Tech’s Foster loyal to Hokies

By Nate Crossman  |   Tuesday, October 31, 2006  |  Comments( 0 )

Virginia Tech Hokies
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article!

On a scale from "that's great" to "who cares," The Master Football Coaches Defensive Coordinator of the Week Award that the Virginia Tech Hokies' Bud Foster won after his team's 24-7 drubbing of Clemson last Thursday is as close to "who cares" as you can get. Who are the Master Football Coaches, and how do you quantify something like the performance of a defensive coordinator?

Although the award didn't exactly inspire me to write a tome about Foster, it did prompt me to wonder why the heck Foster is still a Hokie.

As anachronistic as the term "lunch pail" has become in referring to Virginia Tech's defense (I consider teams that have limited talent but work hard "lunch pail"; the Hokies have as much talent as any program in Division I), the fact is that Foster has churned out some pretty fantastic ones in his 12 years as coordinator. This year's is ranked third in Division I, while last year's was No. 1. He won a National Assistant Coach of the Year Award in 2000, and has been a finalist three times.

Yet he's back in Blacksburg year after year, while other, less accomplished coordinators get jobs. He flirted with the idea of taking the defensive coordinator job at Florida following the 1998 season, but decided to return to Virginia Tech.

Foster is still a Hokie, I believe, for a few reasons. For one, he and the rest of the coordinators are fiercely loyal to head coach Frank Beamer. Foster played for Murray State when Beamer was the defensive coordinator, then became a graduate assistant when he took over as head coach. Foster followed Beamer to Virginia Tech 20 years ago and hasn't left.

Offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring is in his 14th year, recruiting coordinator Jim Cavanaugh his 11th; and defensive line coach Charley Wiles his ninth, although he did spend and additional year as a graduate assistant and played two years for Beamer at Murray State.

First-year quarterbacks coach Mike O'Cain coached with Beamer at Murray State, and first-year defensive backs coach Torrian Gray played four years for the Hokies. Beamer's assistants are loyal because he gives them freedom to work, and they are paid comparatively well, especially since Beamer signed his new contract last November, which gave him more money to spend on assistant coaches.

There is also the thought that Foster is the heir apparent to Beamer. It's doubtless that Beamer would support Foster's hiring if he parted with Virginia Tech under amicable circumstances, which there is no reason to believe that he won't. But stranger things have happened than an athletic director going against a former coach's wishes, and it's risky business for Foster to expect something like that to happen.

Perhaps then there is something in the works. Foster, who turns 47 next summer, recently started a Web site called LunchPailDefense.com. Under it's "About" heading, LunchPailDefense.com says it was created "to support and promote three key brands: Virginia Tech football, Coach Bud Foster, and the Lunch Pail Defense concept."

Would a coach who is totally comfortable with his position be out promoting himself?

Get more Virginia Tech Hokies info at Realfootball365.com
Got something to say?

Sign Up and be the first to comment on this article! (0)

Article Tools Share!   |  RSS  |  Bleacher Report About Bleacher Report