Darrell Dickey was retained by new Memphis head coach Mike Norvell. Hokies' head coach Justin Fuente will have to look elsewhere to round out his offensive staff.
Memphis interim HC, co-OC & RBs coach Darrell Dickey retained by new Tigers coach Mike Norvell in position to be determined per source.— Thayer Evans (@ThayerEvansSI) December 7, 2015
Virginia Tech lists James Shibest (Special Teams and Tight Ends Coach), Vance Vice (Offensive Line Coach), and Holmon Wiggins (Wide Receivers Coach) as part of the offensive coaching staff. Brad Cornelsen will reportedly be Tech's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. It's unclear who Tech's next running backs coach will be.
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Maybe keep Zohn (WR) and move Wiggins to RB?
Could he actually try to keep Shane for RBs?
That would be what I would wonder, as we had those reports of Shane possibly staying real early on.
The question is does Shane try for the ECU job, or maybe end back up at USC-e? (Since according to 247, everyone except Shawn Elliott was sacked). Then if he goes, do we retain Bruden instead?
Or do we just go with a complete new hire?
Keep Stiney for TE and recruiting. Terrified he will end up at UMd, NCSU, UNC, etc and eat our lunch with his recruiting ties.
Is Stiney really that good of a recruiter? He might be great at recruiting 3 stars with surprisingly high ceilings, but our lunch has been eaten in this state for way too long now. Would love other opinions here.
Sounds like 3 options:
1) Shane stays as RB coach and Recruiting Coordinator
2) Wiggins goes to RBs, Burden stays, unclear who might be Recruiting Coordinator
3) Outside hire
On Hokiesports, most of the coaches already have assigned positions for next season. On there, Wiggins is listed as the WR coach. Perhaps that isn't definite, but it would be odd if they switched his assignment after announcing it one way. That leaves either option 1 or option 3. Some of it could depend even on if Shane gets an opportunity outside VT. I feel that there could be an inside agreement that Shane has a spot on the staff unless he finds something better, such as a HC position. Once the dust settles, maybe there will be some clarity there.
EDIT: Looks like nothing is certain regarding who is coaching where until staff completely comes together. Perhaps Stiney takes TE and Recruiting and Shibest has ST only. Who knows.
I'll take #2 for $200, Alex.
I mean, I understand some of the hatred towards Shane... but what has Burden done? 757 recruiting isn't exactly setting the world on fire and he never could develop a 3rd string WR this year. It is a miracle that Ford or Phillips didn't get hurt.
Also, while Shane did muddle up the RB rotation - he did develop a QB into a pretty good RB in a short amount of time.
If it came down to Burden or Shane, I am taking Shane every time; regardless of what positions they are coaching. One just has a ton more experience and while he may not be a better recruiter right now, he has been in the past at a high level. Burden has 1 year at the FBS level.
Burden recruited arguably our deepest and best WR class in years.
Arguably. Many on here would complain if Shane brought home the same haul of 3 stars.
I honestly don't think either one is a great choice (for different reasons; Burden experience and Shane at an offensive position). I just don't understand how so many people want Shane not to be a part of the Hokies in 2016, but want Burden.
Kind of reminds me of how the Logan Thomas decision to come back split so many of us after a 7-6 2012. Many fans wanted Leal without even really knowing much about him besides playing against Appy St.
Burden is a good coach and is relatable to recruits, hes young, seems humble, cares about the kids.
But I wouldnt want to forget Mooreheads efforts, I would say he brought in the best Receiving class, but time will tell, if they can lock up these kids, and they pan-out, there is an argument for sure.
Burden has done good enough to put Ford 60 yards short of being Tech's first 1000 yard receiver. I've seen a lot more effort and better management amongst the wide receivers. Also, Burden just finished his second year in FBS. Experience doesn't mean a damn thing when it took us what, five games to figure out who our best back was? Nah. Shane is not worth keeping around considering what Burden has shown in less time. Even at FCS, Burden coaches up ODU receivers to FCS All American honors.
You could make the same argument that Shane coached up DMFW to first round status (which is hard to do at RB, despite recent years) and bring up the fact that McMillian is 40 yards from 1k as well, and he was playing QB last year. And you could say Shane was given great talent (and I could easily say the same about Burden with Ford and having a NFL QB at the helm at ODU).
I just see Shane as a benefit to the team. The players love him and he recruits well. From talking to multiple current offensive players, this will not be like Frank at the helm. Fuente will be very hands on and will be a factor in almost every decision.
But I think it is best to agree to disagree here - it is impossible to prove it one way or the other.
This was true when he first came on. Haven't seen many results lately.
I've heard that Fuente doesn't want to be hands on at all? I can't remember where I read it.
This past season, Fuente relinquished calling the plays during the game. Is that what you're thinking of? Doesn't necessarily mean he'll be entirely hands-off with respect to the offense, but he does defer some in-game decisions to the OC, it would appear.
Yes and no, I thought I read that he didn't want to be hands on as a position coach.
I know Fuente will not be calling the plays - but the players I talk to regularly have said it won't be like Frank in that he basically trusted his coaches to make many of the decisions based on their groups of players. Of course, these are all offensive players, so it may be different for the D. Plus, they have only met him a handful of times, so this may just be what they are thinking it will be like from talking to him. They are 18/19/20 year old kids, so who knows.
They do seem to like Fuente and respect him.
I agree. I am extremely disappointed in Shane's recruiting. I was very excited when he came on but 804 recruiting has fallen off a cliff in the transition from Cavanaugh to Shane.
Thank YOUU!! Everyone wants to rag on Shane for the rotation but very few want to credit him for the advancement of a redshirt freshman QB turned a near milestone RB (wont jinx him).
Does anyone know which one of the co-OCs called the plays? Was it Dickey or Cornelsen?
Was thinking the same, are we sure we got the "better" of the two? Did they share play calling duties or did one call run vs. pass? I am wondering how it worked there.
I read somewhere that one had the play-calling duties while the other had on-the-field responsibilities during the game. I can't recall who was who though.
Hard to determine "better" based on year-to-year differences, but Cornelsen was a Broyles Award nominee this year.
Who does the nominating?
Each head coach can nominate one assistant, so presumably Fuente. Guess he thinks pretty highly of him.
This is a big concern of mine. I had a similar thought like 200 comments down in the "Fuente Staff" thread 5 days ago.
"Fuente said that last year was the first time he gave up play calling duties to allow him to focus on the program as a whole. I believe he had an OC and co-OC. Is one of them more "the guy" than the other regarding Memphis's offensive prowess? What happens if one of the OCs doesn't come with Fuente to VT? People are giving Fuente credit as a QB developer, but he has stated that he began to look at the program from the 50,000ft level. Won't his position coaches now be the people developing QBs, packaging plays, and calling plays?"
Dicky in 2014, Cornelson in 2015
Unless Burden is the one that moves over to be the RB coach, it doesnt look like he'll be on the staff, Holmon Wiggins is officially the WR coach for next year.
http://www.hokiesports.com/football/coaches/
As I posted above...
Was not aware of that, nice update.
I might be wrong, but I have a feeling, if there is a new WR coach to move him to RB, it would come externally, Burden has already interviewed prior to them naming Wiggins WR coach. It will be interesting to see how things work out between VT, UVA, Maryland (recruiting purposes), Miami (mostly for the recruiting, but I have a feeling theyll be hitting Fla, GA hard) and who Babers brings in at Syracuse.
I really think it's time for Shane to get his shot as an HC anywhere other than Tech. I don't think keeping him on as RB coach would really be beneficial for his career, as much as I'm sure he would like to stay in Blacksburg at this stage of his life. Unfortunately, the nature of the business is that coaches have to move around to stay employed. His dad was the exception, but that time has passed.
The sooner he gets HC experience, the sooner he can figure out what his future in coaching really should be (HC, coordinator, position coach, etc).
Fuente hasn't been talked about coaching a particular unit. Could he take over RB duties?
He has said he wants overall view and control, not close in.
There's still two open positions that haven't even been unofficially announced.
Scott is all but a lock
Wiggins coached RB's at Illinois State from 06-10 and RB's at Tulsa from 11-12 and then WR coach at Memphis from 12 to 15.
Soooo he easily could slide into that RB position and Burden stay at WR.
He also played RB in high school and college, I posted about this when his coming over was announced. There is just so much up in the air. Still don't see how fans do this every 3-6 years at so many places.
I'm sure that like anything, it becomes less of a big deal the more often it happens. You probably get to a point where you stop caring about the assistant coaches until one of them actually succeeds at their job.
Shoot, I'll be happy to coach the Running Backs if need be. My offenses run opponents over all the time, with a few nice LT3 passes thrown in, for good measure.
I don't get this. Move this coach to this position or that coach to this position. This is not little league football. Don't coaches have specialties? Example: Why would I want my ST coach moved to RB coach (unless he has a boxing glove on a stick)? The coach calling the plays now bothers me. I hope Cornelsen is the deal. Hey we Vance Vice to rock all positions!
I think that SL is gone now. Right! BS gone too? None of this was really clear to me until now. I'm right....right! BS has made plenty of cash from VT. Dorksauce...
RB is easy. You just rotate on every down, right?
Yes, but knowing which 2-3 running backs to put in at TB/FB/QB/TE/WR on any given play is the real trick.
Wiggins played RB in college and coached it early on. Coaches move around a lot early in their careers.
If not Zon, maybe Kevin Jones? That'd be nifty, on the surface.
KJ is working in the Athletic Department close to Whit. I highly doubt he will get into coaching. Right now, he's making the appearances with Whit at special events, reaching out to our distinguished alumni, and coordinating with our alumni football players. I wouldn't be surprised if KJ is able to get some money to swing our way from some of our bigger names, such as Tyrod right now, because that's what he's being asked to do.
neat. thanks.
If Tyrod stays healthy, his level of play will warrant him a very solid contract in the next year or two.
I can't recall a single P5 coach who came in without having coached at any other level in the modern game.
Your point is valid but Moorehead was a GA at New Mexico and Stanford before becoming a position coach. I thought KJ was a GA, but apparently he's a special assistant. All good though, the "on the surface" was a brief way of saying that I don't know if he'd actually be a good coach.
Great players don't always make great coaches. Although I do recall seeing that KJ was mentoring and helping McMillan, that might speak volumes there about his improvement
Did someone say dickey?
