Each night during the Hokies' coaching search, I'll bring you a nightly notebook about the latest rumblings. Welcome to the first edition thereof.
Although the Virginia Tech head coaching job has been open for about 36 hours, there have been some back-channel communications extending a little farther back. As noted regularly since the Syracuse loss, the expectation has been for a coaching change at the conclusion of 2020, while in the past week-ish the timeline accelerated with Justin Fuente trying to leave a little more gracefully and give the Hokies a better chance to nail the hire of his replacement. (Incomplete coach though he turned out to be, he was always, always a good dude).
During the pre-firing phases of back-channel communication, University of Louisiana's Billy Napier seemed to be nudging ahead as AD Whit Babcock's top choice. That may very well still be the case... but the competition to actually land Napier may ultimately be too stiff. With USC and LSU jobs also open, the reality of the situation - despite Babcock's bluster in his press conference yesterday - is that Virginia Tech is not going to outspend those programs to land a head coach. If they end up with the No. 1 guy on the "hot mid-major coach with Power-5 interest," it'll be because of reasons other than finances. That's a possibility. It's not one the Hokies moved early on Fuente in order to wait around on.
Where the back-channel communications have ramped up in the past 24 hours are with a coach that Hokie fans may be familiar with - after all, Virginia Tech has played Dave Clawson's Wake Forest teams three times (the infamous 6-3 game in 2014, and a split series over the past two years before the Deacons disappeared into the Atlantic Division no-crossover hole again this season - thankfully, given the comparative success of the teams in 2021). There's something to be said for the success he's built in Winston-Salem after a rough start succeeding the weak latter years of the Jim Grobe era. (See his full coaching profile on the hotboard, with updates to come). There's something to be said for his near-decade of direct experience as a head coach in the ACC, with his previous coaching stops seemingly designed to build a résumé for a program in VT's location - both physically and in the grand scheme of college football - at this point. And yes, there's something to be said for a guy finding success at a Power-5 program that is very much in the "VT can outbid them" range to lure a coaching talent away.
That's not to say it's basically in the books: Whit Babcock's informal coaching-search committee couldn't really convene in any serious way until after Fuente was officially gone, and plenty of input from that group, and around the Hokie football diaspora will be considered. Even if Clawson does emerge as the top choice for Babcock, there's the pesky idea that having to hire a guy away from a Power-5 team, much less a conference rival, is never a done deal until it's, well, a done deal. If the Deacons hold on and win the ACC, there's no question the athletic department there will be pressured (or given the resources) to do what it takes to hold onto him. And the vetting of other candidates could see them pass him by on Babcock's list anyway. But at this stage, the mutual interest between Babcock and Clawson is there, even if it's been primarily through intermediaries at this point.
How would that hire make Hokie Nation feel? Probably unimpressed, though not disappointed. How should it make Hokie Nation feel? Well, that's basically right. There may be early lumps, but the long-term trend for a program under Clawson, with the resources that VT is going to be willing to put into supporting him, should be pretty good.
His situation, right now, is the one we'll be monitoring the closest for now... but "for now" could end as soon as "by the time we wake up in the morning."
Although the Virginia Tech head coaching job has been open for about 36 hours, there have been some back-channel communications extending a little farther back. As noted regularly since the Syracuse loss, the expectation has been for a coaching change at the conclusion of 2020, while in the past week-ish the timeline accelerated with Justin Fuente trying to leave a little more gracefully and give the Hokies a better chance to nail the hire of his replacement. (Incomplete coach though he turned out to be, he was always, always a good dude).
During the pre-firing phases of back-channel communication, University of Louisiana's Billy Napier seemed to be nudging ahead as AD Whit Babcock's top choice. That may very well still be the case... but the competition to actually land Napier may ultimately be too stiff. With USC and LSU jobs also open, the reality of the situation - despite Babcock's bluster in his press conference yesterday - is that Virginia Tech is not going to outspend those programs to land a head coach. If they end up with the No. 1 guy on the "hot mid-major coach with Power-5 interest," it'll be because of reasons other than finances. That's a possibility. It's not one the Hokies moved early on Fuente in order to wait around on.
Where the back-channel communications have ramped up in the past 24 hours are with a coach that Hokie fans may be familiar with - after all, Virginia Tech has played Dave Clawson's Wake Forest teams three times (the infamous 6-3 game in 2014, and a split series over the past two years before the Deacons disappeared into the Atlantic Division no-crossover hole again this season - thankfully, given the comparative success of the teams in 2021). There's something to be said for the success he's built in Winston-Salem after a rough start succeeding the weak latter years of the Jim Grobe era. (See his full coaching profile on the hotboard, with updates to come). There's something to be said for his near-decade of direct experience as a head coach in the ACC, with his previous coaching stops seemingly designed to build a résumé for a program in VT's location - both physically and in the grand scheme of college football - at this point. And yes, there's something to be said for a guy finding success at a Power-5 program that is very much in the "VT can outbid them" range to lure a coaching talent away.
That's not to say it's basically in the books: Whit Babcock's informal coaching-search committee couldn't really convene in any serious way until after Fuente was officially gone, and plenty of input from that group, and around the Hokie football diaspora will be considered. Even if Clawson does emerge as the top choice for Babcock, there's the pesky idea that having to hire a guy away from a Power-5 team, much less a conference rival, is never a done deal until it's, well, a done deal. If the Deacons hold on and win the ACC, there's no question the athletic department there will be pressured (or given the resources) to do what it takes to hold onto him. And the vetting of other candidates could see them pass him by on Babcock's list anyway. But at this stage, the mutual interest between Babcock and Clawson is there, even if it's been primarily through intermediaries at this point.
How would that hire make Hokie Nation feel? Probably unimpressed, though not disappointed. How should it make Hokie Nation feel? Well, that's basically right. There may be early lumps, but the long-term trend for a program under Clawson, with the resources that VT is going to be willing to put into supporting him, should be pretty good.
His situation, right now, is the one we'll be monitoring the closest for now... but "for now" could end as soon as "by the time we wake up in the morning."
