I wanted Thad Matta. He was my #1 choice. My #2 choice was Mick Cronin. I didn't have a #3 or any after that. I knew we would get a "big name" coach because we did last time. I kept thinking Wojo might be #3 but he wasn't big enough for me. I didn't like his run at Marquette that much.

Well, it turns out that we were never going to get a big name coach this time. There was no eccentric Buzz Williams-type out there looking to make a change to make a change. And there were no funds for VT to overspend on a coach looking to cash in. I don't even know why I wanted those guys in retrospect, because it wasn't realistic.

So what did we get? Mike Young. I didn't want Mike Young. I had seen his name on most every VT coaching search article and turned my nose each time.

I had seen Wofford's name pop up (and rise) in the rankings through the year, I remember them beating UNC and I know they had a guy who made a ton of 3-pointers and made a little noise in the dance this year. The only Wofford game I ever watched was when they lost to Kentucky and I thought they were solid. Like a legit, deserving 7-seed. I had picked them to the Sweet 16 in my bracket as an upset and felt solid about my choice.

That's all I know about his product firsthand.

I can look at Wikipedia and see that Mike Young has basically gone through 4 year cycles over the past 12 years that culminated in conference title teams each time (sometimes consecutive) but struggled the year after a core group must have left.

However each successive cycle was an improved product because the records were better every 4 years, the NCAA tournament seeds were better every 4 years and the NCAA tournament results improved. In Young's five NCAA tournaments, Wofford was seeded #16, #14, #15, #12 and #7.

I also know that Wofford was DII about 20 or so years ago and Mike Young has been there the entire time since they have been D1, most as head coach.

What does that mean? I don't know, other than Mike Young came from dirt. If you ever heard Buzz Williams talk about Med Hill coming from dirt, well, Mike Young came straight from it too. The only thing this time, is he came from our dirt. SWVA dirt.

I don't care about recruiting. I honestly and truthfully don't. We aren't Duke or UNC. Anybody I talked to about our coaching search, I just said "I hope we get a guy that can win without 4/5 stars, because we don't get many of those here." Even though I secretly wanted Thad Matta to come in and bring Mike Conley and Greg Oden and take us to the Final Four in 3 years, I knew we aren't the school and Blacksburg isn't the place that gets those guys.

So we got Mike Young, who's from our dirt - not some Texas dirt - and can build teams made of nobody's and play damn good basketball. If he can do that at Wofford, I'll bet he does better at VT. I'll take that. VT's best teams have been with players who had a chip on their shoulders. Maybe we need a coach with the same.

We are going to struggle next year, but I bet we get better and better and enjoy watching our Hokies play ACC basketball sooner than we think.