It was quite the interesting day on the coaching front for the Virginia Tech football program. To say the least.
Tuesday afternoon, Virginia Tech announced that Justin Fuente had hired Ryan Smith as cornerbacks coach. That move completed Fuente’s 10-man on-field staff after a month of change.
Less than four hours after that move was announced, however, Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports reported that Baylor is targeting Fuente as its next head football coach. In fact, Thamel wrote, Baylor is “planning an in-person interview in the next 24 hours” with Fuente.
News: Baylor is targeting Virginia Tech’s Justin Fuente as next coach and is planning an in person interview in next 24 hours, multiple sources tell @YahooSports. Fuente is considered leading candidate.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 15, 2020
Fuente just completed his fourth season as the Virginia Tech football head coach, coming to Blacksburg from Memphis. During his time at Tech, the Hokies have gone 33-20 overall and 20-12 in ACC play. Twice they’ve finished second in the Coastal Division, including 2019.
Fuente is 1-3 in bowl games at Tech, but is 3-1 vs. rival Virginia. That lone loss came this past season.
Baylor has an opening because Matt Rhule left after three seasons to take the job with the Carolina Panthers.
According to FootballScoop.com, Louisiana’s Billy Napier has already interviewed for the BU job. Pursued by Mississippi State, Napier opted to remain at the Sun Belt Conference school.
The website also noted that LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda and Arkansas State head coach Blake Anderson are candidates. They could also stay in-house with current BU assistant Joey McGuire.