The #Hokies officially fill two of their four vacant assistant positions, adding Tracy Claeys to coach LBs and former VT star Darryl Tapp as a general defensive assistant.Claeys has worked with Jerry Kill throughout his career. Tapp was an All-American DE for VT in 2005.— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) December 13, 2019
Coaching Update 🚨Darryl Tapp returns to Tech, Tracy Claeys to coach LBs in 2020.👉 https://t.co/n9CrjHiGRU #Hokies 🦃 | #LPD 💼 pic.twitter.com/GxeiHQGj1x— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) December 13, 2019
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Still room for Prunty!
Very excited about these hires. Tapp should be a recruiting machine.
Defensive staff is looking to be real competitive in recruiting. Love it
Two very good pieces to this puzzle. Standby to see how someone twists these as bad hires.
One is easy to worry about. Claeys's most recent job was as Dread Pirate Leach's DC at Wazzu. That's a huge red flag right there, for anyone that wants to worry or criticize. The rest of his resume, on the other hand has me believing that it's a good hire. Welcome aboard, Tracy, and welcome home, Darryl!
If the strongest argument against a positions coach is he had one bad year at coordinator I think we're okay.
I agree. Was just pointing out that at least one of those hires is pretty easy to criticize, if you're so inclined.
Not sure how much of leg to stand on anyone has when they try to argue they don't
like how his defense a
finished nearly 40 spots higher than Fosters did in 2018.
One year in which the head coach didn't have his back. Not entirely his fault. To have a former head coach and defense coordinator at (2) Power 5 schools to coach a position group should be considered a pretty big deal. Especially when he was a 2-time Broyles nominee. We can thank Coach Kill.
The Dread Pirate Leach. That is fantastic!
His mistake was taking the WSU job in the first place. They had a great defense under his direction in 2018. When it came time rebuild the D this past season his assistants were constantly 2nd guessing his decisions and being disrespectful about it. The defense's performance reflected that strife in the coaching staff. When it became clear that Leach wasn't interested in backing him up and putting the assistants in their places, Claeys resigned.
THAT'S where I know his name from (living in Eastern WA rn)
Paging DC, you're needed on aisle 3
I for one am very happy with these hires. Glad to see Tapp get back to Tech like he has wanted.
Edit: after the Spring game in 2017 I got to talk to Tapp and then listen to Bud and Tapp talk football and Tapp ask Bud for coaching recommendations jobs.
One of my all time favorites. I loved how he stole the lunch pail and took it to Seattle, as if he needed luck to make the roster.
Welcome back Tapp!
And welcome Claeys too, Fuente as we know sometimes plays things pretty tight for good or ill, so probably good if he stays somewhere out of the spotlight where he wont have the option to make a horrible situation worse, and can just coach and continue the rehab and rebuild his bonafides towards presumably another shot as a HC.
Though aside from the Kill connection, how has Wazzu's defense looked, those are not terms I typically associate with each other.
I think Claeys is probably best suited to be an upper-end to elite P5 position coach or G5 coordinator. Not an (edit: elite) P5 coordinator for me because he hasn't really had great results at the P5 level. I would have been incredibly underwhelmed and disappointed if we hired him as DC, but I'm actually pretty happy that he will be on the staff as a position coach
Edit: maybe he's a replacement level P5-coordinator, and he definitely improved Minnesota's defense when he got there
He was a two time Broyles finalist at Minny. Not great results is a little disingenuous.
Edit: nominee
where are you seeing that he was a finalist and not a nominee? being a nominee for a coaching award is like ryan willis being on the preseason maxwell award watch list
edit: i just went back through the Broyles award finalists through all the years Claeys was DC at Minnesota and he wasn't a finalist in any of them
Great catch. I mean it's not at all like your example because one is preseason and one is after the body of work of the season. Still no slouch
He also made the semi finalist cut in 2018. So it's a bit better than preseason watch lists but I also dont see him as a finalist.
One is "the media think this guy might be good" and the other is "the head coach I've worked with for a decade thought I did a good job"
The head coach who came in as an assistant and helped turn around our season trusts in this guy a lot then, seems good to me.
I'm saying that the barrier to entry for a broyles nominee is about the same barrier to entry for being on a preseason award watch list for a player
Not very high
Two time Broyles nominee and fairly successfull HC, now hired as a position coach. What is your football coaching background that would question that this is a good hire??
"I'm actually pretty happy that he will be on the staff as a position coach"
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
I'll take it!
Welcome back Darryl Tapp!
So I know we didn't want Claeys as DC, but how a bout as a linebackers coach?
If we're filling out the rest of the staff with guys like Tapp and PP who have no P5 coaching experience, it's a great move to balance out the room. Guy was a former Broyles award finalist for a reason
Tapp has P5 experience he was hired away from Vandy....
he was a QC analyst, not on the official coaching staff
Whoops read his position wrong.
I don't know the first thing about Claeys. Somebody gimme the run-down.
did you not want to click on the link in the post that gave said information?
Has had a rough couple of years from being interim, to getting the job for real after Kill, to being shown the door for non football reasons at Minnesota, to DC at Wazzu, to now position coach to do some rehab.
In 2016 at Minnesota a group of players and a then recruit were accused of some pretty horrendous group sexual assault, an instance where the police ended up not filing charges. But just a huge shit show all around and hard to think nothing untoward happened on at least some level.
Either way there is a player protest about the pace of school review of the situation and player suspensions, Claeys feels pressure form both sides and decides to come out hard and side with the players who were threatening to boycott the bowl. Not a way to endear oneself to an AD obviously, especially if you were in the loop on the suspension decision.
Anyway he then lands at Wazzu as DC. Has actually a pretty good 2018, and they finish Top 10, without getting truly blown out in any game. But losy a lot of talent for 2019 it looks like and struggled and he resigned in early October after losing 63-67 to UCLA and 38-13 to Utah.
Seems to be a pretty solid coach, who maybe was pushed into the head job a bit too soon, and then faced with just about one of the hardest leadership challenges for a coach. And then of course had to try to run a defense for Mike Leach!
Also looks like he was odd-man-out under Leach.
So I hope he blends in better at VT, and everyone is on the same page.
TL;DR someone post the condensed version
/s
Coached under Jerry Kill from 1995 - 2015 following him to every coaching stop. DC for him since 2000. Twice nominated for Broyles award as nations top assistant as the DC at Minnesota. Took over as HC from Kill and had team 9-4, got let go because of some controversial off the field stuff. Took over as DC for Washington State 2 years ago, heard he did good last year, but not as well this season and heard he resigned as he didn't feel he was supported by Leach.
Seems like his wealth of experience can help JHam a lot, and considering that he has been a DC since 2000 including several power 5 jobs and a HC position it seems like he is overqualified here. Likely came because of his friendship with Kill.
Honestly this seems like a great set of hires. Claeys I think is going to be a great asset for JHam as a young defensive coordinator.
Darryl Tapp is one of my favorite people on the face of the planet. Seriously there is no better human being I have ever met. If he can coach half as well as he played, he will be a fantastic addition.
I assume I'm not alone in this. I've never met him but I always assumed this to be the case. Love D Tapp.
Does this still leave the door for Prunty to coach DL and Prioleau (or someone else) to coach CB's?
I would think so. I think the "defensive assistant" tag is just temporary until the staff is filled out, then Tapp will officially be the DEs coach.
Or someone other than Prunty.
There should be room for two more coaches on the defensive side of the ball. We lost 3 (Mitchell, Wiles and Foster). We've now replaced two, and I've heard that Lechtenberg's former role will not be filled, meaning there can be one additional position coach. It sounds like a good idea to devote that spot to defense with such a young and inexperienced DC like JHam. I think another older, wiser coach like Prunty with strong 757 ties and a younger, energetic (hopefully) good recruiter like Prioleau would round out the defensive staff nicely.
If Tapp can get his guys to have even half of the engine he had it will be a great hire. I spent most of my time in the stands watching solely him on the field while on defense. It was incredible.
Another question is, who will be the new Recruiting Coordinator?
Can't find the source ATM, we will no longer have a coach with that title. I'm not sure who is owning those responsibilities.
It won't be a coaching position like Lecht had, more of an staff member.
Might be a good fit for Prunty.
Doubtful that Prunty would join as a staff member/recruiting position but I can see him joining as a positional coach.
Tracy Claeys is a REALLY good pickup as a LB coach. He has had success as a head coach not even 3 years ago, and extensive experience as a DC at several schools twice nominated for Broyles Award as a DC at Minnesota. Seems like a nice pickup and obviously Jerry Kill knows him quite well (Claeys coached under Kill from 1995-2015), so I am a big fan here.
Tapp obviously I love as he is a great former hokie, underrated NFL guy, and now has been coaching for a bit, obviously is gonna have some passion for coaching here.
Seems like two good pickups here.
I REALLY dont think we ought to be putting a ton of stock in his 13 and 14 Broyles list making.
Like yes its totally a good sign. But he was only 1 of the 40ish Nominees each year, not one of the 5 finalists.
That is a big difference.
While I see your point, it's still better to be in that top 40ish than not at all
Oh certainly, locker room management and judgement aside, that nomination is a strong endorsement for his coaching credentials, and are the sort of coaches VT should be trying to bring in to keep moving forward.
Exactly, especially considering there are some 1500 FBS assistant coaches.
Is Kill our shadow GM?
Yeah that's what it looks like. I, for one, welcome our new Jerry overlord. And if Whit ends up taking the ACC commissioner role then Kill would be ready for the job!
Didn't Kill explicitly say he didn't want to AD and wanted to coach and be around a team? That like the whole reason he left SIU? Right?
That is what I recall as well.
Really hoping to pull in Prunty as well that would be a good group to fill out the space behind Jham, absolutely love bringing tapp back
I was concerned about the Hamilton hire, but these moves make me feel better about it. Especially with someone like Claeys who has experience as a DC to help J Ham in addition to whatever input Bud has.
This is really shaping up in an interesting manner.
It looks like Kill was the chess move of an overhaul.
I am getting a serious inkling that there is a plan in the process of execution.
Taking my tin hat off for a moment, for the most part the staff is being filled with 1. What Bud thinks is best for the future and 2. What the head coach knows and trusts. My only concern is we are creating a bit of a Frankenstein. Yet it is one with young VT culture guys and more seasoned coaches to help accelerate their learning curve. I don't know anything about hiring FB coaches, but if I was building out a company leadership team, this seems like a great strategy so long as the up and coming is willing to take advice, and the veterans are open to the new.
Taking my tin hat off for a moment, for the most part the staff is being filled with 1. What Bud thinks is best for the future and 2. What the head coach knows and trusts. My only concern is we are creating a bit of a Frankenstein.
Frankenstein defense sounds legit. Frankenstein offense, not so much....
Whoo!
Go figure, Fuente actually knows what he's doing. I mean I still would prefer to put the decisions to pure democratic vote and let TKP make all of the decisions but this seems ok to me.
I'm not sure Fuente knows what he is doing. Seems like Kill is making the decisions.
Just my opinion, but I think this is a ridiculous take.
Why did he get down voted all to hell for an opinion?
Don't know. I didn't down vote him.
People don't care how they give out downvotes ... and in turn people shouldn't really care when they get down voted.
I can respect your opinion. Seems the rules sometimes only apply to certain people on here.
"Do not down vote for disagreeing with someone's opinion." is in the community guidelines.
People are so programmed to act on a social network in terms of likes and dislikes and people can't separate that thinking from the logic of the downvotes. I'd prefer like/dislike buttons to the current voting buttons. Seems like everyone currently thinks of an upvote as a sign of agreement and a downvote as ... something else that doesn't have to do with your opinion.
⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇
maybe because it's quite obviously a troll comment / deliberately inflammatory question, not their actual opinion
Obviously? Or is that your opinion? ;)
haha +1
Remind me whose decision it was to bring Kill in?
This is so easy. The hand on the right started first by creating the hand on the left, which created the hand on the right, which . . . oh my . . .
Nah. They're just drawing shirt sleeves on each other.
Tapp is awesome. Undersized and less athletically gifted than some but he had a nonstop motor and so much heart. Great hire!
I wonder what this means for Jack Tyler.Edit: Never mind, Jack wasn't an assistant coach anyways. I guess he'll just continue on staff as he already was.
Ladies and gentlemen, your next offensive coordinator. /s
good to see Deep Creek alums doing well. Welcome home Mr Tapp.
I wonder if Tapp will allow any current VT defensive players to ever hold onto the lunch pail?
I think Farley and Ashby can both handle it properly.
If JHam, Jimmy Williams, James Anderson, and Xavier Adibi couldn't take it away from him then those two better have a spectacular year to have a chance.
This sounds good, I'm curious as to the backstory of what happened with that fiasco that caused Claeys his job, but I'll take a very very experienced coach into this group any day of the week. If Kill says he's a dude, then he's a dude.
Tapp is one of my favorites - related, if we need a RB coach, is Darren Evans available - also, per Tapp's Wikipedia entry:
Atta boy!
Now Prunty...
How in the heck do you bite someone with a face mask on your helmet?
Shit gets weird in the bottom of piles.
So the D next year is fixing to Tapp that and go Ham.
The defensive line will make the offensive line Tap out.
When Claeys leaves, we're probably end up Jack-ing off.
Love both these hires. Tapp is the man, Claeys is a great experienced hire.
Does raise a question though - if PP is the next CB coach as rumored, why wouldn't they have announced that at the same time? In the bowl press conference, Fuente said they have their guys and are waiting on HR processes. Hard to imagine HR process is complete for Tapp and Claeys and not for PP who was already on staff. Has anyone heard any other names for CB and DL coaches?
Also, does this mean Jack Tyler remains on staff as an analyst?
Could just mean that Claeys and Tapp got their paperwork started earlier. Maybe the other guys have a reckless driving or something minor that the university has to look further into. I wouldn't read too far into that part when it comes to governmental processes, bureaucracy takes forever.
I'm guessing the other two are probably in coaching roles so it's possible they need a bit more time to transition out of their current positions. Claeys being unemployed and Tapp not having recruiting responsibilities probably made it easier for them to get on board quicker.
I'm sure it's worse for government, but for us after a certain paygrade the job has to be competed outside the company. So the requisition has to be open for a certain period of time and interviews have to be done. So we have reqs open for way longer than they need to be because we need to interview someone who has a very constricting schedule because HR says we need to.
Usually the hangup in government is that the person has to leave the job, then the agency sits on it for a month, and then advertises. If the person is burning several weeks or months of leave prior to their official retirement, then that prolongs the process. I know a guy retiring in May, but his last day working is in January. The job won't be posted until June, and then interviews probably won't happen until August. At best, someone might start by October, but more likely November or later. Add on another six months to train a new person and that position is effectively empty for 16 months, and that's a best case scenario.
I doubt much of that applies to college athletic positions, though. But some of the more mundane negotiations could be holding things up.
I thought this was laziness until I learned that the HR department listed the resulting vacancies as a cost-saving measure in their budget. We drag our feet for a month, we save the govt a month's salary, and the only down-side is that someone else has to work harder for a month! It's a win-win!
Unless you're the "someone else."
Then they give it to the person it was wired for, after having played the HR "fairness" game.
At least that's the way the Federal government works.
I'd say that the joke's on them in payroll because while they're saving the salary, they're paying out time and a half somewhere, but usually the cost of the overtime is still less than the full time salary cost.
Yeah, but overtime shows up in our department's budget, not theirs.
Robert Prunty, Hamptons Head coach is expected to take over as DL coach
Has this been confirmed yet? If so, this is great!
TSL (subscriber content, but on their free podcast as well) thinks that our new DL coach is currently an NFL assistant with the Buffalo Bills. That's why the delay on the announcement - NFL season isn't over and the Bills are probably going to the playoffs.
Just saw this rumored as well. Seems like it would be a huge get.
Seems he coached with Fuente at Illinois State.
So what does a "defensive assistant" do exactly? I feel like former star players are a great addition from at least a recruiting aspect if nothing else.
Yep, these will do! Really good additions to the staff at this point, should really help fill some of the needs of a news Def Coord
Also - I gotta say, when Lechtenberg took over RBs, a lot of people were saying JF just promotes his buddies and people that have been with him. I'm sure he knows a defensive assistant coach or analyst or two that he could have brought to Blacksburg to fill these positions. Instead, he relied on Fosters connections and Kills connections rather than his own.
I hope this shows Fuente is looking for the best man for the job, within the limits of what's feasible.
Love these hires, and I also believe Lechtenberg was promoted to RBs because he was the best guy for the job.
Can't wait for DL and CB coach announcements, but I think we're gonna have a very solid staff both in terms of recruiting and scheme. Props to Fuente.
The issue, I think, with Lechtenberg is simply the name recognition. Even when I read his bio over at Hokiesports, I still felt remarkably lukewarm about his promotion into the running back coach. However, he was once a Co-Offensive Coordinator, so he might know a thing or two about coaching running backs.
As I was saying, I think Fuente's hirings is more long-term thinking and his commitment to stay put in Blacksburg.
I read it as Fuente wanted to eliminate the recruiting position so that he could get Hamilton an additional assistant. (And maybe it just wasn't the best use of a coaching slot.) So instead of just getting rid of Lecht he evaluated the staff and saw that Lecht was doing a better job than Burden, so he made the switch.
It's almost like Justin Fuente also wants to win football games.
...and can't wait for recruits from the 757 to walk into Tapps office and see SIX NFL jerseys on the wall! Go get em Tapp!
We've all heard the saying that the backup QB is the most popular player on the team, but this thread made me come to the realization that we have somehow achieved a situation where the perceived "backup head coach" (Kill) has become the most popular coach on the team.
And no one has any idea what he does.
Probably why he is so popular. Hard to find fault in something you don't know about. He is like the lucky shirt. When Fuente put him on (staff), we got better. Hard to explain why, but it works, and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Anyone seen any of the players tweet / say anything about any of the new assistants (or departures)? I'm not very well versed in Twitter. Just wondering how the players are taking all the news.
Tapp >
? > Tapp?
There was an interesting narrative that Fuente had lost the culture and tradition of VT, especially from past players. This theme especially applied to the defense which itself has a much stronger historical culture. These moves seem to have significantly alleviated this frustration as former players recognize that Fuente's moves have shifted emphasis back to the LPD tradition. Doesn't really effect anything on the field but fans often take cues from former players as persons in the know and this likely creates a strong positive trend. With the usual caveat that ultimately the product on the field is what will matter most. You now have guys running the defense from the following years of Bud Foster Defenses.
Pierson Prioleau 1995-1998
Justin Hamilton 2002-2005
Darryl Tapp 2002-2005
Jack Tyler 2010-2013
There was no way to make the omelette without breaking the eggs.
Agree 100%. If you can't see by these moves that Fuente understands the culture and is bending to it (a good thing) to cement a significant building block of this programs identity, I can't help you
From Wikipedia entry on Tapp:
FATE! The Hamilton-Tapp bond was forged in Hoo tears, it is the way.
Nice pull, leg to you sir.
So are we getting Prunty or not? I heard all about that before Tapp and Claeys and still have heard nothing about Prunty. I love Tapp but I was probably most excited about Prunty.
Lot of moving parts. Patience
With comments like this, do you even understand how fandom works?! /s
does not look like it.
Good chance we end up getting much better than Prunty.
I have seen mention of the Bills' DL coach
And he coached at Illinois State with Fuente...yea this'll probably happen.
Bill Teerlinck
His dad is John Teerlinck. He has a linebacker coaching award named after him. Pfffff, shootchyeah I hope this happens!
Guess that puts this one squarely in the Bad Hire column.
I mean I really like hearing that we might be able to pull an NFL guy - that is good news.
But Prunty seemed like just the absolute perfect fit from the perspectives of culture, recruiting, and the specific position that we wanted to hire for.
No doubt that an NFL assistant can coach his balls off, for sure. But I am disappointed if Prunty isn't the guy.
DL coach from Clemson, Bates potentially in the running, would require a raise and no guarantee he would accept the offer but that's who I've heard they're also targeting
Not sure why he would make that move. Not a promotion to leave what is currently a factory. No way we could give him much more than he's making ($375k I believe), if we could even match it.
That said, I would take him.
Just a name I've been hearing, don't know how realistic it really is though.
I would be amazed if that happened.
lol
So, forgive me for asking this question...what is Tapp's role? I'm not sure what a "defensive assistant" is. Is he a DL coach? Assistant to the DL coach? Assistant to the DC?
He's there to show that VT can put Dlinemen into the NFL.
From what I understand it was just to get him experience will more than one group. From the RT Article
To make sure the D carries the lunchpail.
Pure Speculation, but given Claeys resume, its reasonable to think he may be a short-term hire.
Love VT, but a guy with both HC and DC experience is a bit overqualified as a position coach.
Possibly, the idea is to get Tapp some experience under him so that he can take over in the near future. Tapp's NFL experience also would seem to make him a potentially good recruiter.
Not necessarily. I think once you have been knocked off that top spot it can harder to get back to HC/DC. People want the new, young, flashy up and comer these days. I think its possible his days as a HC/DC could be done. Besides, if people were knocking down his door for a DC position he would not have taken the LB coach position with VT.
Agreed that it might not have been a ton of options for DC jobs, but it probably helps our cause that we have Jerry Kill in town, someone who Claeys is very familiar with and who he can trust for advice on what next steps he should take in his career.
Well that was kind of the point of the "pure speculation" part.
I think it was well-documented that things did not go well @ WSU this year, probably not a lot of top offers after that. But in another couple years, once the "stink" of the last job has worn off, more callers could show. That would give Tapp 2-3 years to learn from a guy with tons of experience.
Recruit the 757.
Keeper of the Lunch Pail