Virginia Tech fired head coach Justin Fuente in what athletic director Whit Babcock labeled as a “mutual agreement to part ways.”
The Hokies are 5-5 this season after beating Duke last week. Virginia Tech opened the season with a win over then-10th-ranked North Carolina and lost by three points to Notre Dame (32-29), which has been ranked in the top 15 all season. The Irish ranked No. 14 when the teams met in October at Lane Stadium.
Babcock said a negotiated buyout of $8.75 million is owed Fuente, whose contract called for a $10 million buyout if fired before Dec. 15.
The change is effective immediately and co-defensive line coach J.C. Price was named interim head coach for the rest of the season.
“We sincerely appreciate the contributions that Coach Fuente made to our football program and the positive impact he made on our student-athletes during his time at Virginia Tech,” Babcock said Tuesday morning. “While it is never easy to make a change, I believe in order for our football program to attain the type of sustained success that is expected at Virginia Tech, the time was right for new leadership of our football program. Virginia Tech is one of the most attractive football jobs in America, competing in one of the nation’s premier conferences, the ACC. I’m extremely confident that we’ll be able to identify and hire a new head coach who can build on our rich history and winning tradition.”
Fuente was 43-31 in six seasons in Blacksburg, which includes a 19-8 record in his first two seasons (24-23 since).
He has a 69-54 overall record in 10 seasons as an FBS head coach having gone 26-23 in four seasons at Memphis.
Price was an All-American defensive tackle at Virginia Tech in 1995 and joined Fuente’s staff this season after nine years as an assistant at Marshall.
–Field Level Media
