And he has obviously given it much thought. Clearly, Buzz believes the conference landscape will change in the near future, and those who wait for that train will only see it pass them by...
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You have to love the honesty and candor that Buzz constantly provides. I also appreciate his attention to detail, even if it borders on OCD behavior. Because it is a 'good' kind of OCD! A Hokie OCD, if you will.
Buzz also weighs in on his predicted future of the power conferences in an interesting manner, but one that makes much sense.
As for the ACC comments he referenced, here is a link to them...
https://www.accsports.com/articles/acc-announces-autonomy-proposals
Also, re-listen to Buzz's comments, and the overall messages that he gives. From the comments on recruiting - which family scenario he prefers, which order of birth he prefers in his players. I told you, OCD, but in a good way.
He can change anything he wants in Hurst Hahn, as long as he leaves the image of Deron teabagging Paulus, I'm fine!
Well, that was precise to say the least. Sounds like Buzz wants to take everything we know about Virginia Tech basketball and flip it upside down into a world of development. Thought the end of the interview really stuck out when he was describing the different areas of the facilities he wants to restore, which sounds like it will skyrocket recruiting. Admittedly being a Hokie football fan first, I have simply heard the basketball facilities at Tech resemble that of a high school and that changes were inevitable. Sounds like Buzz is making sure people remember the Hokies after their recruiting visits, no matter who the kid is.
Prior to the construction of the Hurst Hahn facility, they were indeed a huge embarrassment. Weaver finally acceded to Greenberg's wishes and constructed the practice facility, but Buzz has a good point in that merely getting up to what was average five years ago won't suffice now.
The changes he discusses aren't groundbreaking or extremely expensive, but more along the lines of continual maintenance. No need to keep your old flip phone when you could have an iPhone 6. Considering the elite basketball conference we're in, it is a necessity to maintain pace with the leaders in order to compete. It is reassuring that Buzz knows this, having come from an outside perspective, and is serious about doing it the right way.
It was a really pleasant ride home for a change listening to Buzz on Tech Talk Live. His answers about conference realignment and the practice facility were spectacular. It was also great to hear him touch on how he is addressing turnovers and second chance points with this team. Tonights talk was probably my second best Hokie moment so far this year, after beating LOLUVA.
He really does a fantastic job of explaining which metrics he places focus on, and how they impact the game. It's a coaching clinic for the fan to listen to his level of detail & explanation.
The guy is not just building a basketball program, but he's tutoring the fan base at the same time!
So, does what he's talking about have implications for football? I mean, if big changes are going to happen, does Whit think beamer is the guy to lead us into the future? This actually makes almost too much sense now.
All I care about is that we kick UVa's tailbone at least once on court this season.
Competitive maybe but I wouldnt count on us bringing the Wahoos to heel this season. They are a legitimate Top 10 team right now and I dont see Tony Bennett letting them take a night off against us. Buzz is going to be his top competition for recruiting in VA so he will want his team to take us to task while they can.
I forget, has their men's hoops gone 10-0 against us yet?
Currently they are 5-0 against us. We last beat the Hoo's in roundball in January 2012 back when Seth was still the HC
It'd be nice to take at least just one from them.
I agree but I just dont see it happening this season. Next year we might have a shot, definitely the year after but they are a well balanced team that will eventually wear us down in the paint causing foul problems and alot of soft baskets once our big men exit the game.
The fact that we are saying, with a straight face and being completely serious, that within 2 years from right now we'll be in a position in basketball to really start challenging UVa when they're at their apex is....
its dumbfounding, really.
Part of it is how quickly Buzz cleaned out the roster this offseason, another big part is that it is a rivalry game that tends to schew how these games go (our last win in 2012 over them came with UVA ranked 15th in the country).
I am not saying we will have similar seasons in two years as UVA, although two years from now UVA will be replacing a large number of their roster and could be very young as they have seven juniors right now on their roster, including their top four scorers so far this season. It could be a confluence of UVA slightly down and Tech rising at the right time. I just anticipate that we will be competitive in both games against them possibly getting a W at home.
I'd be thrilled with a split with them this season. That would be an ace in our win column if we could accomplish it. I suspect that UVa under Bennett will be a consistent Top 25 team for the next few years. Hoops seems to be far more their sport than football(ha!). It will be nice to see us achieve that level of success here. It's a long path, one step at a time...
Just hearing about Buzz's "camp" this summer made me excited for roundball again, I am convinced with his philosophy and recruiting we can be competitive in the ACC in two years and in the tourney in 3. Go HOKIES!
So it sounds like a complete renovation is underway for Hahn Hurst to help create the correct first impression he wants out of recruits when they step foot on campus, and he's OCD'ing all the way down to changing out a door because of how its gotten dirty over the years due to people using their feet to prop it open. I cannot wait to see what it'll look like when he's done, because the way he describes himself, it'll be immaculate.
Up next would be the Cassell and the lockerrooms. Interesting to note that he isn't satisfied with Cassell and is going to bring some people in to go over options to make it better. Even more interesting that Whit is giving him the leeway to do these things.
Also noted how he just threw out that the ACC Network is coming. I wonder if that is speculation, or if he might have let something slip he wasn't supposed to.
See the link in the first comment about the changes coming to the ACC and the NCAA. Doesnt seem like he let anything slip that he shouldnt have. I will take OCD over lackadaisical ten times out of ten.
The other piece of news that was put out on TTL was that Whit told the announcer pre-show that the two bowls that had been in contact with VT the most were those from Annapolis, MD and Shreveport, LA (Military Bowl and Independence Bowl)
I was specifically referencing the creation of the ACC Network when I said he might have let something slip.
That was the first time I've heard anyone actually reference it as if it is going to happen.
With SEC network, Big10 Network, Pac12 network and Longhorn network live right now, one would assume that ACC would like to get on that as well. It is a fair prediction. Even I have been saying that there will be 24/7 ACC network in next couple years. (Not in partnership with Raycom, just independent network).
I don't think Buzz was talking about disposing of any doors, more like applying some cleaner & a few fresh coats of paint to several areas. Obviously, that was something that Johnson & Weaver didn't see as necessary for creating positive imaging for the basketball program.
Whit seems like the type of professional business oriented AD that would see the value in continuing tweaks of the facilities, when they are presented to him in a detailed plan with costs & benefits covered. Since Buzz said he'd already put in over a hundred hours of time working on just the practice facility plans, I'd say he has a detailed plan in place. I mean, he's having the feng shui of the place calibrated, he is into the details of it. Folks should remember, the facility is now five years old, a freshen seems in order.
That is completely wrong and ignorant to say. It belittles the work of those that did the little things like "a few fresh coats of paint" and making things look fresh for recruits and just day to day operations. Greenberg did some things, JJ did some things and now Buzz is going to do his things. Every coach has put their own twist in the practice facility whether the average person realizes it or not. Buzz just likes to say things publicly of what is going on because he likes to talk and that is his style. Buzz doesn't have the pressure to win right away since people already expect this to be a down year as the program adjust to his style. Keeping fans in the loop of the little details, I think, is his way of keeping people interested and engaged. Just shows he has a long way to go when the attendance for the Ohio State wrestling match was probably more than all of the basketball game, save the opener.
If that maintenance had been done, then it wouldn't look the way it does. That might offend some, but it's the case. The evidence of Weaver's refusing salary increases for staff under Greenberg, then hiring Johnson on the ultra-cheap would reinforce the assessment as well.
As for the lack of pressure on Buzz to win immediately, that is because the program was allowed to wither and nearly die the past three seasons, not because this season was supposed to be abnormally poor. Finally, your estimation of the attendance for the games is low. You might want to know that season ticket sales last season were approx. 3400, while season ticket sales for this season have increased by nearly 50% to approx. 5100. That doesn't seem like fan apathy to me.
Just because tickets were sold, doesn't mean people are attending. Haven't we learned that from football already? We are only 4 games in, so maybe more people will show up for ACC games, but right now I can honestly say there were less than 3,000 people at each of the last two games. I know they weren't high profile teams, but this team needs people to show up. They feed off that energy, which is probably the worst part about having 6 games during student breaks (2 for turkey break and 4 for winter break). Not much you can do about that other than schedule away games which I think Buzz will do more of or start marketing to the people around Blacksburg and in Roanoke that don't normally come (which I think has been done somewhat with the tiered ticket pricing).
So you think a fresh coat of paint on a door that is constantly used is going to last past 6 months? Or that JJ/Seth didn't put up graphics/do things to make the presentation to recruits everything it could be? Just because it is not to Buzz's liking, doesn't mean it wasn't done.
We know that there were no upgrades to the technology in the facility for five years, so it is quite plausible to think that routine maintenance and upgrades were sporadic. Weaver's reputation for penny pinching would corroborate that assessment, and the status of the coaching in the last three seasons would as well. But hey, you can believe differently, that's fine. Buzz & Whit will make the efforts to achieve success, jointly. Everyone knows that is a complete reversal of our previous situation, despite the denials of some.
Sticking a HDMI port in the wall is hardly a technology upgrade, but keep hanging on his every word like it's gospel. Buzz and Whit are a huge upgrade over JJ and Weaver, but taking a shot at them basically saying they did nothing is just wrong. Buzz, at the moment, is doing nothing more than sticking some graphics up in Hahn Hurst. JJ and Seth before him and pictures of the entire roster and also had graphics of their own. Considering it is all coming out of Buzz's pocket (foundation pocket anyway) and not Virginia Tech's, upgrade away. I hope it is going to be as grand and spectacular as it is in his mind.
The program under Johnson was a failure in every way possible, and Weaver's hire & management at the time wrecked what good Greenberg had rebuilt in Hokie basketball. What is wrong is the people who still refuse to admit that. Sure, some people still oddly defend Johnson despite that, and get their feelings hurt when they see the vast improvement made in such a short time. Of course, there were people defending Johnson last spring before he was fired and even afterward, saying he should be given more years, then more years. I guess their fear of change really paralyzed them from objectivity in seeing just how bad everything actually had become.
What we now have is a program with hope, with a realistic plan for success, with promise for the future. We had none of those under the previous regime, and the change is extremely refreshing.
Johnson was a great assistant and a great person. Hiring him as a head coach was a bad move for him and Virginia Tech. He changed as a person and was in way over his head as a head coach in the ACC. I'm glad he is gone so he can start fresh elsewhere. To me Buzz is a little like Seth off the court, but a lot better at coaching up on the court. People see the charities he supports and the good he tries to do, but he still has that "my way or the highway" attitude that Seth had that rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. I may be biased in that assessment considering the interactions I've had with him and some of the staff, but it is what it is. We'll see if he sticks to "his plan" and changes the culture of Virginia Tech or if it is all just smoke and mirrors and he is just using a wounded program to help boost him to a better job in the near future.
It's amazing how distrustful some are of anyone outside the bubble of 'The Virginia Tech Family'. Someone comes from outside with a defined set of plans for a program and a proven resume of their plans resulting in success, and they are to be distrusted. Someone from 'inside the Hokie family' has a rigid mindset about how to run a program and will not be forced off that set of plans, and they are to be lauded. Funny how that works in some folks' minds.
Buzz has multiple Sweet Sixteens & an Elite Eight finish on his resume. His teams in the last six seasons have done as much as has been accomplished in the entire history of Hokie basketball. It seems logical we should embrace that proven excellence, and not be cynical of it merely because it comes from someone who was born outside Virginia.
For someone who is always saying how blind everyone is to everything I find it rather humorous that you are so unwilling to admit that Buzz might have faults.
So when did this turn into me denying Buzz has faults? I've not done that, nor will I do that. You might want to twist it that way, but then that seems to be because you are carrying baggage over some of my previous posts. I'd suggest you get over that, it's an unhealthy tendency.
The original point of contention above was that I had the temerity to suggest Weaver & Johnson allowed the basketball program to become a disaster. The original post was about how Buzz is working to craft the program into a success. Some folks prefer creating some tangents to distract from that, evidently.
They certainly do:
You like to take a shot at Weaver whenever possible and then took one at Johnson too. HokieJoe defended them and then you took a tangent to say that he was "distrusting of someone outside the Virginia Tech family" which isn't true since he stated why he felt the way he does. HokieJoe also has some real knowledge of the internal workings of the program so what he says can't easily be dismissed.
My only point was the irony in someone who always seems to cynical about everything be so all in on Buzz, that was all.
I didn't realize you were so defensive about negative comments towards Weaver. Not that it would change what I post, I just didn't realize you were so all in on Weaver.
Again, you conveniently twist what I posted by not including what was actually posted above. I didn't name names of those distrustful of outsiders, you did. I posted in response to his comments on Buzz, not on his comments about Johnson. Other than his attempt to spin the disastrous level the program dropped to during Weaver & Johnson's guidance. Is that something that is also debatable, like the insider's distrust coloring his perception of outside influences on The Family? You seem to be verifying what I've posted above. Thanks, I appreciate it!
This right here defines the changing mindset of the Virginia Tech community under Whit Babcock, and its a GOOD thing. We need to get out of the small market backwoods mindset that we have been so indoctrinated into believing for so long and realize just how big a presence we are. When people think about the commonwealth and sports teams within it, they think Virginia and Virginia Tech. People see the VT, and it doesn't matter where you are, people will recognize it as Virginia Tech (no lie, I got comments about my VT jacket in Rome, Florence, and Venice last year on my honeymoon). We are a name program that somehow has absolutely failed to reach the pinnacle in any varsity team sport during the >100 year history of the school.
The 'Hokie family' way has not led us to success at any point in our history. Not once have we claimed a team title in a varsity sport. Not once in any of them. Maybe its really not that bad of an idea to bring in people with a complete fresh perspective to re-calibrate our goals and expectations to the level at which a school like us should be setting them.
Thank You
WOW! Just Frickin' WOW!
somewhat relevant:
seth allen changed his twitter name to Mr. Paint Touch lol.
Buzz's my way or the highway attitude is backed by an overall cheery attitude. Seth's was not. Being a very open and outspoken coach is something we aren't used too. Buzz probably isn't used to having a fan base behind him from the beginning, one that doesn't need the encouragement.
Its also backed by 2 Sweet 16s, an Elite 8, 5 NCAA tournament bids in a row, and a Big East regular season title. Players will listen to a guy with a proven track record. Certainly doesn't hurt that he's a really good guy as well.