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Guys, just wanted to shed some more light on this, not that it's out and official with
Justin Fuente for VT.
It's been tough to keep quiet on this for as long as I have, but that's what you have to do sometimes. But for all of you who have followed along with our INsiders, Fuente should come as zero surprise.
For the past two weeks, there have been no other candidates besides Fuente. VT actually agreed to terms with him about a week and a half ago. This thing was so far along that the Hokies actually had his new office set up in the Merryman Center early last week.
The hold up, though, was defensive coordinator
Bud Foster. Fuente I'm told had to think on whether he wanted Foster to stay on board. That was one of the big selling points for AD
Whit Babcock and I'm told Babcock is the one who swayed Fuente to keep Foster. As I've posted before, I can see good and bad with this. There's no question that Foster is one of the best defensive coordinators in the country. He knows what he's doing. But Foster is also a legend himself and as a young coach trying to establish yourself, that's sometimes tough to take on. But Fuente and Foster also talked it over and agreed they'd be a good fit together.
To show that this was anything but a done deal from the start, though, that's why Foster had put his name in for consideration at Illinois. Obviously, that's done. Foster wanted to remain at VT all along. Once he talked with Fuente, that seemed to alleviate both parties.
As far as the rest of the staff, I've had conflicting sources say that assistant coach
Charley Wiles will stay on board. A very good source within the VT administration has told me that's not a done deal, though another very good source told me that Foster told Wiles long ago that he would take him wherever he went. And the other staffer that looks like a definite is
Brad Cornelsen, who has been Memphis' co-offensive coordinator. Other than that, it appears nothing is set. But as I've mentioned before, other strong possibilities to follow Fuente are wide receivers coach
Holmon Wiggins and special teams coordinator/TEs coach
James Shibest. . One reason is that Wiggins recruits Georgia and has done very well there the past few years. Fuente wants to surround himself with a good mix of young and veteran coaches.
VT actually flew to Memphis to meet with Fuente last night. He's en route to Blacksburg right now and will be here at least for the next few days. At first, it looked like Fuente would coach Memphis in the bowl game, but now, our Memphis site, TigerSportsReports.com, has said he likely won't. So Fuente will be in Blacksburg the next few days and then head back to begin moving his things. He'll eventually move into Beamer's old office, whenever Beamer is ready to move out. I'm told there's basically no hurry right now.
