The Virginia Tech Hokies don’t have the financial means to make Shane Beamer the next head football coach, according to The Athletic’s Manny Navarro. Instead, a hire from the Group of Five ranks is the most likely course of action in Blacksburg.
Only, it won’t be Alex Golesh, the sport’s hottest rising star, who’s led the USF Bulls to victories over ranked Boise State Broncos and Florida Gators squads through the first two weeks of the season.
“The obvious dream scenario for the Hokies would be to pluck 2024 SEC Coach of the Year Shane Beamer from South Carolina. He’s making $8.15 million this season with $100,000 annual raises through 2030, and he’d owe South Carolina $5 million if he leaves. Does Virginia Tech have a secret billionaire ready to provide Beamer — a Tech alum and the son of the most successful coach in program history — with what he’s making in Columbia? Probably not,” Navarro wrote.
“The more affordable option would be to hire a hot up-and-coming P4 coordinator or rising head coach at the G5 level. When you look at the P4 programs that have made a big jump over the last year, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti (G5 head coach), Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham (P4 coordinator) and Syracuse’s Fran Brown (P4 assistant) come to mind as examples.
“Who could be the next Cignetti? South Florida’s Alex Golesh, 41, is off to a promising start in Year 3. But he figures to be on an SEC/Big Ten vacancy short list, especially if USF keeps upsetting top-25 teams.”
Unfortunately, Virginia Tech hasn’t been anywhere close to the NIL spenders they’d need to be to land a Beamer or Golesh.
Beamer has built something sustainable in South Carolina, and Golesh can probably do better than a middling ACC program during the next hiring cycle. The UF job may be available given Billy Napier’s performance, and Golesh already has local connections. Both would be logical candidates for that role, and other SEC jobs can open up if the Alabama Crimson Tide finally calls it quits with Kalen DeBoer.
That puts the Hokies at the back of the line for any top candidate until further notice.