Comments on: College football: Ranking Frank Beamer No. 3

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 20:09:55 +0000

I know the Hokies have a bad record against top 5 teams, but most all teams do, otherwise they would not be top 5 !!

By: Brett

Brett — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:51:55 +0000

I’m a proud VT Alum. Frank Beamer consistently gets lower grade talent than the big boys, yet he gets more out of them than any of the “big boy” coaches could ever do. He is a great, great coach. And the last of a dying breed that do things the right way. Every team that has won the national title in the past decade has had major recruiting violations. Not VT. I’m proud of how we do things. However, I am realistic to the fact that the Hokies keep coming close to greatness, but not quite yet. They keep banging on the door, but it won’t break down. Until they win it all and beat a storied program while doing it, they will always be the most consistent team in football that hasn’t won the big one.

By: Ted

Ted — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:17:00 +0000

There’s beamer ball then there’s BIG BOY FOOTBALL…hokies aren’t ready for prime time…had to wait for a matchup with Cinncinnati to finally win a BCS bowl…GL in the acc…lol

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:48:45 +0000

Someone once said of Bear Bryant (paraphrasing)”he can take his team and beat your team then turn around and take your team and beat his team.”

Its a great compliment and the mark of a great coach.
Coach Beamer doesn’t meet that standard. 1-19 is evidence enough.

Beamer apologists will cry he’s a victim of circumstances – VT lacked tradition or VT is remotely located or VT doesn’t have a fertile recruiting base and on and on and on. Sorry, but one excuse is as good as another.

There was no tradition of championships at Florida until Steve Spurrier arrived and dominated the SEC for the next 10 years. Gary Patterson @ TCU doesn’t enjoy the same recruiting advantages as Wisconsin but they went to Pasadena and beat them in the Rose Bowl. And certainly, the coach at Stanford had to deal with admission standards that were much more challenging than Coach Beamer has to deal with, but, that didn’t prevent the Cardinal from putting a whuppin on the Hokies in the Orange Bowl last year.

Noone is saying Coach Beamer isn’t a good coach or even a very good coach – he is. And if the hokie faithful want to call him great (although, that wasn’t the opinions expressed following the loss to James Madison last year) then that’s fine, but, don’t be offended if there’s disagreement because there’s ample room for debate.

By: bob

bob — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 21:09:14 +0000

Randall,

Only a wimp would refer to to a program as thuggish. Thuggish? How about a quiche? Or would that be quiche-ish. Buy a Strunk’s “Elements of Style” and learn how to be express yourself–”like, you know, learn you some facts and sound like an adult.” Frank Beamer will be in the Hall of Fame and you will just be in the hall.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:26:10 +0000

I find it curious that anyone would rank a coach simply by who he’s lost to…especially when there’s only been one game…in any one given year, teams fluctuate with returning starters. Do we want to rank all the coaches Stoops has lost to ahead of him? No, I didn’t think so.

I rank a coach by what he was able to do with what he has to work with. That’s how AD’s evaluate coaches…that’s how Urban Meyer distinguished himself at Utah.

When you consider for a moment that VT has NEVER had a top 10 recruiting class, and is usually rated by Rivals in the 20′s, then see how many teams beat the Hokies on Rivals every year, but then lose on the field or in the polls, you can start to appreciate what he’s accomplished.

VT was an unknown independent in 1991 with zero tradition (1 bowl win in 100 years)…since then he’s taken poor talent to middle of the road talent (think Texas aTm, Missouri type talent), and has gone to 18 straight bowl games, 7 conference championships/BCS appearances, 1 BCS Title appearance, numerous top 10 finishes, and currently has the longest 10 game winning streak (7, soon to be 8) IN THE NATION. Yeah, he’s in the ACC, but so are 11 other teams.

Again, look at the tradition of this program, the talent level of this program, and try to think of ANY coach in the country that is comparable to that….the closest you could come is Bill Snyder and Chip Kelly….lets check on them in 20 years.

By: bill carr

bill carr — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 18:04:46 +0000

BEAMER IS THE BEST COACH PERIOD.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:34:09 +0000

You put Stoops ahead of Joe P?

What a joke.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:56:44 +0000

Sometimes the immaturity of college football fans surprises me. This from a VT alum: The SEC is today the best college football conference, with solid talent top to bottom. Every conference has it’s Duke and Wake Forrest. For the SEC they are UK, Vandy, Ole Miss and Miss St. A couple of dominant teams at the top, some come and go in the middle and those perrenial losers at the bottom, some of whom can still jump up and bite you if you don’t pay attention. However, in this context you’re ranking coaches not recruits and Frank Beamer does it with a fraction of the recruit talent in the top 1/3 of the SEC. Give him the recruits of any of those teams and the NC trophy would have rusted to the pedestal by now. And while we’re being immature, Saban and Meyer are both quitters, Auburn somehow got away with the biggest NCAA violation in history behind perhaps Reggie Bush, Auburn and Tennessee spit on Tubberville and Fulmer and should be ashamed of themselves, Richt really has done nothing (but I’ll give him credit for coming from behind to beat VT when Beamer stupidly took the boot off their throat). Miles is a friggin genius. Anyone who could win with that moron, and I apologize to morons, Jamarcus Russell has got to be a genius.

By: paul

paul — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:48:58 +0000

Talent’s there, that’s not the problem. Defense is solid every year. Offense and the offensive coord in particular is the problem. Beamer’s loyal to a fault. He should’ve replaced Stinespring years ago.