Justin Fuente Must Have a Much Improved Season

Good evening, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) sports fans. 

Below – you’ll see a really good tweet from Joe Giglio of @WRALSportsFan:

The ACC order for 2020, for total compensation for football coaches, via @usatodaysports pic.twitter.com/pqbdgU3bgC

— Joe Giglio (@giglio_OG) April 17, 2021

I didn’t know this, but apparently Justin Fuente is the second highest paid ACC football coach.

Let’s take a look at Virginia Tech Football’s Graduate Success Rate (formerly Academic Progress Rate).  By all accounts, it’s pretty good.  The Graduation Success Rate (GSR), though, is a longitudinal study based on prior year cohorts of data (Source – NCAA).  

None of the students in the current GSR data were players during Fuente’s tenure.  We have every indication, though, that current Virginia Tech football players are graduating from school and that does count a lot (I think Virginia Tech football players are graduating at the same rate or better).  Data is not available yet for the Fuente cohorts, but, as I said, I’m sure there are similar results.   

However, let’s take a look at Fuente’s results on the football field:

The trend as you can see is not really that good.  

Fuente has one bowl win during his tenure as Virginia Tech head football coach.  

Fuente does not have an easy 2021 football schedule this year.  

• North Carolina is shaping up to be the second best ACC football team – that’s hard to get a team like that as your first game.  
• Notre Dame is coming to Blacksburg.  Enough said. 
• Road games against improving Boston College and Georgia Tech.  
• Miami on the road is treacherous.  With road games at Virginia and West Virginia, the Hokies basically have their three rival games on the road.  
• By the way, Richmond is absolutely no slouch.  Virginia Tech best not look ahead to Notre Dame. 

Best case, it’s looking to me like Virginia Tech will be 8-4.  Worst case, it looks like 5-7. 

I think the pressure is on – it’s the most important football season Justin Fuente will have in quite some time.  Coaches Hot Seat has Fuente as the 6th hottest seat in the USA.

Fuente is the second highest paid football coach in the ACC.  Results can’t trend down for 2021.  In 2020, Virginia Tech had it’s worst season in 30 years.  Yes, circumstances were difficult – we are pandemic after all.  But Virginia Tech can’t have another losing season in 2021.   

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