Frank Beamer and Virginia Tech: An incredible run of consistency

Thursday night Virginia Tech defeated North Carolina 24-21. It marked the 8th straight season the Hokies have won 10 games or more. You have to go back to 1992 to find the last time Frank Beamer and Virginia Tech didn’t have a winning season. In the last 8 years the Hokies have not finished outside the top 20 either. It’s not quite the stuff of the late 80s-90s Florida State teams, that went an astonishing 14 straight years of top 5 finishes and 10+ win seasons, but it’s an outstanding run nonetheless. There’s more too.

The Hokies are on the verge of winning their 5th ACC Coastal Division Title in 7 seven years, and could win their 5th ACC Title in 8 years. Not since the previously mentioned Seminole teams has a team so dominated the ACC. It’s time to give the Hokies their due. They are the class of the ACC, and the road to the ACC Title usually runs through Blacksburg, VA. How much longer can the Hokies sustain this?

How about for the foreseeable future? Frank Beamer might be 59, but he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Bud Foster, the Hokies fine defensive coordinator since 1995, may yet leave for a head coaching position but he’s got a pretty good thing going in Blacksburg. RS-Sophomore 6’6 QB Logan Thomas has improved throughout the season will be even better next season.

RB David Wilson is a junior, and if he returns will be on the short list of 2012 Heisman Candidates. Wilson has established himself as the ACC’s best running back. With Miami and North Carolina facing an unknown NCAA future, only a well-coached but talent thin Georgia Tech team stands in the way of another Coastal Division Title next season. There’s is Mike London’s rapidly improving Virginia team, but I’m not ready to name them ACC Contenders just yet.

As I’ve said the Hokies have run through not only the Coastal Division, but the whole ACC in recent years. Clemson certainly seems like a team on the upswing, given the talent coming to Death Valley under coach Dabo Swinney. They also won at Blacksburg earlier this season. Florida State was slightly de-railed earlier this season, but there’s no question Jimbo Fisher will have the Seminoles in the thick of the ACC race for years to come. There are challengers out there, but for now Virginia Tech is still the class of the ACC.