Recent Comments

In Whit I trust ! It has been along Time since VT's AD came forward with a plan to Hire a person of Quality. I think VT couldn't have found a better person to be the AD of the future. I say his first hire will be a reflection of what he wants for VT and the future...Winners on and off the playing field .

Some video

http://www.hokiesports.com/videos/#!/videos/all/w1Ync5bDqsuTnGWyfFsxFDyK...

You must be new here.

Was I the only one that found that funny in a kind of sick, twisted way?

I'm not sure the Curry brothers are relevant to French's point, seeing as they are from Charlotte (though they would be to HokieJoe's)

One other add... be a presence at important regional HS basketball tournaments. I never saw James Johnson or Seth Greenberg at The Arby's Classic in Bristol, but we ALWAYS would see Bruce Pearl (still glad we didn't get him though) and Cuanzo Martin. We regularly saw Pete Gillen when he was the head coach at UVA, and before he passed away Skip Prosser (Wake) was always there. VT did land Malik Muller from Urspring (Arby's MVP in the 2012 tourney) but if JJ was there, we didn't see him and he wasn't making his presence known.

Guys playing at the Arbys in this year's tournament:
Isaiah Wilkins- Greater Atlanta Christian (committed to UVA)
Keelon Lawson and his brother Dedric Lawson (both top underclassmen recruits most likely to go to Memphis)
Braxton Blackwell (an elite sophomore guard who has an offer from VT, along with UNC, Michigan State, and a ton of other schools).

Is it just me or does it seem like there might be a perfect job opening for BilldozerVT...Billdozer everything on the videoboards.

Either we talk about basketball, or we start looking at baseball. That would be scary. After that I think comes making plonk noises with our lips while we wait for the draft.

Mainly because other than JJ Reddick, Virginia outside of the DC area has not produced a significant number of elite outside shooters that I can recall. The best perimeter shooters from much of the state were not good enough all-around players to play DI ball. From Roanoke-westward, the best players mostly end up at mid-major schools, ala ETSU (Calvin Talford), Western Carolina (Neil Rasnake and VHSL's all time leading scorer Stacy Ervin), and Appalachian State (Tyler Webb.) As far as I know, the Roanoke area has not produced many DI players besides Reddick (Cave Spring) Curtis Staples (Patrick Henry) George Lynch (Patrick Henry) and JR Reynolds (Roanoke Catholic).

I would counter that whoever the candidate is should either have what you are looking for in terms of DC/Oak Hill or should have/will get an assistant that has these key ties. These are two areas that would be directly tied to the Tech program with their proximity. I would not however become focused on these areas alone. We need to have the ability to recruit the best players regardless of their location. JJ didn't hesitate to do that, and the next coach shouldn't either. Chicago, DC, NYC, Florida, and other hotbeds all have to be options. Making a connection again with AAU programs is also essential. Keeping our dealings with those programs all above board critically important.

I absolutely agree that the next coach needs to be a proven defensive minded coach to be successful in the ACC. (See Tony Bennett) Limiting transition baskets and holding opponents near 40% shooting is critical to winning in this conference.

The head coach needs to be composed and well spoken when dealing with the media, families of recruits and people in general. He has to have that switch to be able to be fiery on the sideline and put a fire in his players belly. He has to be able to handle running the entire program from an administrative aspect of things. He needs to be able to understand the community he is a part of and while not necessarily having to be "one of the people" he has to be able to not upset the progress that Whit makes in establishing a positive attitude around the program and be seen as a positive contributor to Tech in general.

Early on to be successful, he needs to be able to adjust his plan according to the talent he has available and transition to his style as his recruits begin to come into the program. He needs to continue JJ's focus on the importance of Academics and take pride in Academic All Americans almost more so than just All Americans.

Lastly I want a coach capable of handling the one and done phenomena if a recruit of that caliber is coming to Tech and have the balanced approach to recruiting to recover regularly if necessary from the rotation of that kind of talent. It may not be necessary but I want to know that the program wont fall apart if they bring in a class of that nature.

All of that said:
I think that Derek Kellogg would be an outstanding hire to meet almost all of these criteria, even the money level that you propose above as long as his assistants are taken care of.

As far as Oak Hill and a New York City funnel, bring Kellogg in, and suggest he bring Rod Strickland (player at Oak Hill, administrator at Kentucky, also was director of basketball operations at Memphis, recently inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame) in as an assistant coach. Both are now firmly Calipari guys and Kellogg brings exactly the type of defense you are looking for. He currently calls it P.A.I.N (Pressure Agitate Interrupt Neutralize) (speaking to his ability to establish an identity) and has some firm roots in what Shaka is doing at VCU defensively. He has been quite successful at UMass in working with the community, winning basketball games, and making post season play the last three seasons after a slightly rocky start.

Recruiting, he already has major ties to NYC, he used to coach at George Mason, and currently has two DC players on his roster. He seems to also have a major pipeline into Texas. He also took in Donte Clark, JJ's top recruit from last year who failed to qualify academically at Tech, which speaks to some similarity in player types for their systems.

I think he could be a great fit and after coming up under Calipari and showing he can deliver at UMass, I have no doubt he could compete in the ACC.

Welp looks like it could definitely be a lot worse. Doesn't look good for VT athletics as a whole but looks worse on Weaver