Source: Virginia Tech baseball coach Pete Hughes is leaving to take the Oklahoma job and assistant Pat Mason will be promoted. #Hokies— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) June 27, 2013
Well that's a tough blow.
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First they beat us and then they take our coach? That hurts.
didn't we lose to OKst?
No, we lost to OU.
http://www.hokiesports.com/baseball/schedule/
+1, you got me by 7 seconds
ahhh my bad. Good call.
It was definitely OU
Geez, this summer is not going well news wise.
Dang I thought Dennis Wolff was going to get the job...
I realize we put a minimal amount of money in any of our Olympic sports programs and put the primary efforts into football, but why can't we reward success? No coach is going to want to come and stay at a school that does this sort of stuff. They will see it as a stepping stone and move on after a few years.
Have to say that it would be mildly entertaining if Weaver found out Hughes was leaving by Oklahoma announcing it first. Kind of like how Greenberg found out he was fired when Weaver announced there was to be a basketball press conference later in the day.
Some numbers in advance of the announcement:
Former coach Golloway made $385K at Oklahoma.
Hughes had total pay of $157,437 this year. Was due to get a 5 percent raise in July.
Weaver had been alluding to the fact that he wanted to give Pete a raise and extension.
Smells like a weasel...I mean Weaver...
Once again it appears like weaver is pinching pennies. And people wonder why we don't have any national championships
I'm not disagreeing with any of what you said, but here's the flip side of the argument - our athletic department doesn't lose money like many others, so there's something to be said about there. Remember, Maryland cut some of its athletic programs to save money... I don't see VT doing that, so that's a plus.
...except one of the main reasons MD lost so much money was because of the football stadium expansion/renovation. They spent too much (and didn't need it in the first place) and couldn't fill it up.
But what's the point of saving money if you're not going to put it back into the olympic sports to make them grow. Weaver just scrooges the money from all the other sports to throw into football. This is the exact reason so many other schools see our athletics as a joke except for football. You have to spend money to make money. The argument seems to be that we don't have fans for these other sports. The reason there are no fans is because all our other sports are bad. Also, we never go out and get head coaches. We just hire the assistant coach to take over, and bring in another nobody to be their assistant, and the train just continues. We show our recruits how nice our facilities are, but facilities won't make the players any better if there aren't great coaches in there teaching them. Rant over.
I love everything about this post. We can look at USC hiring Andy Enfield. Why couldn't we have gotten him? That would've made people excited about the basketball program.
Seriously though how many assistants have we promoted (even after claiming a "nationwide search for the best coach possible")? By my count, we're up to 6: men's and women's soccer, baseball, men's and women's basketball, women's lax? Not to mention Coach Dresser for wrestling was just down the road at Christiansburg High School. That's utterly insane, especially considering this has become the standard process for every new head coach we hire now. I'm not saying any of these coaches weren't deserving, but it's pretty obvious Weaver doesn't have the ability to fulfill his duties as a capable Athletic Director for a Division I NCAA school any longer.
While I think we are all frustrated to say the least, moves like these help to reduce player turnover for sure which could set programs back even further. Simply put Tech doesn't have the pockets of other schools and location is probably somewhat tougher to sell. Wrestling and women's soccer have turned out extremely well, here's to hoping baseball follows their lead and keeps up momentum Hughes built.
Sorry to say I'm not sold on all that thinking. It was obviously the case for men's basketball, but non-revenue sport players don't transfer very often. Their situations are a lot more complex because full scholarships aren't usually available to go around to everyone. Also, VT is #32 in revenue- ahead of about 20 total BCS level schools by my count, including UCLA, Cal, Missouri, Clemson, Colorado, Arizona, etc. The money is certainly there to hire at least some established coaches instead of promoting assistants. As you said, some of the situations have turned out well- and I'm absolutely glad they have- yet I still think it's incredibly clear that Weaver is no longer able to perform the duties necessary for an athletic director at an ACC school.
VT has a good financial situation but doesn't have a deep enough donor base to pay ridiculous salaries. Doesn't matter if you can still win. Winning has more to do with performance on the field. I'd like to see us beat them next time.
Beat me to it
If you are Weaver you have to try and retain him, Hughes was everything you want in a baseball coach through and through. When Oklahoma makes that offer you match it and if at the end of the day he leaves because that's where he wants to be so be it, but I highly doubt he would leave Blacksburg if offered the same salary. Just when I was starting to get excited about VT Baseball.
Saw it on Twitter:
916 days until Weaver retires. We can weather the storm!!!
so what happened to ou's coach?
Hired at Auburn, I believe.
Yup, left for Auburn. But from what I've read people at OU really didn't like him. There's a weird story on him refusing to let his nephew transfer.
This is how I felt when it was told Weaver hired from within.
I heard on the radio that OU flew Hughes to Norman in Toby Keith's private jet. Now that's one way to make a hire.
Press Conference from earlier today. I think it hits a lot of the questions a lot of us are asking. Mason does have a lot of Pete's qualities so hopefully this is one of those, like for likes instead of just another inside hire because we didn't think we could get anything else.
This. The baseball team is very close with each other. Coaches, players, managers and equipment people all are very close. Mason helped build this program and I believe is a very capable coach to fill Hughes's shoes. Who knows maybe Hughes recommended Mason to replace him.
As someone with years of management experience, I have found that if you have a good employee, you keep him happy and pay him as much as you can to keep him. Perhaps we did that, perhaps not; I don't know the answer to that question. The issue that you can't control is what happens when someone with deeper pockets and an eye for talent comes along. I hate to see us loose a good coach, but you can't knock Hughes for doing the best thing for him and his family.
According to a quote from Hughes to Mike Barber, Hughes said his mind was already made up and no salary offer would change it. The only thing that would change his mind was if his family didn't like Norman.
Thanks for the info, though I do not like the ultimate result of it all.
The man, The Legend; Pete Hughes you will be missed