Fuente.. surprised he didn't show up in the OC conversation for Bama or
Clemson. any word on what he might be doing besides collecting a check?
68 Replies
3y
(In response to this post by jkharman)
He actually has a good offensive mind
Just not head coaching material at a P5.
** Edited by VaTechHokiesACC at 2/15/2023, 6:57:23 PM
(In response to this post by Hokeedokee)
F
fordham
3y
Last program where a legend leaves and it struggles after that. See bama and fsu for examples
(In response to this post by jkharman)
M
Mercury
3y
Seems incompetent to me
(In response to this post by jkharman)
He bought a house in Arlington TX with our money
So he could work for TCU for free and repair his image.
By far Whits worst hire here during his tenure
(In response to this post by jkharman)
M
Mercury
3y
Probably as bad as keeping the basketball coach from weaver 1 year
(In response to this post by OrangeHokieFan)
2
2hhoop3
3y
at best a misrepresentation and worst a complete failure on your part to understand. Babcock was hired January 2014. Buzz was hired March 2014. He really could not have fired or hired any quicker in season AND got anybody decent.
(In response to this post by Mercury)
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N2VT2
3y
(In response to this post by OrangeHokieFan)
3y
... their money? That I hadn't earned when my job was eliminated?
** Edited by Atlee Hokie at 2/14/2023, 7:41:06 PM
(In response to this post by OrangeHokieFan)
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HOKIERIT
3y
day he signed that contract...THAT is how it works.
Just like you earned your money from Alcoa...and probably much more you DIDN'T get....
(In response to this post by Atlee Hokie)
I would be more angry at Fu if VT actually supported the program during
his tenure like it was supposed to be supported.
Whit tried to save dollars and now has to pay it.
(In response to this post by Brewing_Hokie)
3y
and comparable staff, instead of hiring every former Hokie player that was available in coaching? I'm shocked!
** Edited by ChrisLords at 2/14/2023, 5:17:00 PM
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
3y
(In response to this post by ChrisLords)
3y
(In response to this post by marcbvtgm)
H
HOKIERIT
3y
(In response to this post by reestuart)
3y
and it bit him in the butt...
I'm still on team fire Whit into the sun with Fu/Corn, and Bowen :)
(In response to this post by AirborneHokie96)
Give Whit 1 more chance. Have him fire FU again, and mean it this time! 😉
(In response to this post by Brewing_Hokie)
3y
He should be thankful my plan didn’t happen… I hear the sun is hot and things don’t last there 😜
In all seriousness, Whit got an extra chance thanks to COVID and candidates saying no leading to that terrible press conference of a firing that didn’t happen
** Edited by Brewing_Hokie at 2/14/2023, 7:40:08 PM
(In response to this post by No_Limit_Hokie)
R
RJHokie
3y
I hope Pry is the answer, but if not, I think both of them are out the door together.
(In response to this post by Brewing_Hokie)
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HOKIERIT
3y
Let's HOPE it doesn't have to happen, but Whitt is (or SHOULD be) on as big a hot seat as Pry IMO!!
** Edited by HOKIERIT at 2/19/2023, 10:53:18 AM
** Edited by HOKIERIT at 2/19/2023, 10:53:40 AM
(In response to this post by RJHokie)
3y
and statistically, Pry isn't the answer because most coaches don't work out/fail. Hope that Pry is the answer for purely VT's sake.
(In response to this post by RJHokie)
3y
VT football in the next two or three years, they will both be gone !
(In response to this post by RJHokie)
3y
(In response to this post by FLKEYSHOKIE)
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RJHokie
3y
Believe Pry has a 6 or 7 year contract.
(In response to this post by FLKEYSHOKIE)
3y
and without signs of progress. It's a 6 year contract I believe. Pry realistically gets 4 or 5 years total at minimum.
(In response to this post by RJHokie)
3y
If the teams wins nine or more games, Pry will get a huge renewal. If the Hokies are still .500, pry will be canned
(In response to this post by Brewing_Hokie)
H
HOKIERIT
3y
I will be LONG checked out of Tech football by then!
(In response to this post by Hokie1992)
S
Stech
3y
(In response to this post by jkharman)
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N2VT2
3y
(In response to this post by Stech)
it's those new bottles you druids make us use
(In response to this post by N2VT2)
3y
(In response to this post by whatIpostlike)
3y
have signed up to be an analyst at one of those schools for 2022. He probably could have been, especially with the Bama/Wiggins connection but I think he wanted to be home with fam.
Tougher to get in the OC / DC mix at Bama without doing the year long analyst job interview season unless your pedigree is more recent than Fuente's IMO.
(In response to this post by jkharman)
V
vtlee
3y
(In response to this post by jkharman)
He was an off-the-books advisor at TCU this past season.
(In response to this post by jkharman)
3y
with Sonny Dykes or, perhaps, Fuente's work and history at TCU probably speaks for itself.
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
E
EDGEMAN
3y
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
3y
** Edited by Technocrat at 2/14/2023, 10:19:37 AM
(In response to this post by EDGEMAN)
Fuente's buyout was cheap.
Here are some buyouts from this past season...
Scott Frost, Nebraska ($15 million buyout)
Karl Dorell, Colorado ($11.4 million buyout)
Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech ($11.3 million buyout)
Paul Chryst, Wisconsin ($11 million buyout)
Fuente's $8.75 million buyout (negotiated down from the $10 mil his contract said we owed him) is just the cost of doing business in college football these days.
Buyouts owed if fired after 2023...
Neal Brown, WVU: $12 million
Jimbo, aTm: $77 million
Venables, OK: nearly $30 million
Like I said, just the cost of doing business these days. We got off very cheap with Fuente relative to the rest of P5 football.
(In response to this post by Technocrat)
3y
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
Right...so, we got a good deal...
A coach who went 43-31 and 28-20 in the ACC, and it only cost $8.75 million to buy him out. Geoff Collins went 10-28 and cost more to buy out. Frost went 16-31, and he cost nearly twice as much to buy out.
We operated for nearly 30 years under the protective cloak of Frank Beamer. We never had to learn what it was like for everybody else. Now that protective cloak is gone, and the fanbase is slowly learning what it's like for all the others. The perception of our fans is that Fuente's contract was a bad one, but that's just because our fans have no experience when it comes to a VT coach getting fired. The reality is that the Fuente contract wasn't a bad one, and generally speaking we got more bang for our buck from the Fuente era than most programs do from their fired coaches.
** Edited by Chris Coleman at 2/15/2023, 2:00:57 PM
(In response to this post by kinghokie)
H
HOKIERIT
3y
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
3y
They're out almost $40M between 2 coaches.
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
Well, about that, and let me tie it into the Fuente discussion.
Whit was right to extend Fuente early after those two seasons. It was the right business move. Fuente originally signed a six-year contract. That means, for recruiting purposes, you need to extend or fire after three seasons (after 2018) or four seasons at most (2019).
If Whit didn't extend him after 2017, he would have needed to extend him after 2018 or 2019. Certainly he hadn't done enough to get fired at that point. In fact, if you make the decision after 2019, it's an easy one: extension. At that point he had a better record over four years (three 8+ win seasons) than Beamer had over his final four seasons (one 8-win season), so he had improved the program, and we had everybody coming back for 2020 (except Bud of course). So, had no extension taken place after 2017, then one would have taken place after 2018 or 2019...in which case the buyout likely would have ended up being bigger when we did have to fire him in 2021.
So extending him early was actually the right business move for VT. And then we got into "extend or fire" zone again, and we couldn't extend him, so we fired him. But because we made the extension decision early, there were fewer years left on the contract than if we had made the decision later, so the buyout was cheap.
Pry also signed a 6-year contract, so we'll get into the "extend or fire" zone again after the 2024 season. Ideally you don't want to let the contract run down to under three years, otherwise it will hurt recruiting. Example: calendar year 2019, when we let that entire offseason go with Bud having just one season left on his contract. I started writing in January of that year that we needed to extend him ASAP (even if he didn't plan to return) or else it would kill defensive recruiting for the 2020 class. Guess what? It did.
If VT had to fire Pry after 2024, then I assume VT would be on the hook for the remainder of the contract, which would equate to over $14 million in buyouts. Hopefully he does enough over the next two years to get extended. Of course, that opens up another discussion: what is "enough"?
(In response to this post by st_andrew)
3y
It's easier to lose and collect than to put forth the effort to win and collect less per year. Wish my work would do that for me....
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
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N2VT2
3y
(In response to this post by EDGEMAN)
3y
(In response to this post by Chris Coleman)
K
KCHokie2
3y
(In response to this post by OldRetiredHokie)
3y
(In response to this post by OldRetiredHokie)