The time has come - and maybe a little earlier than we expected. First, a quick run through the timeline...
At the beginning of the season, a firing was not even on the mind of Athletic Director Whit Babcock. Of course, plenty of the job security for Fuente was rooted in a couple factors: first, that last year was essentially a (deserved mulligan), thanks to circumstances that nobody had ever dealt with on the gridiron, and Virginia Tech (through circumstances outside the control of anyone at the university, much less the head football coach) was as hard-hit as anyone. When you look around the country at some programs that had terrible years and are now top-25 mainstays (or vice versa), it's far to say that last year's season is one that shouldn't have too much impact on its own for the impression of the coach. The second and more important factor was that there was confidence that things would be back to normal this season, and that the results on the field would justify keeping Fuente around.
Through the West Virginia and Notre Dame losses (though certainly the one to the Mountaineers looks really, really bad now), and even looking limp against Pittsburgh, that mindset didn't change. The losses were disappointing, sure. But they were justifiable given the opposition, and until the Pittsburgh game, extremely competitive. The process
looked better through the first half of the year, even if it wasn't necessarily being rewarded. Sources in athletic administration, even when the Hokies were 3-3, were confident that nothing had really changed in terms of the future.
After Syracuse, it was a different story. Not only was the quiet confidence in Fuente gone, but those in the AD who are typically very willing to talk... had suddenly gone silent. That doesn't
necessarily mean anything, but you can see the writing on the wall, at times. In this one, that writing was very, very obvious. That's not to say there was a guarantee that he would be gone (and had the Hokies looked competent against BC, much less won that game, he may still have been able to do just enough to hang on), but that a decision previous thought borderline unimaginable was realistic-to-likely.
When Senior Associate AD Tom Gabbard retired the following week, the University
distributed a press release with quotes from a number of current and former Hokie coaches, and it's pretty strange, in such a situation, for the current head football coach to not be included in such a release! When Fuente was nowhere to be found (but even Buzz Williams - who left Virginia Tech nearly three years ago! - was), you could sense that it was over for Fuente.
That said, the way this staff has been continuing to interact with recruits, it did seem like, at the very least, the project would be seen out through the end of the year. Teenagers are smart, and they can sense when things aren't quite right, but they weren't given indication that this staff felt it would no longer be around. It
is worth noting that the staff's approach to gameday visits changed significantly during the season. Coaches are always busy on gamedays, and prospects want to be respectful of that, having conversations with the staff but not monopolizing their time - there's a game to concentrate on, after all. The final two home games, however, saw the staff go
hard in that direction, with conversations more limited than ever, and the interaction that they did have with recruits coalescing around different topics. More than ever, the coaches were selling Blacksburg, the University, and VT football history, rather than a "come play for me, your future position coach!" or "here's how we see you in the scheme!" type of sales pitch.
While it did - again - seem like the staff would hold on until the clock hit double zeroes on the regular season, you can see why the change was made now. What if the Hokies (as I possibly expect, actually) win the final two games to end the year on a three-game win streak? And finish second in the ACC Coastal? The optics of firing Fuente at
that stage would not be great, and when it's a decision you've already made, it's better not to risk it. Any success to close the year can now be a sales pitch that the players are rallying around the program, rather than the coach, and rejuvenate a fanbase - and national sports media - that made up its mind on Fuente long before Babcock did. It's also a way for VT to move up the pecking order in seeking a new head coach, with timing making up for comparable funds to most of the programs the Orange and Maroon will be battling.
Who will be the candidates? I'll have a coaching hotboard up within the next couple hours here, but external candidates will likely be a similar vein to when Fuente was initially hired (offensive minds who can fix perceived problems on that side of the ball), whereas potential internal candidates will, for obvious reasons, be based more on the defensive side of the staff. It would
not surprise me if there was hope for a similar structure to the
last coaching change, where much of the defensive staff is retained while the new head coach is an offensive guy who brings his own assistants. While it didn't go great before, that the current defensive staff is younger, more energetic, and frankly not prone to mailing in the job on the recruiting trail, could make for a smoother transition rather than a hard dropoff in talent after a couple years.
Either way, it's going to be an interesting ride. If you have Hokie friends who are interested in coming along for it, encourage them to join the site today!
