After watching the life get sucked out of this team, week after week... and after watching the endless parade of attrition (and thank you, B'Street, for reminding folks that AJ Bush can be included in those ranks)... and after reading Mook's dad's recent TKP post... seems to me like the core of what is wrong with VT football can be boiled down to one simple thing.

Our coach seems more focused on imposing his will on his team, then imposing his team's will on other teams.

On a subconscious level, some coaches really would rather take the "my way or the highway" approach even if that highway is leading straight off a cliff. They would rather lose their way than win someone else's. Call it pride, call it myopia, call it stubborn. But there is clearly a problem. Fuente has already alienated many fans with his tight-lipped, control-oriented, access-restricted approach to managing what is, in the end, a multimillion dollar sports entertainment franchise. He now appears to be alienating the team as well. I won't be at all surprised if we see a further parade of attrition after this season ends, including at least two of our current QB depth chart.

At this point we can only hope that the "breaking them down" phase will be over after this year and the "building them back up" can finally begin. But hope is about all we have, because there are no visible signs that the head whistle plans to change his style any time soon.