Here is a good article I stumbled upon at 247 sports by former player Dwight Vick. It is a more thought provoking article than an informative one.
http://virginiatech.247sports.com/Article/Virginia-Tech-Football-needs-to-find-their-identity-and-edge-44223972
What do you think it will take for us to return to this mindset?
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The link isn't taking me to an article.
That's because I posted the wrong link.
Fixed it!
Thanks for posting. It's interesting to see a former player's take on the current situation in Blacksburg. It seems that DV is in wait-and-see mode. I think that, perhaps unfairly, most of us are unrealistically optimistic about the very near future. The big take-away is that Fuente has to build a new culture and identity in Blacksburg. That is important because fans need to realize that kind of change doesn't happen in a single off-season. The Hokies are going to have their growing pains this year.
I've been guilty of this myself but I think too many of us look at what Fuente did at Memphis and compare the starting roster he had there with the starting roster he has at VT and think that we'll see a quicker turn-around. As great as that would be I think that is a dangerous expectation. VT managed 7 win seasons for a few years with relatively the same type of roster that Fuente is starting with. Memphis managed 1 and 2 win seasons with the roster that Fuente started with there. His first season with that roster he got the team to 4 wins. They seemingly regressed in his second year by winning only 3. It wasn't until his third season that the team started playing on a level that many people are expecting in Blacksburg this August.
When you change the culture, like I think Fuente is doing, there is going to be some lag. Players have to catch up to the changes and it takes a couple recruiting cycles to get players who truly buy into the culture and system. A vast majority of the players on the roster now were not recruited by Fuente or his staff. The culture they bought into originally is different from the culture that he's trying to build now. Making that switch isn't easy for players and not everyone is going to make that switch 100%.
I do expect to see modest improvements over the course of the season. I fully expect our November to look better than our September. Our schedule definitely sets up favorably for us to rebuild. I just don't think it is fair to expect more than 7-8 wins. I wouldn't even be surprised if we stumble to a 6 win season. It is extremely rare for a coach to come in and turn a football program around significantly in his first season. It has happened but I don't think we should expect that to happen under Fuente. I think he is a really good coach and I'm excited for his career at VT but I think his style is to build methodically and instill a certain culture and attitude into his team. He's not a gimmick offensive guy who is going to install his entire offense in 3 practices and start torching teams from day 1. It is going to take time.
I agree with you on the culture piece. We have the continuity of the defense even though we will be young. IMO, our offensive production will be consistent with last year or slightly better. Fuente made it clear he tailors to his personnel which has weapons like Ford, hodges, and TM. With a qb and 2 more receivers stepping up, we have all the pieces to be an 8 win team. The question in my mind is will the coaches force scheme thinking ahead to 2017 or will they stick to their guns, and do whatever it is we do best this year. To me, our season will be as successful as our QB play.
Yes I agree. I'd even warrant that we could achieve 9-10 Ws. The D does need some serious retooling and reloading with better recruits.
That was a great article and I agree with it 100%. I especially like the connected reference between Teller and Pyne.
I love this article and I have been saying that I miss us having a chip on our shoulder for a while. Dwight is dead on and hope we can bring that attitude back. We should bring Corey Moore in every spring for attitude mentorship.
Although, Corey Moore is a jerk. I went up to him one time and said, "Congratulations on the undefeated season". His response, "Who the f$&@ are you?!" I said the same to Michael Vick and he said "Thank you". I don't think you have to be a jerk to be tough on the field. Xavier Adibi, the Martin brothers, Kam Chancellor... Very respectful in person.
Fwiw, Corey seems like a changed man from how he was back in college.
It's funny, my wife made the same congratulatory remarks to Mike Vick at the Cburg WalMart in early 2000 and while he didn't say who the eff are you, he basically ignored her.
But you never know what kind of day someone is having.
I agree and want to reiterate, you NEVER know what kind of day someone is having. Also, sometimes the price of "fame" in a small town can be a bit higher than you can keep paying. That said, a smile and a nod costs nothing and at least keeps you out of the "asshole" column.
That may be true but this video will always make me laugh:
YES! Imagine walking into practice this spring and getting this 1000 yard stare because you were one minute late.
Yes. Tech's teams, especially in the 90s, seemed to play with a quiet (sometimes not so quiet) rage. Somewhere along the way that was lost. We gotta get it back.
In the mid to late 90s we were the best team in the Big East and they treated us like a temp at the corporate water cooler.... totally ignored and unworthy. Those Tech teams HAD a reason to play with a chip on their shoulder; especially against the ACC who had told us we were not good enough to be at their table. Even after the natty championship run in '99, the bIG East treated us like a proverbial rented mule, exacting their tons of flesh to let us join their circle and again the older members never really accepted us and let us not forget the trashing our 2003 team took at the hands of the bIG East refs on our sojourn season. Finally in the early years fo the ACC, we were treated like the unwanted cousin who crashed the party and was neither wanted or accepted....again. Yeah, in the early seasons of the ACC we had good reason to continue playing with that chip, but as everyone came to grudgingly accept VT as the upper tier of the league, we started losing that edge. Couple that with the transition to a zone blocking scheme that had linemen tying up their feet while they thought about who to block in a stunting DLine, and the old junkyard dog mentality of the OLine began to fade out. When that started the whole offense followed except when a few amazingly talented players stepped up to carry the load, since 2010, those players were looking elsewhere. The new Regime has a chance for a reset. Everyone has said that Coach Fuente is basically like the ying to the yang of Coach Foster and will bring the attacking mentality back to the offense. That happens and we will begin to see the ghosts of those old OLines of Pyne and Conaty, Grove, Washingtons, Vick, DeMasi, Gibson, Montgomery and all the rest standing on the sidelines applauding except that well, they aren't dead yet and hopefully some will be in the stands cheering their azzes off.
What will it take to return to that mindset?
1. The coaches have to remind these guys what they have failed to accomplish. That they are not at the pinnacle of the ACC now. That teams see us as a win on their schedule instead of an oh-shit game. Set expectations of effort and if a player doesn't live up to it, he is replaced until he earns it again. This has to be done in the right way, not to undermine the confidence of the players, but to light a fire.
2. We need better leadership on the team. We need it at every position group. Players need to hold one another accountable for their effort. The leader should be in the ear of the player before the coach has a chance for taking a rep off or half assing it.
VT played like that because they had something to prove. Through the late 2000s, we accomplished what they said we couldn't and it seems the fire cooled down. It is time to show we have something to prove again but the players have to buy into that off the field before we can see any of those results on the field.