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Virginia Tech Volleyball Head Coach Chris Riley Steps Down

The Virginia Tech Hokies have made some prominent coaching changes among their programs since the start of Whit Babcock's tenure and all have brought improved success with Justin Fuente, Buzz Williams, and Kenny Brooks all having their teams compete at a high level this year with Fuente leading the Hokies to the ACC Championship with both basketball teams in strong position to make the NCAA Tournament. Babcock hasn't made as many changes in less prominent sports other than at women's lacrosse with the arrival of John Sung with Babcock receiving plenty of praise for that hire. However, Babcock will now have to hire his fifth new head coach since taking over as Virginia Tech's athletic director. https://twitter.com/techlunchpaild/status/809809224167518209 Virginia Tech volleyball head coach Chris Riley has resigned from the program after 11 years in charge of the program with a 195-151 record along with one NCAA Tournament appearance in 2010. At this point, it appears that Riley has decided to step down to spend more time with his family including his three children with it not appearing that he was forced out by Babcock after a disappointing 13-18 season that included an 8-12 conference record. The Virginia Tech job will likely draw tons of interest given the opportunity to work with one of collegiate athletics' most respected athletic directors in Babcock in addition to being an ACC job. There is some rebuilding to be done as the Hokies' lone All-ACC First Team rep Lindsey Owens is graduating and the program is coming off a 13-18 season with no NCAA Tournament appearances since 2010. There are a couple coaches that Whit Babcock would be smart to contact (and likely will) led by Western Kentucky head coach Travis Hudson who is in his 22nd season at his alma mater but took over the program almost immediately after graduating from WKU. Hudson has a career 559-198 record with nine NCAA Tournament appearances (all coming after 2001), 12 regular season conference championships (10 Sun Belt and back-to-back Conference USA), and 7 conference tournament titles (5 Sun Belt and back-to-back Conference USA). The issue with Hudson likely would be leaving his alma mater, but Babcock has had success overcoming that in getting Kenny Brooks. Dayton's Tim Horsmon could be a possibility with two strong tenures at Dayton though a disappointing 79-114 record at Maryland from 2008-2013 could hurt his chances. North Carolina's top assistant Eve Rackham could be a name to watch if the Hokies decide to go with an assistant though Babcock seems to prefer someone that has at least some head coaching experience. Whit Babcock's leadership likely will mean that the Hokies will be able to find a capable replacement for Chris Riley wherever that coach may come from. Stay up with The Tech Lunch Pail via Facebook and Twitter plus subscribe to our email updates.
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