Sources: #VirginiaTech is filling its defensive staff vacancy with Tyrone Nix, the former defensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Southern Miss. Official announcement later this week. Nix fills the spot vacated by Galen Scott, who resigned in April— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) June 13, 2018
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Well, at least we'll have help with that tough Middle Tennessee squad in 2020.
Hands down my favorite SNL skit of all time.
Yes, it was back when SNL was actually funny.
SNL from the funny days
I actually think the last 6 months of SNL are the funniest it's been in a decade. But nothing will beat those bush/gore debates.
The Bush/Gore debates were funny because they didn't just repeat what happened in the real debates, they riffed on them - they took actual events and traits of the characters, and exaggerated them, but they nailed it. You'd see the humor regardless of your politics, and you might not even know the politics of the players.
I feel as if the recent show has it's moments, but they're rare and uneven.
The one shiny exception was McCarthy impression of Spicer, which was hilarious.
Beat me to it!
I'm happy we filled the spot but its not as much of a splash as I was hoping for.
In Whit we trust.
My sources said there was another candidate on the table but he got Nix-ed
The spot was Ty'ed up.
True, but in the end there could only be 'rone
As in they were Nix-ing that idea/suggestion?
A splash hire at this point in the year?
WE WANT SPLASH! BIG, BIG SPLASH! CANNONBALL SPLASH!
A guy can hope, can't he?
No one said I was supposed to be reasonable in my hopes.
I am not much into following other coaches, and can only name a handful of DC's, but based on both his resume's and Scott's, I think this could be an upgrade. Can he recruit better? We'll see. Does he have better chemistry with Bud or the rest of the team and staff? Not yet at least. Does he have more experience? Yes. Is it better? I don't know. Can he keep his junk in the trunk? Probably better at that part than Scott was.
I don't think that phrase means what you think it means.
Thought the exact same thing, and this gif made me laugh way too hard. Well played!
Alright TKP... tell me why we are disappointed this time.
I was only going to be happy with Venables or (preferably) a clone of Bud... I mean we are a premier research University, Bud Foster should be cloned by now. The only reason he isn't is poor funding (donate to the Hokie Club NOW) and a slack support staff.
Wish I had photoshop at work...
Wait, do clones get passes also?
They have to because of how much they miss
I am hungry now, but did not pack anything to eat and have a conference call at 12:30. Its giving me a headache already, and there is that one annoying guy who cannot understand why his questions are off topic and a waste of time, but loves to argue when anyone points it out, on the conference call. I am very disappointed I did not bring a styrofoam cup with a straw and a cold one to work today. That is why I am disappointed. I'm okay with the hire.
Email this to your meeting group
I have never seen this before. Maybe because I am in an industry that generally runs idiots out of it quickly. Anyhow, this is just too funny.
WAIT . . .
Can't believe Whit couldn't get Kevin Steele!
Whit didn't replace Justin Hamilton with Nick Saban and Adam Lechtenberg with Chip Kelly.
At least we know there is no co defensive coordinator anymore. This hire may extend Fosters tenure a bit longer. I definitely see this as a recruiting upgrade. Scott was dead weight in that area.
I was wondering if he was gonna retain Scott's "Co-DC" role and am glad to hear that he is not. Is he still being looked at as a possible successor when Bud finally decides to hang it up, or will that be another open search? OR... is it too early to tell because Bud's not going anywhere anytime soon (please be this one)?
Huh. Interesting, to say the least.
Sorry I should clarify... just my opinion. You see recruits in photos with mostly all our coaches except corny and Scott. And we know corny is a quiet guy.
Am I the only person so confused by this sentence that it doesn't really clarify anything?
Sorry, I was typing with my kids were fighting over a chicken nugget. I rushed it.
typing with my kids were fighting over a chicken nugget
the little joys of fatherhood.
Jk jk I would never
.
.
.
Get caught.
Some things are worth fighting for
Looks like the chicken nugget fight continues.
I hope you didn't get in the way. That's dangerous as hell!
I wasn't meaning to criticize, or even disagree, if it was taken that way.
I don't follow recruiting closely enough to have an opinion on which coaches have the most influence - I just thought it was an interesting/revealing comment.
I didnt see it as critical. It is just my observation that I needed to clarify and not the belief of every one
I don't think this extends Foster's tenure any. Foster's going to retire when he wants to retire, and he doesn't give a damn what you, or any other "co-DC" thinks about it!
Coach Foster is that you!!!
No, but I've been accused of being that grumpy, from time to time.
Deleted, twice in one day, dadgummit!
I think maybe we can surmise why
He was always laying down on the job.
I heard he was real stiff as a recruiter. Also some rumblings that he would come visit recruits prematurely, before the staff was ready to extend offers. This would leave a bad taste in a lot of mouths and was rarely satisying for anyone.
I heard he ALWAYS said hi to mom, but was way too eager about it.
On the plus side, he loved milkshakes, but on the negative side, he loved them in other people's yards.
That's not A FFAIR thing to say....
J/k...carry on
I heard he was real stiff as a recruiter. Also some rumblings that he would come visit recruits prematurely, before the staff was ready to extend offers. This would leave a bad taste in a lot of mouths and was rarely satisying for anyone.
is this a joke about him hooking up while recruiting or actual facts about his recruiting?
via GIPHY
Really? I read it completely oppositely. Nix has I think one stint coaching DBs and mostly was either a DC or a Co-DC. I think they will give it some time, see if he fits in and buys into the VT/Fuente/Foster way and if he does, will be named Co-DC.
I was just assuming French would take over as DC/OLine Coach
I like the hire. I somewhat wish it was a young up-and-comer, but understand that it's a very tough time of the year to make a hire. His recruiting results have been mixed, but he was a pretty successful DC, especially in the passing game, so that bodes we'll for being a safeties coach. Curious to see how he fares in the recruiting realm.
I suspect these 2 hires will allow cash for an assistant/support staff hire
Apparently he was nominated for the Broyles award while at Ole Mi$$: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrone_Nix#cite_note-5
Would have rather gone after someone on the upswing of their career instead of the backend, but I don't know who all is out there, but if we're casting a net wide enough to catch someone who was let go by MTSU, someone's got to be out there.
Looks like most of his top recruiting scores have been from the JUCO ranks, but I'd expect he's got to be an upgrade over Scott
The season starts in less than 3 months, so the pool of available candidates is small. Nix is 45 years old; regardless of his coaching history, he's too young to say he's on the back end of his career.
Edited for tone
I have no idea how small or large the pool is, and I'd suspect most posters here don't either. If we're looking at coaching experience across P5, G5, and including analysts, there are a lot of candidates. Working at VT under Bud Foster would be an upgrade for a most of them.
Maybe "back end" was the wrong wording. Definitely a known commodity, though. Nix's coachig track record and recruiting history, while I do believe is better than Scott, still isn't something that is overly impressive. I'm not sure how you could look at it and say it is? It's a fine hire. Not great, not a bad one.
Who said anything about "overly impressive"? I am neither over- nor under-whelmed by the hire. I am only moderately whelmed. The pool of candidates in May and June is small relative to the pool of candidates in December and January was all I meant by that. Because most of the coaching candidates who are looking to switch jobs would want to be in their positions before NSD, spring practices and camps, etc etc.
You seem to be holding the "known commodity" aspect against Nix. What's wrong with hiring someone where you know what you're gonna get and what they bring to the table? This late in the coaching carousel cycle, it might make more sense than taking hiring an "up and comer" and maybe they're in over their head. I don't know for sure and I might be wrong, but I don't think Fuente would have hired this guy to this position if there were better options in play.
I'm not holding "know commodity" against him. I was using it as a justification to why I don't feel excited about the hire. I'm not pissed about it, just not excited, and since you accused me of trolling, I'm attempting to explain why my thoughts are what they are.
Fair enough. I removed that comment less than a minute after I posted it because I realized your initial response was more measured than I interpreted it to be at first glance.
so was he the silent commit or
But can he do a cartwheel?
Amazing to me the reactions on social media to this news being official. Honestly who do fans like DCWilson and outoftowner think is coming to the team in June and for how much money?
Some people will literally complain about anything. I've seen complaints about every single member of the staff that has taken us to 26 consecutive bowls, so of course no new hire is ever excluded either. We could have hired Pete Carroll and people would say he's too old and must be on the down swing of his career because he had been NFL coach.
I think those two are the same guy. Have you noticed they are never posting on TKP at the same time? #ruhrohraggy
Not sure what the June angle has to do with it. I will say that I don't see the Nix hire as a bad one. He didn't have authority to hire his own defensive staff at MTSU, so I don't hold that performance against him. I think that a lot of his critics aren't aware of that situation.
But the June excuse is a tired one. Sure there's more turnover early in the off-season.. but most people are not declining promotions because it's June and not January. (and yes, Virginia Tech is a promotion for most college defensive coaches, especially while Bud Foster is coordinator) I think people need to accept that Bud Foster and Justin Fuente are picky people. They just don't hire anyone, and certainly don't prioritize flashy recruiting over X's & O's coaching and development. Saying that it's hard to find people to hire in June because there's historically less turnover this time of year is deflecting from the real reason we didn't hire a flashy recruiter to replace Galen Scott (not a flashy recruiter either) or to fill the 10th coaching position. That reason is Justin Fuente and Bud Foster's philosophy on how Virginia Tech has the best chance for success.
A lot of coaches just uprooted their families months ago to move, they probably don't want to do after three months. The pool is definitely smaller.
I do wonder about this... Bud Foster is definitely one of the top 5-10 best defensive minds in college football, but it's not like he's coached anyone recently who has moved on to be a DC elsewhere. Not sure how much of a factor that is to potential candidates.
That said, at surface level, this looks like a solid hire for program. I'm satisfied.
But did they? If they have kids in school, it's likely they waited until the end of the school year to move their families. This might just be a destination switch for them.
#juneisthetimeforpoachingcoacheswithkids
I really like this hire. Fuente coached against him at Memphis so he obviously respects what he brings to the table. Both of our secondary coaches are former defensive coordinators. And with bud coaching the linebackers and wiles on the d-line, I think we're pretty well set.
Plus we save $138,000 on his contract, that can afford a recruiting staffer or 2