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Guys, not sure if I'll have something every day, but for all the days I do get updates, I'll post an INsider like this.
First off, this has been a decision coach Frank Beamer has been pondering for about a month now. As I'd posted last week, Beamer said no when asked if he was ready to retire after the Duke game. But it sounds like he already made his mind up and told Whit Babcock and Desiree Reed-Francois late last week that he would be retiring. I mentioned on Saturday how I asked Beamer at the very end of his post game press conference whether he would be getting more sleep. He responded, "I think I'm gonna sleep better, yeah. I didn't sleep much last week, though." During that last part, he looked directly at Babcock, who was sitting next to me in the back of the room. When I looked at Babcock, he looked right at Reed-Francois.
First off, it's not a coincidence that one of the first media outlets to report on the news yesterday was Fox Sports Arizona. Rich Rodriguez, currently the coach at Arizona, is very much a top candidate. And the news FSA got was from Rodriguez's camp. Not saying Rodriguez is for sure the guy, but he's in the top five candidate list without question.
I touched base late last night with Matt Moreno from GoAZCats.com, our Arizona site. He told me that though it's been relatively quiet with Rodriguez, that his interest in the Hokies job has "grown legs." Moreno said that things have shifted a bit in the last two weeks with Rodriguez and that Moreno got the sense in talking to Rodriguez last Wednesday that Rodriguez "didn't want to be here." Moreno was in Seattle Saturday for the Wildcats' loss at Washington and said that after the game, he got an even better sense that Rodriguez would be leaving. I'll be following up more with Matt today.
A very, very good source for me (and I don't mind sharing this one) is Gabe DeArmond at PowerMizzou.com. Gabe is very well connected and has been in on a lot of coaching moves around the country. He's also who has been in contact, through sources, about Memphis coach Justin Fuente. As I said last week, I can confirm that VT has been in contact with representatives of Fuente. Gabe got a text last night from a very good source of: "VA Tech/Fuente...strong" Fuente could be the top target here, but he's another who is certainly in the Hokies' top five of candidates.
PLENTY more coming. I'll be at the 12:30 pm presser and will post any updates over the next few weeks or month, whatever until the next head coach is hired for VT.