Justin Fuente, virginia tech part ways after 6 years

By Chris Hirons and Carter Hill

Staff Writers

November 16, 2021

BLACKSBURG — Nearly six years to the day it hired Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech announced that the Fuente era was over.

The now former head coach and Director of Athletics Whit Babcock mutually agreed to a new buyout, Virginia Tech announced Tuesday morning. Co-defensive line coach J.C. Price will serve as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

“We sincerely appreciate the contributions that Coach Fuente made to our football program and the positive impact he made on our student-athletes during his time at Virginia Tech,” Babcock said in a press release. “While it is never easy to make a change, I believe in order for our football program to attain the type of sustained success that is expected at Virginia Tech, the time was right for new leadership of our football program.

“Virginia Tech is one of the most attractive football jobs in America, competing in one of the nation’s premier conferences, the ACC,” Babcock continued. “I’m extremely confident that we’ll be able to identify and hire a new head coach who can build on our rich history and winning tradition.”

Fuente, 45, was due for a $10 million buyout if he was let go before Dec. 15, but he and the athletic department re-negotiated it to $8.75 million, which Babcock said in a press conference on Tuesday morning that it would likely be a lump sum instead of quarterly payments like his original contract stated.

“Justin and I meet every Wednesday and we met last week,” Babcock said. “It was at a point in time where I couldn’t tell him, with certainty, that he could be the coach here.”

And at that point, Fuente decided to move on, according to Babcock. The athletic director said that the decision was made yesterday and that a team meeting was held at 7:30 a.m. to let the players know about the situation on Tuesday morning.

VT’s staff, if it's all let go by season’s end, is owed $1.69 million and James Shibest’s $420,000 letter of appointment equates to nearly $11 million, all before hiring a new head coach, according to Andy Bitter of The Athletic.

But Babcock pointed out that Virginia Tech’s athletic budget has jumped from eighth to fourth in the ACC. He also said he believed that his department is in a better position now in terms of fundraising, resources and infrastructure than it was at the start of Fuente’s tenure.

Babcock said in his Tuesday press conference that Fuente could’ve remained Tech’s head coach through the end of the season. But when it was inevitable that a divorce was coming, Fuente declined to return for the final two games.

So why was Price the choice over defensive coordinator Justin Hamilton or special teams coordinator James Shibest to serve in the interim?

"I just felt like he was the best. He played here, it's his school and I believe in him," Babcock said.

Fuente compiled a 43-31 record in six seasons at Tech, while playing in four bowl games. The Hokies are 5-5 this season, climbing as high as No. 15 in the AP Poll after beating then-No. 10 North Carolina and starting the season 2-0. They would then go on to lose five of their next seven games, three of which were one score losses.

A 48-17 win over Duke on Saturday, however, brought the Hokies back to .500 and put them needing one more win to become bowl eligible with games against Miami and Virginia left on the schedule.

In his first two seasons, Tech went 19-8 and won 10 games and won the ACC Coastal Division in his first year at the helm in 2016, where he was named ACC Coach of the Year.

But since, the Hokies are 24-23 and 10-11 over the past two seasons and haven’t been ranked higher than No. 12 in the AP Poll.

He was hired in 2016, replacing legend Frank Beamer, who was the head man from 1987-2015, leading them to a National Championship berth in 1999 and seven conference championships.

This is a developing story and will continue to be updated.