A lot has happened since we got smacked around by a middling Duke team. At home, by 35. Now we've shut out two straight ACC opponents, one with a division title on the line. Many of us were down and out on Fuente and Corny then, but clearly the team is headed in a totally different direction now with one week left in the regular season.
For those who wanted Fuente gone, do you still think that's the right move eventually? For those who stuck supporting him, how do you explain the first four games of this season?
It's been a roller coaster season to say the least, and coaches have plenty to take blame for, yet plenty to take credit for in the midst of this turnaround. Interested to hear TKP's opinions on the staff.
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Obligatory " that's bait" gif
Ryan wasn't the guy, and the inexperience of the team was definitely a factor.
I think we have the team now that Fuente was expecting all year.
We've had some things go right for us, and we have some real talent on the team. Things are working the way they're supposed to. Fuente is a good football coach. Corny is better than some people give him credit for being. Kill may be having some influence. Bud is having the season he deserves.
Agree on the offense. The d has waaaaay outpaced all my possible expectations for this year. The metamorphosis from dog shit to dog has been....stunning.
Bud will be missed. Fuente deserves a huge deal of credit.
I still haven't bought into Corny. I don't follow recruiting nearly as much as some, but I get the impression he hasn't done much. If he's replaced, I won't lose sleep over it.
You could give Corny the highest position recruiting grade if any coach in some arguments when you consider the QB talent on the roster and being brought in. I'm not going to argue the merits of play calling as it's a slippery slope, but QB recruiting has never been better at VT.
Fair enough on the QBs.
Coach Fuente....
Corny- Jury is still out on your playcalling at times.
via GIPHY
From left-for-dead to a 9/10/11 win season. Should be a lot of crow served.
I salute this topic. My only regret is that it lacks a 3D gif of a five course meal of crow. Corn/Fuente/bud know what they're doing. We're seeing it before our eyes.
Thank you sir. ☺️
I think we'll be needing a new DC.
Still iffy on Cornelson. Sometimes the play calling is stupid and often predictable. He is also very reliant on having a quarterback just go out there and make plays
Hooker has a lot of "escapability", which he shows every game, but I think the offense as a unit executes a lot of big time plays... plays that are designed and practiced by every player.
stating Corny is "very reliant on having a quarterback just go out there and make plays" is an unfounded take. He is reliant on a quarterback who can make the correct reads and execute the offense.
I also don't think Hooker just goes out there and makes plays. He is athletically gifted, yes, but he has studied and worked very hard, and seems to have leadership qualities that lift the team.
Yes, but corny didn't call the plays that his qb that started the season could make work. That falls on his shoulders as well.
Just for one example - the big play to Robinson that set up the first td. He was wiiiiide open. That's play calling folks. That's it. It is scheming with X's and O's to get a guy wide open and it worked.
That type of "open" play has happened a lot. That's excellent coaching.
I 100% agree with this, but on that play you're referring to was also excellent qb play as there should have been a pitt defender on him, but Hooker very effectively looks him off to the receiver below and at the last second turns slightly and throws to the deeper and sub-sequentially wide open Tayvion
Agreed. My point is that it didn't take a heroic mahomes type of throw to make that play - the scheme created a high percentage opportunity and hooker executed. We've seen that type of thing a lot th weed past six weeks.
Running Hooker about a dozen times up the gut is maddening. Especially against this D and knowing how valuable he is to keep healthy
Mainly when we're up 3 scores in the 4th quarter
ESPN talked about Kill's influence/hire, Kill said he was given some tape to analyze, he asked if he needed to be honest, said he didn't expect to hear back from Tech. Makes you wonder.
I've seen an interview with Kill where he said that.
I think the point was that he gave an honest opinion. Then Fuente hired him.
Makes you wonder what exactly? I believe the implication is that he gave his honest opinion and wasn't sure if his football viewpoint aligned to our coaches as he probably gave some blunt feedback. We hired him, so it actually gives me confidence we are willing to hear feedback that isn't complimentary and use it to make the program better.
That's a sign of good leadership.
I agree, kinda what I was implying. Just like lsu, making adjustments that most think wouldn't be made. Exactly that.
It's all good in the hood
No crow for me. I've been defending Fuente and Co. For a while now. I'm enjoying being a smug bastard right now.
Y'all go ahead and enjoy eating that crow. I'm good.
I've got to hand it to you, I for one was way off the Fuente bandwagon and you defended him to the death.
So you defended the indefensible is what im hearing?
Fuente spent a month coaching for his job, but a but of luck was certainly involved in the turn around too. 6OT comes to mind.
Luck? We make our own luck. Two shutout blowouts? Ha. Right. No...wrong.
Do you think we would be at this point if UNC makes 1 of those FG's or Miami completes the comeback.
We are 100% rolling now, but to pretend it wasnt very touch and go there is wrong as well. Momentum, and belief in yourself and teammates is a hard thing to get going and one more heartbreaking loss might have been all it took.
But they didn't - that is all.
Not DVing becuase I think you bring up a reasonable point (even if the comment comes off a tad snarky): why did it take Fuente 4 games to figure out the problem?
First of all, anyone who does not think there was a significant amount of luck involved in those first two turnaround wins is nuts - UNC missed multiple field goals (as did we). Miami turned the ball over 5 times (statistically, turnovers are random, so there is absolutely luck involved here).
That said, good leaders set up experiments to test hypothesis, measure failure, and iterate as necessary (BTW I just summarized the entire lean start up book for you - don't waste your time reading it). Fuente did this. Maybe not at the speed we'd like, but I'd argue that we're in the same place we would've been anyways; we just have less margin for error entering our final game of the season.
If your assertion is that TOs are random, you could also say that we lost the BC game because of bad luck, then. We had 5 TOs in that game.
To clarify, there is a non-random opportunity to create 'turnover opportunities,' but the rate at which those opportunities (pass breakups and fumbles) are converted into turnovers (interceptions and fumble recoveries) is (statistically) random.
That said, I do believe that there was a lot of 'bad luck' in that BC game. That's not to say that BC didn't earn that win, or that VT 'should have won' the game; it's just to say that, given that VT outgained BC, converted more first downs, ran more plays, and controlled the time of possession. VT out performed BC in almost every 'non-random' statistical category, so, in theory, we should win that game more often than we lose it (based off that single game sample size).
A student of the Bill C Turnover stat school I see!
But yes I think you made the point more eloquently than I could have.
Very big Bill C fan. Really annoyed that he's not on PAPN any more. Would LOVE to hear his comments on VT's turn around.
Sounds like you're mad bro because you gotta eat that crow.
Pass the salt when you're done.
I was convinced of the negative narrative about the staff A.D. I can't believe we beat @Miami, WF, and Pitt and nearly knocked off @nd. Those 4 games have me back onboard, excited, and expecting Hokie football again! I would be surprised if we lost to uva and I would love to have a measuring stick game against Clemson. Go Hokies!
I don't know if Fuente ever needed to be canned but after Duke I thought changes were needed...apparently the change was at Quarterback.
I think this is only part of the story. I think Fuente changed his approach, too and got tougher and demanded more toughness of the team.
I agree. I think it's way too simple to just credit the QB change with the team's turnaround. The defense looks like a completely different unit, and overall we're seeing a VERY young team get better over the course of a season.
But Hooker has been tremendous.
There is also the fact that we had a lot of inexperienced players on the field, all at the same time.
They were whiffing all over the place early in the season.
A big part of the change in trajectory are players who have been adapting to the college game, combined with the additional run threat (and reduced turnover threat) that Hooker represents.
This can't be overstated. Many of our players are much more experienced (and playing like it) now, especially on defense.
Not to mention the potential impact of bringing Kill into the fold
Half the fans who called for Fuente's job will be even more up in arms if a bigger money program grabs Fu and Corny in the next couple of seasons. Be careful what you wish for...
Those "seats" have gotten so cold...and that's a good thing!
At the beginning of the season it was expected that we would win 9-10 games with 1 loss to ND and a potential questionable loss. We would learn nothing about the staff or the team because the schedule was so easy. So here we are on pace, two questionable losses and nothing known about this team so we will have to wait until next year. Like everyone thought.
/S
Edit: fix spelling
I thought I was going to have to fight you until I saw the "/S".
Nicely played.
I've always been in the every coach needs 5 years crowd. I like Fuente, I like his demeanor. But the biggest thing about college football is that you don't know what's going to happen. A person top 10 becomes unranked almost every year (I picked texas!) With how crazy it is you always learn about your team no matter the schedule. We have a very young team that has grown up. It's been great.
But honestly my views on the coaching staff haven't changed all season. I have no inside information so really they have put the team in a position to succeed and the team is succeeding. I don't think it's fair to judge a coach a single game. So we still have 2-3 more games and I hope the coaches get everyone ready to play as they have been doing all season.
I'm good, but curious as to who the next DC will be and whether there will be some other changes on the staff.
Beyond wins/losses I'm stoked about watching these Hokies playing Virginia Tech brand football.
I will say that I was pretty convinced there needed to be a coaching change after the Duke game. I just felt like the program was heading in the wrong direction, recruiting wasn't looking promising, and we had lost the luster we had with what was supposed to be a new and exciting era for VT football. I give Fuente and his staff a ton of credit for being able to assess themselves critically and make the adjustments needed to get this team back on track. I also think the Kill hire was tremendous. No doubt his influence has really helped this team. And what can you say about Bud? This has to be one of the most impressive coaching efforts of his entire career. This defense looked completely defeated last season. Now we are playing absolutely on fire. I'm sure we will find a quality DC replacement, but there will never be another quite like Bud. Absolute legend.
I honestly feel better about the direction of the program now than I have since we almost beat Clemson in the ACCCG back in 2016. College football is so much about momentum and incremental building on your successes. I thought we had lost it all, but we have really turned things around more than I thought possible a few months back. If we can finish this year out the way I think this team is capable of, man we are setting ourselves up for a sweet season and big springboard into what could be a massive 2020.
I never thought even the notion of firing Fuente before the end of the 2020 season should have been considered. But I was one of the first people to start questioning him, as far back as the disastrous 2017-2018 offseason. And after the Duke loss, I had definitely become skeptical of Fuente, Cornelson, and even Foster.
I can tell you that right now I have 100% confidence in the entire staff. A bad coaching staff can't do what this team has done the last 7 games. Period. Not with a team that has 5 seniors.
As for the people who were calling for Fuente's job after Duke, I don't blame them at all. They're fans, and the future of the program looked bleak at that point.
This x10000
I left the Duke game dejected, for the first time truly coming to terms with the fact that the guy we thought was a great fit for the program probably just wasn't. That is, for me, what hurt the most. To that point, I had generally liked Fuente, the things he said, and the relationship he had with Frank. It all seemed like it should work. But at that point, it wasn't, and I was resigned to the thought of having to replace him.
But then Miami happened, and I started to believe again. The team has rattled off all these wins and a near-win at Notre Dame. Credit to the entire staff for making necessary changes, for swallowing their pride and listening to Jerry Kill, and for coaching these guys up. The team is playing with swagger. The defense is a nightmare for opponents once again. They're playing with fire and they're playing together. I'm not calling for anyone's head.
The new DC hire needs to be a home run to keep things going in the right direction, and I think that's a hard task. We may have found "the guy who has to follow THE GUY" in Fuente, if recent results indicate his real potential, but doing it twice by hiring the next Bud Foster...that's a tall order.
This perfectly sums up my feelings.
Foster is impossible to replace, but I couldn't be more optimistic than I am right now.
Beamer set the standard on how to prepare a program for his replacement, and somehow I think Foster has done maybe an even better job doing the same thing, with his unit's on-the-field play the last few games.
This defense is suddenly loaded with studs at all 3 levels, and except for Reggie Floyd (also a stud) they are ALL coming back in 2020. If I'm a top-tier D coordinator up-and-comer, VT would be a really attractive spot for me right now.
Foster has been amazing. Impossible to replace? No. There are much better defenses out their currently ie. Clemson and Venerables. You may be right though it will be impossible to get someone of that caliber.
I was wrong. Glad to eat crow.
I mean who would we get rid of at this point? We won a game with three QB's, McClease has been much improved, CB's are lock down, Safeties have finally come on at the end of the year, DL is totally different compared to last year, TEs are doing all sorts of things, Our punting and kicking has been stellar for the most part, OL is young and holding it's own against everyone, recruiting is starting to roll and we did a hell of a job finding people last year that were under the radar to fill holes, soooo WR maybe? All our problems are good problems to have at the moment, and I'm glad that people are starting to see the benefit of being patient and supporting a team through good times and bad. Let's go!
I'll admit that I was ready for any and all changes after Duke. Not only did we get bitch slapped by 35 at home against a team that won't even make a bowl game, but it was following two games that consisted of losing at halftime to Furman and needing a 4th quarter TD to beat ODU by two scores.
I'm not quite back on board with Fuente yet, I would be if we give Clemson a game, but I'm mainly just confused af as to how a team and coaching staff and have the first four games that VT did and then flip a switch in week 5 of the season and decide to dominate. Remember, after the duke game it was looking bleak for us to beat another FBS team this season. I just don't get how Fuente can be polar opposites in one season.
You would expect (or at least hope) to see improvement over the course of a season from such a young team.
What you wouldn't expect is just how much of a turnaround we've had. I've never seen a VT team improve this much in one season.
And how quickly it happened almost doesn't make sense
Probably just a confidence thing. The team was super young last year and was dealing with a bad locker room. Then this year they get off to a bad start and get curb stomped by a basketball school. I think if they lost to Miami the season probably would have been 6-6. When winning is in a teams DNA the upperclassmen pass that down to the underclassmen. I think the close wins have given confidence to these players and now they are playing with conviction. Huge credit to the staff for continuing to stay the course and seeing the fruits of their labor.
Fuente took a dumpster fire of a program (Memphis) to the top-25, and has now orchestrated one of the more surprising single season turn arounds. At some point we all have to acknowledge that this staff is seemingly very capable.
The turnaround has been extraordinary. Objectively there are 2 changes that occurred right at the turnaround - Hooker starting and the Kill hire. Therefore I mark those two events as the most import aspect of the turnaround. How that explains the defense's recent rise??? No idea.
I agree these are the only two things I can think of and they both coincide with the Miami game
To paraphrase Spencer Hall, people don't change because change is hard. Fuente changed how he was coaching and changed his QB because he realized things weren't working. He got it right this year before the season was lost.
Burnop has, more than once, said after Duke that Fuente told the team "my way or the highway." My interpretation, which includes a little bit of sauce, was that Fuente had "softened" a little on the team to win back the team culture from last year but AD had to toughen back up. That's certainly not all of the turnaround as there seems to be some Kill influence and also some tendency changes on Fuente's part (like not benching players because of a fumble).
It was the turkey bacon. It made the team soft.
Fuente did make some changes, as nothing stays static, but Fuente isn't a completely different coach from who he was two months ago. Just like Corny and Bud aren't different coaches from who they were two months ago.
Fuente stuck with Willis too long, and Willis never turned the corner. Hooker adds a different dimension to the team. And some of those players who had never played in a college game before September got better.
Some fans got the assessment wrong. Turns out Fuente can coach football. But I'm going to say he's still under probation, and still has a lot to prove. But if he beats Virginia and has a decent showing against Clemson, he'll have the backing of most fans.
Fuente has earned more time to prove himself, even from the most demanding fan.
"You play to win the game. You don't play it to just play it."
The team wasn't winning games. That Duke loss was a straight up beatdown. Right or wrong, that falls on the head coach. Somehow they've turned things around and the team is rolling. I don't see how anyone could be calling for a change at this point.
I feel the staff is basically at square one.
We started out as one of the most unprepared teams I have ever seen tech put on the field. We were down right awful.
We are now a team that seems to be playing beyond there skill set, but a team that seems really proud to take the field.
Am I going to say "omg! I was so wrong about Fuente, I'm so happy that some folks always knew the season would turn out this way!"? Of course not, we sucked at the beginning of the year, were playing much better now.
Go fucking win next week.
This is the first time I've been excited about VT football since Fuentes first year. As long as I'm excited about tech football, I'm happy with the coaches.
My take - they are young and they probably made some mistakes, but they were willing to take feedback (Kill) and adjust. Good leaders are willing to admit their shortcomings, overcome adversity, and build a team where each member's strengths compliment one another. At the start of this season I had my doubts, but now I feel confident that they are willing (and humble enough) to learn and grow.
I think the coaching staff has some good momentum right now and they need to keep it going. Showing continued improvement through the end of the season will help carry over to next season and help on the recruiting trail as well. Hopefully that will help the team as they adjust to the coaching changes.
No complaints at this juncture. Will know much better on Friday. Let's get it Hokies, beat the dog shit outta uva.
I've learned fans are way too preoccupied with trying to assign trends to a program. I still can't believe people were all over Mack Brown's, and even more so Mike Locksley's, jock a few weeks ago.
I think that all too often fanbases want to hit the reset button when the current coaches are in the best position to adjust and improve. I think the winner Friday gets ACC coach of the year.
Baring no spectacular collapse I think everyone who isnt intent on leaving is probably worth keeping another year. Even Corny if only to maximize continuity in such a young team, hopefully with a re energized Fuente and Kill in the room.
Fuente did what few coaches really seem to do well, rebound quickly from adversity and make change. He went from robbing Tech blind for his pay to earning every penny. He gets the blame for things in his control like the QB room, and he also gets credit for what he controls now, like beating the piss out of 3 straight ACC foes.
Assuming that Wiles leaves with Bud(do we have any word on that) it may though be worth looking at division of roles too! You get 12 on field coaching spots, but you can arrange them however you want. DL probably is a direct replacement, but will be interesting to see if DC is also positional, or further consolidate somewhere else, etc.
Have we ever had back to back shutouts in conference play?
No
Cautiously optimistic
Offense looks better w HH, but I'm still a little skeptical what impacts are attributed to Kill, and CJF taking a larger role in offensive planning and game calling. I'm very meh on Corn, still. Recruiting outside of QBs is pretty nonexistent.
I think Shibest should be replaced or at least take a pay cut. We've got a baller punter, but stuff like multiple formation penalties, putting Grimz back there to muff (another) punt after Tayvion had been killing it...super confusing to me. Outside of Bradburn, our ST haven't been overly special. I'd cut his salary and have him focus on TEs if we needed him to stay on staff. That role would be good for a more seasoned recruiter.
I appreciate the measured take and think I agree with a lot of what you said. Lots of people were out for CJF's head when he was preaching process over results and the results sucked, but now are singing his praises that the results are better -- but did anything change about the process? And what changed to improve the results?
I think it's a stretch that "recruiting outside of QBs is pretty nonexistent". We have some position groups that are lagging relative to others, but OL and WR recruiting have both been at least as good as QB recruiting.
I would argue that TE recruiting has been stellar as well. The only position on offense that I'm worried about recruiting wise is RB and I'm holding my breath that it could turn around.
I'm talking about Corn's recruiting, specifically. He doesn't really touch position groups outside of QB, and I think your OC has to be a major player in the recruiting game to be compete at an elite level. Clearly Vice has done very well for himself with the OL. No one can complain about the state of OL recruiting
Oh! Thanks for clarifying
Punt return with grim has been bad. But....kickoffs have been great. And punting has been stellar. That has a lot of value.
Kick return has been pretty bad though. Of course if we just never let the other team score that doesn't matter.
Kick return has been pretty tough to watch at times but it wasn't as bad statistically as I thought last time I saw it posted somewhere on here (maybe the between the numbers thread). We've gotten a decent number of long returns this year, so maybe those big returns are pulling our averages up.
Bump.
Have to move on from Corn and from Shibest. I'd also consider bringing in someone for Zohn.
I could go either way now. If Cornelsen sticks around I'm not gonna be out there with pitchforks. His offense clearly works when the right pieces are in place, and it seems like that should be the case for at least the next several years now, hopefully.
That said a good coach should be able to adjust to things when the tools available are a little different or less than ideal and 2017, 2018, and the first 4 games of 2019 very clearly displayed that he can't do that.
Overall Fuente's turnaround of the team is the dominant story of the season and what he should be commended for overall, but I'm not gonna sit here and say he didn't deserve the serious criticism in Week 4 either. Willis to start the year was an obvious choice, but Willis being benched earlier than the Miami game should have also been an equally obvious choice and not doing it almost sunk the team.
I was excited about the Fuente hire. I thought he was going to be a great personality fit for Tech & managing to keep Bud just reinforced that. The first season reinforced that. Then the decline started.
We lost a few more each season after Season 1. The O regressed back to mediocrity, the play calling was Public Enemy #1 and the D was on the skids,...recruiting was waning, the Portal was in full effect, and the SI article came to light.
I was in favor of change all around. I'd even gone so far as to believe the game was passing Bud by.
Then we beat Miami,....ok, maybe that was ordained, I mean they thought our DB's were WR's. Kinda hard to lose when they do that,...though we gave it some thought in Q4. Either way I was happy, but not back on the wagon.
Then I read about Fu's self accountability speech. Okay, this is the right guy. Just for that alone, I was willing to give him 2 more years. Just him, we still needed an OC.
Now we have this streak going. And Corny,...Corny, was he replaced by a Body-Snatcher??? All of the sudden this guy is calling stellar games. He played Pitt like a $2 banjo yesterday.
And Bud,...it's as though he has returned from the dead. The Miami game was a bit of a gimme, the last 4, it's like reliving the days of old. It's a damn shame he's not coming back next year, his boys would be lock-down, lights-out, L-D-P in his system next season.
So, I'm not eating crow but I'm definitely willing to give CJF more time. It's also easier to wear Hokie gear in SEC country these days.
Lunch Dail Pefense
Got me
You hear that you hayseeds?
We're using code names!
ETA: No love on a deep Raising Arizona pull makes me feel old.
Well that and being old.
Crap I'm old.
We gave cardiologists across the state a nice little pay raise between Miami and Notre Dame. The rest have been dominating performances.
There are still going to be some things to criticize, this team is growing before our eyes. They are still so young.
If there's anything the last two years, our 3rd quarter play has been very meh. We've been so dominant in the first half the last few weeks, it's hard to even complain about it. I hope we keep our for on the gas pedal in the second half.
We have a hell of a game Friday, and a chance to make a STATEment.
For me - the problem early on was more with the attitude I could see from the players on the field (particularly the offense). My son is a VT freshman so this is the fist time in years (decades really) I have been to games in person. For me, the attitude of the players was shocking - it seemed almost like they did not want to be out there playing - they looked confused, disorganized, and lackadaisical. Another older fan behind me commented - "I just don't recognize this team anymore". I felt like the crowd boos early in the season were not so much directed at Willis but at the entire offense and coaching staff for the piss-poor effort - I don't expect VT to always win but I DO expect a VT team to always play hard and with heart (LPD mentality) and that was sorely lacking in those first few games. I had completely lost faith in the coaching staff due to the attitude I saw on the field in those games (just watching the offense stand around during the TV timeouts looking confused and disinterested while losing to Furman was infuriating). I felt like the defense was showing signs of improvement but still not where they needed to be. The turnaround in attitude after the Duke game has been unbelievable - I have no idea how that happened or what happened to allow things to get so far off track early but since WF I have been seeing old school VT football again. Players are playing hard, fighting through adversity, and even when we don't win (ND) I am proud of my (admittedly very limited) association with this team again. I am still concerned with a coaching staff that allowed that early season attitude to infiltrate the team but very encouraged with the new/old style of VT football we have seen AD - I hope the coaching staff has this figured out now but am more skeptical than I was before the season...
I was fully supportive of the staff before this season but those early games (and the now baffling decision not to start Hooker) have left me much more skeptical. I hope the lesson has been learned and we will never see those dark days again but they will have to continue to prove it before I will be convinced (not that my opinion matters anyway :-) ).
Always thought Fuente and this staff were the right ones to lead this program. First 4 games were because of extreme youth and a mistake going with RW initially. They corrected it, we have the same team coming back next year minus Reggie Floyd. Probably top 10-15 preseason and a nice start to 2021 recruiting. Future looks 😎
The turn around this season has been remarkable. And a welcome, pleasant, surprise after the first leg of the season. I'm still confused about some things though. Who is really behind the turnaround? What has changed behind the scenes? Why did we start so poorly?
I'm happy that the Hokies are playing much better now than they were just 6 weeks ago but is it sustainable? What can we really expect from this team in the future? This schedule was incredibly soft so perhaps we should temper our excitement over the apparent turn around.
I'm not really sure what to think about this coaching staff yet. I was extremely disappointed with the lack of progress our offense had shown from 2017 through the Duke game and I was all on board the fire Cornelson band wagon. Now I'm not convinced he should be fired. On the other hand, I'm still not convinced he should be retained either.
Next year is going to be difficult to gage because we'll have an entirely new defense and they'll go through growing pains. The offense will absolutely need to carry the team next season and I'm not sure they'll be able to.
TL:DR I don't know what to think. This staff still hasn't convinced me they're good enough (need more data) but I've cooled on the firing of coaches at this point. *shrug emoji*
Because we went to the wire in 2016 for the acc title, I always thought the coaches were more than capable football guys except for the oline play which seems to be improving. The 'program management' aspect has left wanting at times, but I think the staff is learning and doing a really good job right now. Fuente is finding his balance and this is a fun team to watch. It's nice not to have to rely on individual offensive heroics to make the thing work.
I have always thought Fuente was a good HC. His turn around at Memphis was one of the most impressive CFB coaching jobs of the last 2 decades (I put it up there with/right behind what Hawkins/Peterson at Boise). Fuente clearly has in game awareness (unlike Franklin, and Kirby for example). My only concern is around his staff:
Finally, I think Fuente is under a lot of pressure to nail this DC hire. I understand the financial restrictions, but I'll be pissed if Tracy Claeys. Right now I think Torrian would be a great hire, but we'll see.
I think this is a good summation of where we are.
I still don't even want to think of Tracy Claeys. Given how much our D has improved, the brand of VT defense, how much we have coming back, and the fact that we were paying our coordinator a million dollars a year, the job should be a hell of a lot more attractive than a TC-caliber hire. We can certainly do better. I think this hire will do a lot to show whether the staff is going the easy route, or committed to really taking us to the next level.
To truly reverse a negative opinion you need to have a sustained run of success that is considerably longer than the run of failure. That's going to take at least another season, if not more.
I am thrilled with the turnaround, but without knowing what it is predicated on, I can't determine if this is a lasting upward trend.
Having said that, I am still not sold on Corny, but only time will tell.
Corny haters right now:
I actually don't mind eating crow at all, so long as it benefits everyone involved. And in this case it does!
I never wanted Fuente to be fired this year, but after the Duke game I thought his seat was really warm and I thought he was going to need to make offensive changes in the off season.
I'm so impressed with how he's turned things around. I'm impressed that he was humble enough to seek for help (Jerry Kill). And I'm even more impressed at how he's handling the whole Bud swan song thing. He's a great dude, I'm glad he's having success in Blacksburg!
I'm change averse though so me sticking by Fuente isn't attributed to me really understanding what was going on. I'm more weary of the odds of actually finding a "better" coach so I generally play it safe by give benefit of the doubt for as long as possible.
If you look around college football, I dont know if there that many teams that really got a better team immediately after firing one coach, especially after one that has shown any success. If you look at the guys we thought were going to be no brainers (Chad Morris, Tom Herman for starters), they really havent done anything at all in the way of success where they went. Usually the teams go through a cycle of hire/fire every few years to get back to the level they were already at.
Anyhow, I really really wish Bud was staying now that the defense seems to have it's head on straight. It seems prime time to make a run given the youth thats on this team right now. I REALLY hope we dont change scheme at all. So I REALLY hope whomever is taking over has played in the system and knows it inside and out (ppllleeeaasseeeee Torrian).
If the defense doesnt have a major fall off, I think the offense is going to get better, its going to be a fun few years.
I'm going to feel a lot better about this coaching staff when we beat LOLUVA (for the 16th straight time), upset Clemson (to win the ACC crown), and win the Orange Bowl.
And now we can assess the coaches full resume for the season. Four losses, three of them against unranked teams. Our biggest wins of the season, all against teams not currently ranked. 8-4 record, not bad, but it is against one of, if not, the easiest schedule in the country. I guess we'll see what year five brings after another appearance in a mediocre bowl. Hope we can find a top notch DC to replace Bud. Glad we won't have to play a top tier SEC team in the Orange Bowl.
Cautiously optimistic
I'm with you here, although I'm still not convinced that Corny knows what he's doing.
Same
I agree, but that's a different take from "Fire Corny, or else!"
Fuente has earned some more time to right the ship.
New DC, whatever else he thinks is best.
Edit: corrected the spelling of Fuente
I hate the whole "fire somebody" rhetoric (even though I've spewed that out on occasion). Maybe the guy is really good somewhere. All I know is that Scott Satterfield has always and still does run his own offense, and that includes calling plays. When you're good at something just do it, even if you're the leader of the organization.
If you agree with this take
after four years, how can you think Corny should be anything but fired. What other job is there that you can't convince someone you know what you're doing in 4 years and still keep your job?
We won eight games this year. Corny may not be perfect, but he understands the game, and knows at least some of the teams capabilities.
I trust Fuente to make the decision on his OC.
It's not like we had no offense tonight, and UVA won be cause Perkins is a competitor. They were lucky to have him.