Virginia Tech Wasn't Ready

The people in charge have mangled the response to COVID-19, and have left Justin Fuente to come up with answers.

Virginia Tech wanted to have its cake.

Without a doubt in their minds (or at least in their press releases) one of the biggest schools in the Commonwealth brought as many students back to Blacksburg as possible. In a pandemic. In a town without the capacity to adequately treat over 34,000 new faces.

How could it possibly go wrong. It's a statement so rhetorical, it's punctuated with a period because it's not a question. The answer is obvious — college students aren't adults in anything other than the legal sense. They're not particularly responsible, they feel invincible and most of their day revolves around the best time to start drinking.

This is not a piece preparing to slander college kids, because we already know who they are. They're people whose entire social schedule is already based on breaking the rules. Whether that's purchasing alcohol while under 21, providing said booze to someone else who's underage or just simply being out a little too late and getting into something they probably shouldn't. It's a tale as old as TOTS.

So when these 20-year-old "adults" marched into Blacksburg and doubled its population, things went wrong immediately (a result predicted by just about everyone except those in charge.) While the university clings to their flimsy on-campus numbers, a tidal wave of off campus COVID cases decimates the surrounding area.

This was just seven days after arrival, an anecdotal point to score a larger issue: Tim Sands and his merry band of decision makers helped unleash an absolute mess on their community.

But Virginia Tech didn't just want to have its cake. They wanted to eat it, too.

So when the football team came back to town to begin preparation for an unprecedented conference-plus-one schedule, the message was clear. Though fans may not be in the stands, Hokie football would press along just like their counterparts across the ACC. And while the idea of playing a contact sport in the midst of pandemic primarily spread by close proximity to the infected seems risky (to say the least), the Hokies looked like they were managing risk. The squad practiced, announced its quarterback and published a number of hype videos featuring clips from the closed door sessions. They went through a relatively normal pre-season process, until the student athletes had to interact with the student body at-large.

The rumors started to leak out of the facility the moment the student body descended into Southwest Virginia. When NC State had to postpone their opener against Tech, Justin Fuente breathed a candid sigh of relief. When word of a Commonwealth Clash postponement began circulating before the season ever kicked off, fans were taken aback. But it brought attention to something Fuente had been trying to tell anyone who would listen — there's a COVID problem at Virginia Tech.

It seems pretty clear what the issue is. In a community overwhelmed by virus numbers, it's borderline impossible to go about your day-to-day without risking exposure to someone who's tested positive. Sure, maybe the players could order Chipotle delivery and lock down their social schedules for safety — here's to hoping they're already doing both — but they can't control how their fellow students live. They can't control who comes in the athletic facilities, and they sure as hell can't build their own academic bubble.

Anyone who blames the UVA postponement on Tech's players "lacking the commitment to play football" is either an idiot or an idiot who happens to root/coach/play for a rival team with an inferiority complex. There are people to blame for this situation, but it's certainly not the athletes risking their lives to make sure their athletic department remains financially viable.

And though he may not be to blame, one man has been left to bear the brunt of the mess.

Like many people around the world, Justin Fuente's plans were dramatically altered by COVID-19. In a tenure mostly defined by what has gone wrong, things seemed to finally take a turn for the better heading into this season. His squad ranked sixth in returning production, had stability at quarterback and finally seemed to be past the turbulence of transfer portals and obscenely young starters.

Combine his experienced group with a very manageable schedule — Liberty, Middle Tennessee State and North Alabama in the non-conference, avoiding both Clemson and Florida State from the Atlantic — and everything was set up perfectly. Tech could have a nice 11-3 bounce-back campaign and prove to both fans and recruits that the Hokies are back.

But now, his path to success has become significantly more difficult. Not only does Clemson, NC State and Wake Forest replace MTSU, North Alabama and a rebuilding Georgia Tech, but Fuente has to worry about having enough players to put a healthy, non-quarantined team on the field every week.

There seems to be a theme of cruel irony throughout the head Hokie's tenure. His most talented group (the 2017 squad, with Bud Foster's last great defense and enough of an offense to make a difference) was derailed by the unexpected departure of Jerod Evans. He recruited some of the best classes in recent memory (go look at the signees from 17-19) yet had to play many of them as underclassmen and carried the consequences. Now, at the end of what seemed to be the longest two years in modern program history, Fuente isn't sprinting towards ACC Coastal contention, but rather to a podium answering for decisions above his pay grade.

This is not a place to absolve his sins or relitigate his mistakes (of which there have been many), but instead recognize the impossible situation he's currently in. Justin Fuente does not control what the ACC requires in terms of COVID-19 testing or contract tracing, nor can he make them pony up the money for daily rapid testing like the Big Ten. Yet he does have to be the bearer of bad news when his squad can't field enough people to hold practice.

He can't control that they don't have a football-only facility like Clemson and Florida State, and he doesn't have a say in how the athletic department interprets FERPA. Yet he's the one who gets bashed for the lack of COVID-related transparency throughout the program. He can't form his own bubble by sending the regular student body home, like UNC did over a month ago. But he will have to answer to fans when a much more seasoned Tar Heels team (theoretically) hosts the Hokies in early October.

In just a few weeks we've seen why Fuente is paid nearly four million dollars, and why he almost left to take the Baylor job. It's his duty to step to the microphone and sometimes tell fans what they don't want to hear. But a near lack of institutional support has hung him out to dry.

Will the Hokies play football?

In the wake of Virginia Tech's, the university's, flawed return to campus, that million dollar question remains. But it's not clear anyone in Blacksburg has a definitive answer.

But with so many other people calling the shots, Fuente shouldn't be held accountable for it.

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Scene: Scott Stadium, Nov.19, 1983, Halftime - Men's Restroom
Hoo: "Hey Hokie! At uva, they teach us to was our hands after using the restroom".
Me: " Hey Hoo! At Tech, they teach us not to piss". on our hands.
Final score: VT 48 lol uva. 0

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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Jet Sweep

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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Jet Sweep

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If you play it, they will win.

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If you play it, they will win.

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Outspoken team cake advocate. Hates terrapins. Resident Macho Man Gif Poster. Distant cousin to Dork Magic. Frequently misspells words.

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Outspoken team cake advocate. Hates terrapins. Resident Macho Man Gif Poster. Distant cousin to Dork Magic. Frequently misspells words.

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Now finish up them taters; I'm gonna go fondle my sweaters.

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"The Big Ten is always using excuses to cancel games with us. First Wisconsin. Then Wisconsin. After that, Wisconsin. The subsequent cancellation with Wisconsin comes to mind too. Now Penn State. What's next? Wisconsin?" -HorseOnATreadmill

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"The Big Ten is always using excuses to cancel games with us. First Wisconsin. Then Wisconsin. After that, Wisconsin. The subsequent cancellation with Wisconsin comes to mind too. Now Penn State. What's next? Wisconsin?" -HorseOnATreadmill

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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The Orange and Maroon you see, that's fighting on to victory.

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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"What are you going to do, stab me? - Quote from Man Stabbed

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

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Hey! It goes beyond big brother in the sky
Beyond the threat of martial law, No Horus eye
No one came to cuff you they just handed you the chain
Blind follows the blind and now the one-eyed man is king

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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“Also, a microwave has never danced it's ass off to Jackie Wilson.” - AssPocketFullOWhiskey

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Plan for the worst and hope for the best, not the other way around.

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Pain is Temporary, Chicks Dig Scars
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Pain is Temporary, Chicks Dig Scars
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To you from failing hands we throw
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There's always a lighthouse. There's always a man. There's always a city.

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"Why gobble gobble chumps asks such good questions, I will never know." - TheFifthFuller

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"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K

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"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

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Warning: this post occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)..

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"That kid you're talking to right there, I think he played his nuts off! And you can quote me on that shit!" -Bud Foster

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Virginia Tech Class of 2013
Mining and Minerals Engineering

Sailing the Eastern Seas....on a ship filled with sand....

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To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
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"What are you going to do, stab me? - Quote from Man Stabbed

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“Also, a microwave has never danced it's ass off to Jackie Wilson.” - AssPocketFullOWhiskey

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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"Runs up the hill! Into the Tech student section! Here in Charlottesville!"

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Outside it's night time, but inside it's LeDay

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Outside it's night time, but inside it's LeDay

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If you don't want to recruit clowns, don't run a clown show.

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There's always a lighthouse. There's always a man. There's always a city.

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If you don't want to recruit clowns, don't run a clown show.

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There's always a lighthouse. There's always a man. There's always a city.

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Wet stuff on the red stuff.

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"IT'S A MIRACLE IN BLACKSBURG! TYROD DID IT, MIKEY! TYROD DID IT! TOUCHDOWN TECH!"

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If you don't want to recruit clowns, don't run a clown show.

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Wet stuff on the red stuff.

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Wet stuff on the red stuff.

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"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K

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Directions from Blacksburg to whoville, go north till you smell it then go east until you step in it

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There's always a lighthouse. There's always a man. There's always a city.

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The Orange and Maroon you see, that's fighting on to victory.

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The Orange and Maroon you see, that's fighting on to victory.

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The Orange and Maroon you see, that's fighting on to victory.