No, this isn't a sunshine and rainbows thread, but I'm interested in what you think is the best thing the football program has going for it right now?
Bonus question: What's the thing you'd most like to see the football program improve on?
Forums:
DISCLAIMER: Forum topics may not have been written or edited by The Key Play staff.
Comments
Positive: Young, talented defensive staff that has the potential to blossom into a great staff if we can keep people around.
Improve on: Winning football games, winning solves all problems.
Does winning solve all problems, or does solving problems lead to winning?
I tend to think it's the latter.
It goes both ways. Are there even problems if you are winning?
Fuente would not get most of the complaints he receives if they were winning 9+ games a year. Transfers would be because no playing time available. Gates closed around the program would be considered a winning formula. Recruiting results could be explained with the on-field success.
Yes of course. There are short term and less sustainable options that can result in winning, but not set the program up for success. A great example would be Hugh Freeze's Ole Miss. He helped them ascend rapidly to great success in the toughest division in college football, but by doing it through means that left the program with sanctions and scholarship losses, the program was worse off after he left than before it and it fell apart quickly.
Other examples would be teams who rely too much on transfers and JUCO's eventually leaving large holes in terms of roster management that can take several years to fix. You might win 10+ games for a year or two, then you're left with under 85 scholarship players and not enough initial counters to refill back to that full roster level.
I was mainly speaking to Justin Fuente at Virginia Tech. Of course you can have problems if you are doing shady things in the program to get the wins. I don't believe JF runs a shady program. If Fuente had won 9+ games in his first 5 years at VT, I don't believe we would have the problems we have right now.
given our reliance on the transfer portal....this seems to be a point about VT
I think at the moment we are mostly using the transfer portal and JUCO's in relatively sustainable terms. We had holes to patch on the interior defensive line and defensive back due to poor recruiting and roster management over the first few years of Fuente's tenure. I was talking moreso about teams that go very heavy into the JUCO market, or now the transfer portal, to the degree in which you could find yourself in serious scholarship trouble. What happened at Kansas under Charlie Weis is a good example of a more extreme version of this practice gone wrong.
I guess what scares me is that VT had poor roster management under Fuente in previous years and traditional recruiting has been poor and trending down. We might not be there yet but it seems like we're headed in that direction. If we can't recruit the players we need from HS to fill holes on the roster I could easily see Fuente turning to the portal and JUCOs more and more to create the exact problem you're referring to.
It's definitely a chicken/egg problem.
I kind of disagree. There were plenty of complaints in 2017 when we won 9 games. What fans really want to see is continuous improvement, and hope for the future. It's not just 'winning' - it's creating hope that we could one day win a natty. Frank kept the hope alive, even if he never did. There's not much to be optimistic about right now, which is why Fuente has limited support.
I can see your argument.
I feel like if Joe were to post this in March 2018 there would have been much more positive things to say about the program. Of course, that's right when the wheels started to fall off.
Yes. And that's the conundrum with recruiting as well. Recruiting improvement leads to W's, but it takes W's to lead to improved recruiting.
The number of alums who have either come back to coach or have sent their kids, younger brothers to come play for Tech.
The best thing going for the program right now is...man, this is harder than I thought.
I guess the new weight room and dining facilities are nice. And we're currently undefeated in 2021. Those are the best things I can come up with.
To answer the bonus question: There are lots of things that VT could improve on. I would love VT to improve their messaging on the vision leadership has for the program and lay out a cohesive plan with checkpoints and benchmarks along the way.
This is so spot on. This was what was missing from Whit's worst press conference ever when he gave Fuente a vote of confidence.
Has there ever been an example of this? I mean I understand wanting it, but does anybody get it? Where a coach says we are going to do XYZ and you will know we are failing if you see ABC?
Didn't Beamer famously do this in 92, after the 2 win season? What about Brian Kelley in 2016? Although I'm not sure the fans were informed in either situation.
That said - One thing that is concerning is that no changes at all were made. Not sure how we can expect a change in results without a change in personnel. I suppose we could see a change in process, but as a fan, I'm not hopeful.
I think we learned more about Beamer's vision after it worked. He wasnt sharing with the world that hidden VA talent and special teams emphasis was going to change the game until it was already apparent. I too am concerned but we arent going to judge Fuente on his execution of a vision, we are going to judge him on wins.
this is absolutely a fair question. And I don't know the answer. BUT I do know that I wouldn't care as much if we were winning 8 games and playing at a consistent level and beating teams we should beat and pantsing teams we should pants. But VT isn't doing ANY of that lately. So, naturally, I want to know what the plan is to get back to that.
I believe Beamer had a vision. His vision was to innovate the game enough to attract talent. Leverage relationships in Virginia to recruit some of the best talent in the country out of his own backyard. Play hardnosed simple, straight forward football and play conservatively. He wanted to win a National Championship. He didn't. But he did win a bunch of conference championships and a couple big bowl games. Shoot for the stars and you land on the moon, I guess.
Fuente wants to build the "best developmental program in America" and I don't even know what that means. He wants to play "hard, smart, tough" football with "grit" but I don't know how anyone can quantify any of that. Beamer revolutionized how Special Teams is used. He brought in talented kids from the state of Virginia to build a program that could play solid, conservative football and win games that way. Fuente can't even score more points than most of the coaches he plays against and that was his calling card when he was hired. We were supposed to turn into a high-octane up tempo offense. What happened to that? Where are we even going? What direction are we heading? I don't know? I'm not convinced he does either.
I agree that the program (and the athletic department, and the university at large) are lacking an identity. I think it has a lot to do with Weaver, Beamer, and Steger all turning over in 2.5 year span.
I think it is an interesting topic. I think we know more about Beamer's history than we did about his vision in the 90's (hindsight more or less). I just think Fuente has stated his vision (you mentioned them) but hasn't lived up to it. At the end of the day, we are going to use wins and losses as a success barometer more so than any stated vision.
What was Dabo's or Saban's vision before they had success? I imagine it was the same as every other coach...recruit, play sound, maximize effort, be smart, and WIN. The difference is that they did it. I think Fuente knows he needs to recruit better, he just hasn't succeeded. And, recruiting is the most important thing in college football. Hard Smart Tough without talent looks like 6-6.
Saban created one of the most innovative defensive schemes of the last 30 years. He also pioneered what I consider to be the true 'CEO approach' to coaching - hiring experts in not just every phase of the game, but every phase of the entire operation.
Dabo prioritized culture above everything in a way that no one else had. Combine that a super creative Chad Morris offense that combined power running with wide receiver screens. Additionally, Dabo is arguably one of the best in the nation at hiring - I don't know anyone who has had as much success with such inexperienced position coaches/Coordinators (excluding Venables).
Dabo and Saban were innovators - just like Frank Beamer, Chip Kelley, Tom Osborne, etc - they absolutely had a vision, and they had a unique way of executing on it.
I still think those innovations are only apparent after the fact. How many innovators ended up with shitty records and got fired? It is easy to look at a success story and say "this is how they did it." Anyway, I'm not arguing because I generally feel the same in that something isn't quite aligned from the equipment manager to Sands. I am just not convinced that any plan or vision could actually be put in front of us that we would actually buy into (short of firing and starting over). So are we really mad for lack of vision or just lack of results?
you have a valid stance here. As fans, I think you're right that we're mostly just mad about the results (or lack thereof).
But I think it's important to have a vision to sell to recruits at the very least. How else do you get talent interested, particularly early on in the process when there aren't any results to point to? The recruits have to see something that convinces them this is the right place to come and be a football player and student. Part of convincing that recruit is selling them on what VT is about, what the goals are, what steps VT is taking to achieve those goals and where that particular recruit fits into the "plan". In order to sell that to a recruit, it must exist. That is the vision. Fuente either doesn't have a very compelling vision or he has a really hard time selling it to recruits. Recruiting is not going well for him. That much is clear. The results on the field reflect that. As a fan, it looks like there's no vision. Are recruits seeing the same thing? Is that why they're not buying in?
We've gotten a lot of lip service from Fuente over the years but the results on the recruiting trail as well as the field speak for themselves. He's doing something wrong. Maybe it has to do with not having a vision. Maybe its something completely different. We're all speculating here. But whatever is broken, and something is very obviously broken, it doesn't appear to be getting fixed. Or, if it is being addressed, it's being addressed behind closed doors. Quite simply, we just don't know. And folks are conditioned not to trust lack of transparency. So many fans, myself included, are extremely skeptical that Fuente is doing anything to move VT back in the right direction. He's not doing himself any favors by playing it so close to the vest IMO. He needs fan support and he's actively turning his nose up at it and giving the fans the cold shoulder. It's no wonder so many people are so sour on him. He's making his job harder on himself than is necessary.
Agreed, I think at the end of the day the anger and frustration from the fan base is due to results or lack thereof. If we were winning at a high clip but still the branding and outreach was bad, it might be sort of irritating, but we would live with it.
But the fact of the matter is, we aren't winning big, and the outreach effort is bad too. That stance and attitude sort of smacks of "we don't really care what you think." As another poster mentioned, even though Whit retracted his comments about low-level donors not having a voice because they don't give much, he still said it and that indicates that such a sentiment is floating around in the administration of the program. That sort of attitude, combined with poor results, is why I think the frustration is boiling over for many. If they came out and said "look, we know we aren't where we want to be, but here's how we're going to get there, and we need your help to do it," combined with throwing the fans a bone and trying to involve them more of give them more content, I think the fan base may still not be exactly happy but probably a bit more forgiving.
Instead, Whit essentially wants us to trust in the providence that Fu is a secret genius that has a plan with no actual evidence that this is the case, we just have to will it into being. Not going to work.
this, absolutely this!!
We're not just upset that the team isn't good. We're upset that the team isn't good and every single action taken to stifle fan engagement feels like "we don't give a shi* about this and we're just here to make $$$"
Good question on recruiting. I have no answer there either. I would probably be the worlds worst recruiter because I dont see many ways to say "play for us" in any way substantially different than a rival would say "play for us instead". 85% of the teams are offering the same product wearing different color uniforms and located in different geographic regions.
that's why it is so important to have a vision. And not any old vision either. It has to be compelling, exciting, innovative, inspiring, believable. You've kind of nailed the challenge on the head.
How does one convince a recruit that their product is better than the others when in reality they're all virtually the same? You sell them a compelling vision that they can get excited about and believe in. Something more than just "come here, play for us, get an education, maybe a shot at the NFL". And I'm arguing that whatever it is Fuente is trying to sell to recruits isn't landing for whatever reason. My hypothesis is that he either doesn't have a vision or his vision isn't any more interesting or exciting than all the others that are out there.
Now I'm not going to tell you that I have the right vision to sell to recruits. But I'm also not making ~$4 million to bring in the best talent and give them access to the best facilities and best coaching to achieve their dreams. But if I'm hiring a guy to do that, one of the biggest things I'm looking for is if he has a compelling vision that I can get excited about and believe in. I just don't think Fuente has that. [edit to add:] If he did have such a vision, we'd know about it because it would be compelling, exciting, and something we could all rally behind. The vision wouldn't just be for sale to recruits. It would be used throughout the entire program. Successful organizations have everyone aligned and moving towards a common vision. That's what I want to see. That's what I'm not seeing.
I strongly disagree. While I admit that Saban definitely did not plan out every aspect of every season prior to arriving at Alabama, he did decide 2 things:
These may seem obvious, but they're not. There are plenty of coaches (Kelley, Leach, Gundy, etc) who choose to win by running a very specific offense. Even among Defensive coaches, this is a very specific goal. It's completely different from Foster, who wasn't interesting in 'taking what the offense gave him' and instead wanted to force the offense to be one-dimensional. These decisions impact who you hire, who you recruit, how you run practice, how you game plan, etc.
Regarding stakeholder alignment, this too was an intentional effort - If you believe Stephen Godfrey, then you believe that this was also a (if not the) key reason that Saban left Miami for Alabama.
A strong vision can guide an organization. If you don't have clear goals, and a path to get there, you will fail. Of course, you can still fail even with a clear vision. Saban/Dabo were also experts at implementing and executing on their vision. I agree that alignment is missing at Virginia Tech, but I think the ability to execute is as well.
to expand on this a bit....if we knew what the vision was and what the plan was to achieve that vision we might have a better idea of what is going well in the program right now. I think part of the difficulty of identifying what VT is doing well as a program is that we just don't know what the plan is or what the goals are. How can we identify things that are going well when we have no idea what the vision is or how we're going about realizing that vision?
I think this is a fairily straightforward exercise in a business environment... target markets, expansion opportunities, increase revenue, etc etc. But with a football program there is something actively trying to prevent you from doing that (the teams you play). Not disagreeing with your point, just not sure if it is that simple.
I think it's exactly like a business. Like a business, the football team has competitors (other teams), stakeholders (the administration, media partners, etc), and customers (recruits, fans, viewers, etc). Like a business, we should be carefully selecting KPIs, tracking success, and trying to hit those goals.
If you ever went in to Beamer's staff's conference room, you saw some pretty clear targets on the wall - I think for Bud the goal was 1 sack per quarter, hold opponent 11 first downs or less, etc. Pretty lofty targets, but not unobtainable.
Actually, I think I've decided that the first thing I want changed is the entire PR team
Farley and Darrisaw will be a top 10-20 pick
In the upcoming draft
And Coach Tapp recently got "drafted" again into the NFL!
Everyone keeps saying this, yet it isn't a guarantee. Farley just had back surgery. Players are not drafted where they are expected often. If it happens, great. To say that it will happen is foolish.
Right now they are projected first rounders, that does count for/indicate something https://nfldraft.theringer.com/mock-draft?_ga=2.211005457.521195958.1615...
Bringing former players back into the fold - Given that (1) we're struggling to recruit VA, and (2) given that our motto is 'this is home', I think it's important to have people familiar with the state/school everywhere in the department. I actually like Fuente's hiring strategy here. TBD if it works, but the strategy is well thought out IMO.
There's so many things, big and small, on the field, off the field. I'd go with 'access' - give the media access to coaches (AT LEAST), if not players too. How has JHam been available for Q&A once in 2 years? DTapp was never made available to the media in his 13 months here. HOW?! These are people who LOVE tech football and radiate maroon and orange.
I get limiting media access to players... but why coaches? If they're not mature enough to handle the media, then they shouldn't have a P5 job.
Positive thing: we are still able to get a couple guys drafted every year
Needs improvement: Relationship with the fans and media. Post Beamer was always going to be tough here, but the one thing that we did that absolutely shot us in the foot was to put up the wall between the program and everyone else. And right now this all starts with a social media account that is just poorly run, which is noticeable when you compare it to how even the basketball account is run. But at the end of the day, we just don't put our best foot forward when it comes to PR. Hell we had professional hypeman Darryl Tapp on staff last season and made him available for interviews a grand total of zero times. And then we get to the absolute shit show of the press conference to announce Fuente was retained. I mean beside the fact that at this point it certainly looks like we got cold feet at a firing at the last second, that moment itself was a disaster culminating in our own AD saying low level donors don't matter because they don't give enough to have their voices heard. Look, I know that Whit walked that comment back shortly thereafter, and I can forgive him for saying it, but I won't forget. The fact that it was said means at some place high enough up in our program that is a prevailing thought. And when you combine that mindset with the mess that is PR within our football program, it doesn't create a good look. Other programs understand the value in maintaining an excellent relationship with fans and media, and it sure would be nice to be a fan of a VT football program which again realized it as well.
Most Positive thing: No chance we loose the Spring Game, great scheduling move
One Thing to Improve: Honestly nothing at this point, since this is Fuente's first year we cannot judge him until we see what we are working with after void of the last 10 years or so.
Spring game canceled, we aren't going to win it.
yes, but on the bright side we can't lose it either
And let's not forget that we're already on a 1 game winning streak
Yes that's the joke
The facilities upgrades were something I was very happy to see.
Two things:
1) Recruiting, which is an easier said than done process involving improvements in multiple areas.
2) Program Access. This one is probably even more frustrating because you can fix this very quickly as Fuente and the Athletic Department have complete control over how much fan/media participation is allowed within the program.
Positives:
(+) A good mix of youth and veterans on the field. I remember a few seasons during which almost all the guys who played on certain units were seniors, meaning that the following year we were running all freshmen out there.
(+) Players play hard, even though the team is in a serious state of flux. No one's consistently half-stepping on the field.
To work on:
(-) Adaptability, such as finding what works in-game and sticking with it, and also exploiting known weaknesses of appointments. I remember a few times when we would play against a team with a horrible secondary and for some reason wouldn't pass the ball.
(-----) Tackling. Oh, the tackling.
+1 for tackling....but it seems like, outside a few standouts, we've struggled with tackling pretty broadly as a program for almost a decade now so our bad tackling just seems normal at this point
I can't even disagree with that.
(+) Fuente genuinely cares about the kids in his program
(+) The defensive staff is chock full of potential all-stars down the road with Hamilton, Tyler, and Smith. A great blend of experience with the DL coaches and Tenuta.
(-) Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting
(-) Success is a program's best deodorant. Start winning games again and the rest of it will sort itself out.
We don't know that he genuinely cares. That's extremely subjective reading of his mind and is countered by plenty of instances of players & players families saying the opposite through the years.
this is a fair point. We also don't know that he doesn't. Quite simply, we just don't know.
We know that he can't win consistently. We know that you never know what you're going to get from his teams on any given Saturday. We know that he always has an excuse for everything that goes wrong. And we know that for the last 3 years he has looked absolutely miserable at every moment in the spotlight.
But there's a whole lot we just don't know.
I love the defensive staff but at the moment with no spring game to see what kind of players we have on offense thats about it until fall.
We still come out to enter sandman
Positive: We have 160/161 days until the on-field product can officially make me sad again, which feels like an eternity
Negative: It is not an eternity.
Just remember. Pain is just an illusion😂
The program has been mostly clean under Fuente. I believe he wants to do things the right way.
Gotta recruit better. Winning starts with talent and winning will cure most of the other things we bitch about.
Positive: Fullers in Blacksburg >= 1
Negative: Fullers on the playing roster = 0
Positive: the opponents knowing nothing about our team and talent.
Negative: the fans knowing nothing about our team and talent.
Most +:
(1) Team is still better than when I was a student or a lab tech for a year after graduating.
(2) Pretty sure we are at or approaching the bottom. Either the program improves under Fuente in the next 1-2 years or it does not. If it improves ... it improves and we have already seen the low point. If not ... we will finally be rid of him by the end of 2021 or 2022 season.
Most in need of improving:
(1) Beat the teams we are expected to easily beat. I can live with being the #3 team in the Coastal and finishing 8-5 or 9-4, but am more than sick of being embarrassed on a regular basis.
(1a) Wins like Furman count as still being an embarrassment.
(2) Recruiting.
Positive: In addition to a promising Defensive staff, we have a proven, mullet-wearing O-Line coach.
Improve on: As stated above, have a PLAN for success, with goals/milestones for the HC.
Having a football program is better than not having a football program and we're still better than the Hoos at football.
So what you're saying is we need to hire James Cameron to come raise the bar?
(+)
-A core Fanbase that remains invested despite downtrend in results/status
-Young Defensive Staff that could be very good
(-)
-Lack of any real ingenuity or cohesion in Offensive Strategy; playbook that has been static since 2016
-Lack of accountability or even any sign of insight into the fact that the above is a problem
-Poor fan and media engagement from the HC to social media platforms and now even to include the AD; lying somewhere in the space between inept and incompetent
-Subpar Recruiting; likely influenced by all of the above.
-Edit: CLOCK MANAGEMENT
Length, talent, and range at defensive end.
What can I say positive? We've seen what this offense can do with a featured back. The offense is at least entertaining, which couldn't be said ten years ago. The defense is in transition to a new scheme, that will hopefully put us on a better footing against mobile quarterbacks and the spread offenses we see.
The way I've approached situations like this is:
What are we doing well? What are we not doing well? What can we improve?
What are we not doing well? Recruiting, Situational Playcalling, Open Field Tackling
How can we improve? Gotta get a better message out, stop trying to be the smartest person in the room, practice (remember that thing we are doing now that we didn't get to do last year?)
Open field tackling was an issue across cfb last year, where offenses had a record year. I think after a true off season, we'll be much improved (although maybe not up to fan's high expectations)
I agree, but I also saw that in 2019
Positives:
1. Fuente is one step closer to not being the head coach at Virginia Tech. Seriously, every month that passes with another "WTF moment/decision" is another month closer to the day we find a new head coach. And don't fool yourselves folks, he is not the future of the VT football program.
2. I really like how the defensive staff is recruiting and beginning to build a new brand of defense. I'm even more happy that J'Ham gets to be the architect.
Positive: it appears that the players who are still here actually really do want to be here. we have a good track record of pulling in key contributors at positions of need via the portal (OL, DL, QB)
To build on: we need to make it so more key contributors at positions of need and position groups of strength stick around, and so that we keep highly recruited players in the fold. It would be nice not to have to rely on transfers year to year, but rather to see the development actually occur in players that VT recruited, resulting in wins
Most positive thing: the amount of former players on staff who are enthusiastic about (re)creating a winning culture. Having guys that VT means a lot to choosing to come back and grind to get things back where they can be is very encouraging to me.
Areas of improvement: Just beat the inferior teams. Maybe we don't have the talent or resources to win the Coastal this year, but there are always games on the schedule where you can say "no matter the year or the situation, VT shouldn't lose to X." It would be nice to get back to winning those and winning them comfortably.
Positive:
There will be more fans in the stadium than a UVA Spring Game this fall.
Positive traction towards connecting the Football Alumni base
Hopefully Hokie Club continues on their basketball trend of offering creative ways to connect the fan base with the football program
Improvement needed
The Social Media team needs to go to Basketball Team Twitter 101 and 201.
Positives:
Not under NCAA investigation
Defensive staff
Needs improving:
I tend to think "branding" is overrated, Fuente clearly is emphasizing the "GRIT" brand it just doesn't ring as original, and very little branding comes off as truly genuine. I honestly wish we would dive head first into the trend of players becoming more outspoken across sports, give them a podcast and don't overproduce it with editing by coaches, have players do twitch live streams were they go over film and explain offensive and defensive concepts with a position coach, mic up players more during practice, heck for part of the spring game let a couple starters call some plays, let them blossom and open up, be themselves, it goes into your recruiting pitch "At VT you aren't part of a machine, you get experience in being yourself, finding your voice, the coaches don't speak for you"
We don't employ Jerry Sandusky
LOL...c'mon now. I know VT is struggling at the moment but we're not so bad that the only highlight is "we don't employ a pedophile monster"
I laughed out loud.
Judging a couple tweets from Clark Ruhland and equipment guys, it looks like we'll have new unis next year. I'm chalking that up as a positive
I'd love this. Jerseys are due for a refresh. Hopefully we ditch the shoulder stripes...
That second shot looks very much like a shoulder stripe...but we'll see.
I won't get excited about new uniforms until the shoulder stripes are gone
Clarke is just fucking with us. The first is the ACC patch we wore with the black jerseys for Franks last home game
The second one I think is a game jersey from 2000-2003. That's when we did the sewn on numbers with that same styling, and layer pattern, and that's when Nike had that reflective sheen to their fabric like you see there. They don't do that anymore, with their across the board styling very matte.
Plus, he also added this, which we all know to be the Bristol jersey
Not saying there won't be a new look, but it's very unlikely these images are from the uniforms we'll wear this year.
maybe it's just me, but I don't see what you see in the second photo. Either way, I'm not going to get excited about new uniforms until 1)they're officially revealed and 2)they don't have got-dam shoulder stripes
Zoom in on the pic of Vick and you'll see the number stitching I talked about. Couldn't find a good one of the maroons but it is pretty clear in that one. As for the fabric, they went away from that metallic sheen sometime around 10 years ago. It's why the jerseys seem to have a bit more pop back then and appear more flat now.
Compare...
I don't think the pictures I posted are new uniforms. I'm just saying the vague tweets, especially when combined with Matt's, make me think we could see something new next year.
+ We have lots of running backs...and it seems like a QB1 has been named for next season.
- Recruiting....and recruiting.
On a positive note- I guess we wont lose the spring game....
Waller is healthy
The football team is at a school with a great basketball program and has the chance to build off their success.
Positives:
Negatives:
Positive:
We're not UVA.
Negative:
Potential fanbase apathy. I'm not sure if being away for a year will help or hurt. But since I started going to games in 2010 I've noticed apathetic "fans" more and more with each season. During the 6 OT UNC game, probably the most exciting game I've ever been too, there was a student right in front on me constantly saying things like "oh my god just give up already, no one wants to be here". Maybe I've gotten more invested, but I can't imagine that being said a decade ago.
My response to that kid
Fuck that kid. I missed that game because I was stuck at a wedding for my wife's high school best friend (who I had never met before) and had to follow it on my phone. Would've killed to be in the stands for that game.
It was glorious to be there just to hear this.
We are loyal to our head coaches.
LOL
this deserves more legs
Positives:
I'm really excited about the facilities upgrades and the new financial commitment that it seems the University will soon be giving to football. These are moves that will clearly place us in the upper echelon of the sport for the long-term. I'm also a huge fan of the increased effort to engage football alumni and get them more involved with the program.
Negatives:
With all that being said, it's becoming more apparent each day that we have the wrong person at the helm. We have a coach who wants to simply be a football coach. The job is way more than that at this level. Fan engagement and outreach is pretty bad, even apathy starting to creep in somewhat. We have no discernible brand or identity. We play very mediocre football. It's not a product to get excited about or rally behind currently. That combined with the quick announcement to nix the spring game without even an attempt at some sort of limited/no attendance but broadcasted game/scrimmage, relying heavily on the guidance and protocols from the government, then the government literally a few hours later comes out and says things will start opening up. Just seems uninspiring and like fan support of the program is a given.
There's a lot to be excited about long-term, but the excitement also seems very disjointed given the direction of the program and the leadership at the top. I hope more financial support from the University means we can afford to move on and have more to sell the next person on when the decision is made.
+ - we have the cup back.
Needs work - keeping the cup for 15 straight again.
The buyout gets smaller every year.
Don't worry. We are only one 8 win season away from a renegotiation.
Positive: the new season with new possibilities for success is barely five months away.
Negative: see above.
New positive... At least the mayor of Blacksburg doesn't openly hate everything about Blacksburg
Looking at you, Charlottesville
Hopefully plussed up budget for football. The staff sucks, the talent is sub par for our goals, and the AD either can't or doesn't have the juice to make any changes.
Oh and the enablers that think all the above is ok and think of new reasons to justify it after the program steps on a rake week after week.
I'll be quick and simple,
Positives: we did upgrade some facilities which is nice, defense looks improved and heading in the right direction with the young and hungry staff and solid talent, we have some good talent at the skill position if they are coached right/developed in the weight room, while we've lost many in the transfer portal we've also at least grabbed some really solid players
Negatives: recruiting recruiting recruiting, the QB room scares the hell out of me, the still closed off program to the fans and media (though I've seen some small steps in the right direction), can't keep losing winnable games or barely beating the likes of Furman due to coaching and or dumb penalties/turnovers (ie liberty, wake forest), and again...RECRUITING
That's just off the top of my head without diving deeper...still love my Hokies either way
Positives - we're not under investigation or under any probation, relative coaching personnel consistency, new-ish facilities, and a fanbase that still really really cares.
Cons - Not willing to make changes when they are obviously needed, relative inability to recruit the right talent, piss poor fan engagement.
Sorry people ....I got Nuttin'.
Lots of players to be excited about:
James Mitchell back
Tre is fun to watch
Dorian Strong looked great for a 2* true frosh that shouldn't have player this year.
Fuga looked like he has the ability to take that next step.
Waller is back
Keonta Jenkins still a frosh
King/Blackshear/Lee running it
Payoute is back
Tavion Robinson
See if Ny'qee Hawkins is going to make a dent in the rotation
Luke Tenuta and Dzansi mauling it
See if Deluliis can get playing time at TE.
Lots of DLine to see who is going to make plays.
The Clemson guy!
I'd leg this more than once if I could.
I know right! Turkeys have two legs not one
Good job. This is what this thread was about, not the snarkfest above.
Thats the reason I posted. I'm here to cheer on VT. Whether it be the football team, softball team, engineering competition, an alumi setting up a cancer fund, or the fact we have a therapy dog in shifert (sp?). As long as the guys and girls aren't getting into major trouble they have my support.
As we'd say while in college, win or lose we still booze. No matter the outcome life goes on. Cheer on your fellow hokies be proud they go out and compete at all walks of life. I dont care what the university says, we're here to invent the future, so we need to support and encourage others so we can do so together.
Positive, they play the portal about as well as a college staff can play it, especially given our W-L record the last 3 years.
Something to improve on, the casual disdain for the fans and alums needs to stop. Figure out a vision that does not involve the word Grit and is less laughable than Hard Smart Tough, and sell it to us. You need to. That is something that can conceivably be improved; the on field product is what it is until Fuente is gone.
I would argue that prior to the run of 0.500 seasons, the sentiment around here was "where can I get the GRIT or HST tee shirt?"
yeah, you might have a point there. I mean, there's the popcorn stuff for CMY. After 2016 lots of folks were in Fuente's corner, I think. I remember "Hard, Smart, Tough" being a thing when Fuente first arrived. Is "Grit" newer though? I'm not sure. I don't remember that so well.
In general, it seems to me that a lot of the t-shirt ideas around here are cultural in some way. HOAT, references to Lane, Beamerball, quotes/silhouettes of former players who have proven themselves over their careers, etc. Do HST and Grit fit into that? Maybe they seemed to at first. Maybe they don't now. Hard to say, really.
In any case, to Beard's point, whether Grit and/or HST were laughable 3 years ago or not is irrelevant. They're laughable now. They ring hollow because the team just doesn't reflect those mantras. So they're not working. Talk is cheap. Right now VT is all bark and no bite. That's why these mantras seem so laughable right now. VT needs to do something about that. That's, I think, what Beard is trying to say. If it's broken (and it seems to be) then fix it.
T shirt reference was to people seeing the team wearing them. Nike branded team shirts.
it was. Time to rebrand
I actually really like the idea of Hard Smart Tough; I think it describes everything I want a team to be:
The unfortunate reality is that this team has not been HardSmartTough since Fuente got here.
I agree.
Your final sentence is why I find it laughable.
well, I think the 3 of us are on the same page, at least
When Whit was on his apology tour after the press conference and asked people to say positive things for a donation, I saw a tweet where somebody said "Teams can't beat us if we play Hard, Smart, Tough!" and Whit replied saying sarcasm didn't count. The AD doesn't even buy it.
Wish I could get Twitter on my work laptop so I could embed the tweet
wow...that's...telling
Are you saying that wasn't a sarcastic tweet? Maybe not, but I would say more than likely they were making fun of Fuente when Whit was asking for positive vibes.
I mean I can't read the mind of the guy who tweeted it so I can't say, but the tweet just said "teams can't beat us when we play hard, smart, tough" in response to Whit asking for positive things.I would say that is a positive sentence so the fact that it could be interpreted as sarcasm says a lot. Whit did reply and say he misunderstood at first so I guess he counted it.
For the record, I don't really have strong feelings on the branding. Everything sounds good when you win and sounds corny/out of touch when you lose. I just thought that was a funny anecdote
I agree that there is no cliche slogan that sounds good when we are underperforming.
The best thing I can say about our football program right now is that we used to be good
I really dig the school they play for.
I've never enjoyed basketball more...Sigh. Am ever hopeful for the Hokies, even when it hurts.
Hoping they can improve on some W's this coming year and get things trending in the right direction.