future of our basketball program. I think as long as we have Buzz as our coach the program will continue to grow. Here's hoping Buzz will become a Hokie lifer!
I have the feeling Buzz is going to exceed this program's potential and really raise the bar. I thought Seth reached the potential, 4th place finishes in the ACC reg season and (what should have been more than) a couple of NCAA tourney appearances or deep NIT runs (should have also been some NIT tourney wins). The new AD putting more emphasis on basketball and Buzz's enthusiasm is really raising VT Basketball's profile.
We're the largest major school in a state housing one of the most fertile recruiting pools in the country playing in the premier conference in the sport.
We have the potential to be an absolute monster of a basketball program, we just have to show an all-in dedication to get us there. With the right guy in charge, working for an Athletic Dept that fully buys into the sport, we have all the potential in the world to be a very, very good basketball program. Our problem in the past is that we treat basketball as any football-first school does.... Its a nice distraction during the football offseason, and we have historically funded and financially supported it as such.
If Buzz can change that mindset and get us to more of a basketball culture that the rest of the ACC has, we have a chance to begin making strides to reaching out potential. I kind of view Buzz as the VT basketball's equivalent of the USMNT landing Jurgen Klinnsman. He was brought in to tear down everything we knew about VT basketball, to rebuild the program from the ground up, ensuring we have the foundation to continue at a high level long after he is gone. We may not reach our potential under him, but if we keep being smart about it all, that potential might not be too far away.
As a lifelong Hokie fan I have never really been sold on the basketball program. I tried to be a fan and enjoy the games but I just couldn't bring myself to go all in on a program that didn't seem like it was all in itself. But the Buzz is real now and I'm all in. Can't wait for the ride to start.
Started from the bottom now we here
.... Still at the bottom?
Haven't played anything yet. Although admittedly we're also tied for 1st in the ACC right now.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/virginia-tech-basketball-p...
Washington Post story on Buzz. Most interesting bit is that he coaches a youth team that his sons are on.
I have not heard today if Justin Robinson signed his LOI. I hope everything is good.
All three recruits signed their LOI's. Clarke signed, Blackshear signed, Robinson signed.
I would encourage people once again to follow Buzz & Hokiesports on Twitter as well as regularly check Buzz's website. You can get up to the minute info from them, because Buzz is not at all like other Hokie coaches, he understands and uses social media constantly. For Hokie hoops fans, it is extremely easy and it is invaluable.