Buzz Williams announced the addition of assistant coach Christian Webster to his Virginia Tech men's basketball staff on Monday evening. The former UCF (2015-16) and Harvard (2013-15) assistant, and Crimson alumnus, is a native of Washington, D.C.
"I'm extremely excited to welcome Christian to our basketball family," Williams said in a release. "He fits exactly what we were looking to add to our program, building upon his experience of having been an outstanding player at Harvard, along with his coaching career thus far. Being from the D.C. area, he has a great familiarity with that region's basketball community, which is an important recruiting ground for us. He has an outstanding rapport with student-athletes and his character matches what we want everyone in our program to be about, on and off the floor. With the promotions of Steve Roccaforte and Jamie McNeilly to our first and second assistants' positions, Christian will be a great compliment to this staff."
I am honored to announce that I will be joining @TeamCoachBuzz staff! I am truly blessed and thrilled to call myself a Hokie! — Christian Webster (@CoachWebbie) July 11, 2016
New hoops assistant Christian Webster:"It's pretty cool coming into a college town where VT is everything & the people are die hard #Hokies"— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) July 12, 2016
New #Hokies hoops assistant Christian Webster "When I came and met with Coach Williams and everyone at Tech, it felt like home right away."— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) July 12, 2016
Webster's hire along with the promotions of Steve Roccaforte and Jamie McNeilly round out the Hokies' staff after former assistant Issac Chew bolted from Virginia Tech for Texas A&M.
Comments
Smart guy. DC connections. Winner.
Very impressive bio as a player (winningest ever player at Harvard, 5th most three pointers at Harvard, 3rd best free throw shooter in Ivy League history). Spent a lot of time with a great coach in Tommy Amaker. If any of that translates to his ability to coach this could be a great hire.
We could definitely use his help on free throws. We were great at getting to the line but no so great at making the shots.
Aaron Moorehead, Issac Chew, almost Bud Foster and then Kalvin Cline...TA&M is a little jealous of our coaches and athletes, one thing is for sure they definitely want our personnel!
Not sure if he's smart enough, he graduated from my safety school.
/s
^^^hahaha. What an impressive resume. Seems like a great hire.
Nice. I love these
Sorry had to.
So you could say that guy got knocked out [puts on shades] by a strong Odor?
Thanks, I'll see myself out.
I will be honest here, while I care a lot about our hoops, I have never known much about our assistant coaches. In football, the assistants get a ton of attention/scrutiny/press/praise and criticism, but the role of basketball assistants seems understated by comparison. This certainly seems like a good hire, and I trust Buzz. to get the right pieces in place, but I'll admit that I don't know squat about the effects of Chew gone, this guy in, or pretty much anything else about the coaching after Buzz. Since I never played organized basketball, could someone clue me in a little about the role/importance of assistants?
From what ive understood theyre really important in recruiting and extending the coaches ideas at practice. Coach cant one on one every guy on the court and extra sets of eyes can help you identify players needs at practice and even stuff you might miss in games. Basically just an extra set of eyes looking over everything and good advice from what ive gathered
So it's not role specific, like this guy is a known "big man" developer, or this guy is primarily in charge of the guards, or whatever? I definitely get the recruiting thing, and the extra eyes and bodies to implement the coach's vision. Thanks.
My understanding is that it can be, particularly if a coach has playing experience (ie sam cassell was a guard and taught the wizards guards, patrick ewing working with big men); that being said, no one is really a "big man's coach" specifically, especially because basketball is moving to be less position specific (i also imagine that it's not a great way to market yourself for head coaching gigs if you're seen as more of a niche coach).
So I think I'm following you. The assistant coaches assist the coach. What's with first, second, third assistant? Is that just a pay thing? Do some coaches assign roles more than others, like "big man coach" mentioned above, or recruiting guru, etc, or is it usually all in on everything?
I was hoping for more of an established hire here, but again, this is where the amount allotted currently to assistants salaries may have played a role. I love the fact that Webster got a couple years under his belt with Tommy Amaker( a Virginia native) both as coach and as player and the stop off at UCF I wont hold against him, as it was an underperforming program well before he got there. His enthusiasm for the job and community seem genuine so thats a plus but I would have rather seen us get someone a bit more established in the AAU community as well as having had stints at a couple more high profile programs especially if we continue to have to deal with the year in, year out cycle of "Will Buzz leave?" Better to have a few strong contenders for the head job in house if possible. Webster really needs to show me something this season, especially if he ends up coaching the bigs.
But at least this hire gets them into the public's and Catholics of the DMV. Great bball, and if you could get a couple of the local guys to VT it would be great.
Who was the last star DMV baller before Erick Green? Delaney was from Baltimore.
Jeff Allen came out of Potomac (VA), currently Robinson is from Manassas and Allen is from Woodbridge, before Allen though you would have to go back almost 20 years before you found anyone that averaged double digits in a season. Kind of my point regarding the AAU piece. Buzz has a good set of contacts in that world but Chew knew just about everyone in that circle. I dont see that kind of connection from Webster in what I have read so far.
I think everyone is missing the most important question the new hire should be asked:
"Pie or Cake?"
So cake or death? Pie is basically like never living at all.
I rather thought that was a trick question. Kind of like: "Would you rather have a pint or half a quart?"
Nooooo. This is not a yard wide, yard long thing. Pie is supreme. As for the pint? Yes please.
I was referring to the question "cake or death?" And saying it was about like "pint or half quart" (meaning they're the same).
On a related note, you know how explaining a joke makes it significantly less funny? Yeah...
Nah, I got it. Just trying to extend it a little, but missed the target and fell flat. Leg for ya.
I had no idea that the fangs of mental illness had sunken so deep into our society.
........
Have your silly pie.
that actually looks like a fairly severe impact....
Must. Not. DV. For. Opinions.
Welcome to the family, coach! Honestly, I know nothing about you but if you're good enough for Buzz then you're good enough for me. I absolutely can't wait for hoops season.
Landon and Harvard.... not your average joe.....