In the earlier days of Tech football history - in the mid 90's- I had a message board called "Va. Tech Hokie News and Views" Featuring the "Informed Source" . In those days the only sites covering Tech Sports and football in general were Tech Sideline in its prior form and Screaming Lizards Recruiting site and my site. . At that time there was great excitement around the program and you could feel that something was building . When Jim Druckemiller and crew beat the "Hoos Crying Now" in 1995 which led to the classic Bill Roth radio call (Jim Druckenmiller has just engineered the greatest comeback I have ever seen) there was no doubt that something special was going to happen.
I noted earlier that one of the posters "Mercury" mentioned that there was not a great connection between Coach Fuente and the general fan and I think there is some truth to that . At the time of my message board I had great access to the coaches and the "Informed Source". I was around coaches when they were placing calls to some of our biggest recruits ever including Michael Vick and I learned a lot of the ins and outs of the program . It was only the coming of Jim Weaver that precluded a lot of the connection because he in the earlier days did not trust the Internet and maybe rightfully so.
For the last several years I have watched as the program became more and more closed not only to the media but to the fans as well. Even something such as BeamerBall would be somewhat of a connection .
Bottom line is that yes times have changed but I can guarantee you that the connection that Frank Beamer had with a great core of fans is what led to his surviving the bad years. If anyone has ever had the chance to meet Coach Beamer I can guarantee he always made time to talk to people whether they were big money donors or not and he never made you feel rushed or hurried and for that matter neither did any of the staff.
If Coach Fuente is going to survive this he is going to have to come out of his shell and open up to the media and to the fans and become a little more personable. I know that there are some coaches that can survive without that but that is only because they always win . Let those guys have a few bad seasons and people would want to show them the door.
I don't post often these days because most of you do not know who I am and probably don't care . A few of the old timers will remember the site and know that I have great passion and love for VT Football. I was at the game till the end on Friday night and the "Informed Source" was also there and I could see him sitting in his seat till the bitter end . We will survive this season and either with or without Coach Fuente we will be good again . As fans we have always been the x factor due to our passion and support. Whether we like the Coach or not that should have nothing to do with whether we support these players. Be upset at Coach Fuente but support these players .
Do I think we have hit rock bottom ? I hope so . For the rest of this year we as fans can make a great difference in how successful we are . We can show up and support the players and show them that they made the right choice in coming here . Take a page from Nebraska and the way they support their program - win or lose . That doesn't mean we like Coach Fuente but we should always appreciate our players. Lets Go - Hokies !