The Great Coaching Search - Virginia Tech Edition

Well, it happened and Frank Beamer has announced his retirement after a completely stellar 29 years at Virginia Tech turning a program that was for all intents and purposes a dumpster fire of a program on probation with little to no history to one with 7 conference titles, 8 BCS/Alliance appearances, a National Championship appearance, while playing in a conference the school eyed as a pie in the sky dream when he started.

Where do we go from here? For the majority of us in here, Beamer has been the coach for the majority of our lives, if not the entirety. How do you follow a legend? Who would even be willing to get themselves into that kind of position?

Apparently quite a few of the top names out there, to be honest. Kirby Smart, the DC of perennial powerhouse Alabama has already thrown his name into the pot. We've heard endless rumors that Rich Rodriguez is interested in coming back East and has been linked to the possibility for a while. And of course there's the usual gamete of coaches from lower schools who would love to move up like Justin Fuente and Tom Herman. There's also rumors that Mark Richt could be out at Georgia by year's end as well as Chip Kelly possibly wanting to bail back to college as his experiment in Philadelphia isn't exactly going as planned. Or, do we look to within, and go with Bud Foster, who has been wanting the job forever, or Shane Beamer, who could be our version of a Dabo Swinney?

So when you have a possible lineup of candidates like this, where do you go? How do you sift through the talent pool and bring in the perfect guy for the job. Thankfully, the last time we had to do this, it went exceptionally well for us, so lets go back to that old playbook.

In all seriousness, though, I'm just glad that Whit Babcock is in charge of this process and not myself. Not because I don't think I could totally nail the process (let's be honest, I totally could... boom!) but Whit has proven himself already to our fanbase that he can swing above his weight class and bring in the perfect guy for the job. Of all the guys listed in the above paragraph, there is one that will most likely end up with the job, and that is the shocking out of nowhere bombshell hire. And I'll be honest, I'm a little excited to see what happens.

So sit back, Hokie Nation, and enjoy the ride. We are literally going to have coaches falling over themselves trying to get this job, and we're going to have to turn away some great talent. And one thing is for certain, the next few months and years are going to be exciting, as we're going through a process most of us have never been through before.

And as an aside, I would be remiss in not clarifying this would all not be possible without the work that Frank has done over the past 29 years with this program. He literally built a sustainable program out of nothing, and turned an also ran into a national name. If you don't think we're a national name, read the articles that are coming out about Frank now and the amount of respect that is being paid for what he was able to do. He took a program that was perennially mediocre and turned it into one that is expected to compete for conference titles annually and to get into the national title conversation regularly. We have some of the best facilities in the country with a rabid and loyal fanbase who travels especially well, even when the team isn't playing to expectations. We have the financial ability to pay a new coach a very good salary, and we have the support system within the athletic department and within the fanbase to completely support the new staff from Day 1. None of this is possible without Frank Beamer. I said it before, and I will say it again, long after he is gone, Beamer Ball will still be our reputation. Our Special Teams will always be known as the Pride and Joy, and the expectation will be that we will dominate you in special teams and defense to win games. That is our identity and it will live on. Now we just have to bring in a coach who can build on that reputation and keep progressing it forward.