![]() Fuente won 10 games and took Virginia Tech to an ACC championship game in his first year. On the outside, it appeared the transition was going smoothly at first. "What I do realize now is it's a lot harder to follow a legend than I anticipated, and that has nothing to do with Coach Beamer," Babcock said. We welcome that challenge." What became challenging, according to sources familiar with the situation, was how hard it would be to change the overall mindset when things had been done one way for 29 years. We have a lot of work to do to get back to the level that Virginia Tech fans expect. In an interview with ESPN in 2016, Fuente said, "Replacing a guy like that, you just try and add to the things he's already accomplished. Beamer has never met a stranger Fuente is far more reserved.įuente, who declined to comment for this story, has previously said he knew the challenges at Virginia Tech. Beamer not only won at a high level, he was so present and down to earth that the fan base considered him part of their family. He even agreed to keep longtime Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster on staff as a way to help ease the transition.įuente understood it would be difficult as the immediate successor to Beamer, who went 238-121-2 during his 29 years as head coach. WHEN FUENTE WAS hired to take over the program before the 2016 season, he appeared to be a perfect fit - a 39-year-old, up-and-coming coach who transformed Memphis from a losing program into a 10-game winner. What emerged was a portrait of a department in disarray, from the top of the administration down, as the football program grappled with its storied past and a future that required far more investment and forward-thinking than ever before. ESPN spoke to more than 30 former and current coaches, players, administrators and staff at Virginia Tech to see how things unraveled in the post-Beamer era. Virginia Tech has spent more than $100 million to improve its facilities and resources, but is that enough for the Hokies to compete with the ACC's top teams or the charged-up Big Ten and SEC?Īnswering that question requires a deeper examination of how Virginia Tech fell so far in the first place. Now it is up to Pry, a former assistant under Beamer in the 1990s, to return the program to relevance. ![]() His successor, Justin Fuente, won 10 games in his first year, then went 33-27 over the next five amid what sources described as a "dysfunctional" relationship with the administration. Though Pry remains optimistic about the future - "I'm the right guy for this place, and this place is right for me" - one major question persists:Ĭan Virginia Tech still compete at the highest level of college football?īeamer took Virginia Tech to unprecedented heights - six BCS games, including one national championship game appearance, and a string of eight consecutive 10-win seasons from 2004 to 2011. Then Pry went 3-8, giving Virginia Tech its worst season in 30 years. When Pry was introduced as head coach, athletic director Whit Babcock proclaimed, "It's nice to see this place reunited." Perhaps most importantly, he was the candidate with the most extensive ties to Blacksburg and legendary coach Frank Beamer. Though Pry had zero head-coaching experience, he had spent the previous eight years at Penn State, coaching and recruiting in the Big Ten. Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry inherited a program in 2022 that had lost its way, more than a decade removed from its last conference championship. Why Virginia Tech unraveled after Frank Beamer's tenure - can the Hokies recover? You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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