Seeing how Justin Fuente's name keeps coming up in regards to the Virginia Tech head coach opening I decided to do a bio for people who may not know about him to learn a little about him,
Fuente was born in Oklahoma where he played QB in high school. He was recruited by many of the Big 12 schools but decided to stay in state at Oklahoma. He played for two seasons there before transferring to a familiar place for Hokie fans, Murray State. After graduating he played one year as a backup in the arena football league.
Fuente then got into coaching as a QB coach at Illinois State in 2001, He was promoted to OC in 2004 at Illinois State where he stayed until 2006. Fuente was hired by TCU as the QB coach for the 2007 season. He remained as the QB coach for one season when he was promoted to CO-OC while staying as the QB coach. Fuente helped TCU have a 12-1 record and a BCS bowl game, including a nice beating of LOLUVA in Cville in 2009. In 2010 TCU went undefeated and beat Wisconsin in the Rose bowl, while putting up impressive numbers on offense. In 2011 TCU finished 11-2 and again was putting up impressive numbers using the spread.
After the 2011 season Fuente was offered the Memphis head coaching job. Memphis was 2-10 in 2011 before Fuente took over. The following year Memphis went 4-8. In 2013 Memphis went 3-9. In 2014 Memphis finally turned it around in a big way going 10-3 and a bowl win over BYU in Miami. This was Memphis first bowl game since 2008 and first bowl win since 2005. Now in 2015 Memphis is 8-1 with a win over Ole Miss on their resume.
Fuente has very little information out there about recruiting in fact 247 credits him with 5 recruits.
Comments
Like , would be a great hire.
Totally...
Hire this man!
I'm still on the Tom Herman bandwagon. But just from watching Bud at the presser yesterday that man deserves a HC position somewhere.
But what if a guy like Herman or Fuente come in, and bridge the gap to get a NC? Do you think Bud would be happier being part of a NC team, or being a head coach somewhere else with a big ? for end result? Dude isn't getting any younger himself either.
At the end of this contract, Bud is probably going somewhere else to be an HC, if hea's not the head coach at VT.
I don't think we can make an NC before 2019 ends, in 3 seasons.
I've always thought Bud loves his job and really likes where he is. The ideal situation is for him is to be our next HC but not sure he'd rather leave for a HC position somewhere else than stay as a DC here (if he doesn't get the VT HC gig). He's not getting any younger as mentioned above.
As a side note, seems to be rumors of DC issues at A&M. So if he doesn't find a HC position, who knows if that comes into play.
Do you have a link to these rumors? Cause half my high school friends are Aggies, and it seems like they really love Chief.
coachingsearch.com reported that Sumlin responded to questions about his DC, cutting down speculation. Was going on where there is smoke, there is fire. Didn't dig deeper than that.
Gotcha. Just seemed curious to me.
Coachingsearch.com is great, had a note from Richt how he has no desire to leave and his wife and he are happy in Athens. Some good insight.
Thinking of Fuente & Foster together as our coaches...
Giggity...
Well you got your wish.
Memphis Offensive Rankings (Opponent Adjusted FEI) - Football Outsiders
2010-117th
2011-116th
Justin Fuente Hired <----
2012-114th
2013-110th
2014-65th
2015- 16th
so what you're saying is he would have had hokie fans clamoring to can him after 2014?
lol
Yes, and, 2013 as well.
Fuente has a history of success. Some OC's don't.
I'll take him.
I'm most excited about having a OC and QB Whisperer as HC. Time to get the most out of our QB's. Seems to have been a long time since we've had that.
have we ever had that? I'd say we're closer now than we've ever been...I think Brewer is punching above his weight...
Agreed, Brewer punches above his weight.
But the potential scale of offensive improvement, particularly QB improvement, is so great at VT that it is tough to comprehend. Loeffler looks much better this year....and we're average. I have full faith that the new regime will have us with better QB play and offensive execution in short time.
I don't have as much faith in that as you do. I think Loeffler is under rated and certainly all of the hard work he's put in will go under appreciated. Even if a new coach comes in and we start to see fast results you have to wonder how much of that improvement could be contributed to the groundwork laid by Loeffler. I think more than most are willing to admit.
I think it's one of those things where Loeffler spent 3 years hammering away at a 10' thick wall and the next guy is gonna come in and finish off the last foot to break through the wall. From the outside looking in all you're going to see is the guy who broke through. You won't realize or appreciate all of the hard work that went into that first 9'.
We clearly have different opinions on the competency of Scot Loeffler.
Luckily, that discussion is soon to cease.
It's not entirely out of the realm of possibility that if Bud is hired as HC he could retain Loeffler...
just sayin'
Loeffler could also wind up somewhere like BC where we'd have to play him every year. The results of those match ups would undoubtedly foster further discussion on the topic
Ill go on the limb and say I think Loeffler could be a good coach one day. The guy works his butt off, he can recruit, I think he might need some more grooming, None of his teams stats bode well for him at ALL
OFEI Rank:
Like I said, I like Loeffler, a lot of this can be put on the players and situations (injuries etc.), but it doesnt look pretty.
What's his ranking against other teams that run pro-style systems?
At Temple he improved their offensive ranking to the best it's been in 5 years. At the other two stops he was put in charge at the exact moment the roster was bereft of any serious offensive talent. Dude has had some nasty situations.
To be fair to Brewer, he did have Chad Morris as a HS HC and he is working with Loeffler as OC/QB coach. He's a pretty good QB when he can stay on his feet.
I like him because I picture Selma Hayek saying "FUENTE" in a very sexy latina voice every time I hear his name and I can definitely get behind that.
Hire the man.
is that diamond studded trim? how much do you think that cost?
I appreciate your attention to detail, because that's certainly not what I was paying attention to
That's not what I was wondering how much it cost.
It's probably some form of crystal, like Swarovski.
What diamond trim?
Just wanted to say "you're welcome" to everyone. This was good mojo.
KIRBY SMART!! ;-)
So the only thing that concerns me about Fuente is the lack of recruits attached to his name.
In particular, for those who don't know the Paxton Lynch recruiting story.......
Fuente was in his first recruiting season at Memphis, had a scholarship left and got a call from a guy (assistant, maybe?) in Florida that said this QB at a small private school had been overlooked. Fuente offered him, sight unseen. That kid is now on the verge of a top 5 draft pick and has carried this team the last two years. Was that good recruiting?
I think Fuente is an excellent coach, but there is a very real possibility that he lucked out landing Lynch and that Lynch is the secret to his success. Or that Fuente took a QB who was raw material and has molded him into a top 5 pick. Either of those scenarios could be the truth.
He helped mold Dalton.
Yeah, Dalton + Lynch helps make the case that Fuente is a skilled QB molder.
If it was just Lynch, you could make the case that he's Ricky Bustle. Having one great QB does not a QB guru make. We are all well aware that Bustle didn't mold Vick so much as unleashing him. (ugggh, there is a vick/dog pun in there I didn't plan on)
Does it bother anyone how undisciplined his Memphis teams seem to be? Over his 4 years at Memphis his teams have ranked 116th, 120th, 92nd and 125th in penalty yards per game. In fact, I think one of the problems Memphis had with Navy last week was their sloppiness. And that killed them when they faced a team as disciplined and focused as the Navy.
Not to mention that embarrassing brawl at the end of the bowl game vs BYU last year.
Nope. Miami won National Championships while being one of the most penalized teams.
Baylor is one of the most penalized teams too. Doesn't seem to be hurting them too much at the moment.
Sure but with a roster filled with NFL Pro Bowlers
Article on ESPN today about Memphis and a bit of Fuente.
http://espn.go.com/blog/ncfnation/post/_/id/120064/memphis-has-big-dream...
I dont think were going to get a lower FBS coach.
We got Buzz from a better basketball program than ours.
I think Whit is looking at coaches who are currently employed at good football schools. We don't need to settle for "up-n-comers"
Would you consider hiring Tom Herman to be settling?
Not sure Fuente has the body of work out there for Whit to pull the trigger.
I am having so much fun reading these comments!. The upcoming announcement (whenever that is) is more anticipated than Christmas morning to a 5 year old...