JDods123

And I’m still not over Sid Bream. I’ve lived in Atlanta 8 years and still can’t bring myself to pull for the Braves.

Though I haven’t been to those places, it’s on the top of my list. FWIW, my favorite places in Europe are Chamonix-Mont Blanc, Zermatt Switzerland, Lake Como, and Athens.

** Edited by JDods123 at 12/29/2025, 2:15:56 AM

He’s taken us back to having an RB pipeline that was missing under Fuente and company (except for Herbert)

But it is an assumption that the floor will always be this high. Also, and I have no idea the answer, but I wonder what a consistently good but not great team means during the next conference realignment in 2030?

They were picked last in the SEC preseason and are currently 103 in the NET, but they wouldn’t have to outperform expectations by that much to make our win a Q1

One always wonders about the jump to P4, but if we can recruit the horses, and it seems like we can, there’s no reason he can’t replicate that success in the ACC.

I haven’t found much on it. Just a mention of the guy from ECU and a co-OC at Penn State. Both names escape me.

And even if he hadn't said that, or shed empathetic tears, it's hard to imagine not being friends with a person you've worked well and closely with for 15 years.

Maybe that isn't the best example. Our passing offenses were usually decent under him, whatever we thought of the play calling. But I don't think it undermines my broader point.

That Fuente didn't take a chance on an up and comer surely has more to do with loyalty, don't you think?

And chemistry is not the same thing as sticking by your buds, come hell or high water. Some examples: Saban cycled through quality coaches, some of whom he didn't have great chemistry with, and very few of whom were old friends, yet he consistently won. Mike Young went on record about hiring people he didn't know very well when he first took over VT basketball, but the chemistry developed. Fuente stuck by Corny to disastrous ends. Pry hired his obviously underqualified buddies to be coordinators. The same goes for any field or company. Ideally, you want everyone pulling in the same direction - and nothing can tank morale like a questionable hire or promotion that seems to be based more on the boss's personal friendship than on performance. Look, I'm often frustrated when a fan base prematurely or ill-advisedly (IMO) calls for heads to roll, based primarily on anger and not thinking things through. In general I prefer left-brain decision-making to right-brain decision-making. Hence my concern. And yes, the head coach gets paid big bucks to make these decisions. But that doesn't mean they always get it right, and it doesn't mean fans can't have legitimate concerns. ** Edited by JDods123 at 12/7/2025, 2:52:21 PM

I mean, he was a Bear Bryant disciple. He's practically Kirby Smart!

We all like the guy, but he hasn’t called a defense for awhile, and his specialty - linebackers - never developed at VT under his leadership, in no small part based on head scratching personnel decisions. His Penn State defenses were solid, but the truly elite defenses arguably had more to do with Bob Stoops. (They were better statistically under Stoops and later under Manny Diaz, except for one year). That said, I’m not nearly smart enough to seriously question Pry’s prowess as a defensive coordinator. Maybe it works. Maybe it doesn’t. My problem is this really feels like an emotional decision based on loyalty to friends - the type of hire or retention that has plagued VT under Beamer, Fuente, and Pry. I’ll hope for the best. If it does work, what a great story it will be.

… that’s why Bud Foster was replaceable by just anyone.

I too have wondered whether we can keep up with the arms race. We have the political will now, but do we have deep enough pockets?

Due to a “mouth injury” of all things.

Colorado State (N) NET 52 George Mason (H) NET 56 Providence (N) NET 86 South Carolina (A) NET 110 No OOC quad 1 wins isn’t great for the resume, but I guess the ACC will give us plenty of shots at quad 1 wins this year. How much do quad 2 wins really count for? Also, I’m making Colorado State my side team for now - best shot of becoming quad 1 W, and I can pull for our old friend Rechsteiner.

Will Franklin fire his friend from VT (again?) Or he will ride or die with him, like Fuente and Corny? It strikes me as an emotional decision, not a strategic one. (Spare me the “Franklin knows better.” That goes without saying. Doesn’t mean he’s infallible, and the rest of us can’t have concerns.)

Whiteboard material for years. Even though we don’t play them. I hope the Penn State crowd keeps talking crap about Franklin and VT for a long time to come.

Whether they'd want to make the change is the harder question. But if Rahne thinks his stock is likely to go down next season after he loses a lot of talent from this season, he might want to nip it in the bud. I have no idea whether Rahne specifically would be a good hire, but I don't see any problem with hiring a G5 head coach in theory.

The two most common I hear are Rahne and Traitwein. And people say Terry Smith if he doesn’t get the Penn State gig. And there was some talk of a Michigan defensive backs coach. Who else?

Surely more of a sliding scale for this position than most others. Drones got $800K, which was too much, but maybe the rate we should pay a competent game manager? $1 - $1.5M for a good QB like Jerod Evans? And $1.5M - $2.5M for a really special QB like Tyrod? (I'm assuming we won't be able to afford the next Vick).

I’m glad UVA is good and hope you stay good and push us. We need a real rivalry to justify the enmity.

I was 14.

They have always been our perfect foil. I love the rivalry, and when it becomes more competitive again, I wouldn’t want them to be classy.

Why do I have learn a new bull**** rule every time we play Miami?

First of all, the empty trophy case has been gone since around 2014. Second, are you seriously trashing the lunch pail!?! Geez, let's replace Enter Sandman with a Bach fugue while we're at it. Perhaps we can start serving Beyond Turkey legs, and give all the Corps of Cadets tickets to ... I dunno ... lawyers in the local bar association.

Maybe I’m wrong, and Whit certainly has his faults, but I get the sense that he was hamstrung in his hires by the lack of financial commitment from the higher ups at the university. In James Franklin’s words, there was no alignment. The best salesman in the world couldn’t sell VT to the best coaches without that alignment. He’s the face of VT athletics, and the fans and donors would’ve been apoplectic if he hadn’t been scapegoated a little bit, so he gets some of the blame, but it’s not all - or even mostly - on him. Hiring coaches in the best of circumstances is an crapshoot. And he’s made great hires in other sports. Fuente was a home run hire at the time as well. We all loved it. That said, Ballein needs to go.

That’s a great stat! … you guys should have Scott Glastner (sp) break down all the James Franklin career stats next podcast!

Paying the salaries of the people who put together such an awesome free podcast. But I guess the rest of us subscribers can do that and you can come along for the ride. ** Edited by JDods123 at 11/18/2025, 10:58:59 AM

Okay go Team Franklin!

Chris Coleman sold me on Manny Diaz a few weeks back. Maybe we don't get quite the recruiting bump of James Franklin, but I'm really not sure about that. At this point, does James Franklin's recruiting magic outweigh the money? His best recruiting jobs came before the NIL age. Give Manny Diaz the same recruiting budget, pay him a respectable $8-$9M instead of a ridiculous $12M, and we get a better coach with negligible recruiting drop off.

Just flagging that Neo explained recently that in Greek, the "d" is pronounced as a rather hard "th." I don't expect national commenters to get it right, but if we're going to stress about people saying "Va Tech" - which always seemed a silly gripe to me - we should INSIST on correctly pronouncing our star's name.

I’ve heard only intimations. What did he do/say to seal his fate at VT? It’s safe to conclude he did not have the right attitude, but was there something more specific?

.. but unless he’s a Heisman candidate -level talent, will his personal brand really be worth more than a collective can give him? Maybe in Brazil, but do they care very much about US college football? True, his family is loaded and famous. But that wouldn’t keep lots of famous players’ kids from going after theirs.

Supposedly offered to double his NIL money.