that's an easy number to fudge. You can buy a house in christiansburg, giles, or even McCoy and pay a third in your mortgage what you'd pay for rent for a similar place in Blacksburg town limits (same goes for buying in town). So yes, if you are looking at prices in Blacksburg, the cost of living is way up there. If you are looking at living within 15 minutes commuting distance, the cost of living is much lower.
I just find this so hard to believe. Even in Blacksburg proper, the housing is very affordable. According to that site Richmond is only 4% above average, but in my experience Blacksburg is significantly cheaper in almost every way.
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It goes like this the same house can be found for the following prices based on geography.
Blacksburg $300,000
Christiansburg $250,000
Fairlawn $200,000
Dublin/Pulaski/Giles $150,000
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No doubt Blacksburg is more expensive than the surrounding area, but the surrounding area is rural virginia. I guess I'm mostly basing this off of finding houses larger than mine in Richmond for less money. And Richmond is 1/3 or less the price of what I grew up with in Nova. Then again growing up around one of the nation's highest cost of living has thrown of my perspective more than I realize.
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We always talked about buying a place in blacksburg, saw some homes in the 600k range and gave up.
Blacksburg is continuously rated as one of the best places in the country to live and raise kids. So there is that. No offense to some of the neighboring areas, but that don't have the same amenities and life style.
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The thing that I found out was the the jobs in Blacksburg do not pay as well as other areas with comparable cost of living. (That is unless you are top tier at VT, in Engineering/Architecture, or software, in which there are few jobs with major employers in the Blacksburg area)
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I'd wager blacksburg salaries are on par for similarly sized/located towns, but the cost of living is inflated. The only people who work at my company and actually live in blacksburg are single engineers (myself excluded because we rent from a friend who is retired and sitting pretty on two separate pensions). The technicians don't make enough and the engineers with families don't want to choose between groceries and rent. Being a college town completely skews the housing market. Every house/condo in town is a potential rental property and is priced as such. If you're too far away from campus to satisfy undergrads, you can still appeal to grad students and med students.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great place to live and that does contribute to the housing prices, but even crappy 4 BR houses in my neighborhood are selling for $300K or renting at $1800/month and there's no way that's because of the schools...
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Completely agree - when I worked in Blacksburg, so many people I worked with that were from the area, either lived there before the housing price boom, or lived in Christiansburg/Giles County.
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I see nothing negative in that. Space for salary negotiation, space for assistants contract/salary negotiation, a great town (which has been listed in the top 3 if not the top town to retire in a few years ago I believe), great facilities, a great program and atmosphere. If a coach is scared of being able to bring VT back to national prominence then he probably shouldn't be coaching. Also as mentioned it's not like the Coastal is filled with elite programs. Tough programs, yes but it is also a division that we were routinely used to winning. So a bit of an easier slate to make the playoffs in theory. i really see nothing bad about this job.
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Also as mentioned it's not like the Coastal is filled with elite programs. Tough programs, yes but it is also a division that we were routinely used to winning.
Agreed. Our biggest concern most years is whether we play FSU/Clemson during the regular season or just in the ACCCG. Compare that to coaching in the SEC, which has other benefits in return for a team like USCe rarely having hopes of the playoffs.
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Bud Foster answers all of these factors. If he were head coach, Hokie Nation would be more unified than it has been in the past 3-4 years (minus the past 3 days). Do it!
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I realize this is going to be a head-scratcher of a comment, but was anyone else besides myself surprised to learn that we had a freshman QB named Jack Click?
Jackson will probably decommit, that leaves us very thin at Quarterback for 2017, essentially a Junior Lawson and a likely true freshman. That means the new coach will have to almost immediately sign a new quarterback for the 2016 class or develop Durkin/Click into respectable quarterbacks. The other option is if Jacob Park opts to come to Tech he was close to committing to us because of Lefty before.
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Loeffler got him here. His dad and Scott were both asst coached at Michigan at the same time. Loeffler has known this kid since he was 5. The word is that Josh Jackson could be the next Mariota.... IMHO, we do not want to lose him.
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I wouldn't be shocked if the new HC taking the reigns on offense but telling Loeffler that he can stay on as QB coach. No matter what issue we have with a Loeffler offense, he knows how to recruit QBs.
Who was responsible for getting Brewer? Shane or Scott? Or was it pretty much a gift from Chad Morris?
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As I recall, Morris ran into Shane somewhere and talked Brewer up to him, said he needed a new place to go. Shane brought that info back to VT (presumably to Loeffler) and the process went from there. So, gift from Morris, yes, and likely both Shane and Scot were involved. Have to imagine that an incoming QB needs the blessing of the QB coach.
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I'm not so sure. Lawson came to us for playtime potential. If a new OC comes in, he gets a do over in the competition with the others.
In addition a transfer now would mean sitting out another year. At that point he could have stayed with Miami. Ironically, he would have had a new coach there, however his starting potential is still probably higher at VT.
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I wonder if Beamer having an administrative position in the football office is any kind of red flag for a potential head coach? I'm not saying it is, just thinking out loud. It's a tall order to follow a legend, and having that legend hanging around the office could give a potential HC pause. I don't think Beamer would interfere with a new coach because that's just not his style, but someone less familiar with the Hokies and Beamer himself might not know that.
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The flaw in your analogy was that Roy Williams was an assistant coach on Dean Smith's staff and is part of the Dean Smith coaching tree.
Unless our next coach is Bud Foster, I can see CFB's future position in the AD's office being a concern. However, considering CFB's reputation and the actual position itself being more for fundraising, I do not forsee it being an issue.
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Comments
I'm shocked to read that living in Blacksburg costs slightly more than the national average!
I'm not small towns often have certain expenses higher than larger metro areas.
College towns make the cost of living much higher than your average American town. Just look at real estate prices.
that's an easy number to fudge. You can buy a house in christiansburg, giles, or even McCoy and pay a third in your mortgage what you'd pay for rent for a similar place in Blacksburg town limits (same goes for buying in town). So yes, if you are looking at prices in Blacksburg, the cost of living is way up there. If you are looking at living within 15 minutes commuting distance, the cost of living is much lower.
for reference:
Blacksburg Cost of Living: 2% above average
Christiansburg Cost of Living: 3% below average
Price's Fork Cost of Living: 2.3% below average
Giles County Cost of Living: 16% below average
Numbers. They'll get after ya.
I just find this so hard to believe. Even in Blacksburg proper, the housing is very affordable. According to that site Richmond is only 4% above average, but in my experience Blacksburg is significantly cheaper in almost every way.
It goes like this the same house can be found for the following prices based on geography.
Blacksburg $300,000
Christiansburg $250,000
Fairlawn $200,000
Dublin/Pulaski/Giles $150,000
No doubt Blacksburg is more expensive than the surrounding area, but the surrounding area is rural virginia. I guess I'm mostly basing this off of finding houses larger than mine in Richmond for less money. And Richmond is 1/3 or less the price of what I grew up with in Nova. Then again growing up around one of the nation's highest cost of living has thrown of my perspective more than I realize.
We always talked about buying a place in blacksburg, saw some homes in the 600k range and gave up.
Blacksburg is continuously rated as one of the best places in the country to live and raise kids. So there is that. No offense to some of the neighboring areas, but that don't have the same amenities and life style.
The thing that I found out was the the jobs in Blacksburg do not pay as well as other areas with comparable cost of living. (That is unless you are top tier at VT, in Engineering/Architecture, or software, in which there are few jobs with major employers in the Blacksburg area)
I'd wager blacksburg salaries are on par for similarly sized/located towns, but the cost of living is inflated. The only people who work at my company and actually live in blacksburg are single engineers (myself excluded because we rent from a friend who is retired and sitting pretty on two separate pensions). The technicians don't make enough and the engineers with families don't want to choose between groceries and rent. Being a college town completely skews the housing market. Every house/condo in town is a potential rental property and is priced as such. If you're too far away from campus to satisfy undergrads, you can still appeal to grad students and med students.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great place to live and that does contribute to the housing prices, but even crappy 4 BR houses in my neighborhood are selling for $300K or renting at $1800/month and there's no way that's because of the schools...
Completely agree - when I worked in Blacksburg, so many people I worked with that were from the area, either lived there before the housing price boom, or lived in Christiansburg/Giles County.
I live in Christainsburg, and as far as I can tell, the cost of living here is pretty cheap. I think it's even slightly better than Roanoke.
And, you really don't have to go far to get to really cheap(er) land and housing. There are so many damn pretty places to live in Floyd or Giles.
I don't get why some people think 20+ minutes is a long commute.
I see nothing negative in that. Space for salary negotiation, space for assistants contract/salary negotiation, a great town (which has been listed in the top 3 if not the top town to retire in a few years ago I believe), great facilities, a great program and atmosphere. If a coach is scared of being able to bring VT back to national prominence then he probably shouldn't be coaching. Also as mentioned it's not like the Coastal is filled with elite programs. Tough programs, yes but it is also a division that we were routinely used to winning. So a bit of an easier slate to make the playoffs in theory. i really see nothing bad about this job.
Agreed. Our biggest concern most years is whether we play FSU/Clemson during the regular season or just in the ACCCG. Compare that to coaching in the SEC, which has other benefits in return for a team like USCe rarely having hopes of the playoffs.
Bud Foster answers all of these factors. If he were head coach, Hokie Nation would be more unified than it has been in the past 3-4 years (minus the past 3 days). Do it!
I realize this is going to be a head-scratcher of a comment, but was anyone else besides myself surprised to learn that we had a freshman QB named Jack Click?
Hokie Sports Link
Anyone know how much potential the kid has as a QB? Thanks.
Walk-on, think he got scout team player of the week a few weeks back.
6-4 over 200 lbs sounds like a great TE
It's weird, but I was thinking the same thing... Can he block and catch? :-)
I do believe that is the plan with Chris Durkin.
Jackson will probably decommit, that leaves us very thin at Quarterback for 2017, essentially a Junior Lawson and a likely true freshman. That means the new coach will have to almost immediately sign a new quarterback for the 2016 class or develop Durkin/Click into respectable quarterbacks. The other option is if Jacob Park opts to come to Tech he was close to committing to us because of Lefty before.
Out of curiosity, what makes you think that Jackson will decommit?
I'm not exactly sure who got him here, but I'm assuming that it is someone who might not stay with the new head coach?
Loeffler got him here. His dad and Scott were both asst coached at Michigan at the same time. Loeffler has known this kid since he was 5. The word is that Josh Jackson could be the next Mariota.... IMHO, we do not want to lose him.
Yes, I've heard a lot about him...
Maybe this new head coach we bring in appeals to Jackson? Whit did say the new coach would be "offensive-minded"
Whose word is that?
I wouldn't be shocked if the new HC taking the reigns on offense but telling Loeffler that he can stay on as QB coach. No matter what issue we have with a Loeffler offense, he knows how to recruit QBs.
Who was responsible for getting Brewer? Shane or Scott? Or was it pretty much a gift from Chad Morris?
As I recall, Morris ran into Shane somewhere and talked Brewer up to him, said he needed a new place to go. Shane brought that info back to VT (presumably to Loeffler) and the process went from there. So, gift from Morris, yes, and likely both Shane and Scot were involved. Have to imagine that an incoming QB needs the blessing of the QB coach.
Loeffler = Lawson. No Loeffler, No Lawson.
Fair enough. No kid is going to determine our coaching search.
It remains to be seen if that is a big deal or not.
I'm not so sure. Lawson came to us for playtime potential. If a new OC comes in, he gets a do over in the competition with the others.
In addition a transfer now would mean sitting out another year. At that point he could have stayed with Miami. Ironically, he would have had a new coach there, however his starting potential is still probably higher at VT.
I wonder if Beamer having an administrative position in the football office is any kind of red flag for a potential head coach? I'm not saying it is, just thinking out loud. It's a tall order to follow a legend, and having that legend hanging around the office could give a potential HC pause. I don't think Beamer would interfere with a new coach because that's just not his style, but someone less familiar with the Hokies and Beamer himself might not know that.
Dean Smith having that spot at UNC didn't stop Roy Williams from bolting Kansas
The flaw in your analogy was that Roy Williams was an assistant coach on Dean Smith's staff and is part of the Dean Smith coaching tree.
Unless our next coach is Bud Foster, I can see CFB's future position in the AD's office being a concern. However, considering CFB's reputation and the actual position itself being more for fundraising, I do not forsee it being an issue.
I had the same concerns, but from what I've read the position is going to involve a lot of fundraising and public appearances.