You know how much of a Hokie he is: Virginia Tech breaks down Justin Fuentes brief flirtati

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Coaching searches aren’t much fun, Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock plainly admits, and the prospect of one after Justin Fuente’s interview with Baylor officials this week didn’t do much to alleviate stress levels. In fact, Babcock had a physical coming up and his blood pressure was a little high, so he’ll have to go back.

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But in the end, after meeting with Babcock late Wednesday night, Fuente decided to remove his name from consideration in the Baylor search and stay at Virginia Tech, a weight off Babcock’s shoulders with the Hokies already going through a big enough transition period as it is.

It’s unclear if Fuente was ever actually the leading candidate or reached a serious stage of talks with Baylor, which was finalizing a deal Thursday with LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda to be its head coach, though it does not appear that this was a leverage play.

Babcock said Fuente’s contract will not change. No additional money was sought for assistant salaries nor were there new discussions about getting a larger support staff. Babcock and Fuente had already had conversations about resources dating back two weeks, before the Baylor job was even open.

Granted, saying all this might simply be a face-saving move. What other kind is there if your coach has an open flirtation with another job like this and decides to stay? But Babcock still believes he has the right coach in Blacksburg — and, despite this recent dalliance elsewhere, one that wants to be here.

“I believe that he really wanted to be a Hokie, guys,” Babcock said in a teleconference with reporters Thursday afternoon, noting that he didn’t see the interview as “disloyalty.”

“Somebody (Fuente) from that neck of the woods … they’re (Baylor) going to come to your house and they’re going to talk to you. You might let them do that too… So yeah, he was straight up in my book and no problem whatsoever with it. In fact, I think it shows even bigger commitment on his part. He’s not Frank Beamer and he’s not Bud Foster and we don’t want him to be, so he’s a little more private than most. But when you know the Justin that I know, you know how much of a Hokie he is and how much he fits.”

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Fuente opted not to address the media — and through it, Virginia Tech fans — to speak about the situation, perhaps a miscalculation for a coach who’s been criticized for being closed-off from the people who cheer for his team. He told Babcock he preferred to simply go to work today, meeting with coaches and other staff ahead of what’s not only a recruiting weekend, but the last one before the team reconvenes for the start of the spring semester next week.

“He’s a little bit more (of a) private person, and I’m very confident (that) what I’ve shared with y’all is accurate and he’d be comfortable with,” Babcock said.

As for the notion that Fuente lost some cachet with the fan base after his flirtation elsewhere, putting additional pressure on a 2020 season that already had some high expectations to begin with, Babcock disagreed.

“I don’t think it puts added pressure on him at all,” he said.

Babcock shared with the media his understanding of the timeline in the Baylor talks. On Tuesday, Fuente told Babcock that Baylor officials had been in contact with him about the coaching position vacated by Matt Rhule, who left to be the head coach of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. Baylor brass met with Fuente on Wednesday, coming to Blacksburg (or near it) to speak to him about the job.

Fuente told Babcock when that meeting concluded and the two met at Fuente’s house Wednesday night. Thursday morning, Fuente called Babcock to tell him he’d informed Baylor that he was not interested in being its head coach.

Babcock was never contacted by Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades (“I was a little surprised by that,” he said) and had no knowledge about whether or not Fuente was ever extended an offer for the job.

“I did not know with certainty (he’d stay), but I felt after talking with him last night that his heart was at Virginia Tech,” Babcock said. “And to his credit, he didn’t drag it out, leverage it. I guess it’s just tough to keep searches quiet when you go on the road and go visit coaches.”

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Babcock said Baylor is the first of numerous job opportunities Fuente’s had since coming to Virginia Tech that Fuente has listened to, and thus didn’t see this as a leverage play but rather as legitimate interest. Babcock has twice extended/enhanced Fuente’s contract since he was originally hired late in 2015 (in April 2017 and January 2018), though he said there were no contractual adjustments in the discussion this time.

“We have just committed to keep doing what we have been doing,” Babcock said. “There’s been a lot of jobs (offers) since he’s been here — numerous, numerous jobs — that when they have called, he has just simply turned down. Baylor is the first one he’s listened to. I would like you guys and our fans to know the difference between interviewing for a job versus letting someone come talk to you. Justin is from out that way; he’s spent a lot of time in the Big 12. Of course, you never love it when your coach is talking to other people, but he has turned down a number of other opportunities, a lot of money, and his loyalty is probably not as widely known as it should be.”

Any discussion about assistant salaries and resource allocation within the football program had been addressed previously.

“We did touch on that, but he and I had already touched on a lot of that when we had an end of the year visit,” Babcock said. “We certainly want to focus on the general operating budget, recruiting … the facilities are certainly coming along, but there were no demands or leverage. We talked strategically about wise positions to add and where we wanted to invest some infrastructure money, but that wasn’t a negotiating point or part of the last couple days.”

Babcock was not sure if, going forward, there will be a role similar to the one Jerry Kill had, as special assistant to the head coach. Kill is off to join old friend Gary Patterson in a similar advisor position at TCU. New Hokies chief of staff and football operations Kevin Cristello will pick up some of the role Kill vacated.

“We have talked about (it) — with Justin looking at all of the support staff, the entire recruiting staff — looking at Jerry’s position, his salary, what do we want to add, any recruiting positions we want to add, and then use all of that money as a puzzle and then fit it together,” Babcock said.

While it’s impossible to tell if there’s damage done to Fuente’s reputation among some of the fans, all in all, a stressful 36 hours for Hokies fans ends with the status quo essentially remaining in place, even if there are a few frayed nerves along the way in what could only be described as extremely awkward timing, right after Fuente had filled out a coaching staff.

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“As far as the timing during the year, there’s never good timing,” Babcock said. “Nothing surprises me anymore, but it would have been a very difficult time to reboot, to get in the hiring season, to recruiting classes and all that. I’ve been committed — we’ve been committed — to Justin, and that hasn’t wavered.”

(Photo of Justin Fuente: Michael Shroyer / Getty Images)

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