Good morning, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) sports fans – hope you are all doing well. I’m on vacation in Houston, TX right now.
247 Sports recently had a story on Rich Rodiguez, current head coach of the University of Arizona Wildcats. Rodriguez addressed rumors of Virginia Tech’s upcoming head football coach vacancy. David Teel of the Daily Press also addresses the Rodriguez possibilities (and far better than I ever could). That lead to someone asking for my opinion on a potential Rich Rodriguez hire as head football coach at Virginia Tech – here’s what my short and basically only answer on that: 1.) Whit Babcock is way more qualified than me to make the decision on hiring a head football coach and 2.) See #1 if you have any other questions 😉 (Note: Credit to Bleacher Report for the Rodriquez photo)
There are a good number of Virginia Tech Hokies fans that do not like the prospect of Rodriguez coming to Virginia Tech (I do not know how many of these fans are Virginia Tech alumni, how many are donors, and how many of these fans are season ticket holders – but I’m sure some of them are in one or many of these camps). Here’s what I will say about the potential hire of Rodriguez – and let us use real life as an example: If you are a lawyer, a doctor, a chemist, a physicist, an electrician, a teacher, a plumber, an engineer, an accountant, a consultant – or any number of other professions – and you had a chance to hire a prior colleague (and you liked his or her performance during your tenure), would you hire that person? Many people probably hire that person based on his or her past performance and the familiarity with that person. I do not see any difference here.
Whit Babcock worked with Rodriguez at West Virginia University, they have a past working relationship, he probably liked his performance, and it should not be surprising to anyone if he is hired. Lousville Athetic Director, Tom Jurich, worked with head football coach, Bobby Petrino – at Lousville – and Jurich hired Petrino back for the same job. Your past experience with someone can influence your future actions with someone – that is absolutely the case when it relates to employment.
Now, is Rodriquez Is the first person I would call – not my decision (I hold out hope that the 247 Sports story could be true in that other candidates are in the picture, as well – I like Fuente a lot). This is Babcock’s call. I’m sure there will be many Hokie fans that will not like the hire whoever it is – and that is life. I have said before that I really like Babcock and I am sure he has done homework on the hire. And real life sometimes shows that your past working relationships can impact and dictate future hiring decisions. It is important to come in here with a sense realism and reasonableness – maybe the Rodriquez hire does not happen – maybe it does.
And again, please refer to my short answer on this: 1.) Whit Babcock is way more qualified than me to make the decision on hiring a head football coach and 2.) See #1 if you have any other questions 😉
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