College Football World Reacts To Justin Fuente News
Virginia Tech began its Tuesday morning with a major announcement, revealing that Justin Fuente is out as the Hokies’ football coach.
Over the course of his career with the Hokies, Fuente owned a 43-31 record. His best season came in 2016 when he led the program to 10 wins.
Whit Babcock, the athletic director for Virginia Tech, released a statement on the school’s decision to part ways with Fuente.
“We sincerely appreciate the contributions that Coach Fuente made to our football program and the positive impact he made on our student-athletes during his time at Virginia Tech,” Babcock said in a statement. “While it is never easy to make a change, I believe in order for our football program to attain the type of sustained success that is expected at Virginia Tech, the time was right for new leadership of our football program.”
Though there were plenty of people who saw this move coming, there are some analysts who were surprised Virginia Tech pulled the trigger before mid-December.
“Virginia Tech fires Justin Fuente,” Yahoo Sports insider Pete Thamel tweeted. “They did not wait until Dec 15, which means they will pay him $10 million in buyout. It was $7.5 million after that date.”
Virginia Tech fires Justin Fuente. They did not wait until Dec 15, which means they will pay him $10 million in buyout. It was $7.5 million after that date. https://t.co/OYqGZ5U3Hc
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 16, 2021
As for Fuente’s future, it’s unclear what’s next for him at this time. After all, not many fans thought he’d fail at Virginia Tech.
“Really thought Justin Fuente was going to coach a long time at Virginia Tech,” Geoff Calkins of The Daily Memphian said.”Memphians will always appreciate the guy who transformed what was considered one of the worst programs in America.”
Really thought Justin Fuente was going to coach a long time at Virginia Tech. Memphians will always appreciate the guy who transformed what was considered one of the worst programs in America.
— Geoff Calkins (@geoff_calkins) November 16, 2021
Unfortunately for Virginia Tech, the Fuente era didn’t go nearly as well as fans hoped it would. As a result, it could take time to rebuild the program.
“The VT Football Program is in much worse shape than it was when Justin Fuente got the HC Job,” one fan said. “Hokie fans need to understand that it will take a new HC time to rebuild this program and fix what Fuente destroyed.”
The VT Football Program is in much worse shape than it was when Justin Fuente got the HC Job. Hokie fans need to understand that it will take a new HC time to rebuild this program and fix what Fuente destroyed.
— NCAAF Nation (@NCAAFNation247) November 16, 2021
It’s imperative the Hokies find the right coach who can bring the program back to its glory days.
For now, defensive line coach J.C. Price will serve as Virginia Tech’s interim head coach for the rest of the 2021 season.
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