Justin Fuentes out at VT / Brent Pry in

[qdawgg]

I agree with this-The question is how many years is a fair sample size. Firing too early or too late can be damaging and make it harder to recover.

6 years with 5 losing seasons I think is a more than fair sample size.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

We have seen strong evidence that schools who bounce from Coach to coach every three/four years are more likely to perpetuate a pattern of failure than success. I would like to see a study comparing that hiring/firing style with instances have rode with a coach and let him make the staff/scheme adjustments necessary to increase success. I have nothing to base it on, but my opinion is that if you hire a coach who has had success someplace else, and you are patient, eventually he will have a better chance of repeating success than if you bounce to the next prospective coach.

Has a coach ever recovered? What is prior success? How long is too long to be patient?

You don't want a revolving door but you don't want to stick with a loser. A lot of these new hires are doomed from the start. How many times has there been head scratching hires? It is like these NFL teams taking QBs. Why stick with a bad QB just because you took him in the 1st round?

 

[corpjet]

It's sad to say but all a coach has to do here is win 6 FREAKING games, are you kidding me!?!?!!?

Win 6 games, make a bowl and you can stay as long as you want, ugh...

We as a battered fan base don't ask for much! geesh

 

[Stevenson]

Not many students pay sticker, in fact surprisingly few.

speaking from experience sending my son to SU, many parents pay close to sticker...

 

[Newhouser]

Freese to Va Tech is interesting rumor.

 

[Willy75]

speaking from experience sending my son to SU, many parents pay close to sticker...

Per one website 79% get grant aid; average of $27,300 (2018-19). Don’t feel too bad; my experience parallels yours.

 

[SuFTW]

Yeah - he had 2 options.

1. Coach until Dec 15th and get 7.5m
2. Leave now and get 8.75m renegotiated

there was no 10 mil option because va tech had to actually fire him for that to happen. And they wouldnt have had he not renegotiated. So he would have been coaching for a month as a lameduck coach. Probably publicly.

Va tech had 100% control of the situation.

No, there were two parties involved and they met halfway in the negotiations. That’s not one side with complete control.

Per ESPN, “Fuente decided it would be best to leave immediately rather than finish out the season”. “Babcock said the buyout was negotiated down from $10 million to $8.75 million to be able to make the move now.”

 

[Stevenson]

Per one website 79% get grant aid; average of $27,300 (2018-19). Don’t feel too bad; my experience parallels yours.

They count federal student loans and work study in that number, so the average is closer to $17,000

 

[All4SU]

Has a coach ever recovered? What is prior success? How long is too long to be patient?

You don't want a revolving door but you don't want to stick with a loser. A lot of these new hires are doomed from the start. How many times has there been head scratching hires? It is like these NFL teams taking QBs. Why stick with a bad QB just because you took him in the 1st round?

I don’t know. But Coach Mac did okay largely because SU was patient.

 

[tbonezone]

hey dino ....

 

[BrooklynCuse]

I don’t know. But Coach Mac did okay largely because SU was patient.

But didn’t Coach Mac have like 4 or 5 Championships at UMass before he came here? There was precedent for patience with him. This is Dino’s longest tenure as a head coach, maybe he’s a three year turnaround wonder?

I’m not saying he should be fired, I have no idea. The last two games should give us an idea of where we’re headed

 

[qdawgg]

I don’t know. But Coach Mac did okay largely because SU was patient.

Probably the exception not the rule.

 

[All4SU]

Probably the exception not the rule.

How have the last four coaching changes at SU gone?

 

[hoopsupstate]

We need to see how these next 2 games play out.

We are still a young team and that does factor in us being 2-4 in close games this year. Dino is also a factor in that record, but by what factor?

I think this team is setup for a breakout 2023. What gives us the best chance at achieving that? Staying the course with the current staff? Making a change now so it is year 2 of the new HC? Or having it be year 1 of the new HC?

I think with 2 competitive games to end this year and a Bowl next year, the best bet is to stay the course with Dino. The question is can he pull off 2 competitive losses (or better), and a Bowl next season? Personally I am leaning towards no.

If we are going to make a coaching change IMO it is better to do it this year than next year given our 2023 roster.

We have no idea who will still be on the roster in 2023. Those days are over.

 

[kirbivore]

I think you can borrow from your 401k, without tax/penalty. And pay yourself back with interest.

Not highly recommended though, unless you're really disciplined and not leaving your job anytime soon.

So, to summarize, we should all get FBS head coaching jobs.

Problem is you could be shown the door involuntarily. Happened to me about 10 years ago. Didn't have a huge outstanding 401K loan but that next year's tax bill still sucked.

 

[kirbivore]

It's sad to say but all a coach has to do here is win 6 FREAKING games, are you kidding me!?!?!!?

Win 6 games, make a bowl and you can stay as long as you want, ugh...

We as a battered fan base don't ask for much! geesh

People on here rip on the BC and former HC the Dazzler but they were able to do that many years in a row. Of course they had 4 baked in tomato can wins but at least they had a high floor. Maybe a low ceiling but still could get bowl eligible consistently.

 

[qdawgg]

How have the last four coaching changes at SU gone?

Marrone left on his own accord. He was the guy to keep long term IMO. Grob was a bad hire for numerous reasons. Shafer was a toss up but we went cheap with that choice and cut our losses. DB seemed like a solid choice but clearly is no better than Shafer.

I don’t think previous incompetence in hiring is a reason to hold on to a current coach longer than you should. The past really has no bearing on whether DB is a good coach or not. He has almost no ACC wins proportional to his losses, 1 winning season, and a 1 win season. What are we holding on for? The guy has no history of long term success and no history of long term recruiting success. If we’re holding on to him for success at year 10, there’s no history to show he’s capable of that. We got the one good season from him which based on his previous history is really where he shines.

 

[kirbivore]

We need to see how these next 2 games play out.

We are still a young team and that does factor in us being 2-4 in close games this year. Dino is also a factor in that record, but by what factor?

I think this team is setup for a breakout 2023. What gives us the best chance at achieving that? Staying the course with the current staff? Making a change now so it is year 2 of the new HC? Or having it be year 1 of the new HC?

I think with 2 competitive games to end this year and a Bowl next year, the best bet is to stay the course with Dino. The question is can he pull off 2 competitive losses (or better), and a Bowl next season? Personally I am leaning towards no.

If we are going to make a coaching change IMO it is better to do it this year than next year given our 2023 roster.

Looking ahead to 2023 the schedule sets up nice. Colgate, Western Michigan, Army at home and the one P5 OOC game at Purdue.

 

[Cuse69]

Buying out Dino is expensive and i know the school doesnt want to eat it however in the grand scheme of things SU can stroke a check if the want to. Unless he completely craps the bed these last two games i have it that he is coming back. I hope he wins one, has his contract restructured and is given one last swing next year to see if he knows how to actually coach.

I don't know the babers contract specifics but if he has 3 years left at 3.5 million a season we'd be paying close to 7M in FBHC salary for 3 straight seasons, I'd add doing so would be a rounding error for the university.

If babers could make a bowl and survive the the contract before parting ways SU has no excuse to pay the next close 5M, I know paying top dollar doesn't mean the coach is great but if they identify someone 1-2M should be no issue.

The amount of money they would make back off that extra 1-2M would be substantial and in the sense of the entire athletic department that money is really miniscule. If they want to continue cashing the ACC checks and winning they need to start spending money like an ACC P5 team.

Do you think he would even agree to restructure, why give up any money if you are him. Worst case he gets fired and can go get a G5 HC job or a P5 OC job while having a nice 10M briefcase to sleep on.

 

[kirbivore]

How do you keep a coach that arguably lost 3 possibly 4 games because of horrible coaching and gets blown out the last three games?
Easy you decide to not eat the buyout.
Otherwise there isn't any reason for Dino to be retained.

Hey JW

 

[Briancuse]

�

Virginia Tech Hokies (Atlantic Coast Conference) (2016–2021)
2016	Virginia Tech	10–4	6–2	1st (Coastal)	W Belk	16	16
2017	Virginia Tech	9–4	5–3	2nd (Coastal)	L Camping World	25	24
2018	Virginia Tech	6–7	4–4	T–3rd (Coastal)	L Military
2019	Virginia Tech	8–5	5–3	2nd (Coastal)	L Belk
2020	Virginia Tech	5–6	5–5	T–6th
2021	Virginia Tech	5–5Justin Fuente - Wikipedia

Expectations are pretty high there

And people here lose their minds when someone says Dino needs to get to a bowl to save his job.

 

[P Vasiloff]

We have no idea who will still be on the roster in 2023. Those days are over.

Also your not exactly a young team when your entire defensive line graduates this year.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

And people here lose their minds when someone says Dino needs to get to a bowl to save his job.

it may be said doesn’t mean it’s true. Difference is VT probably has 2-3 guys writing the check for the buyout. Probably found it in their couch cushions. I doubt there is one fan or booster at Syracuse willing to do that. if there was one and they wanted Dino gone after 5 of 6 losing seasons then I’m sure wildhack would listen. Fanbase just isn’t that fanatical for the most part and lacks what are considered large boosters to modern day college football.

 

[CusefanATL]

No, there were two parties involved and they met halfway in the negotiations. That’s not one side with complete control.

Per ESPN, “Fuente decided it would be best to leave immediately rather than finish out the season”. “Babcock said the buyout was negotiated down from $10 million to $8.75 million to be able to make the move now.”

you originally questioned why he took less.

Because Va Tech wouldnt have fired him. Its pretty simple. He got an extra $1.25m to not work 30 days. Va tech paid 1.25 million to try to save their recruiting class.

 

[SuFTW]

you originally questioned why he took less.

Because Va Tech wouldnt have fired him. Its pretty simple. He got an extra $1.25m to not work 30 days. Va tech paid 1.25 million to try to save their recruiting class.

That’s because I didn’t know Fuentes wanted to leave early. Yes it’s simple when the facts are known. They worked out a compromise. VaTech was not in total control.