Justin Fuente hasn't been the Hokies' head coach for more than 24 hours, but there are already reports on how his staff at Tech will fill out. Virginia Tech announced Bud Foster will remain in his current role as defensive coordinator.
"Justin and I share a vision for the future of our program," Foster said in a release. "After spending time together, I'm convinced he's the right person to continue building on the standard we've established at Virginia Tech. I'm truly looking forward to working with him and supporting him."
On Saturday, ESPN's Brett McMurphy reported Shane Beamer would remain on Fuente's staff.
Additionally, Jason Stamm of Rivals.com reported current Hokies' DL coach Charley Wiles will also be part of Fuente's staff. Bryan Moss of Rivals.com reported Holman Wiggins and James Shibest, two of Fuente's assistants at Memphis, will join him in Blacksburg. Wiggins and Shibest are in their fourth season coaching the Tigers' wide receivers, and special teams / tight ends, respectively.
It's unclear if Fuente will retain any other Hokies' assistants, or if any more of his current assistant coaches will follow him to Virginia Tech. Monday's introductory press conference could clear the air on staff details.
Comments
maybe he'll hire Tom Herman
Have a leg for perseverance.
lol..thanks..I'm only joking though. I'm really excited about this hire. I think hiring Whit may turn out to be the best choice VT has made in almost 3 decades. He's just absolutely nailed everything he's had to deal with thus far. I'm super impressed with the work he's done and hiring Fuente + retaining Bud is a real bar raiser. Everything Whit does sets the bar even higher for himself and somehow he manages to keep exceeding it. That blows my mind.
Very happy to have Fuente in town and I can't wait to see where he can take this team. I'm totally on the hype train now.
TORRIAN GRAY. KEEP TORRIAN GRAY.
IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE
I would find it weird to retain Foster, but bring in his own DB coach. The only way I think TG would leave is for a DC job somewhere else. Wouldn't make since to me any other way.
That's the weird/awkward part with retaining a DC. At that point he's basically saying he's okay with everything we have in place defensively, so why wouldn't you just retain all defensive staff? Unless they were going to be let go regardless of the HC change or choose to leave themselves.
Not disagreeing with keeping Bud because obviously he's fantastic and they're not gonna find someone better, but that's where things start to get dicey with who stays and who goes.
Seems to me that Bud wouldn't have agreed to this if he didn't have control over the defensive staff - not necessarily final say, but while would he stick around for the position if the rest of the staff gets overhauled? My money's on the defensive side of things staying similar to what we ended the year with.
If we lose Torrian Gray, it won't be because we didn't invite him back.
Yeah, I figure he'll either be back, or move up elsewhere. I'm just antsy because we haven't heard it confirmed (or even rumored) yet, and #DBU. Hey, we all have our hang-ups, and it's not like we have a lot of practice at this whole coaching change thing.
Yeah, it'll be because he didn't introduce himself to recruits' moms! /s
I'm still doubtful Shane stays. Hope gray stays and keeps #DBU rolling. I'd like to see Wiggins switch to RB coach and keep Zohn at WR for 757 and good results so far at WR. But, at the end of the day, I trust Fuente will do what is best.
It doesn't have the official thing beside the name, but Shane follows the @coachfuente twitter account. Like I said, I do not know if that's an official account, but it's something nonetheless.
Edit: Okay, I just looked at Coach Fuente's twitter again since he sent out the tweet thanking everyone for welcoming him, and Shane is not following him now.
Being uncharted territory for Hokies fans does anyone have insight into how this usually works especially for a staff that wasn't part of a fired head coach?
The issue is that not many coaches aren't fired. Usually coaches coming into big programs want to succeed or fail with "their guys" becuase it's their a** on the line, so to speak. If someone is promoted from within, they tend to keep staff which is logical.
A long-tenured coach retiring, being replaced from outside the current system, AND keeping the DC and some other assistants? It's not really heard of from what I can recall recently.
It will be an interesting dynamic between the "old guys" that were here under Beamer mesh with the new guys coming in with Fuente. This defensive staff has already done one staff overhaul recently when Loeffler was hired, so I don't anticipate issues. That dynamic is one reason you don't see half the staf staying on when a new coach is hired IMO.
It sounds like half the people on here know exactly how it works and where each and every person that they probably don't even know should coach and their duties. Here is a thought. Let our new coach figure it out. You know since he does it for a living and all.
yeah but speculation is fun and since we can no longer speculate on who the HC is going to be we have to find other things to speculate on....and once the staff is set we'll get back to speculating what UVA's coaching staff will look like. Then, after that, we'll speculate how many wins we'll have next season. Then we'll discuss how many wins (losses?) UVA will have. How many people will be at Bristol. Croots. Etc.
That's fair enough and all. I agree that's fun. What isn't cool though is when you get a bunch of naysayers on a message board start complaining because our new coach didn't put his staff together the way the consensus on a message board thought they should. That can be cancerous to a fan base and zap the life out of what should be an exciting time. He just got here.
Wait, everyone did the same type of wish casting on the HC hire. Do you see anyone here whining that we didn't do what they said?
Just seems like you have fabricated a scenario in your mind that doesn't exist. At least not on TKP.
1.) Not everyone did. Some said just let Whit be the competent AD he is and we will be happy with his choice.
2.) I didn't say anyone was whining about anything.
3.)My point was simply let the man do his job and run the coaching staff. I don't see how anyone could possibly tell how these Memphis coaches will fit together and who should be here or there off of reading Wikipedia.
I agree that since he will be running a completely new offensive system then he knows who he wants coaching each spot. I also would like to see Burden and Searles stay because they both seem to have made significant improvements at their respective positions. However I refer back to my first point.
Well said. Let FoosBall begin. And please let him be in total control of all coaching aspects.
*Shibest
I remember it "Shibeamer Ball", have seen it misspelt more than "Fuentes" already
SHIBEST
SHIBEST
SHIBEST
Looks like special teams could go either way...
From the sounds of it, his name has a superfluous second row.
Apparently his row 1 is quite the row 3.
Praying Torrian stays pleeeeeeease. I just hope it's a given that he's staying and that's why we havent heard, but with Myles Woffolk's de-commitment now it seems rather odd timing.
Fwiw I believe all of the offense guys are gone!
Offensive staff of Offense ranking in the 90s: Out.
Offensive staff of Offense ranking in the top 10: In.
Has a nice sound to it! But anybody have any idea who his OC might be? That's who is really going to be handling the playcalling every down!
Memphis has 2 OCs, but I believe Dickey calls the plays this year. (He's currently interim head coach).
i get your point and agree with it. That being said, is Memphis' offense really top 10? I thought they were somewhere between 12-25 depending on which rankings you follow. Still really freaking good offense and I'm really excited. Just feels a little like you're exaggerating.
As of yesterday - Memphis Total Offense ranking is 12th. Scoring offense is 7th
http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/27
Wow... I thought Zohn Burden was going to be a guy that was kept around. He's done a great job working with Cam and Isaiah. Also, he has ties to the 757.
I don't disagree, but it was shocking/disheartening to see that in an entire season no third receiver could be developed. Asante came in for a couple plays to spell Phillips. That was it. Where's Caleb/Bradshaw/CJ Carroll/Knowles/ anyone else?
If he felt the drop off was significant enough to impact the game then why would he play a 3rd WR, especially when Ford and Cam can play all game? You put the best people on the field at all times. Ford is nearly our first 1000 yard receiver ever, in this year's offense. So from that perspective, a great decision.
I 100% agree you play the guys who give you the best chance to win. I believe the point being made is that we don't know how good Burden is as WRs coach. Sure Ford and Phillips had good seasons but they had good seasons last year and it stands to reason you'd see improvement from them with another year of experience under their belts, regardless of who coached them. So then you start looking beyond those two guys, and the fact that no other WR was able to be developed into a contributor makes it difficult to assess the job Burden did this year. It's a small sample size and could be more of an indictment on our other players than Burden, but at the very least it allows a reasonable argument to be made that we don't really know how good Burden is.
I understand the point, but i disagree that it is "shocking or disappointing" that no 3rd WR has emerged. Burden is/was a new coach wanting to prove himself and none of these are his guys. So in his determination of the depth chart if none of these players are close to Ford or Cam then why would he play them for the sake of having a 3rd WR? Play the best you have and prove that you can elevate their game to even greater levels, then bring in your guys and repeat success.
not trying to say it is pointless to work with the other receivers in the group, because for sure he is, but again if the dropoff is significant then not shocking at all that no 3rd WR emerged. In fact seems wise that he focused on playing and elevating the game of 2 of the most dynamic WRs to ever attend VT.
You guys agree. He's saying that IF a 3rd wide receiver had emerged, it would speak highly of his ability to develop them. A 3rd receiver not emerging isn't an indictment, but it's not an endorsement either, we just don't know what to make of it yet.
I also hate it that Isaiah and Cam have to work with their 3rd WR's coach in as many years.
Same with the O-line, 4 coaches in 5 years
Granted I only played in HS, but I have coached the position before and am now as well, but WR IMO is a position that it is not overly affected by coaching change over so long as the coaching is all "good". Each coach will have their little tricks on how to get off the ball, shed the db, timing, etc that will all go into the repertoire for Ford and Cam. Granted some consistency would be better but I don't think it will affect them as much as it does say the OL.
I feel like it took forever to get here and now it's all happening so fast.
Per Memphis Rivals' Bryan Moss, Wiggins and Shibest made the flight to Blacksburg with Fuente,
Wiggins and Shibest can be seen over Fuente's left shoulder in the video. Screenshot for posterity's sake:
So does that mean that those guys wont be coaching in Memphis' bowl game, or are they just in town for the press conference?
After watching the press conference, it sounded like these guys are in town to get to work on recruiting and won't be coaching in Memphis' bowl game. I'm reading between the lines on that so I could easily be wrong on that. When asked about when he plans to have his staff in place, Coach Fuente mentioned wanting to make sure enough guys were left at Memphis to get them another bowl victory before announcing the rest of the folks on his staff.
Agreed. CJF cleared up my question for me in the press conference.
Shibest is quite possibly the best ST coach in the country. His STs were dominant statistically at Ole Miss and at Memphis.
^^^^This. Plus a Ray Guy award winner at Memphis, multiple all SEC guys at Ole Miss. Should be fun!
plus his name is suspiciously close to mine
I may have to have words with him - let him know there can only be one Hokieshibe
I'm really curious to see which OL coach ends up in Blacksburg, as is French, I'm sure.
French, does Searels mindset mesh with Fuente's offensive approach? How does Fuente's Memphis OL coach (Vance Vice, link here: http://www.gotigersgo.com/coaches.aspx?rc=15) approach OL coaching, and will his mindset mesh with the current group of OL at Tech? I know what my wild-ass guess would be, but that's all it would be, and would love to hear French's thoughts. (Not that he's already working on that article or something, I know he loves the OL play.)
Pretty sure Vice is all but confirmed.
I don't think Searels will be back. If it is Vice, OL play will be a focus of my reviews.
If
it is Vicethe sun rises in the east, OL play will be a focus of my reviews.So you could say that, other than fishing, O-line play is French's vice.
That gif is amazing! LEGS!
Just out of curiosity, are you optimistic about Vice as an OL coach or not? I knew that OL play would be the focus of your reviews anyway but the way you say it gives me the sense you're skeptical of Vice's coaching ability. Am I picking up on that correctly or way off base?
I read it as more like "I've reviewed Searels already, so if it's Vice I will need to focus on OL"
My main concern here is that the same staff has been recruiting the region (and more importantly the state) for 29 years now. For better and for worse, relationships have been built. I'm anxious to see how new relationships are established.
In my mind this is one of the most intriguing and one of the most important aspects of the transition.
UVA has done fine in in-state recruiting despite plenty of staff turnover. I'm not saying staff continuity is entirely irrelevant to recruiting, but personally, I don't think it's anywhere near as important as most fans think.
Shamelessly copying from jcoogan's article, here's what Fuente had to say on that topic (emphasis mine):
If there's a better way to say it I can't think of one. Obviously he has to follow through on that, but so far I think we'll be just fine.
I guess I am a little surprised to see so many people wanting to keep assistants on staff for recruiting purposes after all the complaints about recent recruiting. I would think most would want new relationships, now is the time to do it as MD and UVA are replacing their relationships as well.
I don't disagree with you at all... I am anxious to see how it pans out though.
I wasn't trying to target your comment, it just was the last one posted, I apologize if it came off that way. I wish it was very clear who is really the best recruiters, but I don't think there are records for the missed recruits, only the ones that commit
I totally got your sentiment... no worries on my end.
Organizational memory
There is definitely room for improvement with recruiting, I'll be the first one to fly that flag.
But there is something to say for keeping someone around who still knows the high school coaches and power brokers in the state. A lot of those people have had working relationships with Beamer's staff for decades, Fuente needs to keep those relationships while building new productive relationships with others.
With Foster sticking around, I'm not sure we'll need to keep many more staff members for in-state recruiting.
Those relationships weren't exactly paying of in spades in recent years. This isn't the early 2000s anymore, and we lose far more of the talent in the state that you need to be where we want to be than we get. It's probably not a bad idea to reboot those relationships and let the new guys come in with a fresh perspective and approach.
No more Stiney situation where we hold onto people from past regimes. We should learn from that mistake.
Agree completely.
http://coachingsearch.com/article?a=Mark-Richt-dismissed-as-Georgia-head...
After seeing UGA coaching change, I think there are a few guys over there we should take a look at. I'm excited to have both of the Memphis assistants.
Georgia RB coach please.
Oh the possibilities of this!
I have no idea of the quality of UGA's RB coach but I think there's evidence that UGA's running back success can largely be attributed to the fact that they consistently have signed top RB recruits in the country. Michel was a 5 star (#3 RB), Chubb a 5 star (#5 RB), Gurley a 4 star (#7 RB), Marshall a 5 star (#1 APB), and Moreno a 4 star (#13 RB). Essentially they have been stocked with Ryan Williams and David Wilson quality backs for the last decade.
Their oline play has also been solid on run plays. They can really open up some running lanes for these star backs. I haven't watched much of UGA this year, but their olines tend to be massive and extremely physical.
yes but they ran each one of them until they died. (some literally died on the field) and then they put in the next one. instead of rotating them every other play despite the amount of talent the next man up had.
Isaiah Crowell (#1 RB, 5-star), Washaun Ealey (#11 RB, 4-star) too, though they didn't stick around.
Also, fact: UGA's RB coach, Thomas Brown, is brand new this year (came to Athens from Wisconsin in February). Their previous RB coach moved to WRs.
I wouldn't mind if Ricky Hunley came over too. Played for my Broncos for about 4 years in the 80s. His creds as the D-line coach seem to be worthy - In 2014, Memphis ranked 11th in FBS Football in scoring defense, allowing just 195 points per game. The Tigers ranked 27th nationally in total defense, giving up 349.5 yards an outing. Memphis' 106.31 defensive pass efficiency rating led the American Athletic Conference and ranked eighth nationally while the Tigers' 121.5 rushing defense average was 19th nationally.
Hunley coached senior Martin Ifedi who set the Memphis career record with 22.5 quarterback sacks. His 36 career tackles for lost yardage ranks fourth all-time at Memphis. Despite an injury which sidelined him for four games, Ifedi was named to the 2014 American Athletic Conference First Team, as chosen by the league's coaches.
Since we're reportedly keeping Wiles (d-line coach), we'd have to make some arrangements (i.e. position or title switches) to get him on staff.
I wish I could be in the room the first time that a 4-star QB gets a visit from this new staff.
Feel bad for Stinespring. Dude has devoted his life to VT and done all that he could to ensure what is best for the University happens, but is likely going to be pushed out.
It's a tough business. Lots of money, and lots of fame when things go well, but... yeah. It's a stressful way to live, especially with a family. Even tougher on the kids. (Heck, at least military brats know they have 2-3 years in each place, and most of their peers are in the same boat.)
Lets be honest, though... he's extremely fortunate he wasn't legitimately sent packing nearly a decade ago, and its still debatable whether or not keeping him a few years ago was a good idea. Under any other administration in the country, he would have been out of here looooong ago.
He's been recruiting well, and our tight ends are extremely good. I guess that's measure of success enough for me. But anyway, I do feel bad for the guy.
He's had a pretty good run doing a pretty fun job, and getting paid for it.
One thing I am hoping for is that we don't suddenly get too greedy/impatient with our football HC. If for some reason Fuente doesn't come out on fire, I don't want to be a program that has a quick trigger. I also don't want to get to a point where 10 wins aren't good enough. If we're winning 9-10 games a year like clockwork, we're occasionally in the playoff picture, and consistently competing for an ACC Championship, that's pretty great. But I have a feeling that we can do a LOT worse than Fuente, and showing him some patience might pay off in the long run. Of course, he has to do a lot to earn the right to be here for the long term, but constant overturn in the coaching staff is usually not a good thing. For all we know, Fuente could be the next Urban Meyer, and I hope he's here for a very long time.
So you want Fuente to leave the school out of nowhere for health related issues, and then reappear at a powerhouse school a couple years later?
Nice analogy, leg!
If he gets us two Natties in the process? I'm all for it.
I agree. I think in the current climate of CFB it's generally regarded standard practice to give a coach 4-5 years. Fuente turned perennial door-mat Memphis into a 10-win team with limited resources and starting with next to nothing in his 3rd year. That's remarkable. He has considerably more to work with in Blacksburg. I believe he's capable of getting us to 8 or 9 wins fairly easily next year (our schedule is a joke) but if we only win 5-6 games next year I'm not going to lose my mind over it. New coaches deserve time to get their pieces in place. It should be a fun ride though. I think Fuente is wise to keep Bud on staff. I'm not at all surprised by that move, though, since he hired previous head coaches when he started his career as such in Memphis. His reasoning was that they had been there before and they would have been through some things that he hadn't been through yet. That is pure wisdom and forward thinking on his part. I think he's going to be very successful. I hope that he falls in love with VT to the point where he won't be torn away by some 'blue blood' program.
Or better yet, transform Tech into one of those blue blood programs.
With the buyout structure in Fuente's contract, there is little chance Tech would fire him before 2020 regardless of how the team is performing.
guys... the most logical "If" Happened!!!!!
It's the best Festivus ever.
Fuente has 3.4 million to pay his assistants.
Is there a link to the press conference this morning?
hokiesports.com - right on the front page
I guess the writing is on the wall for CB.
I think Cornell is gone.....
Best of luck to him. I'm sure he'll be picked up at another school, although maybe a smaller one
I think we all knew that was coming. He coached a part time position. If they are going to make way for a ST coach then someone had to go and that was the most logical. Best of luck to him, I always like Cornell.
Not disagreeing with you, but I think he contributed a lot with the DEs too.
We're making an omelette, some eggs are going to get broken.
Beat writers are saying TG is AT THE PRESS CONFERENCE!! That has to be a good thing.
Justin mentioned keeping some of the staff at Memphis right now to help them in their bowl game. Sounds like more Memphis staff is coming.
i'd guess so as well.
Brad Cornelsen is Co OC and QB .. candidate for Broyles Award-> nations top assistant
Darrell Dickey is OC/RB
Vance Vice is O line.
Cornelsen and Dickey also probably want to make their case to be the next HC at Memphis. Dickey was HC at North Texas for like 8 years, including 4 straight bowl games. Cornelsen looks like a future star.
Barry Odom, current DC at Mizzou and former DC at Memphis, is the frontrunner for the Memphis job but I could see it going to Cornelsen or Dickey. Odom played at Mizzou and has been there coaching most of his career, he could be the backup plan for HC at Mizzou if they can't get other names to step into that mess.
Dear lord, if he gets that award, and follows Fuente here, we would have a Broyles Award winner leading both our offense and our defense. Is there any other staff in the nation that would have that?
would be awesome
He also only made 150k on staff
$217,000 in 2014 according to the TN Board of Regents database.
http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/football/assistant says 150k either way we are paying lefty about 400k, sounds like a big raise is in the works for him
Fuente is on XM college nation right now. Was just asked about Shane Beamer and Buf Foster staying on staff. He talked about Foster but did NOT talk Shane or any other staff members.
Could just mean that Shane is looking around for opportunities as well but if nothing appeals, he'll stick around. Initial reports did have Shane staying.
Honestly, I'm surprised Shane staying is even being considered. Awkward as hell to have the last guy's son on the staff. If he stays, that's a hell of a vote of confidence in how he presented himself to Fuente as a recruiter. Not at all surprising that he'd want to look around for a possible career step up and an opportunity to build his resume in a less weird situation.
Its a signal...
via GIPHY
I live in SC I'm not familiar what those are.
We had signals down in Chuck Town...
Green: Stop
Yellow: Go
Red: Go Faster
I like that Fuente is offensive minded but he's taking his "how to run a program" methodology directly from a defensive minded coach. That is a beautiful combination, IMO. I think defensive minded coaches are extremely successful as head coaches (Saban, Beamer) but offense is supremely important in CFB these days. I think Fuente gives us the best of both worlds and that's awesome. He understands defense and it's importance to the game of football but he's an offensive tactician with a proven track record. I'm enamored by this guy. I think VT just put themselves in a really good position to get back to, and potentially exceed, the glory years of Frank's Heyday
Our current 9 assistant positions:
OC/QB
RB
TE/Recruiting
OL
WR
DC/ILB
Defense Secondary
DL
OLB
As of right now, Bud is staying, and two Memphis assistants (currently listed as WR and TE/ST) are coming along. So that means, at least two current guys are going. And we know more guys from Memphis are coming.
Based on tweets above, it looks like Cornell is gone (OLB). Some speculation that position would be used for ST coach, but if that guy is already TE coach, it doesn't look like we need that extra position.
The Memphis coaching positions:
co-OC/RB
co-OC/QB
WR
TE/ST
OL
DC/LB
DL
Safties
CB
At both places, it's 5-4 offense to defense.
Damn, still too early to speculate, other than I think most of the defense staff will stay, and most of the offense staff will go.
Initial reports were that Shane and Wiles would be retained, but no info on them has been released. Like you said, Cornell looks gone. My guess is that Stinespring is too based upon reading into some stuff from personal friends of the Stinesprings. Loeffler will likely be gone too. With a WR coach coming in, Burden will be gone. Gray is the mystery to me. Would not be surprised to see him jump as I think Bud has more loyalty to Wiles than Gray, but he's important to our defense, so I could see him being retained. If Bud, Wiles, Gray and Shane stay, how would that play with the "old regime" versus the "new guys?" It's gotta be the right match.
EDIT: Oh, and I'd venture to guess Searels will be looking for new employment too. Pretty much, all of the offensive staff, other than possibly Shane who could be reassigned, will be needing a new home.
Smart money is Wiles and TG stay
I could understand if TG jumps ship to DC job somewhere......
Are there any DBU alumni out there in the coaching world that could come and step into TG's role?
Vincent Fuller?
He should already be a lock as "Director of Player Development".
Literally.
http://www.houstontexans.com/team/coaches/anthony-midget/27bc9504-c7c4-4...
Anthony Midget. Has college coaching experience. Currently in NFL with Houston.
Yeah, I haven't heard anything about Shane since the official announcement came out. I thought his strength would be on special teams, but it's pretty clear that's Shibest's job.
And then there is the bit where Fuente's WR guy used to be a RB guy, so there is the possibility he could switch over and they keep Zohn. (Not advocating or predicting that, just stating a possibility.)
think shane is as good as gone.. tons of talk have him following kirby smart if he gets a HC job. don't know the relationship between those two but that's what I am seeing.
Interesting take on Wiles vs Gray... It was a little disturbing to hear Bud talk after one of the games where Gray played Stroman with Bud expressing surprise that he was in the game and 'needing to talk about who we have in there' or along those lines. Like he and TG were not on the same page. Makes you wonder.
Thoughtful Speculation:
Dickey (OC/RB), Cornelsen (OC/QB), and Vice (OL) all have to be considerations to come over. I think Dickey, who called plays for Memphis this past year, and Vice, long-time friend/asst with Fuente, are extemely likely to join Wiggins and Shibest. I think Cornelsen may not come, dependent on what OC opportunities exist. His could easily be promoted to OC with play-calling duties at Memphis or another school.
On the D-side, Fuente will probably let Bud have his people. However, Fuente and Galen Scott (Memphis DC/LB) have a long history, including time at Illinois State. He could be the reason Cornell Brown knows he's not coming back. Also of note, Hunley (Memphis DL) has a really long coaching career, including several stints in the NFL.
Thus, here's my guess:
HC/QB: Fuente
OC/RB: Dickey
WR: Wiggins
OL: Vice
ST/TE: Shibest
DC: Foster
DL: Wiles
LB/MLB: Scott
DBs: Gray
Last spot: Cornelsen, S. Beamer, Hunley, wild card?
I don't see Scott taking a demotion and coming over. I think he stays as Memphis DC if Odom or Dickey become HC.
As for Cornelsen, man I have no idea. I'd like to see him come over. Imagine if he wins the Broyles award; we'd have OC and DC Broyles award winners.
Scott was promoted this year to DC due to Odom leaving. While, if hired at VT, it would technically be a demotion, he probably will have no offers to be a DC this upcoming year (Memphis D dropped significantly after Odom left). So, I don't know if a demotion would be a major factor. If he came to VT, he will probably get paid the same ($220K at Memphis), at a P5 school, under one of the best coaches in the game, and continue to work with Fuente. Not saying it will happen, but I could easily see it happening and may already be in effect (speculation from Cornell Brown tweets).
Those are very good points.
Re: Cornell
Looks like he's launched (or relaunched?) a personal website: http://www.cornellbrown.com/
At the bottom of the 'Coaching Career' portion of his bio, it states:
That's probably as close to a certainty we'll get that he won't be retained until an official announcement.
I noticed at TCU and at Memphis they have had the Co-offensive coordinators where they also split as position coaches. One guy will call the plays while the other is down on the field. I kind of think this may be a situation that Fuente likes in having Co-offensive coordinators. I don't know all the benefits of that, but I'd have to think it may help run the offense more efficiently as opposed to having just one guy as the coordinator. I just noticed that this has been the situation where Fuente has had major offensive success and might be part of his plan. Or I could be completely wrong, I guess we will find out over the next few months.
I like Cornelsen the best on that staff. Looks like a rising star, hope we get him.
Dickey has HS kids and may stay in Memphis as OC if Odom comes back.
Yea, I'm now thinking Cornelsen is the one coming over and Dickey will probably stay at Memphis in some capacity. Cornelsen was with Fuente at Illinois St, thus they have a long history. Dickey is more of a Memphis guy than a Fuente guy.
I read somewhere (I can't remember) that Dickey was calling plays, but the article was more than a year old. I'm starting to conjecture that Cornelsen may have been promoted to Co-OC this year to call plays. If true, VT definitely wants Cornelsen on their staff, along with his QB developing abilities.
So what happens to Shane?
We've been trying to figure that out on these boards for 4 years.
What if Fuente decides that, instead of one RB coach, he wants to use three or four coaches in a RB-coach rotation? How would the NCAA count that?
Looks like Wiggins (@HolmonWiggins) has taken the Memphis info off his twitter account and is following some VT WR targets and commits now .
I have no idea what thread to put this in, but I just got choked up listening to Bud on Tech Talk Live. He got really emotional at the end of his interview and you could tell he was shedding some tears. He sounds really excited, and I really, really, hope that we can elevate this program in a large part for him. Also, he said he was looking forward to the years (in plural) to come. He doesn't just genuinely love Frank Beamer, he loves this university... God, I love Bud!
Late to the party...
But y'all, this hire is MONEY.
Bringing some legit staff along, too. And wants to keep our already legit staff. How much better could this be??
Seriously, August 2016. Come soon.
Anyone else disappointed that Coach Wiggins' first name isn't Ender?
Would this be Ender The Xenocide, expert tactition, or would we be getting Ender, Speaker for the Dead? Like where in Ender's life would we be getting Coach Ender Wiggins? Because I'd prefer to have pre-xenocide Ender who hasn't been broken by his unwitting mass murder.
I'm disappointed his first name isn't chief
The hire is now official on Hokiesports. Wiggins is listed as the WR coach
http://www.hokiesports.com/football/coaches/
Interesting things regarding their positions. We can now assume that Burden is gone based upon Wiggins being WR coach and Stiney will be gone too since Shibest is listed as TE and ST. Also, now that Bud's title is up there and we know that Cornell is gone, we can assume we'll be pulling in a LB coach. Currently, Bud is DC and ILB coach but on next year's staff, he's only DC. Perhaps roles will change, but it seems to me that we'll be getting a fresh face on our Lunchpail D. Maybe it's the guy from Memphis, maybe it's someone new. Who knows.
Zohn has been a DB coach in the past. Maybe they are looking at him for another position.
With Holman Wiggins as WR coach.... Who are the Wide Receiver that will be on the 2016 roster???