Fuente to Virginia Tech
- Thread starter TulsaGrad07
- Start date
Just read that Herman agreed to the terms of a new contract. Also UNT is said to have hired Meachum from TCU. I think the timing of the VaTech move and the quickness of UNT to jump on Meachum sort of screwed Memphis as Meachum would have been a natural to take over there. Maybe Memphis goes after Cumbie now (although Texas is rumored to be chasing Cumbie to be OC there).
You would think Fuente would wait for a better job than that. That's almost lateral.
Yeah, I don't understand the Va Tech move for him either. I wouldn't call it lateral since it is to a P5 conference but it doesn't make sense. Especially when you consider that he is stuck with Beamer's son.
Last edited:
Not trying to be argumentative but Memphis is not a top tier G5 school in anything but basketball, and even that is questionable as of late. There is no doubt that Fuenta is a good coach but Memphis Football has only been to 8 bowl games in 103 years and has an overall winning percentage of .425. The aren't top tier anything. He is moving to a school that is in a money conference with better facilities and more opportunities. I think he could have helped out for a better job but this is not a step down by any stretch of the imagination.
Memphis offered Fuente 3 mil. per year, so I doubt it is a huge monetary step up for him. However, he not only moved up in conferences, he also moved from a traditional basketball school to a football school.
Va Tech is in the top tier of football programs in their conference. They will win year in, year out. That makes it a good move, IMO.
Va Tech is in the top tier of football programs in their conference. They will win year in, year out. That makes it a good move, IMO.
the main difference between Memphis and VT, is VT is in a P5 conference, and rides the coattails of Fla state.
Dude Virginia Tech is a very good job and they play on the easy side of the ACC. No brainer. It's been a little light the last couple years under Beamer but the program finished ranked in the top 20 in 15 of the last 20 years, top 10 in 7 of those years. It's a good job.
I hear that Michael Vick got him a dog for a house warming gift...
Fuente is a good coach and VT is a good job. However, it is usually not a good idea to be the one that follows an icon. You want to be the second one. I hope it work out well for him.
Any idea how much he got to stay? I'm guessing Tulsa will have to pony up an equivalent amount when PM's contract is up, or at least somewhere in that vicinity. 3M to keep Fuente at Memphis?? I think the contracts are outrunning the economics of this conference. We barely get crowds of 17,000k in our stadium 6 times a year. How could Tulsa ever keep up with such inflationary contracts?
If we average $40/seat, with an average attendance of 17k with 6 home games a year, that's only 4.08 Million dollars in revenue from ticket sales. I'm sure we get a bit of TV revenue and also incentives to play P5 schools as their non-conference "cupcake match", but football also has to subsidize the rest of athletics for the university, and we've yet to factor in how much we pay our athletic director and that administration. I just can't see there being around 3M in funds to negotiate contracts to keep a coach like PM or a Fuente equivalent at TU in a few years' time. This is one of the biggest pet peaves of mine, coaches use TU as a stepping stool to something better instead of wanting to build a legacy here and become a hallmark of organizational commitment.
And I'm not directing this at PM, I'm referring to past coaches like Kragthorpe / Graham, and possible coaches that pre-date my subscription to the program. Not meant to be an impeachment of Monty's dedication or commitment to our program. So far, so good.
Actually Herman was quoted that they agreed in principle but that it was not finalized. No figures were mentioned on the ESPN ticker. My guess is the annual salary is agreed upon but Herman probably wants some flexibility in the buyout depending on if certain schools come calling.
Now hearing that Meacham has backed out of the UNT deal. I wonder if he say Fuente leaving and thought they might come calling.
Helton gets the USC gig so that's one domino effect hire off the board that likely won't cause a tidal wave of change had they gone out and hired a sitting P5 HC. Miles staying at LSU is a good thing.
Georgia- going to be the next big hire. They were stupid to fire Richt though. Someone will hire him to be their HC and he/they will be successful.
Miami- seem to be looking at a lot of retreads (Schiano, Butch Davis)
Helton gets the USC gig so that's one domino effect hire off the board that likely won't cause a tidal wave of change had they gone out and hired a sitting P5 HC. Miles staying at LSU is a good thing.
Georgia- going to be the next big hire. They were stupid to fire Richt though. Someone will hire him to be their HC and he/they will be successful.
Miami- seem to be looking at a lot of retreads (Schiano, Butch Davis)
Pretty much every school save maybe 15-20 would say the same thing. Not all that many final destination jobs.
Yep. If it bothers you that coaches use TU as a stepping stone you should root for another team. It will always be a stepping stone.
I much prefer coaches leave for a better program than a lesser one or we have to fire them. It means we had some very good seasons.
It does bother me, but I won't ever root for another team. I grew up in Tulsa and went to TU for my master's so I'm vested for life. Just want what's best for the program, not some coaches' pocketbook. Ya know?
If a coach tells me that Tulsa is his "Dream Job".. I instantly question the size of his dreams, skills, and motivation.
Reports are Scott Frost just named UCF head coach. This conference is going to score more points have more yards and play less defense than the Big XII
VA Tech is actually seen as a pretty good job. The fan support and money is there. They are consistently a good program. They dominate their home state in football. And the last guy had a lot of job security...
No doubt, VA Tech is only 4 seasons removed from a 17 year run of annually contending for national championships. The program is by no means too far removed from that run of excellence to suddenly be considered with the bottom rung of P5 programs. From 1995 to 2011, Beamer won 10+ games 13 out of 17 seasons, with 7 appearances in either the Sugar or Orange Bowl. He also took VA Tech to either the Gator or Chick-Fil-A l/Peach Bowl 7 times, both of which handed out Bowl bids to programs who just missed out on BCS bowl bids, or Major Bowl bids during the pre-BCS era.
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/virginia-tech/
Frank took VT from the same middling independent status as ECU and Louisville in the late 80's to major program by the mid 90's. Before Beamer took over at VT, UVA was the flagship football program in Virginia, and by the mid 90's that demographic shifted to VT. I believe VT even owns the DC market in terms of CFB following, it certainly appeared that way when I visited not long ago. The media coverage for UVA and UM football was practically as inequitable as TU is to OU and OSU.
Like many programs that have prolonged success, then suffer a sudden downturn, not adapting to or embracing change, such as the spread offense, typically results in missing out on key recruits. I believe such factors played a role in Beamer's recent run of mediocrity,as the level of talent is not what it used to be. Also, the addition of Jimbo and Dabo promptly dethroned VT from the top of the ACC.
IMO this is a good move for Fuente, the biggest negative is filling the shoes of a legend, Mr. VT Football, however the upside is taking over a flagship program, at a University that values football as their #1 athletic priority, a program that has money and is willing to spend, and a situation that does not appear to be a pressure cooker. For those reasons, i'm practically convinced Fuente ended up with the best job opening in a market full of top programs. Also, competing in a Major conference that is realistically winnable in short order due to a lack of depth in tradition rich programs. By comparison, a job like Mizzou or S.Carolina would been much more difficult in the tradition rich "win-at-all costs" SEC. Mizzou struggles protecting it's borders in recruiting, and S.Carolina is 2nd fiddle to Clemson, basically what OSU is to OU.
Justin's success will hinge on his ability to recruit the blue-chips, he can longer rely on his eye for overlooked talent. As they say, it's not the X's and O's, it's the Jimmy & Joe's that win Championships.
I am kind of surprised his late season slide at Memphis did not hurt his stock. With so many major job openings, all AAC's HC's with any sort of success are likely to be targeted by P5 schools, (Ruhle, Herman, Taggart, Niumatalolo, even Tuberville, and Ruffin).
TX
Last edited:
Meacham to UNT is utterly laughable. He wouldn't even give TU the time of day last December, but actually accepted an offer in "principle" from UNT?
BTW, Mark Richt will be the next head coach of The U. Great hire for Miami, he will restore the south Florida recruiting bed. I was surprised to learn Richt is #4 all-time for wins over the first 15 years of head coaching. Granted he never got UGA to a national championship game, but that is still impressive.
http://espn.go.com/college-football...ami-hurricanes-name-mark-richt-new-head-coach
I'm surprised Lincoln Riley's name has not been bounced around. He would seem like a perfect fit at Memphis.
TX
Last edited:
Richt getting fired from UGA is what is wrong with college athletics. Let's avg. 9.5 wins while coach and get fired for it WHILE producing a number of NFL quality players and having a program that was relatively clean and stayed out of trouble (I say relative because the comparison is Florida). RIcht, by all accounts, is one of the good guys in coaching who understands the game and can win. Last year UGA fell apart after Gurley went out...understandable considering what you're seeing him do in the NFL coming off the injury. Nick Chubb got hurt this year and was racking up some big numbers before going down. Georgia is 9-3 this year DESPITE losing their best player. Georgia went 10-3 last year and Gurley only played in 5 games (losing a couple to suspension for selling autographs, and then the knee injury). This is why coaches should always be leery of taking on middling programs in power conferences. I don't even consider Georgia a middling program but 9-3 isn't enough when you have your BEST PLAYER get injured in consecutive seasons. Really Georgia?
Miami got a good one in Richt and I'll probably watch Miami a little bit more now. Problem Richt is going to face is guys like Ray Lewis and Michael Irvin talking about "the Miami way" which essentially talk and act like gangsters on and off the field to intimidate people. Under Richt, Miami is not going back to "the Miami way". They'll win and be better but fans in So. Florida better not expect brawls in the entrance tunnel before games because it is not going to happen.
BTW, wasn't it Richt who had his entire team run down to the end zone in a game vs. Florida after their first TD to get the team and crowd fired up?