Sometimes when hires are made they look like they simply can’t miss. Everything on paper looks like a match. The first couple of years make it seem like that a particular program is going to keep rising into national relevance, and then a few years later the wheels appear to come off.
With Virginia Tech’s football Justin Fuente, it’s been a roller coaster tenure. Coming from Memphis where he inherited a mess of a program, he won 19 games his last two years there. In his first two years at Virginia Tech he injected energy and wins into a football program that had grown stale at the end of the Frank Beamer era. Following two top 25 seasons, with 19 wins the Virginia Tech seemed set to take off.
It didn’t – as a rash of chemistry issues and losses added up. He’s barely averaged 6 wins the last 3 years, and the hotseat is on the horizon if not already there.
At Clemson, where baseball matters, Monte Lee is the ACC baseball version Justin Fuente. He turned College of Charleston into a high quality program getting to a Super Regional in 2014, and making 4 NCAA Tournaments in 7 years. With Clemson baseball itself growing stale under longtime coach Jack Leggett, Lee looked like great hire.
Right out of the gate he won the ACC in 2016, and was a national top 16 seed his first 3 years. They were good results, but failing to reach the super regionals in any of those years were signs something might be amiss.
2019 saw only 35 wins. 2020 was the COVID pause, and this year the wheels fell off completely.
Barring a miracle ACC Tournament run, at 24-26 (16-20) Clemson is staring at their first losing season in baseball since 1957. Clemson ranks near the bottom of the ACC in batting, a pedestrian 7th in pitching, and near the bottom of the ACC in fielding at 11th.
Is Clemson better now than when Lee arrived? Clearly the answer is no after an early spike. Clemson has a rich tradition in baseball, and it might time for the Tigers to think about other options especially if Lee struggles again next year. I expect he’ll be back in 2022, but like Fuente in this upcoming season it’s time to show their programs are moving forward and not going in reverse.
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