Once every 10 years it appears he gets lucky. He exemplifies VT's lack of commitment to sustained success in basketball. Mike Young's presence here -- and even more -- Whit Babcock's is all you need to know about why VT has never won a national championship in anything. We (or more accurately, our leadership) just don't care enough to get it done.

was very young as you may recall and Coach K was 'checking out' so to speak.

VT has the distinction of being the only school to beat 2 final 4 teams in their conference championship run. That's 2 teams in the final 4, Duke and UNC. It was not a down year for the ACC at all.

sure seemed to be at the time.

Which are much the same as another part of human anatomy which each one of us has. While I am not a big CMY proponent, I am not going to cheapen the VT ACCT championship it accomplished by saying the ACC had a down year THE year we won it. Nope. And, just for trivia, since ACC expansion (2004) only 1 school was won the ACC FB championship game, the ACC WBB Tournament, AND the ACC MBB Tournament. Here's a hint, it isn't U of V.

Were one of the hottest teams in the Country, having won 9 of their last 11, coming into the ACCT. Yes, we needed an escape in the First Round. Just like 1995, when UCLA early in the NCAAT needed a court long dribble penetration, then a last second shot to avoid an upset. And, hey - it was a Hokies WIN, in a close game. NC State's Final Four run in 2024... talk about out of left field, "lightning in a bottle." They stumbled in with a 17-14 (9-11) record, having lost 4 in a row. Then, they won 9 straight games! Thank you for not denigrating that accomplishment for Virginia Tech. I really don't understand why some of our fans do that. Well, actually, maybe I do. It is my considerate opinion that they don't want to give credit to the "wrong coach," in their minds. Like Mike Young, hate him, tolerate him, think he needs to go, etc... perhaps much like Cignetti (He wins. Google him.), who brought a number of players to Indiana from JMU and won it all, Young's Wofford players tipped the scale. That team took a while to jell, but jell it certainly did. ** Edited by HokieNL at 3/12/2026, 5:57:08 PM ** Edited by HokieNL at 3/12/2026, 5:59:54 PM

Without having a single NBA caliber talent? OK, so you can blame his recruiting.

17-14 over 7 years. 60-70 in the ACC. $3.3M a year. Can't we do better? CMY is always saying: "That's on me". Perhaps it is. Certainly Neo is his alone. And, PROOF, that more NIL $ is not going to make CMY a better coach or evaluator of talent. He caught lightning in a botte for 4 days in 2022. The team was unceremoniously dumped from the NCAA less than a week later.

That team...which was actually capable of winning the ACCT through UNC / Duke back-to-back...was not going to get into the NCAAT due to a Jan / early-Feb slump and injury. They then got waxed in NCAAT rnd 1. All that seems like important context to along with the, "but won the ACCT". Slumps (or late let downs) seem to be a part of VT teams the past few years. I'm not sure that's a player issue. Really like CMY, and I think most do, and would love to see him succeed!

years, our VT team went south. He will coach out of his current contract and retire.

We were also a buzzer beater 3 from Darius Maddox away from another 1st round exit.

Take out that year, and Mike Young is 1-6 in the ACC Tournament, with the only win being by 3 points over a Notre Dame team that went 3-17 in the ACC that season.

He misses that shot, we miss the NCAA tournament that year. It's wild how much that one shot going in changes things in the present day. Talk about a butterfly effect.

It's a combination of things that have held him back at VT, IMHO. Mainly lack of funding relative to the rest of the ACC. Followed by general disorganization in the management of our basketball program. Bad luck with key injuries. Less than optimal scheduling handed down by the league. The NIL/portal era somewhat passing him by. His slow-down ball control system not being the most exciting and/or enticing to fans and high-level recruits. It's just sort of a constellation of things that keep us stuck in slightly-above mediocrity. Young's coaching ability is not one of our main issues.

Pass it around the perimeter and jack up a 3 b4 the shot clock runs out? Sometimes too late..... Average 17-14 over 7 years. 60-70 in ACC. $3.3M a year. Can't we get better than that?

but there is more to the game than that. Recruiting and roster building, chemistry and culture and motivation, adaptability and willingness to make adjustments, all of those things are just as important as X's and O's. This year's team definitely seemed to be disjointed and less than the sum of its parts, and that falls on the coach, not the players. At this point, Mike Young is what he is, and that's a decent, good, but not great coach. It takes more than that to win at VT. If you're like the primary board troll and you think that slightly above mediocre is all that VT hoops can ever aspire to, then Young's your guy. If you think we have a higher ceiling, well, at this point what makes you think Young is suddenly going to change his style or deliver different results?

Pass it into the bigs after they pick and roll. He’s never been a favorable coach for the C position.

It was clear by the middle of Jan that opposing coaches knew VTs front court were all black holes who also didn't handle the ball particularly well against ACC level talent. ** Edited by marcbvtgm at 3/11/2026, 6:08:37 PM