Blasphemy

A source close to Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster confirmed about an hour ago Foster interviewed today for Pittsburgh's vacant head football coach position.

via: Norm Wood

Sound the alarm, blow the air horn, ding the gong because the apocalypse is nearing in Blacksburg. At any moment, the new Chipotle will inexplicably combust. Woody's will reopen putting Sharkeys out of business while simultaneously sucking all the attractive coeds out of any other tolerable bar and filling Main Street with loud, irritating music. Slusher Tower will become all male.

After the Stanford loss I wrote how our program has become stale, content and comfortable with winning 10 plus games a season. As of late, a good portion of the chatter on the Twitter, boards and blogs has been conjuring up hypothetical coaching changes; Stinespring to associate head coach/offensive line, hire the Fridge or Kevin Rodgers as offensive coordinator, poach Shane Beamer from South Carolina as recruiting coordinator and hope that a couple of coaches decide to call it quits. See I can play too. However, my scenario, just like your's isn't going to happen unless Beamer is not the catalyst. That is to stay the Frankinator isn't going to make any staff changes unless a coach retires, resigns or takes another job.

Were Bud to leave, not only would he take his lunch pail philosophy and results, but he would inadvertently snatch away Tech's security blanket. Foster is an elite defensive mind, statistics easily prove that. From 2004-09 Foster led units that ranked in the top 10 of scoring (2nd, 2nd, 1st, 3rd, 9th, 9th). 2010 was a so-called rebuilding year and, relative to his past success, there was a slight drop off in production–15th.

Is he too good though?

In the 94 games Tech has played since 2004 Foster has held teams to 14 points or less an astonishing 52 times, all wins except for the 2007 10-14 loss to Boston College. In that same stretch teams have scored more than 28 points on us just 12 times.

In the table above it's no surprise to me in that we won three of the four games in which we scored more than 28 points. In fact, we're 47-1 since '04 when scoring more than 28 points. Think back to the losses above and what do you remember? I recall a lot of no-shows and incomplete performances from the offense. Whether that's poor play calling, lack of execution or lackluster performance by the offensive line. The table below has every close game, within 7 points or less, since '04. Scan that list too, look at those losses and a good portion of the wins and you'll remember more of the same. That's not to say Foster or his defense's are infallible. Boise State, Stanford and LSU all had his number, but in my mind the successes outweigh the failures.

It should come as no surprise that we've played most of our "big", more anticipated games close. Controlling the clock by running the football, playing stingy defense and executing flawlessly on special teams is the philosophy of Virginia Tech football, and like any organization's strategy, it comes from the top. And it's easy for Frank Beamer to rely on such a conservative gameplan when he has Bud Foster to count on.

I hope Bud Foster is the next Pittsburgh coach.

First things first, the man has earned the job (see: above). With what he's done on the field it's incomprehensible to me how he hasn't been given the opportunity to lead a BCS school.

It's also an opportunity for things to shake up and in the process change the program's ideology and thinking for the better, or possibly worse; change is uncertain. If you're still reading this you're most likely really uncomfortable. You've probably already thought about how would it be possible to move on without Bud, or how we would replace him. I don't know the answers, but I do know Bud Foster is irreplaceable. I also feel dirty reasoning with "cutoff the arm to save the body" logic, but that's where we are at as a program right now. In a perfect world of sunshine and lollipops changes would happen to serve the better good and would be based on results, but the brass is satisfied with achieving ancillary goals. If you're uncomfortable, just imagine the new pressure those who are under performing would feel without their rock. If we want change, this may be the only way we get it and it's a disgusting thought.