Gearing up for a busy news day in Blacksburg
The offseason? Hardly. There’s quite a bit going on in Blacksburg these days, whether it’s on the coaching front or elsewhere. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s happening and a few thoughts …
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– CBS Sports’ Bruce Feldman tweeted Monday night that former Auburn and Temple offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler has been hired for the same position with the Hokies. Virginia Tech would not confirm the news, nor would several Hokies sources with knowledge of the situation. That’s not to say the original report is wrong, just that there might be some red tape to get through before anything is official.
I do know that Loeffler and former Auburn offensive line coach Jeff Grimes were in Blacksburg to interview Monday. Here is my story today on the Hokies’ coaching situation, which might be finalized soon.
– That leads directly to the big news of today, which is that quarterback Logan Thomas will announce whether or not he’ll submit his name in the NFL Draft. Today is the deadline. Thomas, I’m told, will issue a press release with his decision at 4 p.m. I don’t have any insight as to which way he’s leaning at this point.
I adapted yesterday’s blog post into a newspaper story, listing the pros and cons for Thomas’s NFL decision. You can read it here.
If he comes back, this will be the first time since 2009 the Hokies haven’t had a player leave early for the NFL. Running back David Wilson and cornerback Jayron Hosley did it last year. Running backs Ryan Williams and Darren Evans did it in 2011, and defensive end Jason Worilds did it in 2010.
– There are three coaching positions expected to come open at Virginia Tech — offensive coordinator/quarterbacks, offensive line and receivers. According to Kyle Bailey of Fox Sports Radio, Stanford’s Aaron Moorehead is a candidate for the receivers job. Here’s his bio.
– Cornell Brown, a former Hokies linebacker and current whip linebackers coach, and Bill Roth, radio play-by-play voice of Virginia Tech football and men’s basketball, were chosen for the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame on Monday. Congrats to both.
– Back to the coaches, having covered Auburn from September of 2008 to October of 2011, I can add a little perspective to the recent hires. I offered a few thoughts in a previous blog post, so I figured I’d reiterate them here.
Although I was not around for Loeffler’s year with the Tigers, I’ve spoken to a few Auburn people who were. The stats speak for themselves. It was an unmitigated disaster in 2012. The Tigers finished 2012 ranked 115th nationally in total offense (305.0 ypg), 112th in passing (156.6 ypg), 78th in rushing (148.2 ypg) and 112th in scoring (18.7 ppg).
I don’t know if that can entirely be blamed on Loeffler, who sounds like he was in a bad situation. His personnel wasn’t great, he lacked a viable starting quarterback and Auburn was trying to transition from an up-tempo, spread-based attack under Gus Malzahn to more of a pro-style scheme under Loeffler. Obviously, it didn’t take.
But I will point out that Auburn’s offensive decline had started the year before Loeffler arrived. Lacking a quarterback once Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton left and needing to replace a number of key starters, Auburn struggled in Malzahn’s final season as a coordinator, finishing 2011 ranked 100th nationally in total offense. Malzahn split after that year for the Arkansas State head coaching gig and Loeffler was hired.
That’s not to say that Loeffler will be good hire. He’s inexperienced as a coordinator (only two years running offenses) and is coming off a year in which Auburn scored 13 or fewer points six times (including a 49-0 shellacking by Alabama in the regular season finale). Still, this is a coach that was considered a rising star in the business only a year ago.
– As for Grimes, no news has broken that he has been hired, although it figures if he interviewed with Loeffler, there is a decent chance. He had a reputation as a good recruiter and teacher at Auburn, a guy who could be stern but also cerebral.
His veteran group was an underrated part of the Tigers’ national championship season in 2010 (after which he turned down an offer to coach for Mack Brown at Texas). Four seniors graduated, however, leaving Auburn thin and young the last two seasons, which led to struggles. By season’s end last year, the Tigers’ two deep on the o-line featured one senior, three sophomores, four redshirt freshmen and two true freshmen.
Grimes can recruit. Just look back through Rivals’ year-by-year database. It’s not to say he was solely responsible for bringing in all of these multi-star linemen — Auburn always did well recruiting-wise under Gene Chizik — but Grimes had a hand in it, which should count for something.
This has been posted elsewhere, but here’s also a nice video about he and his wife adopting a girl from Ethiopia.
January 15, 2013 - 1:01 AM
Let’s welcome them and see what develops. Two years from now, we will have a good idea.
Let’s see where it goes. To those in past blogs commenting on LT’s grip on the ball(not on laces), a lot of QB’s don’t grip it on the laces, including pros. Been around football much?
Whoever is hired Crooked Road could have made a better choice. At least he will think so.
Andy, if you compare the resumes of Moorehead and Erik Campbell for the WR coach position, it’s no contest, Campbell wins hands down. Moorehead is currently the asst. WR coach at Stanford!
Thats right give them a chance!(at last)!
It’s one thing for Chuck Long to bomb at SDSU (HC by the way, not even OC) or Kansas.
It’s another thing for Scott Loeffler to bomb at Auburn where “lack of talent” cannot be a valid excuse.
Then again, Urban Meyer was truly an offensive genius and his final Florida offense was laughable garbage because they didn’t have the right KIND of players to replace Tebow et. al. for his spread.
Here’s hoping that the main reason for Loeffler’s failure at AU was that he was trying to put square pegs thru round holes.
Come to think of it,
LOOK AT AUBURN AFTER CAM NEWTON LEFT
LOOK AT FLORIDA AFTER TEBOW LEFT
LOOK AT TEXAS AFTER COLT LEFT
See any similarities, people?
There’s always new energy and vitality when changes are made and change has been long overdue on the Offensive side. If these guys coached in the SEC, they are already head and shoulders better than the previous crew.
Welcome and get to work!
Aaron Moorehead sounds great!
We may never know the full details, how this process appears to have been handled, the timing of doing so AFTER the bowl game missing the first wave of Coaching Change ‘Season’, and Frank’s overall limiting control of the Offense. Did we (Athletics Admin, Frank B.) obtain the coaches that where on the TOP of the priority list, or have we settled? While I am not fully immersed in knowledge related to the potential coaches, we have no choice but to accept and support and see how this works. I would have expected a bit more, however this may be a real world example of the impression of our program and the opportunities that are realistic, this may be the best we can get. I struggle to accept this is the best we can do IF the timing and process is handled the correct way.
To whomever is officially appointed, best of luck and success, we the Hokie Nation are counting on you to make drastic improvements in our progress and accomplishments.
I hope and pray that whom ever is hired they know what they are doing. It will take time to try to fix the mess Tech is in right now. It won’t happen over night. The thing I can’t understand is why is Stinney being kept on the staff? Let him go Beamer you are not his dad too are you?
Realistically, where is Stiney going? He obviously is over his head, has been removed from play calling and now will be placed in a recruiting role that I thought was already filled 2 years ago! Where could he possibly go to make the money he is making? His coaching career at a high level is over but the VT gravy train continues down the track.
If the info on these three hires is correct I think VT has improved the coaching situation. Do I expect great things next year? No, I expect to see better line play, I expect to see better play calling and game planning and if LT stays I expect better numbers from him. But the system and the quality of offensive, especially line, players has been lessened to the point that I do not expect great things next year. I expect better things and the situation getting better year by year. It will be interesting to see what Stinespring’s role will be, hopefully, he will be told to keep quite and listen during planning sessions.
Well FB got his guy conservative ball control and that’s why i don’t think he jumped when Tony Franklin was available because of Franklin’s more modern spread type of offensive lets hope it works out for us Good luck Coach Loeffler welcome to Blacksburg!!!
No doubt this is a good decision, Loeflerr is the answer to the problem. Look for the Hokies to go undefeated, will probably pound Alambamy into the stone age. And then another big raise for the Beamers.
An Offensive Coordinator from Auburn?!? Great. They lost to Clemson last fall, which is just what we need. Granted, they also got crushed by Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Arkansas (scored 7 points) and almost lost to UL-Monroe. But as we’ve all learned, results really don’t matter around here all that much.
I think it obvious that Stiney will be regulated to tight ends.
Welcome Loeffler and Grimes!! Looking forward to seeing significant improvement on the offensive side of the ball.
Go Hokies!!
A recruiting staff of Shane, Cornell Brown, Grimes, Loeffler, Stiney, and Torrian Gray with two legends in Bud and Frank on staff is going to mop up. Tech has always done a good job of developing players and fans have always asked what if they landed more blue chippers? We may find out in the near future.
Time will tell if this was a positive move, unfortunately he steps into a position probably as bad or worse as the Auburn situation he walked into. WR’s, RB and OL are suspect at best, but we’ll have to see how those positions develop. Hopefully LT sticks around so at least we’ll have a seasoned leader. If there’s anything you can say about Logan it’s that he is a leader and sometimes that’s enough.
Andy, one question, how do you think the pro style, run heavy offense that Loeffler runs will affect recruiting. Will this desuade WR’s and QB’s or is it a lateral move. I’ve loved many of the WR’s we’ve had over the years, but where’s our Percy Harvin or Sammy Watkins, that explosive game changing talent that rises above the college game?
Not overwhelmed, not underwhelmed, not sure how to feel about the potential hires. Wish crooked would get out of bed and tell us all how we should be taking this. If yesterday’s posts are any indication, crooked must be back on his meds, he made decent points without his usual vitriol.
Like VTR, though, I have long worried that our conservative approach on offense is an impediment to recruitment of top drawer receivers, but still we’ve managed to land some good ones in our day. Here’s hoping…..
This is good. Scot Loeffler is an up and comer. If LT3 stays and Grimes can put an efficient OL together, we will see dramatic improvement from the outset. How long did it take Chad Morris to make an impact at Clemson? Although we fell fast from ACC and national relevance, all the pieces are still in place to get up, dust ourselves off, and work like hell to get back quickly. The falloff in 2012 was unexpected, hard to watch, and harder to take, but just what the football gods ordered, as the status quo and complacency took its toll. In short, most of us we were fat and happy. The coaches, the administration, and many players appeared to be satisfied with 10 win seasons and bowl streaks. For fans, winning Hokie Football was “a given” with some fans even complaining about having to “go back” to the Orange Bowl “again.” I was in Blacksburg during the 80′s when a Peach Bowl berth was a big, big deal. I finally got back to Lane last year and could not believe my eyes what VT Football and fans and Frank Beamer have built. It will be a cold day in hell before we should take anything for granted again. With renewed focus and vigor, let’s dust off the trophy case and get back to work on filling it. Alabama is our next game. Go Hokies!
Good post Barry ! You got one right. I knew you were coming around. I feel good about the changes. Every one needs to improve, and I think they will. I see a ten win season this year for Hokie football. VT 70 gt 65. Yea that’s the ticket!
While I was honestly hoping for Pep Hamilton from Stanford, I will gladly take a coach who has worked in the mighty SEC. Loeffler, while his success at Auburn was limited, it’s still Auburn. They have had their ups and downs the last several years but they are playing within the toughest conference in college football. While I was very surprised at the number of bowl games lost by the SEC this year, I still believe they are the class of college football.
Hamilton would have been the 1st choice in my mind, and I bet Beamer and Co. were really hoping to get him as well. He’s got bigger fish to fry, however, as some pro teams are looking his way also. I gotta believe that these changes at OC and at OL are going to pay off in the long run. Yes, we have to give them a little time to work their craft, build relationships with players, coaches, and fans alike. We have given Stiney and company a decade to work. While I supported Bustle when he left in 2002 and Stinesspring as he leaves, this past year was too much for any loyal Hokie fan to bare. I’m ready for something new.
I’m even more satisfied that we didn’t “jump the shark” and go with a Tony Franklin disciple and his XBox style offense. Instead, we rely on what has proven to work in big time college football more often than not. Powerful running game and the play action pass. Let’s get those big boys up front knocking some heads and give me a guy who’ll get north and south, and a change up back who can stretch the field and break the big play. Welcome to Blacksburg Mr. Loeffler and Mr. Grimes.
ANY CHANGE IS GOOD ON OFFENSE RIGHT NOW!!!! PLEASE STAY LOGAN THOMAS!! WE & YOU NEED IT!!! GO HOKIES!!
OBXHokie, I think fans were more tired of the Orange Bowl opponents we tend to draw (Cincinatti, Louisville,etc.) than the location, but I’m sure a different venue would have been more exciting. I too am an early 80′s Hokie and don’t take for granted whats been built, but in all honesty EVERYONE has built that these days. Back in the 80′s those kinds of stadiums and fan bases only belonged to a relative handful of teams. ESPN and $$$ knocked those walls down. Everyone from Texas Tech to Boise ST have been building those programs. Not to diminish it and in fact VT led the way for emerging programs.
Come on Man I’m not sure a year in the ACC on a failing team counts for experience in the SEC, but I guess we’ll take it.
Let’s hope that this infuses some energy into the program and particularly the offense. I think offensive recruits had given up VT and Stinespring.
Hey Andy, what’s your gut call on the Thomas decision?
I am readig that Logan is declaring for the NFL draft. I hope that is wrong, but that is what I have read. I am very disappointed. I was hoping that we could keep him at VT for one more year to see if the coaches could help him improve. I hope that the “draft experts” Mel Kiper and company have not given him bad information. I would hate to see Logan not get selected in an earlier round. I know he has potential, but drafting someone based on potential with lots of money on the line is something that an NFL owner is going to have to decide. Makes you wonder if he will get drafted. This draft busines can be a crap shoot for both players and coaches and hopefully Logan wins.
A scheduled press release sounds more like he’s staying than leaving. But I could be wrong.
Exum and Gayle tweeted their intention to return for one more season. Thomas could be following the same pattern and not deal with the standard Q&A that comes with making a press conference.
OR
Thomas is releasing a press statement so he don’t have to deal with questions about MOC since he was very close to O’Cain, about the Draft, and et cetera.
Either way, Thomas is simply trying to stay out of the spot light for the time being, IMO.
I think the glare of the spot light needs to be on Beamer and the new hires for now.
MV1 was a scheduled press conference too, as I recall.
#28 I hope you are right. I would think that by releasing a statement that would mean he is staying. Logan doesn’t seem like a spotlight kind of guy. He may not have scheduled a press conference like David did last year no matter his decision. Well, we will all know at 4:00.
And word on Drew Harris and whether he qualified or not? Getting a blue-chip running back is the biggest need for Tech.
BOB H: Logan has scheduled a press RELEASE not a conference.
Interesting read of what Chad Henne is saying about Scot Loeffler.
http://www.dailypress.com/sports/teel-blog/dp-teel-time-henne-loeffler,0,6544904.story