From the sidelines
Marty Gordon
After Saturday’s loss to Vanderbilt, lots of Virginia Tech football fans are yelling for the firing of head coach Brent Pry. Yes, things are not good in Blacksburg, but let’s look at the situation a little closer.
In the past 10 years, Tech has paid for several coaches to sit at home. Seth Greenberg is shining on television after his dismissal from the basketball team. Oh, can we also mention another basketball coach in Jim Johnson, who ironically is back on the Tech football staff.
There is also the last football coach before Pry, Justin Fuentes. His last paycheck should come to an end this year.
If a bigtime contributor would sign a check to the university just to fire Pry, then maybe it could happen. Patience is running thin. Yet, fans probably need to take a deep breath and suck it up.
I have always said it – the Virginia Tech fanbase is spoiled.
Frank Beamer made it seem so easy, but it wasn’t, and definitely not in the current college football environment.
Beamer could not compete in the early years of these changes even when he had plenty of talent. His last few years were not that great. Fuente got lucky with his first year when Beamer left him with a roster that he could win with.
On top of this, fans seem to forget it took at least five years for Beamer to bring the winning ways to Blacksburg.
We are talking about $7 million to clean house again. The money is just not there.
Matter of fact, more money needs to be put into the football program. But again, it simply is not there. Athletic Director Whit Babcock told the Board of Visitors just two weeks ago the football program needed as much as $20 million to compete on the national level.
Folks, things have changed, especially when it comes to college football. The problem is that Virginia Tech has not kept up. The plain truth- the ACC as a conference has not kept up.
When the media mentions the top football programs in the country, it usually does not include the Atlantic Coast Conference. Miami and Clemson have tried to be the exceptions. They also have not kept up.
Pry has not only been fighting the changing college football environment; he is also fighting the new NIL world where college players are making more money than they will in their first year of the National Football League.
Vanderbilt’s win points out the difference in the spending side of things and the difference in the Southeastern Conference and the ACC.
Virginia Tech is not going to be able to compete. Its fanbase has to hope, but it’s not going to happen, especially under the current budget.
Will Tech ever climb over the mountain peak? Probably not. No team from the ACC can compete on the national level or for a national championship.
I remember seeing the display case near Beamer’s office that said, “future home of the national championship trophy.”
It’s gone now, and so is the Hokies’ hope.
Fans had gotten used to winning at least nine games every year for a very long time. Now, the university is going through the lean years all while battling the “new world.”
Simply put, Virginia Tech may never be able to afford that level nor to keep firing coaches every four years if they don’t produce.
Brent Pry was a good choice to replace Frank Beamer. He continues to learn every minute of the game and is playing with what hand-of-cards he has in the deck.
The fancy card Beamer left sitting in the parking lot of Lane Stadium has a flat tire. It just depends on how much Virginia Tech can afford in replacing that tire instead of having to change it every four years.
