I travel to Memphis on business about once a quarter. This morning I asked an associate down there (with major UVA connections and also connected to Memphis) what we could expect from our new coach. She said he immediately changed the football culture in the entire Memphis area and the first time they met him, her husband (UVA) said this guy won't be here long he is a too good. Everybody there thought he would go to Georgia, LSU or USCe but that he is a family man and she wasn't surprised he wanted a situation like VT where he can still win big. I think the fact Bud is sticking around tells you a lot about him as well.
Well done Whit (again)!!!!
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Slam dunk hire of a guy who really does seem like he will carry on the tradition and values that the VT program has been all about
I'm convinced this will be the best hire of any coaching vacancy this season. The more I hear about Fuente, the more I'm certain he is the perfect fit for Tech.
Sigh, here we go....another endless season with my hopes set stupid high. I already can't wait! !!
I'm looking at this just as I did with Buzz. We know that CJF is a dynamic coach who wins but at the same time we know the caliber of players he, like Buzz, inherited. So, while I'm overly excited by what the future will bring, I will be happy with a scrappy team that plays all out for their new coach and maybe a modest improvement in the win column. I'm also hoping that he has some inroads recruiting in Tenn and Miss. Quite a few from Miss on the Memphis roster I noticed.
football is not the same as basketball. Also, Fuente is inheriting a much much nicer roster relatively speaking to what Buzz inherited. We have a bunch of talent on our football team. What Fuente inherited at Memphis is much closer to what Buzz inherited here. It took Fuente 3 years to build from 2 wins to 10 wins. I hope he doesn't have that much work to do in Blacksburg. I'm willing to give him all 6 years that he has signed up for but I'd honestly be surprised if we're not winning more than 8 or 9 games a season by 2018
The football team will win 10 games next year.
That's a stone-cold Leonard Guaran-Damn-Tee. *
Stone-Cold Leonard Guaran-Damn-Tee is a trademark of Leonard Inc. Unauthorized users shall be persecuted. That's right...not prosecuted. I will persecute you, as in lion's den, gladiator battle, etc.
My thoughts exactly, I expect 1-2 more mediocre seasons and by season 3 when he has all his recruiticorns and coaches in place for us to start really competing again. I would love to be pleasantly surprised but I expect more turmoil for a few seasons.
Who's to say he can't have instant success though? Although I'm not sure how our current personnel fits with his scheme, you have to think such an offensive whiz would be able to form some sort of presentable offense with the likes of Hodges, Ford, Phillips, McMillian, and (hopefully) Lawson. I may be all caught up in the newness of the coaching change or whatever, but if we aren't at least in the top 2 of the coastal next season I'll be surprised.
Personally, I'm keeping expectations low. Whenever there is coaching turnover, I don't generally expect that we can fairly evaluate any results (good or bad) until at least year 3. If we succeed, awesome, but I'll only start judging Fuente a couple years down the road that means he has staying power and he's worth the hype. I'm excited by the hire, because I think he's a great coach and is set up to succeed, but instant expectations of a turnaround are probably premature. Our offense is going to get overhauled, and it may be bumpy until it's really ready.
Patience is going to be key for the next few years. We might win 8 or 9 games a year over the next few years or we might win 6 or 7. We just have to be patient and let CJF do his thing.
If they'd fired Frank after the `92 season who knows where we'd be now. Probably in the AAC hoping for a plus .500 season. But they didn't, and he went to 23 straight bowls.
Agree completely. I think 7-8 is reasonable for next year. Possibly an uptick in offense and a downtick in defense - we really need some DEs.
Regardless of who the coach was going to be in 2016, they were going to have to break in a new starting QB. Inevitably that will lead to some 1s season mistakes and missed opportunities so I think we will want to temper expectations with Tennessee and Notre Dame on the schedule next year.
But I do not expect a drop off or dip from the last few years - hopefully we can get to 7 or 8 wins next year and start climbing afterwards.
I believe this is reasonable. Keeping Foster is huge. Instead of seeing the typical dip that comes with coaching turnover I think that stability will translate into our W-L record. Bud has worked magic with essentially no offense to speak of and that's taken us to 6 and 7 win seasons lately. I seriously doubt our offense gets worse with Fuente. At worst I expect our offense to be equally as productive as it was this season. With tough match ups vs UT, ND, and UNC there are easily 3 games that I don't expect us to win. The rest of our schedule, however, is pretty easy. I'm expecting anywhere from 7-9 wins next year. I also believe we'll go on a winning streak towards the end of the season to finish November at 4-0.
Winning the Coastal is a pretty reasonable expectation. Not that I believe in firing anyone if we don't in year one, but I think it is the step we need to take.