WDBJ7 shared a 6-minute, two-part interview with Justin Fuente. Watch part one and part two.
This is what jumped out at me.
There's already a comfort level among his staff. Fuente referred to them as good people (which is very Frank Beamer like).
Fuente is a hands on head coach, doesn't want to be a CEO type.
He mentioned servicing the state and helping Virginia high school coaches in their careers with clinics and Hokies' coaches being available. (That is how longstanding relationships in recruiting are formed.)
Needs to coach up younger receivers in order to play more uptempo.
Fuente's offense will fit Tech's personnel; spring evaluation process.
Offensive productivity will not come at the expense of the detriment to the defense.
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So far I really like what Fuente has to say.
Can we score 40 points and gain 500 yrds a game? Fuente: growls...NOOOooo. Hahahaha. At least he gets it. He might have to put Sam Rogers on the tracks to stop the hype train though.
He's saying all of the right things but can he play golf? We need him to start representing VT for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Challenge (golf tournament).
If he ever does participate, I wonder if he's allowed to invite Frank Beamer as his "celebrity" teammate. That would be pretty cool having the new and old coach battling side by side.
Curiosity got the best of me. (Slow MLK day) Still ended up shooting 83, apparently he has some work to do. But this article was from 2013, so who knows.
Link
As someone who tried to take up golf later in life, 83 would have thrilled me. Never broke 90, never came close to a hole in one. Respectable score, in my opinion, for a football coach or most anyone with a life outside of the links.
Absolutely agree, I just meant that he isn't going to be winning tournaments like Frank does/did. I shoot mid-80s myself and have played since I was 6. It's hard to break 90 unless you play consistently. Not to mention, the last couple holes for me are usually 0 F's given due to miller lite consumption.
He has about 30 years to get on Frank's level, if he can find the time he can get there.
I knew you weren't disparaging him for his score. Like you, I usually didn't finish so strong, usually for the same reasons, though I was still a Bud man in those days. Maybe if I had been the Miller Lite guy I usually am now I could have done better. Nah, pipe dream. I discovered that I was not "mentally" (read tempermentally) suited to play the game like it should be played by amateurs, and that's for enjoyment. It pissed me off too often and I finally remembered that if it was a good day to play golf, it was a good day (and a boatload cheaper) to go fishing. As for Frank's golf prowess, so many of us remember him as the aging, somewhat shlubby old ball coach he became, but he was a damn fine athlete in his day, competitive and coordinated, and I have noticed that good golfers can play good golf even as they age. Now, is it too early for a Miller Lite? Wifey says yep, what say you?
I say...
"Carry on my wayward son
There'll be peace when you are done
Lay your weary head to rest
Don't you cry no more"
I'll be joining after rush hour.
Yeah, Bay-Bee. Thanks for your blessing! Being retired, being cold, being, well, just being, I have this quandry on a daily basis. Foster Brooks, the comedian, told a story about passing a Coors brewery one late night driving with his wife. She looked at the lights and said, "See there Foster, you'll never be able to drink it all." Foster looked at the lights and then said to his wife, "Maybe not, but I got 'em workin' nights!" Don't drink Coors, but the Miller man will be able to retire early on my account.
Really wish the ACC would do away with the camp rules so we could see Fuente and Co. Get out there.
Makes me excited when Fuente says, what I think are, the right things during interviews.
Guy says all the right things. That's good. I think that satisfies criteria 1b. Now, lets see if he can satisfy criteria 1a. Winning ball games. (hint: I'm pretty confident he'll be able to do that too....)
paraphrasing: "Our offense at Memphis didn't look exactly like what we did at TCU and our offense in Blacksburg won't look exactly like either of those two...the fun part of coaching is molding the offense around the players we have"
this is quite possibly the single most exciting philosophical viewpoint that Fuente has. I love it.
Not only is it exciting, it is just f**king smart! I like smart.
He makes me excited!
edit: fixed
One of my favorite quotes from him. Like to see that the offense is looking to do more but not get into shootouts a-la Baylor tcu etc. 35-0 scores will do just fine
I would really love to see, and I don't know how feasible it is, the ability to flip a switch. Like I said I don't know if it is really possible but I would love to see "hey our defense is really struggling today, alright offense, light it up." or "man we can't seem to gain two inches on this team, ok D lock em down."
I don't know if something like that can be done. I don't know if it is a mentality or a culture in a football team that we're here to score and that's all we do. Or we're here to not let you gain an inch and take your lunch money while we're at it but that's it.
But if Coach Fuente can combine those two mentalities we might legitimately have someone that can take us to the promised land.