After six rounds of player selections, we are on to the head coach round in the All-Time Virginia Tech Basketball Draft.
Now the coach round is one of the more fascinating ones with some coaches being obvious choices while a couple others that were selected likely to surprise some Hokie fans. Of note, all four coaches are from after 1975 with a pair of coaches being from the 21st Century.
With that said, here's our head coach round of the All-Time Virginia Tech Basketball Draft.
25. Team Tim: Buzz Williams
Buzz Williams may have only been at Virginia Tech for five seasons, but he did one of the most impressive coaching jobs in the sport during the 2010s turning an underfunded, ACC bottom feeder at a time when the ACC was as strong as ever to one that made three-straight NCAA Tournaments for the first time ever including a Sweet 16 run and a 26-9 record in his final season.
Men's basketball had started to become an afterthought in Blacksburg starting at the end of the Seth Greenberg era and going through the two rough years of the James Johnson era. Williams' first team struggled but once the Hokies found their stride in year 2, they never looked back with four-straight 20+ winning seasons that included at least 10 ACC wins including a 12-6 ACC record in his final season.
Williams not only turned around the basketball program and took it to higher levels than previously seen, but he also transformed the culture both of the program and of the fans with their support of it. More importantly, Williams also left the structural and financial foundation that has VT basketball ready to win at the standard that Buzz Williams established in Blacksburg.
While there have been coaches with longer successful tenures, there has never been anyone that has had the consistent level of success like Buzz Williams had at VT, and there is no greater coach that VT has had than Williams.
26. Team Robert: Mike Young
When it comes to my decision to select Mike Young as my coach, recency bias did not lead me this way. However, the bias that did lead me was my bias as a fellow Radford High School alum.
We Radford Bobcats are truly one of a kind, and we know what it takes to win. As one of my former teachers once proclaimed, we don’t hang district or region championship banners in our gym; we only hang State Championship banners (and by the way, we’re running out of space).
Young has proven these points with his coaching career. His tenure at Wofford was truly legendary, as he took them from a middling Division II program all the way to a regular participant in the NCAA Tournament. Once Wofford made the jump to Division I, Young led them to five NCAA Tournament appearances in ten years.
He has begun laying the foundations for a similar run at VT, making waves both in recruiting and on-court coaching. In recruiting, he has made an impact by signing Jalen Cone, Hunter Cattoor, Nahiem Alleyne, and John Ojiako after taking over in April, as well as signing the 26th ranked 2020 recruiting class and grad transfers Cartier Diarra and Cordell Pemsl.
On the court, Young led an extremely inexperienced roster to a respectable first season, going 16-16 with a headline win over then #3 Michigan State in the Maui Invitational.
Young is a great coach, and his system will suit my roster well. He enjoys having one or two players in position to attack the basket (a role filled by Blackshear, Bristow, or Coles) with every other player in position to catch and shoot a three (any of my players could fill this role).
With Young at the helm, my team is certainly the best of the group. Not only is my team filled with talent, but the make-up is also logical and covers every base.
Team Robert is clearly the team most deserving of your vote.
27. Team David: Bill Foster
Hired in 1991 to replace Frankie Allen, Bill Foster gradually turned the Tech basketball program around. The Hokies won the NIT in his fourth season and advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Second Round in his fifth season with Foster becoming a fan favorite.
Though he only coached one more season after that tournament appearance, he gave Hokie fans a glimpse of what basketball in Blacksburg could be. A cool note – he holds the record for most amount of wins in two consecutive seasons for the Hokies, winning 48 games between 1994-96 – one ahead of Seth Greenberg’s total from 2009-11 and Buzz Williams’ total from 2017-19.
28. Team Grant: Charlie Moir
Since I got the unlucky draw of picking fourth in the coach round, I expected to get the short end of the stick. On the contrary, I was ecstatic that Charles Moir fell all the way to me. He is at least the third if not second best coach in Hokies’ history.
As far as best resume over a career, he probably takes the cake. Over his 11 seasons in Blacksburg, he took the Hokies to four NCAA Tournaments and four NIT Tournaments. He boasts a 213-119 all time record with Virginia Tech, and he was the first coach to see consistent success on a national scale in Blacksburg. I am thrilled to have him lead my All-Time team.
There you have it, the All-Time Virginia Tech Basketball Draft is officially in the books. We'll be running a poll where you can pick which is the greatest All-Time Virginia Tech Basketball Draft with the winner's charity receiving $250 and everyone else's receiving $100. Check out the full details here.
