While it was a little over 5 years ago when Whit hired Buzz Williams, I seem to recall there being much, much more excitement over the Williams hire. Most posts on the message boards could probably be summarized by fans saying things like, "Wow!" or "How did we ever get a coach like Buzz Williams?!" There was a tremendous amount of excitement and energy not recently seen within VT basketball; especially after the James Johnson years.

While the cost to hire Williams was unparalleled from what our former Athletic Directors had done in the past (I believe Johnson was being paid around $800k while Buzz's first year was over $2.5M), the results followed. Our first year under Williams didn't produce the wins, but I feel like Buzz put VT basketball back on the map. I mean, within a week of his hire he was being interviewed on CBS Sports and asked why he elected to go to VT. Things like this are HUGE in our program's visibility and to recruits. And as Buzz started to bring in his players the results on the court followed. Three consecutive years to the NCAA Tournament which culminated in a Sweet 16 appearance.

Which all leads us to the hiring of Coach Young. Earlier this week I said to a friend, "Buzz left us in a MUCH better place than when he arrived. I may have on my orange and maroon sunglasses, but I feel confident that Whit will find us a great replacement." Clearly Young hasn't coached a game for us yet, but to me there is an obvious level of disappointment in our fan base....and for good reason in my opinion. We play in the premier college basketball conference and, while most will agree that we are not as much of a basketball school as we are football, we have a tremendous fan base. How is it we can not bring in a coach with a better resume. Neither Wofford or the Southern Conference scream college basketball. With all that VT has to offer, how can we not attract a coach with at least some P5 coaching experience?

Lastly, I feel like a lot of people on the Board mistake fans being disappointed with not being supportive. While I am clearly disappointed in the hire I will continue to support all things VT. I just wish there was more excitement like there was 5 years ago.