Recent Comments
Well, I'd guess that kind of change would be after our bowl game, so let's wait until then to worry about any change that would or wouldn't be made. But I do really hope we get a new DC (also included is LBs since Marve was responsible for that), and possibly both line coaches.
FAM! The Hoos showed once again "how good (they) are."
Not sure about that. It's been a long time, but I want to say MV7 was also incredibly good that way. He'd see something and be GONE (whether it was someone coming after him or an opening he could exploit).
Yep. And our doubts about him are well founded, because we all watched the games and saw that at times the bright lights were just too hot for this staff.
Most of us thought we'd win 8 or 9 games this season, and with the regular season over I think it's pretty obvious we had the roster to do that. We're not likely to have anyone as talented as Tuten or APR next season, and I'm not sure there's any reason to think we win more than 6 games in 2025 - with the caveat that Pop Watson looks really good.
D looked good except their 3rd quarter implosion, but the D finished strong and we hammered 'em. GO HOKIES! (why did autocorrect think that should have been homies?)
I've heard (allegedly from the townie rumor mill) that at this point Whit and Pry are tied together so to speak, so if one goes they both do
Godfrey has said in no uncertain terms that "Whit will not get a third chance to hire a football coach"
Idk if that what 'tied together' means, but I assume Whit will not make another football hire.
Well, we definitely don't need the Braxton part.
Except I feel like you gotta leave the Grant for Noel. His name seems like a happy-go-lucky, mirthful Christmas character they couldn't beat (or something). Regardless, with a name like Grant Noel, you gotta leave both names intact as someone they couldn't beat.
is he implying the VT administration is losing faith in Pry's vision or just that he's starting to doubt it given how succcessful some other coaches were in year 1 this season?
- The administration is starting to doubt Pry.
- The administration is afraid that Pry's failure isn't just a Pry issue, but is also a VT issue.
Editorializing here... There are a lot of people in the media who think VT is a great job. There's also a lot of people who think it's a middle of the road P4 job, and a hall of fame coach just capitalized on a specific moment in the ever-shifting college football landscape.
If you believe the latter is true, it means that sustained success at or near the level of the late 90s through the aughts is out of reach for VT. That's a scary conversation for Virginia Tech.
I interpreted the "There is a kind of an existential issue here going on" paragraph as an indicator that VT admin might be confronting those fears.
But there are a lot of others here who are regular SZD listeners. I'm curious if they agree.
Depends on the sport, some of the schools have won NCAA titles in the last 24 years. Lacrosse and Fencing are big sports for them. So they do compete, but they don't offer scholarships so they really care more about beating each other.
I agree with this. Look at Fuentes first year. It was awesome! We played Clemson to within a TD late in the fourth in the ACCCG in his first year. We also Evans for that one year.
He obviously made that offense run. We saw what happened with out him.
I feel like I heard that Syracuse has another good QB coming in but I may just be making that up. And Syracuse is a place that if a coach does well enough he's gonna jump to another program.
In terms of what? I don't think they think they're good at football, and in terms of academics, I'd say you're confused. There are some companies, more likely things like law firms that would only very rarely hire anyone not from an Ivy. And while you're at it, go look at the officers of major companies and see where they got their MBAs from.
But again, if you're talking sports, I doubt they think they're competitive at large, they probably care way more about competing with each other.
I think this is the info reading between the lines.
I've heard (allegedly from the townie rumor mill) that at this point Whit and Pry are tied together so to speak, so if one goes they both do
Kind of sums up a lot of the frustration and fears we have expressed about Pry that are mounting. Don't know if doing things the Beamer way is feasible in the modern age of college football. Coaches don't get 5-6 years to get things going. You can flip a roster in a year and use NIL to attract key talent. The speed of the game doesn't tolerate long, slow, plodding rebuild jobs. And the worst part is, this was supposed to be Pry's proof of concept year. Validation that his plan was working. And we have more doubt than ever about him now.
It is good to hear there's some palpable concern trickling down from Godfrey's sources on the situation. I just don't know that VT can afford to dilly dally around any longer or we are going to be left in the dust. This year was a major, major disappointment. No two ways about it.
What "larger changes in the program" is he referring to? Changes in the whole AD (or with a new AD)?
I agree with him that the Beamer approach is no longer effective, and obviously the Fuente approach is a disaster. If he can put together proof of concept that year 4 is the right way to do it, it will be interesting for teams that are not that patient.
bad
You get a QB. Simple as that. Cuse had a 5* QB. If we had Tyrod on this team we win more games. If we had Hooker this season we win more games.
We're sixth in the acc in pass defense in spite of our secondary play, not because of it. We get a lot of sacks
I feel like it's almost playing to keep the lead rather than continuing to attack on defense. That was the sense I get watching, where the defensive playcalling seems to ease where the linebackers sit back and, I guess let the play come to them? They look lost and we get gouged for 5 yards at a time, where we seem to send everyone towards the line in the first half and meet the ball at or behind the line of scrimmage. Maybe that's not what's going on, but that's what it looks like to me. We seem to do that in the 3rd, and sometime in the 4th, it's like we realize the aggressiveness is what works and we start doing it again, and we stop them again.
How much is "learning to win" vs getting a better DC? I've seen a lot of scheming this year on offense for 3 different QBs and several different RBs that I feel like Bowen can really adapt to players and put points on the board. Clemson is the one case where we couldn't really score, but maybe he figures that out, he's seemed to figure it out in a lot of other games.
But why does our D always seem to implode in the second half and especially in the 3rd quarter? Our defense can't be gassed in the 3rd but not the 4th quarter. I looked it up during the UVA game - we're 13th in the ACC in run defense. That's on Marve (and possibly/probably Price). We're 6th in the ACC in pass defense, which I would guess is because of Derek Jones's group.
I think it remains to be seen how to build/rebuild a team in the modern NIL era. Especially concerning long term success.
With a game like football i think you will always need at least a "core" group of players that are not "one and done" to maintain long term success. How many that is I'm not sure. Defintely seems like you still need to at least mostly more or less build your OL the traditional way.
If anything, I'm starting to think that with the ability to go and get pieces to plug or fix your weaknesses every off season that it is starting to expose the caliber of coaches.
I would absolutely gobsmacked if Pry seat is actually even lukewarm unless 2025 wraps up with another 6-6 season
Yes but those typically are for LT, DE, QB or freak athlete. Reaching for a corner that has film proving he's not a lock down corner doesn't happen a lot.
It should be very hot, i think we there were improvements from last year, but it's year 3 and players arent in the right spot on defense. There are lots of spots to be overtaken and no one stepping up. The staff seems to want to win conference games instead of just win games. Recruiting has been okay but we need to be 20-30 no 30-40 in class ranking. Lots of work needs to be done.
I didn't listen so I'll defer to your interpretation, but is he implying the VT administration is losing faith in Pry's vision or just that he's starting to doubt it given how succcessful some other coaches were in year 1 this season? The summary reads more like the latter IMO.
I'm not Team Fry Pry right now, but I also don't think if we just give him a few more years that he'll magically learn how to win games.
I mean whit isn't getting a 3rd chance. So unless Whit is fired next fall when Pry is 8-0, they're going together.