Now that Justin Fuente has been hired as Virginia Tech's next, his next step will be assembling a coaching staff. From there, he can work to keep Tech's 2016 recruiting class intact, as well as add a few players of his own.
We already know that Bud Foster is being retained. If I had to guess, that means Charley Wiles will be back as well, because he and Foster are joined at the hip. I've heard Torrian Gray's status is up in the air. Gray could be looking at other opportunities, and that could include the NFL. I believe he would be welcome to stay on the staff if he chooses, though that's just a guess on my part.
A few different sources have told me that nobody on the offensive staff will be retained, and Cornell Brown will be gone as well. The ESPN reports that Shane Beamer will remain aren't true, at least not in the way that those reports were originally interpreted. It's possible that Beamer could stay on in a support position (I.E. the old Jim Cavanaugh/Billy Hite roles after they were reassigned following the 2011 season), but he will not have a role in coaching at Virginia Tech from here on out.
Reports indicate that wide receivers coach Holman Wiggins and TE/ST coach James Shibest will be following Fuente from Memphis. Assuming that's true, Fuente already has four out of the nine assistants that he'll need to complete his staff. Torrian Gray could potentially be the fifth, and there's a possibility that one defensive coach could also follow him Fuente from Memphis, though I'm not sure who.
With all that in mind, let's talk more about his coaching staff...
Will Fuente Break Up His Familiar Coaching Staff?
Justin Fuente has a group of assistants that go back to his days as an assistant at Illinois State. Let me throw out some numbers for you, and keep in mind that Fuente was an assistant at Illinois State from 2001 through 2006.
QB Coach/Co-Offensive Coordinator Brad Cornelsen: QB Coach at Memphis since 2012. Coached at Illinois State from 2003 through 2007. Later was the offensive coordinator at Northeastern State (D-II).
WR Coach Holman Wiggins: WR Coach at Memphis since 2012. RB Coach at Illinois State from 2006-10. RB Coach at Tulsa in 2011.
OL Coach Vance Vice: OL Coach at Memphis since 2012. OL Coach at Louisiana-Monroe from 2009-11. OL Coach at Utah State from 2005-08. OL Coach at Illinois State from 2000-04. OL Coach at Murray State in 1999 (Fuente was the QB of that team). TE Coach at Clemson from 1996-98.
Fuente is obviously an offensive-minded coach, and he wants to hire offensive coaches that he can trust and who he knows he can work with. He has a ton of experience with the three guys listed above, and in fact there is already a Twitter report that says Wiggins will be one of the coaches who follows Fuente to Blacksburg.
I have confirmed that WR Coach Holman Wiggins and TE/ST Coach James Shiest will follow Fuente to VT. ($) https://t.co/3G58o1ANLo
— Bryan Moss (@Bryan_Rivals) November 29, 2015
More on James Shibest later.
It's no surprise that Wiggins is coming with Fuente. He's a versatile coach who can be slotted to lead the running backs or wide receivers, depending on need.
Wiggins is arguably the top recruiter on the Memphis staff. Since 2013, he has signed 16 players. However, he has limited experience recruiting against Power 5 conference competition. If Fuente also brings Cornelsen and Vice along, that would be three coaches on the offensive side of the ball with virtually no experience recruiting against Power 5 conference teams. That's risky.
However, not bringing all three coaches would break up some of the continuity and momentum that Fuente has built through the years, and could hurt chemistry. What will he do? We'll find out.
Personally, I wouldn't mind it at all if he brought along Brad Cornelsen. He seems like a very good coach. Fuente's reputation as the developer of Andy Dalton and Paxton Lynch should be enough to attract the type of quarterback he wants. It's important that he has someone in place that he trusts to coach those quarterbacks, and Cornelsen has obviously done a great job with Lynch.
The other offensive coach at Memphis is RB Coach/Co-OC Darrell Dickey. Dickey will coach Memphis in their bowl game, but I don't think he's a serious candidate to work at Virginia Tech. Keep in mind that's only a guess on my part.
Here's a video interview with WR coach Holman Wiggins.
The Best Special Teams Coach in the Country?
James Shibest has a great track record for special teams. He was the Ole Miss special teams coordinator before taking the job at Memphis. He was also on Houston Nutt's Arkansas State from 2000-07, where he also coached special teams, tight ends and wide receivers. Before that, he was head coach of Butler Community College, one of the top JUCOs in the country, where he went 34-10 over four seasons. He is an Arkansas graduate.
Here are his FEI Special Teams Efficiency numbers dating back to 2008, his first year at Ole Miss...
2015: #10
2014: #3
2013: #15
2012: #15
2011: #13
2010: #55
2009: #33
2008: #22
It doesn't get much better than that. Frank Beamer has long been regarded as a special teams guru, and he is officially Virginia Tech's special teams coach. We might have just replaced him with the best special teams coach in the country.
Another reason I like Shibest is because of his experience recruiting against Power 5 conference teams. He did that a lot at Arkansas and Ole Miss. Here are some guys he recruited at those two SEC schools, and the competition he had to beat out for their services...
Chip Gregory: Arizona, Kansas State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M
Andrew Norman: Louisville, Michigan State
Jerrell Norton: Oklahoma State, TCU
Damian Williams (top 100 player): Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas
Jermaine Love: Arizona, Kansas State, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
Bret Harris: Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Missouri
Ferbia Allen: Arkansas
EJ Epperson: Arkansas, Mississippi State
Jesse Grandy: Arkansas, Mississippi State
Ja-Mes Logan: Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Oregon
Eric Smiley: Oregon
Brishen Matthews: Arkansas, Georgia Tech
Mitch Hall: Missouri
Jamal Mosley: Arkansas, Mississippi State
That's a good sign. As I said earlier, a lot of guys on Fuente's staff don't have any experience recruiting at the Power 5 level. Shibest does, and that's what we need. Obviously you can't recruit at the same level at Memphis, but he is responsible for signing/getting commitments from 24 different players (not including kickers) during his time with the Tigers. About 25% of those players had offers from Power 5 conference schools, including the star of the 2016 class: quarterback Keon Howard. Howard held offers from Louisville, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
In short, if the news about Shibest following Fuente to Blacksburg is true, it's a very good hire.
Could Ricky Hunley Be The Next Whips Coach?
Ricky Hunley is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame thanks to an outstanding career at Arizona. He has a long coaching career in the NFL, UFL and college.
1994-97: Missouri DL coach
1998-00: Missouri LB coach and Associate Head Coach
2001: Florida DL coach
2002: Washington Redskins DL coach
2003-07: Cincinnati Bengals LB coach
2009: California Redwoods defensive coordinator
2010: Sacramento Mountain Lions defensive coordinator
2011: Oakland Raiders assistant LB coach
2014-15: Memphis DL coach
That's a lot of experience at a lot of different places. Hunley was considered a good enough coach for Steve Spurrier to hire him at Florida and with the Washington Redskins. He obviously was away from recruiting for a long time, but he does have plenty of experience at the Power 5 level.
I have no idea if Hunley is a candidate to work here, but I do know he's from Petersburg, VA. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
A Concern: Limited Power 5 Experience and No Mid-Atlantic Ties
I like Justin Fuente. He and his staff are good coaches, and their record at Memphis says as much. However, most of them don't have experience recruiting against Power 5 schools, and none of them have ties to Virginia Tech's region.
That's been my concern about Fuente all along. What kind of a staff will he put together? You can't judge him or his staff from their recruiting at Memphis. When you are recruiting at Memphis, you are dealing with lower level 3-star guys and 2-star prospects. You aren't recruiting against Power 5 competition. I think once you get down into the 60s in the recruiting rankings, there isn't much of a difference between the 63rd ranked class and the 91st ranked class. So I'm not going to judge him in recruiting - positively or negatively - until we have a couple of years of data at Virginia Tech to analyze.
That being said, the lack of experience recruiting against Power 5 teams, and the fact that nobody on his Memphis staff has Mid-Atlantic ties, are both concerns. He could choose to bring the majority of his offensive staff with him, and that would make sense considering the amount of success he's had with those guys. However, that could be a risk from a recruiting standpoint.
For the sake of argument, let's say he does bring QB coach Brad Cornelsen and OL coach Vance Vice with him. The offensive staff would look like this...
QB: Brad Cornelsen
RB: ?
WR: Holman Wiggins
OL: Vance Vice
TE: James Shibest
Wiggins could potentially coach running backs as well, and that would leave an offensive spot open at either running back or wide receiver. Ideally that coach would be a big time recruiter with ties to our area. That could be the 757, or perhaps the Maryland/DC area.
Current Maryland interim head coach Mike Locksley is a name that is being floated. I've heard Locksley is interested in Virginia Tech, though I have no idea if the interest is mutual. Locksley is from inner-city DC. Here's his resume at the Power 5 level...
Maryland, 1997-02: RB Coach and Recruiting Coordinator
Florida, 2003-04: RB Coach and Recruiting Coordinator
Illinois, 2005-08: TE Coach for one year, QB Coach for three years, OC for four years
Maryland, 2012-15: QB Coach and OC (interim HC for half of 2015)
Locksley has a poor record as a head coach (2-26 at New Mexico and 1-5 at Maryland), but he signs a ton of highly rated guys on the recruiting trail. He played a big role in recruiting for Ralph Friedgen's early Maryland teams, and after his departure following the 2002 season, Maryland's talent level began to get inconsistent.
Let's take a closer look at the big time recruits he's signed, starting in 2007 at Illinois...
5-star WR Arrelious Benn, Washington, DC: Offers from everybody
4-star DB Anthony Morris, Harvey, ILL: Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin
4-star OL Craig Wilson, Hargrave: Offer list unknown
4-star DT Reggie Ellis, Washington DC: Michigan, Penn State, Maryland, others
3-star RB Mikel LeShoure, Champaign, ILL: Wisconsin, Missouri
3-star LB Supo Sanni, Homewood, ILL: Iowa, Michigan State, Oregon
3-star CB Tavon Wilson, Washington, DC: Maryland, Michigan State, Pitt
Not bad for Illinois. I didn't include guys with no Power 5 offers, or 2-star recruits. Here's what he's done at Maryland since 2012...
3-star DB Albert Reid, Washington, DC: Iowa, Stanford, Utah, WVU
5-star WR Deon Long, Council Buffs, IA: Florida, Nebraska, etc.
5-star OL Damian Prince, Forestville, MD: Offers from everybody
4-star DE Jesse Aniebonam, Olney, MD: Alabama, Auburn, VT, Clemson, FSU, etc.
4-star OT Derwin Gray, Fork Union: Offer list unknown
3-star OT Larry Mazyck, Council Bluffs, IA: Arizona State, Iowa, Kansas State
3-star ATH William Ulmer, Washington, DC: Auburn, Clemson, FSU, VT, Michigan State, etc.
4-star DE Quarvez Boulware, Washington, DC: Auburn, Florida, Iowa, Miami
3-star DT Keiron Howard, Oxon Hill, MD: Tennessee
4-star QB Dwayne Haskins, Potomac, MD: Alabama, VT, Auburn, Clemson, FSU, etc.
4-star WT Tino Ellis, Hyattsville, MD: Nebraska, UNC, VT, Wisconsin
4-star LB KeAndre Jones, Olney, MD: Auburn, Iowa, Kentucky, Penn State
3-star CB Parnell Motley, Washington, DC: Clemson, Louisville, LSU, Oklahoma, etc.
Whatever you think of Locksley, there's no doubt that he would go head-to-head with major schools and bring in players to Virginia Tech. We would do extremely well in the DC/Maryland area, and he would help improve our talent level.
However, Locksley is known as a guy with a bit of an ego. I have no idea whether or not he and guys like Bud Foster and Charley Wiles could coexist. He doesn't really seem like a Justin Fuente hire, but I guarantee we'd get major results on the recruiting trail.
Locksley has been a QB coach and an offensive coordinator most recently. If the Hokies did decide to hire him, I'd prefer that they hire him as a running backs coach. But again, I've heard he's interested in VT...I haven't heard anything about whether or not VT is interested in him. We'll see.
One other note: current Memphis RB coach Darrell Dickey coached under Locksley at New Mexico, so Fuente will be able to ask him directly about Locksley.
We'll have more info on Fuente's search as information becomes available.