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Va Tech: Greenburg fired, Clemson asst James Johnson hired

Well... I guess I'll chime in.

I haven't followed the team at all since I left Blacksburg... but in my four years there, I attended quite a few games and kept up with the team the best I could (and, I think, I mostly did so from an unbiased perspective since my primary 'fandom' never shifted from WF).

Seth was a whiner on the sidelines. He was guilty of acting very K-ish (especially in meaningful games) with the officials, and as much as I hate K... Greenberg certainly never earned the right (through success) to act entitled.

Outside of that... I really don't have much negative to say about the guy. Everything I personally experienced was in the 2006-2010 window; but looking back and reading about VT bball history, being a perennial 'NCAAT-bubble team' seems to be leaps and bounds past where VT had historically fallen in basketball hierarchy. Recruiting the past couple of years has been off-the-charts on the VT-scale & outside of Jeff Allen (who even Greenberg despised), his teams were generally comprised of solid (easy to root for) guys. With the exception of Allen, Greenberg seemed to bring higher caliber individuals than another (unnamed) big-time revenue sport in Blacksburg.

His teams were fun to watch & he (as far as I know) was about as active as a NCAAB coach could be in interacting with and engaging the student body to generate excitement for the program. He was a very visible figure and dedicated a lot of time (outside of his normal responsibilities) to the school. He hosted 'chalk-talks' in the dining halls, wrote countless 'letters to the editor' in the CT (VT student paper) about both basketball and non-basketball topics, and even paid for student tickets to NIT games so that they would support the team & hopefully boost the program to the big dance in future years. In short, in this regard... I get the feeling that Greenberg is everything that [Redacted] isn't. Its what made me appreciate him as a coach & as a part of the university (especially in hindsight).

Maybe I'm jaded by seeing the direction we have gone with [Redacted], but the timing of this move is similar (and even later in the game) & some elements of the story make me see a lot of correlations in Weaver's move today and Wellman's move in '10.

I hope Weaver knows something the fan-base doesn't & there's more to this story than meets the eye.
 
Weaver is gonna struggle to make a hire here because every potential candidate will know weaver has at best a few years left in charge
 
Strickland33 said:
Letters of intent are really screwed up... Can a 17-year-old even sign a letter of intent and have it be binding? Do they make guardians sign, as well?
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If under 18 parents have to sign it too. Otherwise any LOI signed by someone under 18 would be unenforceable.
 
I have read stuff from a number of people thinking Shaka is a real possibility (and one person even claiming that he's taking a meeting with Weaver in the next day)... I'll be absolutely shocked if Shaka is even considering the job.

He has had some pretty fantastic opportunities in the past year to move on to programs with (much, much) more historic success and prestige than anything VT's basketball history could bring to the table. It would be an extremely risky (and almost baffling) move for him. If Shaka took a top-tier job & ultimately failed to deliver, he could presumably settle back into a VCU-type job afterwards. If he made the leap to Blacksburg (a lateral, or even backwards, step based on VCU's recent success and the state of the ACC) & it didn't work out... I don't believe the market-value of a failed Virginia Tech basketball coach is exactly that high. With all that said (and its hard to admit since I'm, as I've explained, a huge Greenberg-supporter)... If Weaver has any realistic chance of nabbing Shaka; I cannot fault him for rolling the dice. I believe that Shaka is a once-in-a-generation type talent (and, on top of that, a fantastic representative of any school he's coaching for) & that type of hire would immediately add a lot of legitimacy and excitement to the VT program.

I'd be irate & hate Ron Wellman (for his handing of the Bz-trainwreck) even more if this actually happened. Nobody's going to be able to convince me that VT could lure a bball coach that WF couldn't.
 
vtwhat etc said:
I'd be irate & hate Ron Wellman (for his handing of the Bz-trainwreck) even more if this actually happened. Nobody's going to be able to convince me that VT could lure a bball coach that WF couldn't.
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I'm still a Wellman fanboy but that happening would make me take more than a little bit of double take on the WF situation.
 
PhDeac said:
That's what Greenberg was when VT hired him. Seth was 108-100 in 7 seasons at USF with two NIT appearances and no wins. He's been living on borrowed time for awhile. They need to go with a well-regarded assistant instead of a retread.
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Going to be hard to get anybody there unless they let go of the purse strings. They are a football only school and only pay lip service to basketball, similar to Clemson, Miami, South Carolina and many SEC schools. Their job is a lot like our basketball jobs--both men's & women's except our men have had some really good success at times [ see GDO years in the 90's ] and been bottom feeders many other years [ see Staak, end of Prosser & now].
 
Assistants and low-major coaches don't require lot of pursestrings.
 
TheReff said:
Going to be hard to get anybody there unless they let go of the purse strings. They are a football only school and only pay lip service to basketball, similar to Clemson, Miami, South Carolina and many SEC schools. Their job is a lot like our basketball jobs--both men's & women's except our men have had some really good success at times [ see GDO years in the 90's ] and been bottom feeders many other years [ see Staak, end of Prosser & now].
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lol

Please stop.
 
TheReff said:
Going to be hard to get anybody there unless they let go of the purse strings. They are a football only school and only pay lip service to basketball, similar to Clemson, Miami, South Carolina and many SEC schools. Their job is a lot like our basketball jobs--both men's & women's except our men have had some really good success at times [ see GDO years in the 90's ] and been bottom feeders many other years [ see Staak, end of Prosser & now].
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I can't decide if you have to work to sink to this level or you're just naturally talented.
 
I thought Weaver's comment that the termination was less about wins/losses and NCAA bids, and more about family atmosphere and the basketball program not fitting in the overall athletic department relationship he strives to foster were quite interesting. Did the desire to change basketball coaches really hit him as he led an athletic department workshop that Seth didnt attend? Sounds like a culture issue to me!
 
BabyDeac75 said:
I thought Weaver's comment that the termination was less about wins/losses and NCAA bids, and more about family atmosphere and the basketball program not fitting in the overall athletic department relationship he strives to foster were quite interesting. Did the desire to change basketball coaches really hit him as he led an athletic department workshop that Seth didnt attend? Sounds like a culture issue to me!
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Sounds more like: "I just really didn't like the guy and had to find a reason to get rid of him."

Frankly, they probably had good enough reason based on performance, if their measuring stick is NCAA appearances. But, some cannot resist.
 
He was apparently a total asshole to everyone in the athletic department. He expected to receive the same level of recognition as Beamer.
 
deacz said:
Sounds more like: "I just really didn't like the guy and had to find a reason to get rid of him."

Frankly, they probably had good enough reason based on performance, if their measuring stick is NCAA appearances. But, some cannot resist.
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Maybe being in the ACC raised the bar in terms of expectations... but here's something that is a bit eye-opening when it comes to VT's performance in the past couple of decades: I was born in 1988. In the 15 years between then & 2003 (when Greenberg was hired), VT made 2 post-season appearances ('95 NIT, '96 NCAAT). Since 2004, VT has made 6 post-season appearances (5 NIT's and 1 NCAAT).

In terms of performance... Greenberg made an irrelevant program somewhat relevant (at least on selection Sundays). I don't think the ACC-affiliation has much to do with that turn-a-round, but my guess is as good as yours.

I think a lot of people in Blacksburg think that Greenberg's ceiling has been reached... I think most in that camp are forgetting that, despite it being a low-ceiling on the first floor of the proverbial building... Historically, VT BBall's floor is somewhere between the cellar and the inner-crust of the earth (see: [Redacted] Zone).
 
I think VT became a much more attractive destination for basketball recruits when it joined the ACC.
 
TBR said:
I think VT became a much more attractive destination for basketball recruits when it joined the ACC.
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That was part of the rationale for not letting them in.
 
PhDeac said:
That was part of the rationale for not letting them in.
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Eh, Wake should still be a significantly more attractive option. Clemson should be the one hurting.
 
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