When Virginia Tech has had various football staff openings over the years, there's always been appeals by fans to hire certain alums whether that's been Todd Washington for various offensive line coach openings or a Torrian Gray return as defensive coordinator for example.
So that got me thinking, what if you could only build a football staff with former Virginia Tech players? Who would be hired for which roles and who would have to be considered for those jobs?
So today, I'm kicking off a multi-part series where I dive into which Hokies could fill various roles from head coach to coordinators to position coaches to important off-field staff roles like strength & conditioning, general manager, and even boosters.
To start, I'm going to dive into who I would hire as the head coach along with who my coordinators would be.
Head Coach: Frank Beamer/Bruce Arians/Shane Beamer
There would be one head coach in the end ,with Frank Beamer being the preferred choice for obvious reasons. However, the 78-year old Beamer likely isn't wanting to be a head coach even with the staff that would be built around him given his age and all that he poured into the sport.
Regardless, the greatest coach in Virginia Tech history absolutely has to be mentioned at the top of this list given his incredible 29-year tenure at VT where he went 238-121-2, reached the national championship game once, won seven conference titles, had 12 seasons with double-digit wins, and reached 23 consecutive bowl games. If a College Football Hall of Famer wants to be your head coach, you say yes every time.
Beamer is the obvious choice but if he wasn't able to go, the next choice is obvious too, but might also not
Bruce Arians.
Yes, Arians' lone college stint at Temple in the mid-1980s didn't go great (21-39). However, Arians could end up have a chance to even end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame one day given his impressive NFL success during which he won one Super Bowl, two AP NFL Coach of the Year honors, two division titles, four playoff appearances, and and an 89-51-1 record including 9-3 when filling in for Chuck Pagano in 2012.
Arians was known as a players coach in the NFL and seems to have the personality to fit well to what college football is now. He's also been someone that Whit Babcock and Virginia Tech have been able to consult for how to build a roster given the similarities between the transfer portal and NFL free agency.
But with Arians being 72, the odds that the former Super Bowl head coach would want the job may not be that great. If anything, he might prefer taking on a less strenuous role like offensive coordinator similar to what Chip Kelly and Gus Malzahn have done leaving head coach roles for OC jobs at Ohio State and FSU.
The good news is that there's a strong third choice as well.
Shane Beamer.
South Carolina is one of the tougher jobs in the SEC, yet Shane Beamer has had three winning seasons in four years including a personal best 9-4 season this past year along with finishing in the top 25 for the second time in four years. He's also proven himself to be a very good recruiter while also being able to use the transfer portal effectively to bring in players like DE Kyle Kennard, QB Spencer Rattler, and RB Rocket Sanders.
Beamer continues to prove a lot of people wrong and for now has cemented himself among the top 25 or so head coaches at the Power 4 level.
If Virginia Tech opens in the next couple of years, there will certainly be plenty of fans who want to bring Beamer home, and I would expect that VT would make a run at him given the ties. Whether he actually would have any interest remains to be seen, but in this scenario, Beamer is absolutely on the list in the top tier of options and likely the choice given the age of his father and Bruce Arians.
