UPDATE:
VT Athletic Director Whit Babcock addressed the media following the team's win over UVA, and he vehemently denied the presence of any official agreement with any head coach.
"I'm aware of the rumors that broke, I'll just tell you that they're not official at this time," Babcock said. "Even on principle I wouldn't do that, I wouldn't do that before Coach Beamer's last game and to speculate and get out there too out front is premature and probably not the best thing to do."
He added that he feels it's "not necessarily accurate or fair to speculate on assistants that may stay or may not" and he pledged to address the issue later.
Babcock said the current staff will indeed coach the team's just-earned bowl game, but reiterated that no agreement officially exists with a new coach.
"Nothing official here, this man deserves better than that and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Babcock said. "I know people ran with things, there's definitely no confirmation from our end or any other end and when we can talk more about it, we will."
A flurry of reports linking Memphis Tigers head coach Justin Fuente with Tech's open position atop the football program prompted Babcock's comments.
The first report of the move came courtesy of Brody Logan, a sports anchor with the Washington, D.C. Fox affiliate, who reported that Fuente was set to come aboard and retain Bud Foster as his defensive coordinator.
Can confirm Justin Fuente will be the Virginia Tech #Hokies next coach, w/Bud Foster staying on as DC. Announcement expected next week.— Brody Logan (@BrodyLogan) November 28, 2015
Since then, Pete Thayer of Sports Illustrated followed up with a confirmation of Fuente's connection to the job.
.@SIPeteThamel reported Va. Tech is expected to name Memphis's Justin Fuente as their coach. Tigers lead SMU 42-0 (!) in the second quarter.— SI College Football (@si_ncaafb) November 28, 2015
ESPN's Brett McMurphy added a twist of his own, claiming Shane Beamer will remain on staff, although his role is unclear.
Justin Fuente will be new coach at Virginia Tech. Bud Foster & Shane Beamer will remain on Hokies' staff, source told @espn— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) November 28, 2015
Comments
ESPN weighing in:
Shane as ST coach.
Hopefully. I want a new offensive staff.
Shane should be right at home coaching the kickoff return squad. There are always two first-string runners on the field.
^- This (x1000). Seriously, a whole new offensive staff and philosophy is needed here at VT.
It would be good to keep Stinespring on staff in some role. He is a good recruiter with connections all over the state and our tight ends have played well enough.
Its either Stinespring or Shane. We can't keep both. Fuente needs to feel free to hire or fire any coach on this staff. Since he is the new HC, it must be done with his agreement. IMHO, Shane should try to get a job somewhere else, otherwise the rumors of his keeping the job because of his last name, fairly or not, will keep nipping at his heels.
I'd like Shane to leave and get a HC gig at a smaller school, he came close to getting Troy last year. Losing Stinespring would really hurt if he started recruiting against us
I'm glad you brought up the part about BS recruiting against us, as not many people are talking about it and it really has me worried. If he leaves, someone else will pick him up because of his connections and will use him against us. Also, Im not sure why there is so much hate for him now other than people wanting change for the sake of change. Plus the recent offensive struggles are not his doing. I would bet he would go along with whatever scheme a new HC wants to go with if it means keeping his job.
Everybody else is
I don't want to change for the sake of change.
I want to change the coaching staff because the current staff isn't getting it done.
I'll leave it to the discretion of the new head coach who stays and who goes.
People still hate him for his OC days. But really he and Shane are easily our best recruiters, and I don't have much to complain about our tight ends this year, or our depth at tight end, or our tight end recruiting. Malzahn apparently tried to take him last year, I just think if someone on our offensive staff should stay it should be him
Give Stiney an office job, let him be one of our recruiting evaluators. I honestly just want a bit of a refresh on offense. Move Shane to ST/LB, keep Foster, Gray, and Wiles. Remainder of staff up to Fuente. That gives him 5 assistants/OC to hire.
I like this idea
I'd like to see Stiney go elsewhere and try to start a head coaching career. I think he has the personality and skills to be a great head coach. It would be nice to see Beamer's Coaching Tree start to grow.
I think he will be gone we shall see to where and for what job title.
Whip and ST coach would be good
Awesome turn of event. Great Hire! Lets hope Gray is also retained.
EN FUENTE
Fuente =/= fuego
fuego= fire, blaze, light, fireplace, hearth
fuente= source, font, fountain, spring, platter, fount, well, wellspring, springhead
fuente en fuego
Well then I hope he turns our offense into a fuente of points.
On Platter... the way we like to serve up the 'hoos.
Fuego
Shoulda known with a name like vthead you'd be down. Nice work.
Haha... I couldn't resist :)
Why you tryin to cramp my style, man
Wooohooo!
(First reaction. More thoughtful responses to come.)
Fantastic news, especially if Bud stays on.
They just announced it during the game, interesting timing
That wasn't an announcement, that's ESPN "breaking the news".
I have heard TORRIAN will be back too.
IF BUD STAYS AS DC, TORRIAN STAYS AS DBU COACH, AND SHANE IS ST+ COACH, THIS IS A HOMERUN HIRE.
Exactly this!!!
I imagine Fuente will want to bring his Co-Offensive Coordinators, one is an RB coach and the other is QB coach. Thus, Shane would likely be ST coach.
Ahhhh I'm not feeling the keeping of Shane. I don't want him on our staff, just because who is dad is. He hasn't earned it.
Hasn't earned it? Have you looked at his resume? He would be a great ST/LB coach.
He's been an underwhelming recruiter and running backs coach since he's arrived in Blacksburg. It's OK if people have reservations about this. I do too.
I take issue with people thinking the only reason he got the job is because of his last name and keeping him is only because of his last name. It's not fair to Shane or Frank.
Well the argument is that he didn't get the job on merit. If his resume doesn't confirm that he belongs, then it isn't unfair to anyone to say that he shouldn't be on staff. I personally feel neutral about him. His last name means nothing to me, only his performance as a coach.
I think he first got the job on merit. I'm not sure he's showed why he deserves to keep the job.
Didn't Shane coach ST for the bowl game last season? I'm pretty sure he did it in South Carolina too...I hated him as a RB Coach but the ST position could be his bread and butter.
Yep. Shane was ST at SC and also a defensive coach while at SC.
Underwhelming recruiter?
Caleb, Fisher, Mckenzie, Minor, Nijman, Clarke, Reid, Reavis. He is averaging 2 4* star recruits a year what other coach on our staff recruits so well? I get that a lot of those recruits haven't panned out, and he hasn't shown much as a RB coach to but to call him an underwhelming recruiter is silly
Not if you had much higher expectations for him coming into the program.
If I'm easily the best football program in my state, and I have easily the best facilities in the state, and I hire a running backs coach who proceeds to struggle year after year to establish a coherent running back rotation... I'm going to be pretty underwhelmed by that guy's recruiting if he has Shane Beamer's W-L record on the recruiting trail. In the coaching game, if you aren't a great tactician or developer of talent, you damn well better recruit.
It's not just the talent he's brought in, it's all the talent that has left the state under his watch. If I am being very generous, I would say that Shane has met my expectations as a recruiter. If I think about all the talent that Tech has missed out on, I could easily say I've been underwhelmed.
The offense has consistently lost ground reputation wise for a LONG time now. Started with Percy H, culminated with the T-BREDS. People might not talk about it but we don' t have a strong product to sell in Virginia anymore. Well, not until today. Noone believed that Beamer was doing anything to fix an anemic offense, except for writing his memoir.
Can't sell what folks have already determined isn't true.
I actually think Bud is pretty close to getting a pretty nice sized DL together. If that happens, watch for some stud LBs want to play behind it.
But again, Charlie and Bud have established a reputation in Virginia. DBU 4 sure. Front 7 not so much. Again, I think we're almost there with our DTs and some pretty big guys from a frame perspective at DE.
To sell something you need some semblance of truth. D, yes I can see that a kid in the front seven can make it to the NFL from VT...and I think a successful though more difficult pitch can be made. Offense I think many folks had tuned us out.
Hanging all that on Shane? Don't make no sense to me. Kid crushed it at USC. At least he knows his way around big time football recruiting, anyway.
Stiney versus Shane. You Shane haters won't want to hear it but if he is kept as it appears, it is because he has been there done that recruiting wise in the SEC. Selling a VT O... if we retain our key players is going to get much much easier next year. I like Stiney alot recruiting wise, but I think Fuente took the right decision here.
Hold on now, you can't have it both ways. You can't give Shane all the credit for the recruiting at South Carolina and then not hold him accountable for the recruiting misses at Virginia Tech. I don't think it makes me a "Shane hater" to acknowledge that he has been at the center of some HUGE misses recently.
I actually like the idea of holding onto Shane, Frank was the head of a recruiting network that he built over multiple decades. Keeping those relationships intact in-state will be just as crucial for Fuente as creating new relationships will be. Shane can be the bridge between the two regimes that smoothes everything over. Let's not forgot how badly things turned on Al Groh when he burned almost every bridge in state he touched.
Shane has averaged 2 4* star recruits every cycle, that is pretty darn good at Virginia Tech.
Cav did much of the legwork on Caleb. I'd give Stacy Searels as much, if not more, credit for landing Nijman. I don't want to beat a dead horse, but to essentially go zero for the Richmond area in 2015 cycle (Ricky DeBerry, Clelin Ferrell, Garrett Taylor, Darvin Taylor, Felton Davis) is extremely underwhelming to me. 2016 isn't any better, Scott Bracey committed to Duke very early in the process. Jalen Elliott, who recruitnicks believed was a lock to Tech, committed to Norte Dame.
Shane had early success recruiting at Tech, but hasn't burned down the recruiting trail as of late (in a what have you done for me lately business).
Again, he has a boxing glove on a stick! I am getting one for Christmas!
I like the move to keep Shane. He has established rapport and connections with high school programs in Virginia. If Fuente would arrive with little to no connections to Virginia HS football, I'm not sure that the incoming class or next year's class would be very strong.
The important note in all this is that hopefully had the final say about whether Foster and/or Shane were retained.
Well at least we should have head coach who will cut him lose if he's not up to par.
I'm really hoping that Shane steps up the recruiting and switches to ST because it would be great to continue the Beamer legacy. If not, I feel like Fuente, being the new guy in town, is going to be way too afraid to fire him due to the "Beamer" namesake if circumstances are less than ideal.
Or maybe VT simply isn't as easy to recruit to as folks want to believe and he's been dealt mostly injuries or no talent at RB since David Wilson left...early?
We need to clean house with our offensive coaches. I don't care about his resume at South Carolina. What has he done as a coach lately? It took him almost half the season to make a decision on Macmillan. I miss Billy Hite. He also hasn't done much for Richmond recruiting lately
I realize McMillan is a god as well as Rogers.
BUT NEITHER ONE WOULD PLAY UNDER CAV BECAUSE THEY CAN'T BLOCK
They both have gotten Tex KILLED this year.
I just want a coaching staff good enough at what they do that they don't change what they're going to do.
CAV would have given you a big middle finger, shut your stupid piehole you ignorant fan. And Rogers and McMillan would have learned to block while Trey Mac got majority of snaps.
I see the talent, but lets not act like these guys are liabilities in pass block.
I'll be honest, I have generally disagreed with most of your comments throughout this coaching search, but this certainly doesn't deserve a downvote. IMO it was listening to the fans that got us into an offensive rut in the first place. Cav and Hite were doing an excellent job, but the people demanded change.
You mean Hite? Cav was a defensive coach.
Did he have any hand in special teams this year? Generally not a good season for that unit
Really? FG good, coverage GREAT, punting awesome. So other than punt returns where were they not doing well?
Yeah, I don't understand complaints about ST this year. We're doing extremely well across the board. Shane works on kickoff coverage, IIRC. Even though Slye is a touchback machine, returns given up have been pretty well handled.
My only complaints about ST this year have been a shortage of blocked kicks, and Stroman.
I thought the return teams were pathetic all season (KR and PR). Stroman made tons of mistakes that shouldn't have happened with better coaching. JC Coleman did pretty poorly with most of his returns being under 20 yards. Der'woun Greene was alright.
If I've been reading By The Advanced Numbers right this year, we've had the #1 ST unit across the board for at least a few weeks this season.
But okay.
Facts and figures have no place!!!
He's a good coach, might be coaching the wrong position though
Everything I've read about Shane Beamer is that he can coach on the defensive side of the ball and special teams. Of course, given our defensive staff, he wasn't going to coach on that side of the ball. I'm ambivalent about Shane staying at VT. IMHO, I think he can better his resume by trying to take over at a G5 school.
I'd love to see him stay on the staff and be successful. I'd also love to see him go to JMU for 5-10 years and then come back to Tech and win us a few more championships
+1 completely agree but last time pointed that out I got downvoted. Hopefully Shane can crush it again recruiting since the impending retirement of his dad won't be a detriment.
Fan. Fuente. Tastic.
What happened to the announcement next week after this weekend, this game, etc.??
This is ESPN "breaking the news"
Thank you for keeping on this!
Is there any idea where ESPN got the information?
Whit doesn't seem like the type of guy to leak this, doesn't have a history of doing so (to my knowledge), and vehemently denies it.
I think from Memphis but the closer you get to a new coach coming in the more people who know. Could be anyone at Memphis or VT. From staff or coaches to someone who knows they met, to someone at a law firm who draws up the documents.
As Hokie Fireman said above that wasn't an announcement, just "breaking the news" or reporting by espn.
We have a new coach. Now let's go win this for Frank!
Man, these announcers are going in hard on this subject being truth. And it's scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
Would be a great weekend if we can put this Rivalry game away, and then have the official announcement.
Its Fuente . Not Fuentes!!
I don't get the timing of the reporting though, both teams are in the middle of a game.
They have to be first! Who cares about this snoozer of a game by two bad teams!
Funny though that ESPN's "breaking" news is about a half hour after it's come out from multiple other channels. They never beat anyone with news.
But they always take credit for reportinng it first. Pretty sad, actually.
Sure, but a lot of people heard it on ESPN first.
As in most of the VT fans who were watching from home.
Or on DVR 6 hours later because I had to go to work at half time.
I feel your pain brother. I was on farm until halfway through the 3rd quarter.
If this is all true.....can I be the first to nominate whit b. For president ???
Yes yes yes!!!!!
Whit is the d@$n man!!!
With a dearth of quality candidates, he would actually do really well!
This is great! So excited that Bud is staying! Hopefully this is our chance to elevate to the next level.
#JustinTime
This is all I can think of when I see #JustinTime
I thought that was a photoshop reference to something in "Lane 2" aka. Hooville...
I was wrong. That's just a cheesy movie.
"Miracle in Lane 2" is the title of the sequel. "Miracle In Lane (1)" starred Frank and Tyrod (or Mike, or Shayne, or Danny...fill in the blank)
I like Shane at Special Teams.
That bum should be fired! Example is his recruiting lately!
Or, you know, the amazing special teams that showed up in the last bowl game when he was ST and acting head coach.
Shai, Nijman, Deon Clarke, D.J. Reid, CJ Revis, Nigel Williams, Frye, Adonis Alexander. Yeah, screw that guy.
You can disagree with me all you want, but he got OWNED in Richmond last cycle! Didn't land one guy! As far as I am concerned goodbye? Cav was a 50*better running back coach than he is! And I could care less what he did at USC jr.
By the way it was lefty and frank that landed shai not Shane!
Except cav didn't coach running backs.
Sorry to to much bouron but still Shane has been terrible since he has even here!
Shane has definitely whiffed on a lot of elite talent.
I'm not saying he's a bad recruiter because he couldn't get guys to come to a struggling Tech program with a head coach on the verge of retiring... but I'm not going to say he's a great recruiter either.
Fair assessment.
Some of the other commenters need to "sleep on it" and try again.
And yet credible reports out of south Carolina were that the beginning of the end for spurrier was when they lost beamer as recruiting coordinator.
Do you have any #sauces? I would love to read into this a bit more.
Yes, surely Spurrier would still be around if Shane were still there recruiting.
/S
If Shane was able to pull some more kids like Lattimore and Clowney, yeah, actually.
OK, one huge factor in retaining Shane is how much he drives LOLUVA fans absolutely insane. They HATE him. And I love him for that.
I think keeping him on board is a mistake regardless of his ability. It's going to look like Fuente got strong armed into keeping him.
I can see where you're coming from as far as Fuente being "strong armed". Regardless of the actual reason people will create their own narrative to fit their personal truths.
Maybe in his discussions Whit they decided, as a courtesy to FB, to allow SB to remain on the staff for another year until something opens up. I feel fairly certain since Fuente pretty much had his pick of schools that if he didn't want SB to remain on the staff or if it was a point of contention during negotiations, SB would not be on the staff (narrative created).
At this point it's all guess work until Whit addresses the podium.
EDIT: misread your post.
Happy about Fuente... the way our defense is getting lit up right now.... I hope keeping Bud isn't a mistake
Defense is gassed. UVA has had the ball for 32:00 vs. VT only 18:00. The constant 3-and-outs are killing us in more ways than one.
Still over 10 minutes to play. They shouldn't be gassed already, despite TOP.
Yeah I'm hoping that's the case. Our offense is terrible. Not many nice things to say about the outgoing staff.
Yep, this game is pretty much the epitome of bad. Not necessarily in terms of output (we've seen worse) but because it's the last game in the third year with a mostly healthy offense. Just unacceptable at this point.
I really think the fact that we're rallying is 100% because of pure heart by our players. Coaches have done them no favors all day.
I would like to think it would be 62-20 right now.
Giving up 24 in regulation to UNC isn't bad. Nor is 20 points to UVA. East Carolina and Duke are the only games I really put on the defense. If Bud and Fuente can work together, I'm all for it. If this is being 'forced' on Fuente, I'm not ok with that.
How could he be forced into anything when he is 100 percent in the driver's seat on whether or not to take the job? If he doesn't like the living arrangements, there are plenty of other vacancies to choose from.
Let me rephrase: I would be disappointed if Fuente feels like he's 'settling' by taking Foster, or feels pressured to do so, whether by the previous administration or current.
Murray State connection continues!
ESPN's infamous "sources" once again. They're allergic to giving credit that's off-network. Been done with ESPN "journalism" since the Leach fiasco.
Let's party like its 1999!
And now, #OneMore4Frank
Seriously, the idea of breaking news before the schools make it official is annoying.
Can someone who's good at photoshop make a picture of Fuente wearing a VT polo and hat? I'd love to set it as my background. Very excited for the future while also being very appreciative of the past.
Fingers crossed he brings his QB and WR coaches. I'm hoping fuente brings an energy and focus that this team really needs.
I like our current WR coach.
Yea, but we have to allow Fuente to bring in his own offensive staff at the least. I'm amazed that he even agreed to keep Shane Beamer as part of the staff, to be honest.
I'm not a Shane fan but I like his energy. he is a young coach so maybe he'll learn from Fuente.
I expect Shane to be on the defensive side. I can see Fuente delegating the defense side to Foster and Foster replacing Cornell with Shane. Shane's entire non-VT coaching career has been on the defensive side.
What's happening to Cornell?
Probably gone. He coaches a position that we barely use now and he is an average at best recruiter.
Him leaving should come as no surprise.
Not saying anything bad about our current WR coach. It is nice to see WRs get blocks down field. To me it seems that the current Memphis WR has coached up a group that was lacking in depth.
I'm the farthest thing from an expert but if the offense coaches are all on the same page I would not want to break up that unity.
Not trying to make anything big out of this, but Lawson was recruited by Loeffler. I hope like heck Loeffler is out as OC by season's end, but I definitely would keep him on staff (not as OC) if it meant keeping Lawson from leaving.
Lawson's high school coach is on staff, and one of the reasons Lawson came here was for immediate playing time. Doesn't seem like the type to sit out a year
Good to hear, didn't know that. Leg up.
He's the offensive quality control coach, whatever that is. Lawson's QB and OC in high school
Quality control coaches breakdown film and analyze it for the rest of the coaching staff.
Why would Lawson transfer? He will likely start next year and seeing with what Fuente did with Dalton and Lynch you would think he would be pretty excited about the player Fuente could form him into.
I'm fairly certain Kaaya landed Lawson for us
I'm sorry but this is ridiculous
10 bucks says I know what the first question is.
100% for sure it was a leak - a local leak. My #sauces within administration fully believes it came from within the athletic dept. Last one was Jim Weaver's retirement.
Weird that it went to a local TV from another state.
If you're talking Fox 5...that's in DC, which isn't a state, and covers a good chunk of Virginia. Definitely the biggest market in Virginia.
Some low level guy with the AD has been spinning yarns that Fuente has been on campus 3 times to do interviews.
My dream combo has been Fuente-Foster and it's coming to fruition, which I love. I'll have to see what role Shane will have.
What's impressive is that, looking back at all the rumors, this has been in place for a while now, and its just now coming out now that the regular season is over. Whit got his guy immediately and kept it under wraps to allow Frank, the Seniors, and the Memphis team to have their moment before the news broke.
Very, very glad we have Babcock in charge right now. He's turning out to be one hell of a homerun hire, and we're just scratching the surface on how much he is going to benefit us.
Yep, I foresee great things from VT athletics in the near future. Whit just gets it.
So I was looking for Memphis fans thoughts on this hire and found this, which is quite the contrast to how we operated on offense from early this year at least. Will be interesting to see it play out
Link
Personally I like to see that, I'm from the feature back school of thought
There is a reason Whit tried to lock up Fuente so early. He was going to get a lot of interest.
All of my excitement was dampened when I heard Shane is staying. I just don't have any faith in the guy based on his recent results here. Can he be the official buddy/mentor of VT student athletes? He'd be great at that job.
I like him at ST coach. I think that's his niche.
He's a good recruiter, move him back to ST
Except that he hasn't been good at VT.
He has signed 8 4* in 4 recruiting cycles, who else on our staff averages 2 4* per cycle?
That's great and all, but it gets real old when you see kid after kid put on the hat of another school and their main VT recruiter was Shane Beamer. For all the 4 stars he brought in, he missed on so many must have kids.
2 4* recruits per cycle is pretty darn good, there are 8 other assistant coaches recruiting on this team imagine if each of them was pulling in 2 4* per cycle.
With Shane as ST cosch, we get to still use all our Beamerball trademarks.
Because I'm a nerd and a literalist, I just looked up to see if Beamerball is trademarked in the US Patent and Trademark Office. Beamer tried to get the trademark twice, and failed (probably because you have to actually sell something). Thus, anyone can use the Beamerball trademark.
If Fuente has any sense he'll put Shane in charge of special teams. That wouldn't bother me one bit.
I for one can't see Fuente keeping Shane on as RB coach. I'd say the whole offensive staff will be Fuente's guys and if Shane is retained he will be either ST coach or on Foster's defensive staff.
Why is it that Shane gets all the blame for not playing mcmillian early but doesn't get any credit for his progression? And, for all his talent running, he is still struggling to pick up pass protection, likely one of the reasons he didn't get that early season playing time.
Ok, what progression then? He was clearly our best runner since the season began. Every fan could see it.
So every problem with his game is Shane's fault and every skill is God given? See my point. There is absolutely no proof that he is a bad running backs coach except for looking at the results and saying well running backs aren't good, coach must suck.
It's not just that Shane didn't play Mcmillian early, it's that his rotation never made sense. A snap here for JC, a snap there for Trey, a jet sweep for Travon, etc.
I never felt that Shane put one of his guys in a consistent position to succeed until literally everyone but JC got hurt last year, and until Frank Beamer stepped in earlier this season and said "Travon is our guy moving forward".
How sure are we that it's not the offensive coordinators packages and play calling that caused the rotation? I still think that they were trying to hide glaring weaknesses without completely tipping their hat to the play. It didn't work great, but let's for arguments sake say there were justifiable reasons mcmillian wasn't the feature back, which back between Edmunds Rogers and Coleman are you going to feed as the feature back? Splitting time and not getting into a groove is an excuse made up by running backs that aren't producing.
I think we've all deduced from Shane's post game quotes about apologizing to players for not getting enough snaps in a game that he determines the rotation.
They were completely tipping their hat to the plays because they used the same runners for the same plays. Remember Travon's jet sweeps and Rogers only in on pass plays?
We can debate the runners groove all day but we saw it in two different years with JC and then Travon. Once they got the majority of the carries they tore it up.
What if this is all some internet hoax and Rich Rod is really our next coach?
BUD STAYS?!? I WANT TO RUN THROUGH A BRICK WALL?!
Saw a report that quoted whit as saying it's not necessarily accurate or fair to predict which assistants at or may not be staying on. Sounds like Bud and Shane staying isn't a done deal.
It's damage control. We know Whit doesn't like leaks. So he made the administrative equivalent of coachspeak here. It is pretty crappy to have it out there that some assistants are being retained, because that basically makes lame ducks out of most of the rest of the staff. Those guys still have a commitment to the school and the players. While an announcement will certainly come in the near future, it will only be after Whit has fully informed everyone about their future with the school, as is only professional.
That said, there was a rumor posted on here last week or the week before that the coaches were all told that they would not be retained, except for Bud and Shane. We scoffed at the time because the source of this rumor was the children of the coaches telling their classmates in middle and high school, but considering what we are heading today.....
Would not shock me if everyone had known of this for a while now.
Searles daughter posted a picture with some other girls at the game along with the caption " glad they made a bowl game, that way this isn't the last time the squad is together"
Edit: do any other coaches have teenage daughters? ( that could be the two in the picture with Searles daughter)
Edit2: so I went down the rabbit hole that is a teenage girls Twitter account. The other girls in the picture are Stinesprings kids. They have both tweeted about "last game in lane" , last time here as a Hokie etc.
Stacy told me that Frank is the best person that he has ever worked for.
I'll be really sad to see him go. Seems like a great guy that embodies what it means to be a Hokie.
Are you that creepy fireman who likes to sharpen the axe way too much?
Wow and I thought the firehouse was full of immature guys, I didn't even think to read it like that.
Leg for that effort.
"Retweet in 5 second or you'll die horribly". " 10 reasons why Zayn is the cutest ever ". " Justin Bieber got me like... "
If Bud is retained, and God I hope that report was correct, I hope he keeps TG because #DBlock
As a current Memphian who loves college football and a contractor who spends a lot of time on campus here I can say that what Fuente has done for the program is absolutely amazing. This was a BAD football program. The facilities are sub par, the fan base was Miamiesque in my opinion, and the city's, well, shitty. Memphis is a beasketball town. When football season started it just meant we were a month closer to basketball season. Enter Justin Fuente. Sports Talk radio here has changed, the stadium is full and people are talking football, oh and spending money with enthusiasm on Tigers football. I couldn't be more pleased with this hire. I'm downright giddy about it. I'm looking forward to some offense and and however Fuente does it or better yet whoever he does it with I'm ok with. I don't think for one minute that Fuente would have taken this job if he were forced to keep anyone. I don't think any coach would have. I think Fuente knows a good thing when he sees it and Foster is def. a positive at VT imo. Here's an article from Geoff Calkins of the commercial appeal here that says Fuente won't coach Memphis bowl game and will be in Blacksburg on Monday.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/columnists/geoff-calkins/fuente-era-ends...
Aren't most Memphians either Ole Miss grads or Ole Miss fans? If so it definitely adds to the lack of Memphis football fan base being bad argument
I would say a major portion of Memphians are Tennessee fans with Ole Miss, MS St., and Arkansas rounding out a majority of favorite teams around here. I occasionally see a Hokies logo around and I feel proud. I've been known to chase someone down in order to have a conversation with an intelligent person. That being said though I think Memphis is well represented here but much of that has to do with basketball.
I dont get the Shane hate, he picked up Drew Harris...
Seriously though, I like Shane, he recruited Sam Rogers, he recruited Sam Rogers...
Correction: Shane had to be told by Frank to recruit Sam Rogers. Shane said something like, "since when do we visit walk-ons?" and Frank basically said, "since I tell you to." (I'm paraphrasing since I cannot remember the exact quotes)
I haven't heard this story, where is it from? I love it
I think this is the one he's taking about.
www.collegiatetimes.com/sports/started-from-the-bottom-now-he-s-here-the...
I've seen it in writing online but can't remember where.
I think it was our buddy at the Roanoke Times.
Dynamite. Can't wait for dat spread offense.
Just saw a tweet from ESPN's Adam Rittenberg that said a source says Fuente is "Weighing Virginia Tech offer tonight. Expected to accept but nothing is finalized. Should be settled later Sunday." I know nothing was official yet, but just seeing the words "Weighing the offer" makes me nervous.
https://twitter.com/ESPNRittenberg?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eser...
Pretty scary. More head whistle jobs opening up every minute.
According to 247, Fuente has literally just signed the contract. Details coming soon
Since she didn't get the bad job,
#MamaFuller4RecruitingCoordinator
Who else knows all the Fuller cousins we should be recruiting?
I keep reading the same dozen arguments why Shane should stay or go. Let's all read what has already been posted as to not unnecessarily repeat ourselves.
How come nobody is excited for the fact that we got a new head coach and we get to keep Lunch Pail Defense and Beamerball T-shirts in our drawers still!!
Seriously concerned about a younger head coach making what could be split staff (old guard D staff vs New O staff) work, with potential chemistry issues. Does bud have total autonomy for all D hires? Does Fuente have input re guys on current Memphis staff? This could be a slippery slope.
I'm obviously not privy to the details, but I would have to believe that if Fuente took the job and Bud is staying, he probably made that decision himself. The guy had a ton of offers, he wouldn't have taken the gig if he didn't have a say on whether or not he wants Bud as his DC.
I was posing the question as if Fuente, not whit as a condition, made the decision to keep Bud. I just think integrating the old vs New could be way more difficult than if the whole thing was built from scratch
I worry about the integration process as well. I'll be interested in hearing all of the details about retained coaches, new assignments, separation of powers and responsibilities, as well as Fuente's first priorities as he moves into his new position.
Will make for an interesting transition, that's for sure.
As with hiring a HC and allowing them to pick staff, I would assume it would be the same for head coordinators. If Bud is DC, I would expect that the assistants stay as is. He could bring in some of Memphis assistants per requests, but those assistants are probably moving with the DC at Memphis. It depends on systems, if the assistants work in the set system why try and muddy the waters by forcing someone else in. Plus, one less thing for the HC to worry about.
As for the D gelling with the new O, I would think that is an easier adjustment. Bud is set up for a spread and has wanted one for a while, so one coming in should work out.
Has anyone heard when the official announcement will take place. Getting a little worried with Georgia's job becoming official.
He was apparently supposed to fly in today, with the announcement on Monday. "Insiders" on 247 are saying the leaks may have thrown a wrench into plans
Lovely that's what I was worried about. I can't wait for the contract to be signed.
Apparently he just signed. Announcement coming soon
Adam Rittenberg of ESPN tweeted late last night that Fuente was "Weighing the VT offer" last night and was expected to accept, but nothing was official and that it should be settled late Sunday. Just hearing he was "weighing the offer" and now with UGA's job open makes me really nervous.
I would bet some turkey legs UGA already has a coach lined up. Someone coaching in the SWC championship game.
Kirby Smart
Announcement coming real soon.
It's official now.
Thank god I can breath now.
Finally I can breath.