Reading their message board, they seem to think that Coach Huff is the, or at least a leading contender to be their next HC, as soon as next year.
VTech fans talking about how great Huff would be for them
- Thread starter exHerdSID
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A few fans agreeing on a message board means nothing. They think Huff is perfect for VT based on what… his 6-4 record in his first 10 games as a head coach in CuSA, before he’s signed his own recruiting class or won anything? VT plateaued badly under Beamer and now has done the same under Fuentes… if they don’t nail this next hire they are staring at a generation of irrelevance like Tennessee. They need a year 3-4 Charles Huff who has us undefeated and ranked, with skins on the wall. No way they roll the dice on a rookie. They simply cannot afford the risk, unless their top 2-3 choices turn them down & they get desperate.
Not even joking, but Doc and FIU would be a good fit and he can perform slightly above average in that crap conference.
I saw the Tech message board was talking about Huff... I don't know what in our 6-4 start, with a bad loss to MTSU, has them convinced he is the guy, but to each their own.
Doc is actually exactly what FIU needs... He's a steady, stable coach that can recruit the heck out of south Florida. He would make them a contender in the new CUSA FCS+ league in 2-3 years. If you want a guy to give you consistent 7 to 9 win seasons Doc is a great fit. FIU would be elated to have a few consecutive winning years.
Doc is actually exactly what FIU needs... He's a steady, stable coach that can recruit the heck out of south Florida. He would make them a contender in the new CUSA FCS+ league in 2-3 years. If you want a guy to give you consistent 7 to 9 win seasons Doc is a great fit. FIU would be elated to have a few consecutive winning years.
VPI made a HUGE mistake in its last hire. Mediocre in the joke AAC When you need a top level coach, you don’t look to the joke AAC. Texas made the same mistake with Herman. Nebraska is learning that it has made the same mistake with Frost. Somebody will make the same with Fickell. Its just not a conference that produces coaches that can make it at a higher level.
VPI is a big enough program to look for a head coach at a solid G5 or field filler P5 league. It has the money.
Anybody who thinks that ANY program would consider a coach that is currently 6-4, having lost to every team with a pulse, in his first year, is delusional.
As to FIU, Davis laid them out on his way out the door. They just don’t have, or wish to spend, any money. According to Davis, his recruiting budget was zero, the weight room is out of 1965, the uniforms are 8 to 10 years old and they are buying helmets and pads used from SEC teams. They should drop the sport and join a geographically logical basketball league.
VPI is a big enough program to look for a head coach at a solid G5 or field filler P5 league. It has the money.
Anybody who thinks that ANY program would consider a coach that is currently 6-4, having lost to every team with a pulse, in his first year, is delusional.
As to FIU, Davis laid them out on his way out the door. They just don’t have, or wish to spend, any money. According to Davis, his recruiting budget was zero, the weight room is out of 1965, the uniforms are 8 to 10 years old and they are buying helmets and pads used from SEC teams. They should drop the sport and join a geographically logical basketball league.
Napier, Chadwell, and Shawn Clark would have to be some of the G5 coaches being considered….as well as Fickell.
There is a zero percent chance Luke Fickell goes to VTech. He has received and will receive significantly better offers.
I think what dooms many coaches is they see the money offered by a school and jump without really looking at whether they can be successful there. Sure, their egos convince them that they could coach the Jets to a Super Bowl win but in reality, they aren't as good as they think, at least those not named Saban.
Fickell may have better offers but would he be successful at a higher profile P5 program? We'll see soon enough. I am sure Fuentes and Mike Norwood thought they would be wildly successful as well, that didn't and isn't happening.
If you are Fickell you have to look at each job objectively as the hottest name out there.
VT pros --
They have plenty of money to make a hire
Patient athletic dept leadership (they let Fuente hang on 2 years longer than most fans wanted)
Solid tradition
Stable conference
Good facilities
No world beaters in the league except Clemson
VT cons --
Fans are sick of underachieving so you better improve quickly
Lacking local recruiting base
No clear cut stars, especially on offense, going into next season
Very easy schedules the next 3-4 years, so again, you better win quick
2022 -- OOC schedule, ODU, Wofford, WVU, Liberty
2023 -- OOC schedule, ODU, Purdue, Marshall, Rutgers
2024 -- OOC schedule, Marshall, ODU, Vandy, Rutgers
VT pros --
They have plenty of money to make a hire
Patient athletic dept leadership (they let Fuente hang on 2 years longer than most fans wanted)
Solid tradition
Stable conference
Good facilities
No world beaters in the league except Clemson
VT cons --
Fans are sick of underachieving so you better improve quickly
Lacking local recruiting base
No clear cut stars, especially on offense, going into next season
Very easy schedules the next 3-4 years, so again, you better win quick
2022 -- OOC schedule, ODU, Wofford, WVU, Liberty
2023 -- OOC schedule, ODU, Purdue, Marshall, Rutgers
2024 -- OOC schedule, Marshall, ODU, Vandy, Rutgers
Whether he will be successful is a different consideration from where he might land. Fickell already turned down WVU and MSU. It seems like he is wanting Penn State or perhaps Notre Dame if Kelly leaves. Luke and Amy have six kids and are staunchly Catholic. That limits where you land.
Fickell is the hottest name out there as far as guys who will likely be taking a new job this offseason... Not VT as an opening. Obviously, Penn State or Notre Dame would be bigger name jobs.
I think we are lucky to have Huff. He definitely needs us to be patient with him because that first recruiting class of his is actually Doc's for the most part. He hasn't had a chance to elevate the program with his recruiting yet.
The AD who hired Fickell at UC is now at USC… Fickell could name his price for that job if he wants it, the highest profile job available, set financially for life. He’d take that if he was after a cash grab. I don’t think he will, but who knows. But he certainly won’t consider VT now… that would have been a great jump 15 years ago, but it’s a lateral move now with UC heading to a P5 conf, a huge raise in his pocket, being an Ohio guy, and having his system set up & running, recruits rolling in. VT simply offers him no upside.
Shouldn't you respect this team because they are "trying"? They are a conference mate afterall.
Shit, we gave the last guy a decade to win more than 1 championship. I will feel fortunate if we can keep Huff for half that.
On FIU, I agree with goddamn Sam on this one.
This is, of course, FIU touting they could compete in a better D1 conference and leaving the Sun Belt.
Makes you wonder how much BS is really being said by G5's in terms of actual resources just to remain D1.
"Hey, I work at Alabama. Come get paid, play, have the best athletic training programs in the country, and have the best shot for the NFL."
vs.
"No, West Virginia is actually separate from Virginia. Yeah, blew my mind too!"
Correct. It identifies and then selects. Out of the thousands who have wished all their lives to be good enough, it finds those who are and helps them in filling out the paperwork. Alabama doesn’t really “recruit” in the common use of the word.
No translation of that over to any places outside the perennial Top 10. Certainly none to a place like this.
Well, apparently nobody really bothered to check...
Doc was known for recruiting...recruited players for NC teams.
Doc was never a HC.
Everyone bashed Doc's recruiting.
Huff is known for recruiting...recruited players for NC teams.
Huff was never a HC.
Huff's recruiting here remains to be seen.
He would be crazy not to take the USC job and I would take Virginia Tech over UC. UC is always going to live in the shadow of Ohio State. Virginia Tech is a better job and USC is an elite job you could win a national title at. USC is a top tier job. Unless he just wants to stay in Ohio then he would be crazy to for sure not take USC. UC and Virginia Tech are not lateral. Tech is a better program historically. The only down side to USC is that it is in California.
He did?
Huff was at Alabama for the 19 and 20 seasons.
Alabama was 11-2 and 8th for 19. Any player he recruited would have been, at best a freshman. Most would have been redshirted. Alabama did win the national championship in 20. Any player he recruited would have been either a sophomore or redshirt freshman off that 19 team, or a true freshman.
While it is technically true that somebody Huff “recruited” (made his life’s ambition come true by selecting him for Alabama) was on the 20 championship team, a quick look at who actually played for the Tide last year shows mostly upperclassmen.
Well then there's PSU, where he was able to get Saquon Barkley...then again, Barkley was originally committed to Rutgers so that may not have been a tough sell for him.
Good point. Of course, the last Penn State (vacated) national championship was in 1986, when Huff was 2 years old.
The big point about hiring “great recruiter” assistants from the Elite is that that skill is a different skill than finding Marshall level talent. Convincing people to go to places like Penn State or Alabama is really selecting, not recruiting. This isn’t baseball where some obscure scout is watching pick up games in the Dominican Republic trying to find the next superstar. All you have to do if you are a place like Alabama is look at the star ratings and tell the five stars where to sign. Everybody knows who should be on the elite schools’ teams next year and the next already. That is a different skill than actual recruiting, which is finding over-looked and under-rated players who can contribute at the SBC level.
What is interesting is that Sam's point abut recruiting skills, methods, etc. can work the other way, too. Some coaches seem to be really good at the G5 level getting the 3 and and occasional 4 star, but when they get that P5 level job the world is different. You are not recruiting against Ohio or UAB, you are out there where every 5 star is being pressured by the top 5 and 10 schools.
Top Potential Candidates to Watch for the Virginia Tech Opening
Who will be the next head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies? Louisiana's Billy Napier and Wake Forest's Dave Clawson lead the potential names to watch.
techlunchpail.com
Top Potential Candidates to Watch for the Virginia Tech Opening
Who will be the next head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies? Louisiana's Billy Napier and Wake Forest's Dave Clawson lead the potential names to watch.
techlunchpail.com
It's the wild west out there.
I'd love to be a recruiting hearing from Texas A&M about why I shouldn't go to Texas.
Until earlier this year, pretty simple:
“Son, at A&M you will be tested by the Greatest Conference In The History Of The Universe every week. Testing yourself against the best is the way to the NFL, and how you get better. At tu you will play eight cupcakes we hand selected to be easy to beat, in such backwater places as Ames, Morgantown, and Waco.”
It is why A&M is running rings around Texas and why it and Oklahoma are pulling the plug on the Big 2, Little 8 experiment and resuming membership in a serious conference. The best want to be tested by the best, and you don’t get that in the Big 2, Little 8.
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