Virginia Tech fans showed up this season. (Ivan Morozov)
1) Where does our fan base fall in the college hierarchy? Giving, ticket sales, participation, NIL, travel, etc.? Is our fan base going to be a problem moving forward as we strive to compete at a higher-level moving forward (football especially)? Would we have fit in the SEC or would our fan base have always held us back? – Tech76G
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I would have hired Hugh Freeze in a heartbeat. Do you think we would have won only 3 games with a putrid offense with Freeze as coach? He’s good enough for Liberty but not for us? He doesn’t deserve a second chance? Do we want to win or not? Why do some think we are morally superior to everyone else?
VTNuke
He wouldn't of stayed here...he went to Liberty to get some distance between his issues and another shot at a big time job.
He wouldn't of stayed here had he come here last year. He wanted to be back in the SEC.
ChazB
Very nice article.
Offense starts upfront & looking forward to this unit being the most improved coming out of the spring game. This year too much pressure on the QB when passing. and literally zero holes in running game.
Improve the line = much improved offense
Let's Go... Hokies!
4VaTech
Ridiculously good article!
VicDrit
Maybe your best article all season. Well done.
132711Hokie
SEC is nuts? I lived in Birmingham from 1976 to 1989. Went to Tuscaloosa one Saturday to watch Mississippi State play Alabama. Bama won 24-7. When the game ended, the Bama fans were complaining that something was wrong with this Alabama team.
Alabama won the national championship that year.
By the way, Alabama played Virginia Tech (Bill Dooley team) that year in Tuscaloosa the week before the Mississippi State game. Bama won 31-7.
HokienGeorjaw
There was the “Don’t fire Al Groh website
Born a Hokie
There was also a "dontfiremikelondon" site.
mdriver
Thanks for another great article, Will. You hit the nail on the head when you said, "If the football program was as good as the fanbase we'd rarely lose." It was hard to believe the incredible attendance figures we had for the dreadful displays of our football team this year, so my hats off to the HOKIE fans. Most schools' fanbases would have completely folded the tents to avoid viewing such putrid football. And something major must occur regarding our pathetic offense. Hopefully Pry comes up with an answer, but if he doesn't, Whit better be looking for other revenue streams than football game attendance and maybe even a new head coach.
HokieRob
I realize the OL was a disaster for most of the season. But the backfield talent was C-level at best, able to make an occasional play but not dependable. Thomas might be slightly more talented, but we won't be a better offense without more talented QB and RBs.
Hokie67
Great commentary Chris, as always.
1) There a several things that coaches can't teach = speed; being 7' tall; weighing 320 lbs; natural athletic instincts (of the sport), etc. Think about making chicken salad.
2) Take into consideration = the running back talent and the QB talent. While the OL & WR can make the players at these positions look great - think of the reverse.
3) The fan base fits Virginia Tech. The University is world class. Our students are world class; Our athletic program produces quality across the board - with student-athletes that we can be proud of to represent us.
4) Our alumni and fans support our University. Yeah - there was a pause as to how we wanted to spend our $$$'s towards football. Lots of fans wanted an SEC-type football results - without all the sewerage. Think the knuckleheads who wanted Freeze or Kiffin as HC as starters.
5) The dust is still settling on college football's future structure and compliance issues. I don't think VT and its supporters will ever want to pay the price to be in the Heavy Cream category of college football - but we certainly should be able to put a team on the field that's as representative as our teams in other sports.
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SCHokie1103
If something is not done to address the OC and special teams in the offseason. I really don’t see things improving in 2023. When your plus 120 in the nation on offense you need to do something different. The special teams are some of the worst I have seen in my 50 plus years of watching VT football. I like Pry but he has to do what is best for the program. Not his friends. It’s a business and when your making millions you got to do what’s best for the business.
George Baylor
Mr. SC1103, I agree with you on special teams, I sure wish that Pry would have kept Shibert from the Fuente staff. I would expect with all of Shibert's coaching experience he could also coach the RBs as Pry's man does. As for OC, biggest problem is the O-staff tried to put square pegs in round holes, just like the UVa staff did with Armstrong and his very good WRs. Pry must address these issues starting now. GO HOKIES!!!!!!
jimmyrow
Adjustments are everything if you are a coach, if you can’t make them then you can’t coach and you’re an Assistant. Pretty simple
Long-Lost Hokie
What we see as fans is execution and tactics. Neither was consistently good enough in nine of our eleven games this season. They had their best execution and tactics in game 11. Tactics improved after the Miami game. Execution on D did as well. If anything, it got a little worse on offense until Liberty. There it was a mixed bag but I think the tactics dictated a run-heavy, conservative approach.
proudhokie2001
If the Offense was more creative at getting Smith the ball maybe it would have given him more yards, maybe an extra win even. But, is 5 wins good enough? 6? None of our coaches signed contracts to not compete in the conference race. Smoke and mirrors would not have produced a great season. Not enough playmakers……yet.
Ranger Sam
Feel O issues ran deeper than anyone ever guessed. Only Wright stepped up to help Smith, but that was later in the season. Blue never regained his pass catching prominence and none of the others wanted “the rock”. Gallo added some relief from TE, but with none of the TBs stayed healthy all season, Smith too was often injured and OL transitional issues-injuries (Chaplin) made for miserable watching. Question moving forward is there any talent wanting to play WR, OL or RB elevating this putrid O into a competitive one?
VAHokie89
To me the issue with offensive coaches was not "they have to gel." You might not get but can still have an approach that doesn't mean running between the tackles for much of the season, and most of the first 3/4 of the season. The other problem with this offense is that coaches, QB, play, or dynamics dictate that someone has a good game...and then we never see them much again. Too many people were underutilized.
Christian Moss
Lofton
Wright
Blue
yes, even Smith was under-used for someone who is the no. 1 target
Whatever talent we think we had on offense. we didn't use our weapons and we were just plain vanilla and bad. That is more than gelling and growing. Hell, the danger to me was the bowen would be too NFL-like and try to do too much. Too me, he did very little
fosterD1
I knew the offense was going to struggle when Pry was quoted towards the end of fall camp as saying he knew they didn’t have enough play makers. Bad omen.
jfhokie
Nice article. Insight and opinion like this why I pay my money
Shbolf
Losing while improving is one thing BUT my eye test didn’t see that….
HokiesE96
Couple comments
Watching games both in person and on TV, it seemed that we played our WRs very wide as opposed to working from closer to the line. Seemed to make it harder to get anything in the middle or as a slant. Maybe the use of TEs was the reason but seemed to be missing.
Given our offensive coaching woes, how much do we trust them to find talent in the portal that so many think is the answer or entice HS talent that cannot be developed? Not ready to get rid of anyone today but there needs to be some adaptation early next year or something will have to happen IMO.
pine52x
Agree completely with your comment on playing the WRs very wide. Seems like we had to throw the ball 25 yards to the sideline just to pick up 2 or 3 yards. Like your said, nothing over the middle.
The slant is so hard to stop, yet we seldom tried it.
hokiepro
This is what Tennessee does to spread the field & open up run lanes & slants too. It’s an RPO set up but you must have excellent & quick WRs. Now the wide sets were actually a new thing later in the year NOT early on…it was an adjustment in the last 1/4 of the year that helped our RUN game by creating more space, but it did NOT help our pass game because our WRs weren’t good enough (see UT)
`lag
I've never doubted the fanbase, as mentioned after the ODU loss and playing Wofford, the stands were full and raucous and even after a not happy season, there they were again in the Liberty stands, probably expecting a loss but deserving of the win for their loyalty.
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