Virginia at VT

[gcdevil22]

Greenberg will be at VT til he chooses to retire...

[Biggin]

i would not count on that.

if he continues to bring in talent and the talent was to underperform, or we get a couple more years where VT is ranked in the preseason and favored to make the tourney and doesnt, he can get the axe.

nobody is above getting fired.

FSU got rid of Bobby Bowden, Phil Fulmer was fired at UT after making the SECT game two years before, etc...nobody is immune

[gcdevil22]

the thing about those 2 schools is that they have the money to go out and hire someone who is a significant upgrade from what they currently had...tell me, who is VT going to get if they decide to fire Greenberg?

you can list any number of up-and-coming coaches you want (an established coach would not want to make this move, and VT definitely doesn't have the money for it) but VT has some serious concerns when it comes to an ability to get athletes to the campus

I don't think it needs to be explained that basketball is an urban game...and urban kids want an urban environment, which Blacksburg will never be mistaken for...the closest "city" is Roanoke and not a single athlete in America outside of VA could tell you where Roanoke is on a map or anything that is there

Furthering the notion that Blacksburg is in the middle of nowhere is the fact that if a player wants to fly into VT for an official visit, they have to fly to Roanoke and be picked up at the airport, then they drive 45-50 minutes to Blacksburg before their OV even begins

You look at places like Manhattan, Kansas (Kansas St) and even they have their own airport that services commercial flights...and they're within 2 hours of Kansas City, and an hour of Topeka

Greenberg knew this when taking the VT job and knew he'd have to bust his butt just to get top level athletes to even consider VT...he has to find them earlier...younger...when no one else knows about them so he can play that card throughout the recruitment...why? because it's all he has in his hand...

he just signed his best class ever at VT (as well as VT's best class in the history of the program) signing 4 players all in the top 100...and they will add another player to this class in the spring signing period

that class can be attributed to 3 things, and that's it:

1) Coach Greenberg's hard work on the recruiting trail and his ability to spot talent at a young age...VT offered Robert Brown, Marquis Rankin and CJ Barksdale before they had offers from any other school...all turned out to be top 100

2) VT's new practice facility that was a tipping point during Greenberg's contract negotiation, and it turned out to be the best investment as after it was built the quality of players VT got to campus was a much higher level than ever before

3) The hiring of ODU assistant Richardson, who recruited Dorian Finney-Smith's brother (Ben Finney) to ODU and single-handedly kept ODU in the race for DF-S until VT hired him away....DF-S is a top 30 prospect and outside Dell Curry, the highest recruited prospect ever to come to VT

so who is VT going to get? They can't afford the Calipari's, Huggins', and Krzyzewski's of the world...if there's a young coach who is burning it up on the recruiting trail he will get snatched up by higher basketball powers...and to most other coaches worth their weight, the location of Blacksburg is a huge red flag

until Greenberg came to VT, VT was a middle-of-the-pack Atlantic 10 team and a bottom feeder in the Big East...but with Greenberg, VT has finished in the top third of the nation's most prestigious basketball conference on multiple occasions and has been named ACC Coach of the Year twice...

he turned down and chance to re-build a power in his hometown when he turned down St. John's...trust me, Weaver knows that the keys of VT's basketball future are firmly in the hands of Coach Greenberg

will VT ever consistently be one of the top teams in the nation? absolutely not, that's just ridiculous, there's way too many factors against VT for that to happen

can VT get lucky (just as 95% of the programs who make it do) and make it to the Final Four in a given year? of course! George Mason, Butler, Georgia Tech and countless others have proven that

[fasmovr]

Hey GC good writeup....We will just have to agree to disagree on Uncle Festus....I still believe he is wearing out his welcome and that was demonstrated by him going off on the Tech radio announcer after the UVA loss. Question for ya.....It was released today that Ben Boggs was transferrring after the end of the semester. It was a mutal decision between coach and player or is it just being portrayed that way. Last year at the end of the season the coach couldnt say enough about his future and now that a couple players have been recruited he cant get off the bench. Is his future a midmajor or what do you hear?

[Biggin]

Greenberg has done a ton for VT basketball.

But if it falls back to the depths of also-rans like they were 8 years ago, why would they not fire him?

Nobody is immune to being fired. If Greenberg tanks the program, he will be shown the door.

I dont think thats what will happen, but its entirely possible.

[gcdevil22]

of course Greenberg isn't immune to being fired...if they go 4-24, of course he'd get canned

but I can tell you with 100% certainty, Jim Weaver is perfectly fine with seasons where VT is around .500...anything above that is extra gravy

what most are missing is that VT has been horrible early on in the season every single year for the past 6 years...but they always put it together later on...they were able to disguise it last year with a cupcake schedule, but their only OOC loss came against Temple in a game where VT looked the worst I have seen them in the 6 years Greenberg had been coaching...eventually they won 10 games in the conference and were on the bubble, and wouldve gotten in had there been 68 teams like there will be this year

take a look at who VT has lost to as well...Kansas St, Purdue, UNLV and UVa
Kansas St and Purdue had been picked by some analysts to be final four teams, UNLV is a fixation in the NCAA tournament and UVa had just beaten a top 15 Minnesota team...the only ones of those games that weren't really close is the Kansas St game @ K-State

they already have a win over Oklahoma State, who is a better OOC win than any they had last year...and winning 10 games in the conference this year isn't as tall of a task as it might seem as the league, 2-12, is down...for anyone to think it's out of the realm of possibility that VT still finishes 2nd or 3rd in the conference, is a little silly on Dec. 8th

fans calling for his head are either misinformed or spoiled

btw, he didn't exactly "go off" on a radio announcer...the 2 are good friends and he has been sick (cancer radiation treatments) so he didn't want to give long-winded answers, so he explained that whatever he would say to explain the troubles would not be understood by Bill Roth (which is 100% truth, the man knows only the basics of basketball)

as for Ben Boggs...it is mutual and there's absolutely no bad blood between the 2...Boggs came to VT as a kid who did everything solid, but nothing great...I coached against him while I was an assistant at Pulaski County and he was an average shooter with average athleticism, above average basketball IQ and average toughness...then his senior year he broke his leg and sat out the whole year...it seemed after that point that his development was stunted and the projection the VT staff had for him was obviously not going to be met

another reason why this makes sense is looking at the scholarship numbers...right now this is VT's roster of scholarship players

Delaney
Hudson
Bell
Allen
Davila
Green
Boggs
Atkins
Eddie
Raines
Chaney
Thompson
Garland

13 players...and that's the limit...now, at the beginning of the year, VT stood to lose 5 players (Delaney, Hudson, Bell, Allen and Thompson) and planned to recruit 5 players to bring in those spots...well, Thompson tore his ACL and will sit out this year but return next fall...which means only 4 are leaving the program...VT already has 4 players signed and would like to bring in a 5th...so you go down VT's roster and look at who hasn't contributed or who might not contribute much in the future and that's where Ben Boggs' name pops up

ahead of him in the guard rotation is Delaney, Hudson, Green, Garland and Atkins...then next year VT brings in top 100 players Marquis Rankin and Robert Brown at the guard spots and it looks like he is a career bench player

he was happy at VT, his sister is the leader of the VT student section for basketball (Cassell Guard/Hollerin' Hokies) and serves as liaison to Coach Greenberg and the basketball staff for that group...Boggs will drop down to a mid-major where his skills can be better utilized

the timing of this doesn't surprise me either, if they allow him to leave this semester, he can enroll somewhere in the Spring and then be eligible in December of next year, instead of having to sit out the whole year

as a matter of fact...we (Akron) are in the process of opening the lines of communication with Boggs to see how he would feel about coming to Akron...Coach Greenberg and Coach Dambrot are really good friends

[fasmovr]

I may be looking thru wahoo glasses but I dont think his response to Roth was as friendly as you are portraying but if it is because of his treatments he is receiving (I wasnt aware) I surely would give him the benefit of the doubt. I just cant understand with Greenburg s competive nature he isnt experimenting with his lineup in game situations and trying to find that offensive spark whether it be Boggs or Green or whomever. I really believe that the loss of JT coming off the bench has hurt them more than anything else. He is the man I cringed at when he would get up with the Cavs leading. Sadly you might be correct on Weaver being satisfied with a 500 season but knowing quite a few donors here in Rke they are getting antsy.

[gcdevil22]

ask your donor friends who they think they have a legitimate shot at buying if they can push Greenberg out...(there's also a pretty big buyout in Greenberg's contract)

I don't think the exchange between Roth and Greenberg was friendly, but it also wasn't malicious and comes from disappointment and, like you said, his competitive nature...he felt he could get away with it without Roth being offended because the 2 work together a lot

side note: I'm not a big fan of Roth...when I worked with VT, I was taking down the goals before a volleyball practice and Roth was waiting on the court for an interview with AD Vassallo and Jeff Allen...they were showering and were taking a pretty long time, but Roth got impatient and fired off this tirade

Roth: "Go tell them their ni**er hair will dry on its own, I got a show to do!"

I had always enjoyed his football broadcasts, but I lost all respect for that guy after that day...