It’s tough to recollect the final nice second that Virginia Tech soccer had, the place the Hokies entered the nationwide dialog in a optimistic manner, the place they introduced Lane Stadium to a roar, the place we had been reminded of what this system was once below Frank Beamer.
Was it a win over Tulane within the 2023 Army Bowl? That was a very good day, however not an exceptionally nice one. It in all probability was, nevertheless, the final time the oldsters in Blacksburg felt all heat and fuzzy for head coach Brent Pry, as he capped off his second season on the helm of the Hokies with a beat down of rival Virginia and a bowl win over a ranked group.
Maybe it was when Virginia Tech, unranked, upset No. 10 North Carolina to open the 2021 season. That recreation although was extra about how overrated the Tar Heels had been, not about how good the Hokies is likely to be. It turned out to be Justin Fuente’s remaining season as he limped to a 5-5 document earlier than resigning.
Perhaps it was in 2017, when the Hokies opened the season with a win over rival West Virginia in a ranked-on-ranked matchup at FedEx Area with Josh Jackson and the Edmunds brothers main the best way.
We would need to go all the best way again to the final superior season of the Beamer period, in 2011, the place Logan Thomas powered the Hokies to a victory over a ranked Georgia Tech group in Atlanta. That Virginia Tech squad would go on to play within the ACC title recreation and Sugar Bowl — albeit dropping each — to complete the season 11-3. It marked the sixth (and remaining) time that the Hokies reached the 11-win mark.
That is all to say that the final decade of Virginia Tech soccer has been largely forgettable and stuffed with mediocrity. Whereas pinpointing greatness within the post-Beamer period of Hokies’ soccer is usually a burdensome problem, it’s fairly straightforward to recall all of the blunders and disappointments. Saturday’s end result was the most recent in an extended line of letdowns for Virginia Tech followers, as they watched Pry’s group squander a 10-point halftime lead and get outscored 34-0 within the second half — at residence on a Saturday night time in Lane Stadium — to Vanderbilt. It was a must-win recreation and the Hokies flopped.
The week earlier than that, Virginia Tech followers needed to watch the Hokies trudge by a 24-11 loss in Atlanta to South Carolina, a group coached by Beamer’s son Shane. Virginia Tech is now 0-2 to start out a season for the primary time since 2010.
Need some extra discouraging stats? There’s loads of them.
Within the post-Beamer period, Virginia Tech is 7-18 towards ranked opponents and simply 1-6 towards ranked groups below Pry’s watch.
Right here’s one other: Since that win over West Virginia in 2017 in Landover, Maryland, the Hokies are 0-15 in non-conference matchups towards Energy 4 opponents and Notre Dame. The Hokies haven’t received a non-conference residence recreation towards Notre Dame or a Energy 4 opponent since 2009.
Virginia Tech hasn’t had a double-digit win season since Fuente’s first marketing campaign in 2016, a feat that was completed with a group made up of gamers largely recruited by Beamer.
Another: Virginia Tech hasn’t performed in a New Yr’s Six bowl recreation — a lot much less contended for a spot within the School Soccer Playoff — since 2011. Between 1994 and 2011, the Hokies performed in 13 NY6 video games, together with the 1999 nationwide championship.
That recreation the place Michael Vick practically guided the Hokies to immortality, looks as if a century in the past. A lot of school sports activities has modified within the final 5 years with NIL, the switch portal, income sharing and convention realignment. Now take into consideration how a lot it’s modified in 26 years.
What’s apparent for Virginia Tech after that wildly dangerous second half efficiency towards Vandy — which featured an extremely cowardly give up punt on fourth-and-inches with a 3-point lead — is that Pry’s time as head coach wants to return to an finish. For a lot of Virginia Tech followers, it reminded them of the 45-10 residence loss to Duke in 2019, a end result that sealed the court docket of public opinion on Fuente, though he lasted for 2 extra forgetful seasons.
Whereas Pry inherited a program that wanted to restore its recruiting relationships throughout the area after Fuente fumbled these away, his tenure has largely been stricken by dropping huge video games on huge levels and failing to satisfy expectations. He hasn’t crushed Miami or Clemson. He’s misplaced video games to Rutgers, Marshall, Previous Dominion and West Virginia.
Pry appeared like a greater match for the job than Fuente. He was a former grad assistant below Beamer and Bud Foster within the Nineties, after which established himself as a pointy defensive thoughts and dogged recruiter below James Franklin at Vandy after which Penn State. However the outcomes are the outcomes. Pry has received simply 41 % of his video games, whereas Fuente received 58 %.
Much less clear is what Virginia Tech does after it strikes on from Pry.
The Hokies, whether or not they wish to settle for it or not, are firmly within the center class of school soccer. That a lot was made apparent by athletic director Whit Babcock final month in a presentation he gave to the college’s Board of Guests. Babcock stated that to compete on the prime of the ACC, Virginia Tech wants an annual athletic division price range of $200 million — a determine that the Hokies are about $58 million in need of.
“Our assets don’t match our expectations,” Babcock stated in August. “If we don’t radically leap ahead now, we’re doubtless sealing our personal destiny for years and generations to return… I really feel like I’ve been crying wolf and the wolf is actually coming.”
This was Babcock not simply signaling, however firing off flares and fireworks in regards to the kind of existential disaster that Virginia Tech is in with regards to cash for sports activities.
That is the brand new period of school soccer. Funding is essentially the most vital think about constructing a championship program. Gone are the times the place a group might Beamer Ball its manner 25 consecutive successful seasons. Gone are the times the place you can construct a fence round one potent recruiting space — like Virginia’s Tidewater, aka the 757 — and pipeline all of its greatest gamers to your college, abilities that included maybe the best defensive finish of all time in Bruce Smith, a game-changing quarterback in Vick, and an All-Professional and Tremendous Bowl-winning security in Kam Chancellor (that is the place it’s price declaring that Virginia Tech has produced simply 4 first-round NFL Draft picks within the post-Beamer period, with zero of them coming from offensive ability positions).
Merely put, Virginia Tech hasn’t had the cash to get nice gamers on this new period and doesn’t have a coach who is supplied to do-more-with-less.
Regardless of all of the heartbreak, unmet expectations and losses, Virginia Tech followers hold exhibiting as much as Lane Stadium. They hold screaming “Enter Sandman.” They usually hold upholding among the finest atmospheres in all of school soccer.
However because the fanbase grows extra disenchanted with Pry, how lengthy does that final?
Furthermore, can Virginia Tech afford to swing-and-miss on one other soccer rent? If the Hokies miss within the upcoming coach carousel season, will we start to solely bear in mind them for what they was once? Will they journey down the trail of former nationwide champions and contenders turned in has-beens and what-ifs?
When Virginia Tech entered the ACC in 2004, it was seen as one of many convention’s signature soccer manufacturers. Now, 20 years later, it’s getting ready to turning into simply one other middle-of-the-pack group.
