Glenn and Rudolph plus our leftover from last year gives us an available 1.5 million for those who have a USA Today account to get the data on assistant coach salaries.
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Sunseri is at 480k, so we'd probably need at least 650 to lure him down
That would leave about 850k for an OL coach.
Possible choices in that bracket:
Stacy Searles at Georgia (650k)
Will Friend at Auburn (700k)
Zach Yenser at Kentucky (625k)
Greg Adkins at South Carolina (550k)
Although if Sunseri only needs 500k to make the move, suddenly Eric Wolford at Alabama (900k) and Brad Davis at LSU (830k) enter the budget.
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I doubt we go out to pull another big name. We did that with Rudolph and the returns were basically as bad as possible. I'd guess it is more likely we spend more than $250k on QB and/or we reallocate that money to an extra support role. We also may need to pocket it after Mines' raise, since we are not exactly swimming in cash.
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French will need to weigh in, but I thought he had some issues with Stacy when he was here last. But was that because of his coaching or what he was asked to coach?
750-850K for a good OL coach, still leaves 600-750K for a QB coach/assistant OC.
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I don't think there's any possible chance any of those guys are leaving SEC jobs to come work for an ACC program that has been at best mediocre for most of the last decade.
And even if there was some interest, every school on that list (maybe other than USCe) could dwarf our $$ offer if they really wanted to keep them.
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Goes to show that if you have blue-chip recruits, it is much easier to coach. Searles has always seemed to "fail up" and now coaching one of the best teams with one of the best run games in the country .
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some coaches are better equipped to maximize the potential of elite players. other coaches are better equipped to get the most of out of more borderline players. These coaches and their methods don't always mesh well with players from the other category.
seemed to me that during their times at VT Searels and Rudolph were the former category and struggled with the lower talent level at VT. Meanwhile Vice was the latter category and struggled to retain some 'elite' players like Nester but polished the hidden gems pretty well.
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Agree, but we also need to ensure whoever we hire is more committed to a rebuild and a process. The OL will have now had three different coaches and schemes in three years. If we keep getting a big name splashy coach who is most likely to job hop and go after top dollar every year, that's not a positive for our OL development. I'm not saying don't go after good talent, but we need to make sure we have someone that is a schematic match for what we want to do and committed to that build up, and/or has other intrinsic motivations for being a part of the VT program. If we get someone each year who is just about the money, we are going to lose that battle almost every year.
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Agree..more interested in someone who is committed to being here than a big name.
Looking back, it seems that Rudolph may have known the walls were closing in on Cryst at Wisc, got out of town while the getting was good and saw VT as a good holdover spot with a nice payday til something better came along.
While the argument that all the best programs have their coaches poached is technically true, usually those Programs have sustained success before that happens. Our offense was the opposite of success last year..its a different scenario. We need to (hopefully) find a Staff that wants to stay together at least long enough to start seeing some of that progress.
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Todd Washington is near openly campaigning for himself on twitter, responding to various accounts:
If you know my journey....you'd know the answer :)— Todd Washington (@twashington757) February 27, 2023
By following the rules and directions— Todd Washington (@twashington757) February 27, 2023
He makes a lot of sense: worked with Bowen in 2021, Hokie alum, grew up on the VA Eastern Shore, been progressing up the ranks, and overlapped with Tyrod at the Ravens.
But he has no history of being the OL coach at a major football program, pretty much only coached offenses with drop-back quarterbacks, lacks anyextensive coaching of RPOs, has no history of college recruiting, and likely doesn't have any connections with any HS coaches. He would definitely be naive to the current college game.
It would be a gamble for sure.
Edit: Good point by ashore13 and the Jag's use of RPOs last year.
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Hiring Washington has a little bit of a Cornell Brown-feel. Amazing Hokie, but ended up a lackluster coach. We were all excited that Brown was hired, but he had little impact recruiting and I don't know how much impact he had on the whips (they were going out of style for a nickel packages).
But O-line is critical and Washington would be a much greater risk. And I think we need an O-line coach with RPO experience and coaching modern college offenses. We also need a coach to help Bowen figure out college defenses too.
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You make good points regarding his lack of experience recruiting or working in college football. But, he just spent the last year coaching OL under Doug Pederson. His offense has been using RPOs for years. So he definitely has some amount of experience there.
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Yea, that's true. Good point. The Jags did run a healthy amount of RPOs last year.
So maybe Washington's 2022 experience is enough for a RPO-heavy offense. Or maybe some of those Pederson concepts can be integrated into Bowen's offense. Lord knows VT's offense could use some ingenuity and imagination. I would love to see VT use motion, RBs in the passing game, and the quick throws that makes Pederson's offense so good. Hell, maybe he could teach Bowen and Pry how to actually create an offense with 2 and 3 TE sets.
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Went high school and played with Todd. Great guy still. I have followed his career. If you look at his track record of development with OL, I would think he's on the short list. We need recruiting but the cupboard isn't bare. Last two recruiting classes for OL have been pretty good IMO. That would give Todd an opportunity to develop the recruiting relationships. He did really well at University of San Diego as OL Coach. Does have a year of OC experience there as well. I'm fully admitting that I'm biased but I believe he would do well. He's a coaches son as well. His dad Tony SR was our HS Football coach.
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Which type of gamble...positional coach unproven at the P5 level (but with plenty NFL experience and some G5 experience) with ties to the school who genuinely wants to be a part of the program....
or
Big name splash hire that uses VT as a stepping stone and is gone after a year or two?
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Dwight Vick also is supporting Todd Washington to become the OL coach and based on his second tweet below, apparently he has heard some rumors about it. At a minimum, I think Pry has to call and get an interview scheduled with him. He doesn't have the recruiting background, however, his NFL background and two super bowl wins should instantly give him respect when visiting high school coaches and players. He also has a daughter playing lacrosse at Pittsburgh, coming to VT would put him a lot closer to be able to see her games.
Does he seriously consider moving from NFL to college to be a position coach though?— TheRealBork (@bork_real) February 27, 2023
Other than the people, WV is WAAAAAY underrated, especially if you like outdoor activities. So many beautiful places, hiking, world class rafting, skiing, stills, inbreeding, 3 legged dogs. Its literally got them all!
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WV is WAAAAAY underrated, especiallyonly if you like outdoor activities.
FTFY. I love the outdoors, but I also love the density and thriving culture in major cities. Would love to vacation to the mountains there, but I'd go nuts spending significant time in a state without a major city.
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Reminds me of one of my favorite jokes......What do you call a donkey with one leg?
A wonky donkey.
What do you call a donkey with one leg and one eye?
A winky wonky donkey.
What do you call a donkey with one leg and one eye making love?
A bonky winky wonky donkey.
What do you call a donkey with one leg and one eye, making love while breaking wind?
A stinky bonky winky wonky donkey.
What do you call a donkey with one leg and one eye, making love while breaking wind, wearing blue suede shoes?
A honky tonky stinky bonky winky wonky donkey.
What do you call a donkey with one leg and one eye, making love while breaking wind, wearing blue suede shoes and playing piano?
A plinky plonky honky tonky stinky bonky winky wonky donkey.
What do you call a donkey with one leg and one eye, making love while breaking wind, wearing blue suede shoes, playing piano and driving a truck?
Bloody talented!
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Two kids in WV are walking down the road when they spot a dog licking itself across the street. Bubba stops and says "You see that dog!?" and Billy-Bob stops and says "I wish I could do that!". Bubba thinks for a moment and then turns to Billy-Bob to say "Billy-Bob, that dog'd bite you"
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if they are going RPO, there are quality coaches in FCS ranks and Group of five. I'm fairly certain Pry has a few names along with Bowen especially for the OL. As the QB coach, I'm just wondering if Bowen might take on that role and give tight ends to someone else. I don't know, just thinking out loud.
If we were to hire a QB coach, I'm sure we can get a low-price hire. Who's on the Alabama Analyst desk? (Zach Mettenberger, Derek Dooley
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You cannot go cheap on a qb coach. That's the most important position on the field. You need someone who can develop that position and sell incoming qb recruits on their expertise.
I'm fine pulling someone up from a lower level as long as they fit Pry/Bowen's vision (whatever that is).
Hard no to Derek Dooley - name one qb he's coached who looked good for more than 6 games?
Also, don't forget that Glen and Rudolph were both paid too 5 in the country (among public schools) for their position. VT is solid middle class; we're not poor. We shouldn't be buying cheap.
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I'm fine pulling someone up from a lower level as long as they fit Pry/Bowen's vision (whatever that is).
This is the most important thing to me with a QB coach. The QB whisperer thing is sort of bullshit to me on the level of "developing NFL QB's." Trevor Lawrence, Bryce Young, Justin Fields, etc. were all going pro no matter where they went to college or who was their QB coach.
However, a "QB whisperer" to me, if you must use the term, is a coach who can effectively teach the rules, timing, and reads of an offense in the simplest terms possible for the offensive system that is being run. We don't need Drones (or whoever wins the job) to be a Bryce Young level pro prospect, but if we can teach him how to efficiently and effectively execute the offense that Bowen wants to run, we will see a significant uptick in offensive production.
All that to say, I agree that we need to nail the QB coach hire. The "name value" is a lot less important to me in this decision as their understanding and coaching fit for the scheme Bowen wants to run. Synergy here is the most important element imo.
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This, right here, is my biggest concern. What the heck is our offensive identity? What is it going to be? Does Bowen even know? How do you hire someone when you don't know what you want to do? The mishmash of coaches he assembled screamed: IDK, JUST DO A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING. WE'LL BE MULTIPLE!!1!!!
and I'm not okay with that. Pick a direction and go in that one direction. Let's not try to be 3 things at once. Let's get everyone marching in the same direction. If Bowen can't manage that, kick him out and hire someone who can.
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The mishmash of coaches he assembled screamed: IDK, JUST DO A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING. WE'LL BE MULTIPLE!!1!!!
I actually think the coaches assembled made a lot of sense. Based on coaches hired, I would've assumed we would run an RPO based smashmouth spread (similar to Minnesota). Not sure why we didn't.
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Sometimes, unfortunately, good ideas in theory just don't manifest themselves as cleanly in application. That would have been the ideal, but unfortunately I think there may have just been too many cooks in the kitchen on offense trying to pitch ideas/concepts to a green OC. Most VT writers/analysts still can't figure out what we were trying to do on O. However, I think this offense is now 100% Bowen's and we will be able to make a better assessment of him moving forward.
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Speculating, but my guess is that Pry was set the vision, and coordinators ran with it. French has said that none of the three former/current OCs on staff has ever ran the scheme that we running in the first 9 games. Pry also said that he 'wanted to run the offense he felt was hardest to defend'.
Either way, I think you nailed it here:
Sometimes, unfortunately, good ideas in theory just don't manifest themselves as cleanly in application
I'm just not convinced the problem was 'too many cooks in the kitchen'.
Alas, we'll never know... hopefully we're moving on to ideas that we can actually implement and execute on.
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I just assumed we didn't have the personnel for what they REALLY wanted to do, so they were trying to patch in something else in the mean time, which clearly failed.
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that may be...but it clearly didn't work. I know talent was down but we shouldn't have been 120ish/130 in terms of offensive production. At worst, a decent coach (or mix of coaches) would have had us in the top 100. It may have seemed like a good idea but it just plainly failed to work. Hopefully Bowen can pick up the pieces and build a decent offense in 2023. We have the talent/schedule to land in the top 90 or so offensively. If he fails to do that for a second consecutive year I think you need to clean house and start over*.
*I don't mean fire everybody - I mean fire the OC and let everyone else on the offensive staff know that their job is going to be up to the new OC to determine who stays and who goes. I want(ed) Pry to hire a seasoned OC who knows what he's doing.
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Yea, I agree. I'll wait to see Bill C's preseason rankings, but I find it hard to believe that our offense should be worse than 90 (barring injuries of things of that nature).
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I think this is pretty fair. I'd like to see if this season we see a more consistent identity (Smashmouth RPO offense featuring liberal use of QB runs, perhaps).
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Funny thing was I think everyone thought that's what we would run. Don't know why we didn't. If we could execute it, I think it would be really successful in the ACC.
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Pretty sold on Breiner and Washington. Both at Jacksonville right now. Washington is a no brainer as an alum interested in the job. Breiner is from the Moorhead tree working with him and Bowen at Fordham, also worked with Bowen at the Jags.
Hopefully we can get these two inked ASAP and get to work.
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I like Washington at OL. Definitely some risk with translating from NFL to P5 college and unknown on the recruiting front, but I think it's a potentially high ceiling hire with a lot of NFL experience to tout and connections in VA. He and Bowen coached together with the Jags which is a big plus. Also don't think we'd have to break the bank which would give us more cash for the QB coach (and potentially RB if rumors about Holt materialize).
For QB I'm a little torn. On one hand it would be great to make a splash and get another big recruiter, but we also might benefit from someone Bowen has worked with or from the Moorhead coaching tree. We need for this offense to be cohesive this year. Have seen Breiner mentioned, who is coincidentally also with the Jags and from the Moorhead coaching tree like Bowen. Also seen mention of Fessler from Akron (Moorhead tree, was QB at PSU so connection to Bowen and Pry). Not necessarily splashy but would be from the same school of thought as Bowen as far as philosophy. Streeter (former Clemson QB/OC)I think makes sense if you want to go the splashy route, but no idea if he would mesh with what Bowen wants to do.
If RB coach also happens to open, then I think you let Bowen pick a schematic fit with him for QB and you get the splashiest hire you can at RB. But remains to be seen here.
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Billy Cosh would be a legacy, his dad played LB at tech in the late 70's/early 80's. But he actually just got hired to be the OC/QB coach at Western Michigan.
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I don't really know much about him, but W&M OC Christian Taylor got a positive article from Bruce Feldman, talking about how Miami nearly hired him. Could he be a possibility for QB Coach? Apparently a very innovative OC, and we could use a little out-of-the-box thinking. Anyone familiar with him?
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Only read the article from Bruce yesterday, but he seems like he would be a great get. Capable of doing more with less, which is something we'll need at least for a little while. I just don't know if he would come as a position coach.
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As a thought exercise, in the hypothetical world in which Arians got the itch to coach for his alma mater, but didn't want head coach or OC responsibilities, would it be a guaranteed success as QB coach?
Would he able to:
coach up Wells or Drones into upper level QBs
bring in elite level recruits
help Bowen develop a top-level offense
I honestly don't know. He wasn't able to "coach up" Logan Thomas into a pro-level QB. His recruiting ability is completely unknown and I don't know if being the former coach of Tom Brady is enough of a selling point to recruits. I would imagine he would be very successful at implementing a much more successful offense though, but would his philosophies mesh with an RPO system or college-level players?
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Saw an IG post, can't find it now, suggested we might be targeting W&M running back coach and OC as the next QB coach
edit: Found the post, it's from an account called "hokiewatch"
Looks like they mostly post commitments and CBs, so take it with a grain of salt. Looks like a circle of rumors, someone posted the idea of Taylor on the "thinking out loud" thread on 247...Hokiewatch made an IG post calling the 247 post its sources....another 247 user posted about the IG post, and then TSL started talking about it, lol
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From The Athletic article that came out recently he sounds like a guy who is open to changing his scheme based on personnel. Used to be more of an inside zone and power guy, but changed over to outside zone and some Shanahan concepts plus triple option stuff out of shotgun recently.
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Did a quick search and couldn't find anything except for someone on TSL's message boards saying they saw something on Instagram about it. His name is Christian Taylor and he used to coach QBs and was a QB himself. Has ties to western NC (major footprint) and currently recruits the peninsula for W&M. There's an article on the athletic (paywalled) titled "William & Mary has the most creative offense in CFB. Here's what you might be missing". Here's an excerpt:
What Taylor and the Tribe are doing is running one of the most successful and innovative systems in the sport. It's a wrinkle off of another wrinkle that helped the Tribe become must-see film for all coaches — this from an FCS conference, the Colonial Athletic Association, that has long been known inside the sport as a breeding ground for some of football's brightest minds. It's also why several FBS programs, including Miami, gave Taylor strong consideration for their offensive coordinator vacancies
I know nothing about him other than what this article said and what I read over on TSL just now but this seems like it would be a great hire, especially if he could help influence the offense
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"They avalanched us. They avalanched almost everybody." In 2018, Christian Taylor coached the No. 2 passing attack in the nation. In 2022, his O ranked No. 3 in rushing. A deep dive into how @WMTribeFootball developed the most creative offense in football: https://t.co/am3PxDk147— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) February 28, 2023
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Color me highly skeptical. A creative offense in Blacksburg? Let me check - no, pigs haven't flown and hell hasn't frozen over, so this one ain't gonna happen.
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I'm finding myself a bit conflicted if this is the hire. On one hand, seems like a very innovative, up and coming offensive mind and a VA native. Think that could be very exciting long term for our offense. On the other hand, if we are looking for innovative ideas on offense first and foremost with this hire, I find myself yet again worried that Bowen does not yet have a true vision for this offense and we are idea shopping. Was initially thinking we would look to the Moorhead tree for the hire and that was the direction the offense was headed. Now I'm still not sure.
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Agree..Taylor seems like someone to hire as a primary playcaller and it's unclear to me how what he has done would fit in under Bowen.
I share the concern that behind closed doors, we are still intent on the Offense being "multiple" and might be looking at another year of experimenting to see what works. I'm not sure the fanbase is going to have much more patience at this point.
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I think the Pry era is going to be "Multiple" and that scares me.
Edit: I'll add that I do really like Coach Pry. I'm from Lex Vegas and a lot of people are pulling for him. But I'm really, really concerned about his offense.
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On the other hand, if we are looking for innovative ideas on offense first and foremost with this hire, I find myself yet again worried that Bowen does not yet have a true vision for this offense and we are idea shopping.
I think there's idea shopping, and there's looking for guys who can build plays/systems/scheme around the limited pieces they have. The former is bad (when the OC is doing it). The latter is important (especially at QB coach) - you need someone who can work with the pieces they have.
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because he isn't yet a P5 coordinator and QB coach/passing game coordinator at a P5 school is a large step up from FCS OC. It's definitely a stepping stone that could ultimately yield something much better than "strong consideration." Glenn was a very successful G5 OC and took that same position last year.
But, he could prefer to go the G5 OC route so he can continue to be a playcaller and hold out for such a position.
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Just for fun, for QB coach, David Cutcliffe. What's he up to these days? He ran the score up on Fuente, he would probably love to rub it in more by helping bring us back to relevance.
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Rumors I've seen is Bowen to qb coach, Holt to TE coach, UL's old RB coach (Sims) joining the staff (one of the best recruiters in the country), and OL coach still open.
But all internet chatter. No source I have/know.
Edit: 'one of the best recruiters in the country' is generous. He was a great recruiter at ECU (by ECU standards), and was doing some exciting work at Louisville, in his limited time there:
RB Coach De'Rail Sims since being hired in 2021Landed- 4⭐️ (top 150) RB Trevion Cooley- 4⭐️ RB transfer Tiyon EvansCommitted- 5⭐️ (top 20) RB Rueben Owens- 4⭐️ (top 150) RB Isaac Brown— Louisville Updates (@VilleUpdates) August 2, 2022
Yea, I'm conflicted... I saw another comment that said the only other OC/Qb coach in the country to never coach or play QB was Brian Ferentz. I'm not taking the time to fact check that, but if true... woof.
That said, the idea of having one of the best recruiters in the nation on our staff is wild to think about. I mean, could VT actually recruit inside the top 20 if we got the right staff? Never happened before but that's crazy to fathom.
Of course, these rumors could be completely false too
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I think the idea would be Bowen moves to QB from TE, it lessens his positional coaching responsibility, and he can communicate/coach directly with his QB during games which works great when you're also OC. Plus there's a new rule that allows off-field analysts/assistants to coach now, so our offensive QC analyst people who have experience with QBs would probably be assisting greatly. I don't necessarily love it, but it does allow us to shift Holt to TE and hire an ace recruiter at RB coach. Still a little concerned but it is what it is. There was a lot of smoke that Holt was leaving too which would have allowed us to get a legit QB coach and recruiter at RB, but doesn't seem like that's happening. It seems like most OCs also coach QBs or previously played the position so it's kind of an awkward fit with Bowen IMO.
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Yep this is the logic I've seen as well. The better hires, the more I can get on board with it.
I guess it all depends on how technically mature the QBs are. If you can get a high 4/5 star every year who doesn't need much (technical) development, then you just need to teach them the scheme. But if you're recruiting QP3s, you need someone who knows technique more. Butttttt to your point if you have a GA/Analyst who can coach that in the offseason, you could theoretically make it work.
Whatever the case, I'm anxious to learn more.
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Yea, that's what I meant when I said 'if you have a GA/Analyst who can coach that in the offseason, you could theoretically make it work.' New NCAA rules will give GAs/Analyst more player access to players. Plus, QBs don't make technique changes mid-season; all that is done during the off season.
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Pretty sure it takes ~2 weeks or so due to state employment practices, gotta post the job, run background checks, get clearance etc etc. Pry has publicly said he was aware both coaches had been taking interviews for several weeks, and I don't think he's lying about that.
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Takes time, especially at this point in the season. If Pry has a 'Short List' of 5 folks, he's gotta interview each of them, go through salary negotiations, background checks, etc.
If it makes you feel better, Alabama hired Kevin Steele a whole month (!!!) after Pete Golding was announced at Ole Miss.
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How much longer should we anticipate waiting? I was expecting news last week. Starting to be concerned we will have bottom tier options and they won't be in place in time for Spring practice
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Coach Crist might be taking an internal promotion at QB. He's been doing the Hokie Warrior reveals for the QBs. I've heard he's been campaigning for it, but can't confirm. He's an analyst on staff now.
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Rumors on the interwebs say that one hire is already made, recruits have been informed, and the team is waiting to announce both coaches together. No announcement before Wednesday.
I wouldn't be concerned unless we don't have someone by spring practice. That's a problem. To me, timeline is separate from quality of coach.
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Yep. There will be hires made at some point. Half the fan base will love it, half will hate it. We will spend all spring getting excited about the team and setting unrealistic expectations. We will probably go 5-7 and half the fan base will say we need more time and the other half will want to fire everyone. We will spend the next offseason talking ourselves into unrealistic expectations. Rinse and repeat!
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This is true of every fanbase. But what is crazy how the unrealistic expectations for Tech fans has gone from undefeated seasons and NC aspirations to wining 7-8 games and making a bowl played further south than Blacksburg.
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Yep, we will almost certainly go 4-8/5-7. What matters is how it happens and what growth we've seen among the returning talent/on the recruiting trail.
Personally I'm just excited for the new scheduling, and the small possibility we won't suck. The schedule is not what we wanted long term, but we get to play 8 teams that we don't play regularly, plus the UVA game that was missed last year and payback ODU in Lane. It could be a lot of fun (if we win)
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I'd be ok with less if we can show that the qb is making better reads, scrambling when necessary, and throwing the ball away instead of forcing it into coverage.
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That's what I'm here for! Let's throw names around like we know what we're talking about so we have something to get excited/ bitch and moan about! It's the off-season, facts be damned! Let the speculation begin.
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The dream is that we hire Dan Mullen as QB/co-OC, but that doesn't feel likely.
If you want an optimistic yet plausible outcome, the final position coach is taking time because they're at an SEC/B10 school and have a buyout that we are trying to negotiate down. Some people on 247 are saying Mizzous OL coach (who is apparently good? NFL experience, coached at duke and Mississippi state previously), which means Bowen to QBs.
Sims is apparently allegedly done deal since recruits are following him twitter.
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Think we could pull a splash hire and get Deion Sanders as RB coach. Move Stu Holt to OL. Get a reasonable hire for QB coach. Since they won't be OC probably go out and grab Mike Vick as a first time coach. If he's unavailable we go get an elder Manning so they don't have to do those game commentaries anymore
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Rico Dynamite is available, Napolean's uncle. He could throw a pigskin a quarter mile. If he could teach our guys that, Jennings could have a monster year.
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According to Cincinnati RBs, Coach Sims has been all in with his Cincinnati RBs from the get-go up to at least the first day of practice, which was Monday March 6. I don't think a coach would start spring practice if he was already confirmed (or all but confirmed) to be hired at another school. And I don't think HC Satterfield would be OK to let a position coach start practice if was confirmed that he was leaving. At a minimum, it would appear to be a complete blindside to his players if he were to leave Cincinnati this week. I guess we'll see.
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BREAKING: I'm hearing the #Hokies will forego hiring an OL or QB coach for the 23-24 season. OL depth charts will be determined by intense weekly games of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Starting QB will be determined by a 90s era-style QB Challenge that will double as the spring game— Dave Perks (@writegud) March 10, 2023
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Just a hunch, but because this has been so quiet and dragged out to literally the eleventh hour before spring practice starts, I'm expecting a huge let down. The timing is absolutely awful, and even though we had a bit of financial flexibility to toss around, I have a feeling we have struck out on numerous options.
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This is the Hokie way, after all. I too will be surprised if this goes well for us. I imagine there will be underwhelming hires (if we hire anyone at all). I fully expect our offense to be as bad or worse in 2023. I don't think the upgrade in talent is going to be enough to cover up the lack of competence in the coaching.
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And I know the prevailing sentiment with Rudolph is it was a dream opportunity at ND so can't blame him. But he had also interviewed with the Colts before that as well. He was obviously looking around. It just doesn't sit well, with Glenn and Rudolph leaving practically at the same time right before spring practice. Then combined with his weird "jump on the train I'm jumping off of" type tweet just rubbed me the wrong way. Can't view the one year of Rudolph as anything but a net neutral or even negative for the development of an already rocky OL. Just feels like those guys were trying to get off a sinking ship to me, IMO. Last year VT had a historically bad P5 offense, and both guys leave to get promotions. Just seems very odd. Guess we will find out this coming season.
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Virginia Tech is expected to hire Maryland's Elijah Brooks as running backs coach, sources tell @on3sports.Brooks, a former head coach at high school power DeMatha, has had two of his running backs drafted in the last three NFL drafts.https://t.co/DlIXY6813Vpic.twitter.com/QpMgj8Y0tL— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) March 13, 2023
Looks like the staff is shuffling positions. From Dematha and the RB coach who played a role in getting Ramon Brown to Maryland.
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The chatter has been Stu to TE/still ST coordinator. Bowen will assume QB coach in addition to OC with assistance in coaching QBs from the offensive analyst/QC positions.
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Holt is moving to TE (which he has coached the majority of his career). Rumor is that Bowen is moving to QB, although I suppose it's possible that he goes to OL (which he played and has coached previously in his career).
edit: drinking
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Unless they have a great OL coach coming in I would prefer Bowen to coach the OL and get a great QB coach mainly due to Bowen's history with the OL and zero with QB.
But what do I know. Will be interesting to see who they bring in for OL.
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Rumors on 247 were that the OL coach is either Ron Cook (has coached at South Dakota St, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Stanford, Harvard and Illinois) or Marcus Johnson (has coached at Mizzou, Miss. St. and Duke).
Have to imagine that we'll know for sure this week.
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But aren't we still discussing OL/QB coach wishlists after he joins? I'm sort of kidding, but these types of wacky scenarios are a bit of a grey area for posting.
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If the coach is hired the that should be it's own thread not wacky scenario. The could still be discussion based on the hire, which is why the thread isn't closed, but the announcement of the hire should be its own thread.
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Comments
I say we just hire a couple townies from the burg to fill roles and just get through 2023. Maybe save a few bucks. Bowen is out either way.
Marc that you??
I just don't see how Bowen can survive unless he fields a top 70 offense. And given the situation he is now in, that seems incredibly unlikely
Hire some townies. Good idea.
Did you submit your resume?
Townies? Nah. We're a tech school. I say we develop an AI to fill the positions, CoachGPT
I thought we tried that under Fuente.
Glenn and Rudolph plus our leftover from last year gives us an available 1.5 million for those who have a USA Today account to get the data on assistant coach salaries.
Sunseri is at 480k, so we'd probably need at least 650 to lure him down
That would leave about 850k for an OL coach.
Possible choices in that bracket:
Stacy Searles at Georgia (650k)
Will Friend at Auburn (700k)
Zach Yenser at Kentucky (625k)
Greg Adkins at South Carolina (550k)
Although if Sunseri only needs 500k to make the move, suddenly Eric Wolford at Alabama (900k) and Brad Davis at LSU (830k) enter the budget.
$480K at JMU. What???? I think he's making $150. What are your sources?
My bad. He still had some from Alabama included in that number, plus contract incentives.
He's at 100k at JMU, although with their move to the FBS, I can see it going up soon.
Assuming we could pull him for 250k, we could literally afford anybody currently serving as OL coach in the country,.
I doubt we go out to pull another big name. We did that with Rudolph and the returns were basically as bad as possible. I'd guess it is more likely we spend more than $250k on QB and/or we reallocate that money to an extra support role. We also may need to pocket it after Mines' raise, since we are not exactly swimming in cash.
French will need to weigh in, but I thought he had some issues with Stacy when he was here last. But was that because of his coaching or what he was asked to coach?
750-850K for a good OL coach, still leaves 600-750K for a QB coach/assistant OC.
French hates Searels more than he hates cheese
In defense of French, who tf puts cheese in cereals?
I don't think there's any possible chance any of those guys are leaving SEC jobs to come work for an ACC program that has been at best mediocre for most of the last decade.
And even if there was some interest, every school on that list (maybe other than USCe) could dwarf our $$ offer if they really wanted to keep them.
Most of those coaches listed could at least use our offer to get at least a 100-150K range from their current schools if they wanted to stay.
Goes to show that if you have blue-chip recruits, it is much easier to coach. Searles has always seemed to "fail up" and now coaching one of the best teams with one of the best run games in the country .
some coaches are better equipped to maximize the potential of elite players. other coaches are better equipped to get the most of out of more borderline players. These coaches and their methods don't always mesh well with players from the other category.
seemed to me that during their times at VT Searels and Rudolph were the former category and struggled with the lower talent level at VT. Meanwhile Vice was the latter category and struggled to retain some 'elite' players like Nester but polished the hidden gems pretty well.
$850k for an OL coach would snag us the second highest paid OL coach in the country, I believe
It has been said before, we have the money to bring in a GOOD OL coach. Pry hired the right guy the first time, and now he needs to do it again.
Agree, but we also need to ensure whoever we hire is more committed to a rebuild and a process. The OL will have now had three different coaches and schemes in three years. If we keep getting a big name splashy coach who is most likely to job hop and go after top dollar every year, that's not a positive for our OL development. I'm not saying don't go after good talent, but we need to make sure we have someone that is a schematic match for what we want to do and committed to that build up, and/or has other intrinsic motivations for being a part of the VT program. If we get someone each year who is just about the money, we are going to lose that battle almost every year.
Agree..more interested in someone who is committed to being here than a big name.
Looking back, it seems that Rudolph may have known the walls were closing in on Cryst at Wisc, got out of town while the getting was good and saw VT as a good holdover spot with a nice payday til something better came along.
While the argument that all the best programs have their coaches poached is technically true, usually those Programs have sustained success before that happens. Our offense was the opposite of success last year..its a different scenario. We need to (hopefully) find a Staff that wants to stay together at least long enough to start seeing some of that progress.
funny, but naw!!!
Wishlist:
1. Someone who can coach QBs.
2. Someone who can coach OLs.
Save some money.
French on OL for 300k and give the rest to Sunseri.
Todd Washington is near openly campaigning for himself on twitter, responding to various accounts:
He makes a lot of sense: worked with Bowen in 2021, Hokie alum, grew up on the VA Eastern Shore, been progressing up the ranks, and overlapped with Tyrod at the Ravens.
But he has no history of being the OL coach at a major football program, pretty much only coached offenses with drop-back quarterbacks, lacks
anyextensive coaching of RPOs, has no history of college recruiting, and likely doesn't have any connections with any HS coaches. He would definitely be naive to the current college game.It would be a gamble for sure.
Edit: Good point by ashore13 and the Jag's use of RPOs last year.
I am not sure Pry can afford any more gamble coaches. Especially on something as important as an OL coach. Does he bring TT to be the QB coach?
TT as in Tyrod Taylor who is due to make $5.5m this upcoming season as the backup NYG qb?????????
Sure, we are dreaming anyway aren't we?
We don't need him to leave the G-Men, until HE wants to!
Hiring Washington has a little bit of a Cornell Brown-feel. Amazing Hokie, but ended up a lackluster coach. We were all excited that Brown was hired, but he had little impact recruiting and I don't know how much impact he had on the whips (they were going out of style for a nickel packages).
But O-line is critical and Washington would be a much greater risk. And I think we need an O-line coach with RPO experience and coaching modern college offenses. We also need a coach to help Bowen figure out college defenses too.
You make good points regarding his lack of experience recruiting or working in college football. But, he just spent the last year coaching OL under Doug Pederson. His offense has been using RPOs for years. So he definitely has some amount of experience there.
Yea, that's true. Good point. The Jags did run a healthy amount of RPOs last year.
So maybe Washington's 2022 experience is enough for a RPO-heavy offense. Or maybe some of those Pederson concepts can be integrated into Bowen's offense. Lord knows VT's offense could use some ingenuity and imagination. I would love to see VT use motion, RBs in the passing game, and the quick throws that makes Pederson's offense so good. Hell, maybe he could teach Bowen and Pry how to actually create an offense with 2 and 3 TE sets.
Went high school and played with Todd. Great guy still. I have followed his career. If you look at his track record of development with OL, I would think he's on the short list. We need recruiting but the cupboard isn't bare. Last two recruiting classes for OL have been pretty good IMO. That would give Todd an opportunity to develop the recruiting relationships. He did really well at University of San Diego as OL Coach. Does have a year of OC experience there as well. I'm fully admitting that I'm biased but I believe he would do well. He's a coaches son as well. His dad Tony SR was our HS Football coach.
Which type of gamble...positional coach unproven at the P5 level (but with plenty NFL experience and some G5 experience) with ties to the school who genuinely wants to be a part of the program....
or
Big name splash hire that uses VT as a stepping stone and is gone after a year or two?
Seems you're referencing T. Washington except for this part. He has no G5 experience, but does have FCS experience.
When I read University of San Diego, my brain processed San Diego St.....I stand by my point though, lol
I think he was referencing Bowen as the first and Rudolph and Glenn as the second.
Dwight Vick also is supporting Todd Washington to become the OL coach and based on his second tweet below, apparently he has heard some rumors about it. At a minimum, I think Pry has to call and get an interview scheduled with him. He doesn't have the recruiting background, however, his NFL background and two super bowl wins should instantly give him respect when visiting high school coaches and players. He also has a daughter playing lacrosse at Pittsburgh, coming to VT would put him a lot closer to be able to see her games.
I recently moved within a 3.5 hour drive to bburg... give me 500k and I will quit my job and do my best
Be honest. You're given the job; you are amazing; Alabama offers you $3-million the following year. You staying?
I'd move to places much worse than Alabama for $3m a year.
as my deputy used to say, "Alabama, more than just an hour behind"
I used to live in Huntsville. I called it an island of light in a dark, dark ocean. Much like Atlanta.
Liberty?
Yes, for that money, I too would move to West Virginia.
Other than the people, WV is WAAAAAY underrated, especially if you like outdoor activities. So many beautiful places, hiking, world class rafting, skiing, stills, inbreeding, 3 legged dogs. Its literally got them all!
Why did I read that like Stefon from SNL?
FTFY. I love the outdoors, but I also love the density and thriving culture in major cities. Would love to vacation to the mountains there, but I'd go nuts spending significant time in a state without a major city.
You forgot the 5 legged gypsy donkey. I mean he's probably dead now, but that donkey was packing. Though why'd anyone visit Gypsy WV I have not clue.
Reminds me of one of my favorite jokes......What do you call a donkey with one leg?
A wonky donkey.
What do you call a donkey with one leg and one eye?
A winky wonky donkey.
What do you call a donkey with one leg and one eye making love?
A bonky winky wonky donkey.
What do you call a donkey with one leg and one eye, making love while breaking wind?
A stinky bonky winky wonky donkey.
What do you call a donkey with one leg and one eye, making love while breaking wind, wearing blue suede shoes?
A honky tonky stinky bonky winky wonky donkey.
What do you call a donkey with one leg and one eye, making love while breaking wind, wearing blue suede shoes and playing piano?
A plinky plonky honky tonky stinky bonky winky wonky donkey.
What do you call a donkey with one leg and one eye, making love while breaking wind, wearing blue suede shoes, playing piano and driving a truck?
Bloody talented!
Two kids in WV are walking down the road when they spot a dog licking itself across the street. Bubba stops and says "You see that dog!?" and Billy-Bob stops and says "I wish I could do that!". Bubba thinks for a moment and then turns to Billy-Bob to say "Billy-Bob, that dog'd bite you"
Why do all the trees in Va lean to the North? Because West Virginia sucks. Never gets old.
Because WV sucks and N Carolina blows
My wife is from West Virginia, but she was smart enough to go to Virginia Tech.
Virginian's love it when West Virginians go to VT, cause when they go home the IQ of both states rise
if they are going RPO, there are quality coaches in FCS ranks and Group of five. I'm fairly certain Pry has a few names along with Bowen especially for the OL. As the QB coach, I'm just wondering if Bowen might take on that role and give tight ends to someone else. I don't know, just thinking out loud.
If we were to hire a QB coach, I'm sure we can get a low-price hire. Who's on the Alabama Analyst desk? (Zach Mettenberger, Derek Dooley
You cannot go cheap on a qb coach. That's the most important position on the field. You need someone who can develop that position and sell incoming qb recruits on their expertise.
I'm fine pulling someone up from a lower level as long as they fit Pry/Bowen's vision (whatever that is).
Hard no to Derek Dooley - name one qb he's coached who looked good for more than 6 games?
Also, don't forget that Glen and Rudolph were both paid too 5 in the country (among public schools) for their position. VT is solid middle class; we're not poor. We shouldn't be buying cheap.
Why not we've done it for 20 years ... oh
This is the most important thing to me with a QB coach. The QB whisperer thing is sort of bullshit to me on the level of "developing NFL QB's." Trevor Lawrence, Bryce Young, Justin Fields, etc. were all going pro no matter where they went to college or who was their QB coach.
However, a "QB whisperer" to me, if you must use the term, is a coach who can effectively teach the rules, timing, and reads of an offense in the simplest terms possible for the offensive system that is being run. We don't need Drones (or whoever wins the job) to be a Bryce Young level pro prospect, but if we can teach him how to efficiently and effectively execute the offense that Bowen wants to run, we will see a significant uptick in offensive production.
All that to say, I agree that we need to nail the QB coach hire. The "name value" is a lot less important to me in this decision as their understanding and coaching fit for the scheme Bowen wants to run. Synergy here is the most important element imo.
This, right here, is my biggest concern. What the heck is our offensive identity? What is it going to be? Does Bowen even know? How do you hire someone when you don't know what you want to do? The mishmash of coaches he assembled screamed: IDK, JUST DO A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING. WE'LL BE MULTIPLE!!1!!!
and I'm not okay with that. Pick a direction and go in that one direction. Let's not try to be 3 things at once. Let's get everyone marching in the same direction. If Bowen can't manage that, kick him out and hire someone who can.
I actually think the coaches assembled made a lot of sense. Based on coaches hired, I would've assumed we would run an RPO based smashmouth spread (similar to Minnesota). Not sure why we didn't.
Sometimes, unfortunately, good ideas in theory just don't manifest themselves as cleanly in application. That would have been the ideal, but unfortunately I think there may have just been too many cooks in the kitchen on offense trying to pitch ideas/concepts to a green OC. Most VT writers/analysts still can't figure out what we were trying to do on O. However, I think this offense is now 100% Bowen's and we will be able to make a better assessment of him moving forward.
Speculating, but my guess is that Pry was set the vision, and coordinators ran with it. French has said that none of the three former/current OCs on staff has ever ran the scheme that we running in the first 9 games. Pry also said that he 'wanted to run the offense he felt was hardest to defend'.
Either way, I think you nailed it here:
I'm just not convinced the problem was 'too many cooks in the kitchen'.
Alas, we'll never know... hopefully we're moving on to ideas that we can actually implement and execute on.
Is that really any worse than having people successfully predicting the next play from the stands?
I just assumed we didn't have the personnel for what they REALLY wanted to do, so they were trying to patch in something else in the mean time, which clearly failed.
that may be...but it clearly didn't work. I know talent was down but we shouldn't have been 120ish/130 in terms of offensive production. At worst, a decent coach (or mix of coaches) would have had us in the top 100. It may have seemed like a good idea but it just plainly failed to work. Hopefully Bowen can pick up the pieces and build a decent offense in 2023. We have the talent/schedule to land in the top 90 or so offensively. If he fails to do that for a second consecutive year I think you need to clean house and start over*.
*I don't mean fire everybody - I mean fire the OC and let everyone else on the offensive staff know that their job is going to be up to the new OC to determine who stays and who goes. I want(ed) Pry to hire a seasoned OC who knows what he's doing.
Yea, I agree. I'll wait to see Bill C's preseason rankings, but I find it hard to believe that our offense should be worse than 90 (barring injuries of things of that nature).
I think this is pretty fair. I'd like to see if this season we see a more consistent identity (Smashmouth RPO offense featuring liberal use of QB runs, perhaps).
Funny thing was I think everyone thought that's what we would run. Don't know why we didn't. If we could execute it, I think it would be really successful in the ACC.
Derek Dooley is spare parts, bud.
Pretty sold on Breiner and Washington. Both at Jacksonville right now. Washington is a no brainer as an alum interested in the job. Breiner is from the Moorhead tree working with him and Bowen at Fordham, also worked with Bowen at the Jags.
Hopefully we can get these two inked ASAP and get to work.
Give me Washington and Streeter
I like Washington at OL. Definitely some risk with translating from NFL to P5 college and unknown on the recruiting front, but I think it's a potentially high ceiling hire with a lot of NFL experience to tout and connections in VA. He and Bowen coached together with the Jags which is a big plus. Also don't think we'd have to break the bank which would give us more cash for the QB coach (and potentially RB if rumors about Holt materialize).
For QB I'm a little torn. On one hand it would be great to make a splash and get another big recruiter, but we also might benefit from someone Bowen has worked with or from the Moorhead coaching tree. We need for this offense to be cohesive this year. Have seen Breiner mentioned, who is coincidentally also with the Jags and from the Moorhead coaching tree like Bowen. Also seen mention of Fessler from Akron (Moorhead tree, was QB at PSU so connection to Bowen and Pry). Not necessarily splashy but would be from the same school of thought as Bowen as far as philosophy. Streeter (former Clemson QB/OC)I think makes sense if you want to go the splashy route, but no idea if he would mesh with what Bowen wants to do.
If RB coach also happens to open, then I think you let Bowen pick a schematic fit with him for QB and you get the splashiest hire you can at RB. But remains to be seen here.
There's some local guys to look at: Billy Cosh for QB and Adam Ross for O-Line - both from UR.
Tell me more! What scheme do they run?
Billy Cosh would be a legacy, his dad played LB at tech in the late 70's/early 80's. But he actually just got hired to be the OC/QB coach at Western Michigan.
Brandon Streeter-QB ...he could use this as "revenge" against his Alma mater firing him.
Eugene Chung-OL ...can we pull him out of retirement?
Well his son played for us for like 2 decades they've already given a lot to the school.
I don't really know much about him, but W&M OC Christian Taylor got a positive article from Bruce Feldman, talking about how Miami nearly hired him. Could he be a possibility for QB Coach? Apparently a very innovative OC, and we could use a little out-of-the-box thinking. Anyone familiar with him?
Only read the article from Bruce yesterday, but he seems like he would be a great get. Capable of doing more with less, which is something we'll need at least for a little while. I just don't know if he would come as a position coach.
Bruce Arians for QB coach.
seem attainable.
Him or Tom Brady or GTFO.
If we're dreaming, dream big.
As a thought exercise, in the hypothetical world in which Arians got the itch to coach for his alma mater, but didn't want head coach or OC responsibilities, would it be a guaranteed success as QB coach?
Would he able to:
I honestly don't know. He wasn't able to "coach up" Logan Thomas into a pro-level QB. His recruiting ability is completely unknown and I don't know if being the former coach of Tom Brady is enough of a selling point to recruits. I would imagine he would be very successful at implementing a much more successful offense though, but would his philosophies mesh with an RPO system or college-level players?
Maybe not but the size of that ring might help. /s
You could use that ring to anchor the Beamer Barn, I tell you what!
I heard Andy Bitter is looking for a job and knows VT well.
Saw an IG post, can't find it now, suggested we might be targeting W&M running back coach and OC as the next QB coach
edit: Found the post, it's from an account called "hokiewatch"
Looks like they mostly post commitments and CBs, so take it with a grain of salt. Looks like a circle of rumors, someone posted the idea of Taylor on the "thinking out loud" thread on 247...Hokiewatch made an IG post calling the 247 post its sources....another 247 user posted about the IG post, and then TSL started talking about it, lol
From The Athletic article that came out recently he sounds like a guy who is open to changing his scheme based on personnel. Used to be more of an inside zone and power guy, but changed over to outside zone and some Shanahan concepts plus triple option stuff out of shotgun recently.
Did a quick search and couldn't find anything except for someone on TSL's message boards saying they saw something on Instagram about it. His name is Christian Taylor and he used to coach QBs and was a QB himself. Has ties to western NC (major footprint) and currently recruits the peninsula for W&M. There's an article on the athletic (paywalled) titled "William & Mary has the most creative offense in CFB. Here's what you might be missing". Here's an excerpt:
I know nothing about him other than what this article said and what I read over on TSL just now but this seems like it would be a great hire, especially if he could help influence the offense
Color me highly skeptical. A creative offense in Blacksburg? Let me check - no, pigs haven't flown and hell hasn't frozen over, so this one ain't gonna happen.
To be fair, no one has tried to run a creative offense in Blacksburg.
I'm finding myself a bit conflicted if this is the hire. On one hand, seems like a very innovative, up and coming offensive mind and a VA native. Think that could be very exciting long term for our offense. On the other hand, if we are looking for innovative ideas on offense first and foremost with this hire, I find myself yet again worried that Bowen does not yet have a true vision for this offense and we are idea shopping. Was initially thinking we would look to the Moorhead tree for the hire and that was the direction the offense was headed. Now I'm still not sure.
Agree..Taylor seems like someone to hire as a primary playcaller and it's unclear to me how what he has done would fit in under Bowen.
I share the concern that behind closed doors, we are still intent on the Offense being "multiple" and might be looking at another year of experimenting to see what works. I'm not sure the fanbase is going to have much more patience at this point.
I think the Pry era is going to be "Multiple" and that scares me.
Edit: I'll add that I do really like Coach Pry. I'm from Lex Vegas and a lot of people are pulling for him. But I'm really, really concerned about his offense.
I think there's idea shopping, and there's looking for guys who can build plays/systems/scheme around the limited pieces they have. The former is bad (when the OC is doing it). The latter is important (especially at QB coach) - you need someone who can work with the pieces they have.
Given this, I'd say there's no way he comes here for a position coach job. If he's been under strong consideration for P5 OC jobs, why would he?
because he isn't yet a P5 coordinator and QB coach/passing game coordinator at a P5 school is a large step up from FCS OC. It's definitely a stepping stone that could ultimately yield something much better than "strong consideration." Glenn was a very successful G5 OC and took that same position last year.
But, he could prefer to go the G5 OC route so he can continue to be a playcaller and hold out for such a position.
Twitter analysis shows that Bowen follows Taylor and Taylor follows Pry. That pretty much means it's a sealed deal, right? /s
Old man Kevin Rogers.
If the rumors are true that man can call plays
Just for fun, for QB coach, David Cutcliffe. What's he up to these days? He ran the score up on Fuente, he would probably love to rub it in more by helping bring us back to relevance.
He works for the SEC now in some kind of administration role
Traitor ass
Bad take. He was in the SEC for 25 years before becoming Duke's coach for 13.
It wasn't meant as a serious comment lmao. But here is a serious one: fuck the SEC and everyone who works for them
I can support that sentiment
I need some news on this front. No updates or rumors at all?
Rumors I've seen is Bowen to qb coach, Holt to TE coach, UL's old RB coach (Sims) joining the staff (one of the best recruiters in the country), and OL coach still open.
But all internet chatter. No source I have/know.
Edit: 'one of the best recruiters in the country' is generous. He was a great recruiter at ECU (by ECU standards), and was doing some exciting work at Louisville, in his limited time there:
Edit #2: tech lunchpail take
I don't hate this TBH
Yea, I'm conflicted... I saw another comment that said the only other OC/Qb coach in the country to never coach or play QB was Brian Ferentz. I'm not taking the time to fact check that, but if true... woof.
That said, the idea of having one of the best recruiters in the nation on our staff is wild to think about. I mean, could VT actually recruit inside the top 20 if we got the right staff? Never happened before but that's crazy to fathom.
Of course, these rumors could be completely false too
What about Bowden to caoch OL and then get a QB caoch
That would make more sense to me, but what do I know.
I think the idea would be Bowen moves to QB from TE, it lessens his positional coaching responsibility, and he can communicate/coach directly with his QB during games which works great when you're also OC. Plus there's a new rule that allows off-field analysts/assistants to coach now, so our offensive QC analyst people who have experience with QBs would probably be assisting greatly. I don't necessarily love it, but it does allow us to shift Holt to TE and hire an ace recruiter at RB coach. Still a little concerned but it is what it is. There was a lot of smoke that Holt was leaving too which would have allowed us to get a legit QB coach and recruiter at RB, but doesn't seem like that's happening. It seems like most OCs also coach QBs or previously played the position so it's kind of an awkward fit with Bowen IMO.
Yep this is the logic I've seen as well. The better hires, the more I can get on board with it.
I guess it all depends on how technically mature the QBs are. If you can get a high 4/5 star every year who doesn't need much (technical) development, then you just need to teach them the scheme. But if you're recruiting QP3s, you need someone who knows technique more. Butttttt to your point if you have a GA/Analyst who can coach that in the offseason, you could theoretically make it work.
Whatever the case, I'm anxious to learn more.
I would pair it with an off-field qb mechanics specialist/analyst
Yea, that's what I meant when I said 'if you have a GA/Analyst who can coach that in the offseason, you could theoretically make it work.' New NCAA rules will give GAs/Analyst more player access to players. Plus, QBs don't make technique changes mid-season; all that is done during the off season.
Suggests T. Washington is still awaiting a call from Pry one way or another.
He also replied back with an emoji of a lacrosse stick this morning.
His daughter Ava plays for Pitt lacrosse.
Pitt women's lacrosse plays @ VT this Saturday (Mar 11)
Perhaps Dad Washington will be in Blacksburg on Saturday 👀👀
I think we're all waiting on some news on the hires, so it's inevitable that a cryptic tweet from a candidate is misinterpreted.
The longer this takes to replace, the more I feel like we were caught super off guard and are struggling to figure out how to fix it.
Pretty sure it takes ~2 weeks or so due to state employment practices, gotta post the job, run background checks, get clearance etc etc. Pry has publicly said he was aware both coaches had been taking interviews for several weeks, and I don't think he's lying about that.
I won't be worried unless we don't have anybody in those positions a few days before Spring practice starts.
Takes time, especially at this point in the season. If Pry has a 'Short List' of 5 folks, he's gotta interview each of them, go through salary negotiations, background checks, etc.
If it makes you feel better, Alabama hired Kevin Steele a whole month (!!!) after Pete Golding was announced at Ole Miss.
Meh Alabama is always an exception to anything.
How much longer should we anticipate waiting? I was expecting news last week. Starting to be concerned we will have bottom tier options and they won't be in place in time for Spring practice
via GIPHY
Coach Crist might be taking an internal promotion at QB. He's been doing the Hokie Warrior reveals for the QBs. I've heard he's been campaigning for it, but can't confirm. He's an analyst on staff now.
Rumors on the interwebs say that one hire is already made, recruits have been informed, and the team is waiting to announce both coaches together. No announcement before Wednesday.
I wouldn't be concerned unless we don't have someone by spring practice. That's a problem. To me, timeline is separate from quality of coach.
Yep. There will be hires made at some point. Half the fan base will love it, half will hate it. We will spend all spring getting excited about the team and setting unrealistic expectations. We will probably go 5-7 and half the fan base will say we need more time and the other half will want to fire everyone. We will spend the next offseason talking ourselves into unrealistic expectations. Rinse and repeat!
this might be the most accurate post I've ever seen on this website
*edit to add: I am solidly in one half of the fan base
This is true of every fanbase. But what is crazy how the unrealistic expectations for Tech fans has gone from undefeated seasons and NC aspirations to wining 7-8 games and making a bowl played further south than Blacksburg.
It's a 51/49 world. There's always 51% wanting one thing, 49% wanting something different. It's just a question of which side you end up on.
Yep, we will almost certainly go 4-8/5-7. What matters is how it happens and what growth we've seen among the returning talent/on the recruiting trail.
Personally I'm just excited for the new scheduling, and the small possibility we won't suck. The schedule is not what we wanted long term, but we get to play 8 teams that we don't play regularly, plus the UVA game that was missed last year and payback ODU in Lane. It could be a lot of fun (if we win)
What attributes make a QB coach good?
What attributes make an OL coach good?
How do they fit into what Pry is trying to do?
Win games
Win games
Win games
Win recruits* too
Show you can get a QB to average 300 ypg which we've checks notes never had
I'd be ok with less if we can show that the qb is making better reads, scrambling when necessary, and throwing the ball away instead of forcing it into coverage.
This thread needs less anxiety and more wild speculation.
^^^This.
That's what I'm here for! Let's throw names around like we know what we're talking about so we have something to get excited/ bitch and moan about! It's the off-season, facts be damned! Let the speculation begin.
Who was it on here that called the Pry hire a few weeks or months ahead of time? Can that person please throw out some names?
It was Bar, and he also put Brad Glenn on his offensive staff wishlist
My crowning achievement
Ha, I'm on to you. "Crowning" achievement? Clearly, it's gonna be this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaun_King_(American_football)
wonder if QB coach role could tempt Bronny James to come to blacksburg /s
Obviously this would mean Bowen goes to coaching OL and LeBron to TEs, his natural position.
Here's my wild speculation:
The dream is that we hire Dan Mullen as QB/co-OC, but that doesn't feel likely.
If you want an optimistic yet plausible outcome, the final position coach is taking time because they're at an SEC/B10 school and have a buyout that we are trying to negotiate down. Some people on 247 are saying Mizzous OL coach (who is apparently good? NFL experience, coached at duke and Mississippi state previously), which means Bowen to QBs.
Sims is
apparentlyallegedly done deal since recruits are following him twitter.So what you're saying is that we're getting Nick Saban?
Gosh, I love twitter sleuthing lol
Think we could pull a splash hire and get Deion Sanders as RB coach. Move Stu Holt to OL. Get a reasonable hire for QB coach. Since they won't be OC probably go out and grab Mike Vick as a first time coach. If he's unavailable we go get an elder Manning so they don't have to do those game commentaries anymore
Rico Dynamite is available, Napolean's uncle. He could throw a pigskin a quarter mile. If he could teach our guys that, Jennings could have a monster year.
What good is a quarter mile pitch? The field isn't that long. :P
Ron Mexico is the obvious candidate for qb coach.
LMAO This must go plaid.
According to Cincinnati RBs, Coach Sims has been all in with his Cincinnati RBs from the get-go up to at least the first day of practice, which was Monday March 6. I don't think a coach would start spring practice if he was already confirmed (or all but confirmed) to be hired at another school. And I don't think HC Satterfield would be OK to let a position coach start practice if was confirmed that he was leaving. At a minimum, it would appear to be a complete blindside to his players if he were to leave Cincinnati this week. I guess we'll see.
a son for a son. They took Glenn. We take Sims. The more it hurts them, the better.
It would however, be kind of a giant fuck you to Satterfield for stealing Glenn. Here's to hoping
This sums up how I feel. Props to this guy
Not gonna lie...would watch the hell out of that QB Challenge Spring Game
Spring practice starts later this week, so we're expecting announcements Monday or Tuesday, right?
Right?
Anybody have any insights? At this point, fake news is better than no news. At least it's something to talk about, lol.
Just a hunch, but because this has been so quiet and dragged out to literally the eleventh hour before spring practice starts, I'm expecting a huge let down. The timing is absolutely awful, and even though we had a bit of financial flexibility to toss around, I have a feeling we have struck out on numerous options.
This is the Hokie way, after all. I too will be surprised if this goes well for us. I imagine there will be underwhelming hires (if we hire anyone at all). I fully expect our offense to be as bad or worse in 2023. I don't think the upgrade in talent is going to be enough to cover up the lack of competence in the coaching.
And I know the prevailing sentiment with Rudolph is it was a dream opportunity at ND so can't blame him. But he had also interviewed with the Colts before that as well. He was obviously looking around. It just doesn't sit well, with Glenn and Rudolph leaving practically at the same time right before spring practice. Then combined with his weird "jump on the train I'm jumping off of" type tweet just rubbed me the wrong way. Can't view the one year of Rudolph as anything but a net neutral or even negative for the development of an already rocky OL. Just feels like those guys were trying to get off a sinking ship to me, IMO. Last year VT had a historically bad P5 offense, and both guys leave to get promotions. Just seems very odd. Guess we will find out this coming season.
Looks like the staff is shuffling positions. From Dematha and the RB coach who played a role in getting Ramon Brown to Maryland.
Any guess as to the shuffling? Does this leave Stu Holt as just special teams, so now we still need a QB coach and OL coach?
The chatter has been Stu to TE/still ST coordinator. Bowen will assume QB coach in addition to OC with assistance in coaching QBs from the offensive analyst/QC positions.
Holt is moving to TE (which he has coached the majority of his career). Rumor is that Bowen is moving to QB, although I suppose it's possible that he goes to OL (which he played and has coached previously in his career).
edit: drinking
Excited about recruiting and okay with Holt to TE. Not sure about Bowen coaching QB room, though he's got the connection with Drones apparently
Unless they have a great OL coach coming in I would prefer Bowen to coach the OL and get a great QB coach mainly due to Bowen's history with the OL and zero with QB.
But what do I know. Will be interesting to see who they bring in for OL.
Rumors on 247 were that the OL coach is either Ron Cook (has coached at South Dakota St, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Stanford, Harvard and Illinois) or Marcus Johnson (has coached at Mizzou, Miss. St. and Duke).
Have to imagine that we'll know for sure this week.
I'm growing increasingly concerned about QB coach.....
Love this hire, especially for recruiting and development.
Joe started a new thread here: https://www.thekeyplay.com/content/2023/march/13/report-virginia-tech-ex...
In the future, something like this should get a new thread as opposed to stuck in a "wish list" kind of thread, thanks!
But aren't we still discussing OL/QB coach wishlists after he joins? I'm sort of kidding, but these types of wacky scenarios are a bit of a grey area for posting.
If the coach is hired the that should be it's own thread not wacky scenario. The could still be discussion based on the hire, which is why the thread isn't closed, but the announcement of the hire should be its own thread.