I know that Ive not talked about Tech this week and a lot of it was that I was filled with Venom over the loss and it was also that Ive been busy so Im going to get this out right now, once and for all for everybody. these last weeks have been trying as a tech fan. As Hokies we held on to the hope that perhaps Tech was finally turning the corner in getting back to being an elite program. But I blame myself for jumping to quickly. As weve seen Tech is far from perfect and very far away from where they want to be as a team. The defense is as always par or better, but the task of building the offense is a job that will be long and tenduous. I dont blame the current coaches, I dont blame the system, not even Logan Thomas and the players as much. The Shoulder of the blame rest upon two individuals...Frank Beamer and Jim Weaver. As good as a coach Franks been in the past, he will forever be haunted by his greatest fault which was a one of his greatest character values...His Loyalty. Unfortuately Frank for all his accomplishments has failed to see what College Football and College Sports is...its a business. College sports makes millions of dollars a year, and the bust programs are the ones who naturally win. Fans come to see teams win. They hope their team etches their names into the history books of football, and compete and beat the best. Frank Beamer has failed to see that. Whether it was loyalty to friends or players or just resting on his laurels, Beamer lost his competitive edge. He let personal feelings get in the way of business. After 1999-2000 VT was the hottest football program in the country and could very well had been back, but year after year Beamer failed to fix his ailling offense and fire coaches that were obviously not going to cut it as college coaches. Bryan Steinspring was not a good coordinator and should have stayed a position coach. Curt Newsome was by far the worst offensive line coach in Division 1 and should have been gone long ago, and Mike O Cain was terrible at developing Quarterbacks. Dont believe me about O Cain? Look at all the talk about Logan Thomas mecanincs this season. Leufler has had him for one year and has already his throwing motion, OCain had him for three years and you saw the result. Its obvious that OCain was poor at developing QBs for the next level. Do you know why tech uses Option QBs? Because they cant protect pocket passers. Every Pocket Passer Techs ever had has always been sacked numerous times and injured several times. The run game always went to the inside, hardly sweeps or counters. Bottom Line, one of the most essential positions, Tackle, was always subpar, complements of Curt Newsome, yet year after year, Beamer let him stay on staff. Whats the use of trying if you know that no matter what you do, Beamer will have your back and protect you. Theres no motivation to better the system. Before the season started I thought I would blame the new Coaches if the offense goes south, but after watching Tech, I realized something. The talent on offense is not there. This falls on recruiting. Frank Beamer for all his abilities to find more-with-less players failed to realize you have to have stars as well. He let Jim Cavenaugh (who was well past his prime) stay longer and submarine techs recruiting efforts. Cavenaughs biggest mistake was not having Bryan Stienspring recruiting the east coast where all the talent is in state and had him recruiting the west coast instead. Weve seen now that more and more tidewater talent leaves state every year with no indication that it will stop. Once again on Beamers watch. The offense is a mess, with little to no talent to run the system, and little to no experience, I find it difficult for a quick fix. This will take time. I cant believe Im saying it but after what Ive seen, Thats what it will take. Tech is simply not ready for the big time yet. But its not just football thats a problem. Tech Basketball will begin its respective seasons next weekend, and with both predicted to finish last, I have to get this out. When Seth Greenberg was fired as Tech Basketball coach, I was dissapointed. I liked him. Still, I understood why he was fired, and expected that Tech would find someone who would take the Hokies to the next level. The Basketball program was on the brink of getting into the national stage and pushing forward. All the right things were there, the right confrence, good recruiting base, newly inspired fan base, so I expected an NCAA expirinced coach to come in and take over and take Tech to the next step. But Jim Weaver fooled us all. Instead of hiring a qualified head coach from a midmajor at the least and a coach from another BCS conference at most, he went with James Johnson. An assistant who had NEVER been a head coach, and was the assistant who got Greenberg fired. From what I read, Johnson left Tech saying it was tough to work for Greenberg, then when the Job at Tech opened up, he apparently wanted to come back and take the job of the man he would end up getting fired. Johnson was at his new Job, Clemson, yes a rival school within the conference no more than two weeks and it took him next to nothing to leave and come back to Tech. Talk about Loyalty. It didnt take long to see how bad a coach Johnson was. Everything that was BAD about Greenberg, Johnson was no better or worse at. 1. NCAA Tournement Appearence: Greenberg:1 Johnson:0 2. Keeping players from Transfering or leaving. James Johnson has lost five players since his arrival within a one year span. 3.Land top recruits. according to Jim Weaver, Johnson was this great players coach who apparently everyone loved and wanted to play for...Not really in reality. In two recruiting classes he as landed only one top 150 player and lost him in the off season to UMass because of acedemics. 4. Losing close games. Not only did Johnson lose close games but lost games in every way you could lose them. They were the worst at the two minute late game situation. It was just sorry, and the worst of all, they couldnt protect a lead. their defense was some the worst id seen. They were not prepared to defend the basket, period, the only way Tech won was by winning shootouts, which was hard because the only one that could compete in one was Eric Green. 5.Win over fans. Attendance is down last year and this year. Tech was still Trying to give away student season tickets on their website as of today. Why in the word would Weaver hire a guy like this? Well, the sad thing is that Weaver has been systematically doing this to all of Techs programs; in fact, before Johnson the last four head coaches in the tech Athletic Department were not head coaches elsewhere, they were assistants at Tech. In other words folks, Weaver is a cheap and lazy. This season will be a full display of Weavers incompetency at work. Mens is picked dead last in pretty much every preseason poll, and the womens is no better under third year head coach Dennis Wolfe (another former assistant hired as head coach) I fear what would happen if Beamer retired and Weaver had to hire a head coach. Watch him hire Mike OCain or Curt Newsome. Weaver has really set himself up to be fired, especially when he said this last offseason after Techs horrible finish,Both Mens and Womens Basketball teams are in good hands. now if he had said something like, well keep trying or well get better overtime I would have not had much to say. But that fact he under fire, still was resistant to admit he had made a mistake is just pure hogwash. He so clearly wants to impose to everyone that hes in charge and we just have to accept it. To buy his tickets and shut up. Its a slap in the face to all tech fans out there. Besides myself, there are those out there who have put so much money and resources into this program, even when we didnt have the money to do so, and were paid back with this mularky. We as fans deserve better. Virginia Tech is one of the best athletic programs in the country and has some of the best fans out there, and they have been paid back with a losing, mediocre Athletic showing in nearly all sports, especially the main three (Football, and Mens and Womens Basketball). I think Weavers time is growing short. When the new President of Virginia Tech comes in, whenever that is, he must do what must be done. Fire Jim Weaver. This cannot continue. The Bar at Tech must be raised higher, fans as a whole deserve to see Tech on a yearly basis compete for National Championships, not be labeled Chokies The Culture has to change and with it devotion to excellence. We as fans deserve it, we deserve to be excited for fall sports and believe we have a chance and not be pessimisitic and expecting Tech to choke in the end. It has become part of our Culture, its time for that to change. Hopefully soon.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 20:37:31 +0000
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