The reasons why Justin Fuente feels good about Virginia Tech

BLACKSBURG, Va. — At first, Justin Fuente thought it would be easy to take everything he’d learned under head coach Gary Patterson at TCU and essentially copy-and-paste it wherever he went later.

“In my mind,” Fuente said, “it was, ‘OK, we're going to plug exactly everything from TCU — in terms of how we practice, how we run off season, how we lift — into Memphis. No discussions, this is how it's going to be moving on.’

“Then you realize that that's just not going to happen. Case by case, as they come up, you tweak the way you're doing it to fit your current situation, and figure out how you want to handle it or what your team needs.”

At Memphis in 2012, the key was changing their players’ expectations for and definitions of hard work. They had to adjust schedules. They had to improve a situation Fuente now describes as “not very healthy.”

Four years later — including a 10-win season and last year’s 9-3 mark — Fuente left Memphis for a quite different situation here at Virginia Tech. There were no questions about the Hokies’ approach, not after the lengthy tenure of legendary coach Frank Beamer, whose retirement preceded Fuente’s hire. There wasn’t much to change; there was much Fuente wanted to keep the same.

“Just the general health of our squad in terms of work ethic, demeanor, communication, accountability, discipline — starting out, it’s a lot higher than where it was starting out at Memphis,” Fuente said. “I can, I don't want to say skip over, but there's some things that have already been in place through 29 years of Coach Beamer that I just need to keep continuing.

“We don't need to have a huge forum on being on time. These kids understand that they're supposed to be where they're supposed to be, dressed appropriately, ready to work. They already get that.”

Fuente wants to elevate the on-field product back to where it’s been before, at the heights of the Beamer era. He wants the Hokies to compete for Atlantic Coast Conference titles and, potentially, College Football Playoff spots. But Fuente also realizes — even while taking over a program that’s lost 23 games in the past four years combined — that if you’ve got the attitude and off-field product where you want it, it’s never going to be starting from scratch.

“The first thing Coach Fuente said was that he didn’t have to rebuild anything,” senior fullback Sam Rogers said. “He wanted to help keep advancing it. He’s not trying to tear down anything that Coach Beamer did; he’s just trying to build on the foundation that Coach Beamer set.”

Fuente retained three members of Beamer’s coaching staff in part to help with that continuity. Being able to retain one in particular — defensive coordinator Bud Foster — was one of the most alluring parts of the gig.

“That was a huge attraction to the job,” Fuente, 40, said. “One of the many factors was that it quite possibly came with the most decorated defensive coordinator in all of America.

“But it needed to come under the right circumstances. It needed to be a healthy relationship. When Coach Foster came to visit, it was important to me that he not feel like it was an interview for the defensive coordinator job.”

The conversation, which took place in Memphis before Fuente officially accepted the Virginia Tech job, was just that: A conversation. Fuente and Foster discussed coaching philosophies and how Fuente understood, after working under a great defensive mind like Patterson at TCU, that he would defer to Foster on that side of the ball.

Foster’s defenses all have the same identity: Hard-nosed and tough. His schemes are sharp. Two seasons ago, he was the only coach to slow the vaunted Ohio State offense that ultimately survived two quarterback injuries to win a national championship. Senior defensive back Chuck Clark describes the education he’s gotten under Foster this way: It’s the way defense is supposed to look, the way team defense is supposed to be played.

“The objective is trying to win the games, not to have the most yards,” Fuente said. “Part of the offense's job is to service the defense and get the defense ready for the season in terms of defending different things and making them have different conversations through spring and through fall camp.

“(During the Memphis conversation), I also let (Foster) know he was going to run the defense. I may ask questions, or want to have discussions about what we're doing personnel-wise, or scheme-wise, or whatever.

“But I believe in hiring good people and letting them do their job. That doesn't mean we can't have constructive conversations about what we're doing, and why we're doing things, but I'm going to let them go do their job.”

With Foster in particular, that makes perfect sense. But it’s still a realization and decision that not all coaches would make. And yet another example of Fuente’s willingness to adapt.

“I'll tell you why it was helpful; it was helpful because of the way Bud is,” Fuente said. “Bud's all in for Virginia Tech and doing the right thing by Virginia Tech. Certainly it's been helpful. Certainly. Not just with the players, but walking into high school for when you're going in there recruiting or whatever. In this state, you have immediate credibility when you walk in the door next to Bud Foster.

“It's certainly helped smooth the transition.”

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