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Big East Expansion

I think Dave learned a lot of things from his move to Tennessee and he'll be pretty discerning about where he goes next. And i do believe he has one more, big move left in him.

Not to knock 712 or any other Hokie friends - of which i have many - but i think there' s a pretty big difference between perception and reality of their football program.

Their big plus is a great fanbase that will travel to support their team. They have a few downsides, notably: high-expectations/shallow(er) pockets/average BCS facilities/not close to a metropolitan area.

I think a guy like Dave would remember his Tennessee experience and weigh the plusses and minuses of Tech and look elsewhere.

I'd like to see James Franklin leave PSU for USC and have Dave replace him in Happy Valley.
You are so correct about the Virginia Tech fanbase. They are so unrealistic and think they are Alabama. From 04-11, they won 4 ACC titles, and 10 games or more 8 years in a row, but the result was firing coaches and "trying something new". They stopped recruiting Virginia, thought they could load up with talent elsewhere, and keep up with the big boys nationally. LOL. The result is bad talent and bad coaching, and a program currently in disarray. I agree. Clawson should and would look elsewhere.
 
& obviously he’d take those jobs but the other thing to consider re: VA Tech is Clawson’s M.O. (2.0) has always been to take rebuild type jobs - Fordham Richmond Bgsu wake even TN. Like Beilein I think he’s drawn in a way to them. Whatever happens the iron might not ever be hotter given his age & where Wake could potentially finish.

This is a great point that i thought about too. These programs might not be 'broken enough' for Dave. What's the most 'broken' P5 account right now?

Prospective programs will need to reconcile about Dave is that it takes him 3 years to really get a program humming. There are a lot of fanbases that don't have the patience for this. And Dave knows this.
 
Northwestern? Vanderbilt? Stanford? Those are the kinds of schools that he could look at as good fits in better leagues, though I think a couple of them have relatively new coaches but am too lazy to check.
 
Northwestern? Vanderbilt? Stanford? Those are the kinds of schools that he could look at as good fits in better leagues, though I think a couple of them have relatively new coaches but am too lazy to check.

Yea, those would be the easy ones since they are the other P5 Private Schools. I think Dave can (and has) get Wake onto the same level as Vandy and NW. Stanford might be a heck of a move if David Shaw ever leaves Stanford.

Purdue is a school that would be a perfect fit for Dave but i think they are in pretty good shape at the moment with Jeff Brohm.
 
You are so correct about the Virginia Tech fanbase. They are so unrealistic and think they are Alabama. From 04-11, they won 4 ACC titles, and 10 games or more 8 years in a row, but the result was firing coaches and "trying something new". They stopped recruiting Virginia, thought they could load up with talent elsewhere, and keep up with the big boys nationally. LOL. The result is bad talent and bad coaching, and a program currently in disarray. I agree. Clawson should and would look elsewhere.
The thing is that the right guy can fix it and bring Tech back to relevance. Fuente is who started ignoring VA talent in recruiting, he doesn’t have any regional ties and tried to load up on kids from Texas which is never gonna work. He also always talks about wanting to be the best developmental program in the country, while he hasn’t developed anyone that he brought in. I think Clawson checks all the boxes to fix VT. He has regional ties and knows the recruiting landscape in VA but the biggest thing to me is that he might be the BEST developmental coach in the country. You have to develop guys at a school like wake and the results there speak for themselves. Tech also isn’t gonna kill it in recruiting every year and needs to be able to develop a good amount of kids, not to the extent of wake but they still need to do it well. Tech is in a very winnable division of the ACC and at minimum should be winning the coastal every two years. Once you do that you have to play Clemson in the title game but you get yourself there enough and you can eventually take them down. Clawson is the right guy for the job.
 
That post is why Clawson would want no part of Virginia Tech. Win the every two years at a minimum? So, if he does it one out of three, he gets run out of town? Duke is Duke, but the other five schools in the Coastal are right there with Virginia Tech. They are all pretty even, which is why seven different teams have won the Coastal the last 7 years. What makes Virginia Tech so much above Miami, Pitt, GT, UNC, and UVA that they should win the Coastal a minimum every 2 years? This is exactly what I mentioned earlier. Virginia Tech fans think they are Alabama. It's hilarious.
 
That post is why Clawson would want no part of Virginia Tech. Win the every two years at a minimum? So, if he does it one out of three, he gets run out of town? Duke is Duke, but the other five schools in the Coastal are right there with Virginia Tech. They are all pretty even, which is why seven different teams have won the Coastal the last 7 years. What makes Virginia Tech so much above Miami, Pitt, GT, UNC, and UVA that they should win the Coastal a minimum every 2 years? This is exactly what I mentioned earlier. Virginia Tech fans think they are Alabama. It's hilarious.
We do have some fans like that but I know our limits. I’ll tell you right now why we can and should win the coastal over all those programs; Miami can’t seem to get it together, they should be the beast of that Division but have won it once since joining the acc. Pitt doesn’t have a ton of fan support and is wildly inconsistent from year to year. GT could become a monster because their new coach is recruiting the atlanta area very hard but they still have limitations admissions wise. UNC doesn’t actually care about football and after mack brown retires I’m not sure we’ll see any kind of consistency out of them. And uva is uva, need I say more? Also their head coach is a flipping weirdo. The coastal will likely stay the way it is unless miami ever starts being the program they should be. Clawson should be licking his chops looking at that kind of a division.
 
Tech stopped winning recruiting battles in Virginia when it let go of Jim Cavanaugh without a capable replacement. He signed all their top recruits from this state for years. No surprise that they fell off there afterwards.
 
Tech stopped winning recruiting battles in Virginia when it let go of Jim Cavanaugh without a capable replacement. He signed all their top recruits from this state for years. No surprise that they fell off there afterwards.
There has been plenty of talk about Tech hiring Loren Johnson from highland springs to the staff mainly for recruiting. He is a former all conference safety for Tech in the 90’s. Rumor is that he doesn’t get along with Fuente which would make sense because hardly any highland springs guys end up at Tech now. A new coach could get a guy like LJ on board for recruiting purposes.
 
Haha ya. Big East football is coming back. Heard Ur might get the invite too. Vcu is even starting up a football team to get in on the action.
 
There has been plenty of talk about Tech hiring Loren Johnson from highland springs to the staff mainly for recruiting. He is a former all conference safety for Tech in the 90’s. Rumor is that he doesn’t get along with Fuente which would make sense because hardly any highland springs guys end up at Tech now. A new coach could get a guy like LJ on board for recruiting purposes.
Would be the kind of hire they need. Cavanaugh and the former AD at Highland Springs were buddies going way back. Sure didn't hurt as far as the HS-to-VT pipeline was concerned. Cavanaugh had similar relationships with a ton of other ADs around the state. And once he signed Vick, of course it opened up more opportunities.
 
Why are we talking about clawson and VT on this thread...pls create a new one.
 
I'd like to see James Franklin leave PSU for USC and have Dave replace him in Happy Valley.
Hold up here. Your hitting my other team ow I like Franklin at PSU. He is fantastic recruiter and leader. His game day coaching had some off moments. I don't see him going anywhere. Penn State is a better job than USC too.

As far a Dave at Penn State, there are very few jobs in the country with the fan base driven expectations than Penn State. Just look at the above comments, Franklin has Penn State a perennial Top 10 program and yet a fair portion of the fanbase wants him gone, yesterday, because he can't consistently beat a Top 3 program in the country,Ohio State.

If I'm Dave, I stay at Wake, earn a good paycheck, fanbase will love him forever, if he goes 8-3, 7-4. Those records will get a pitchfork and a stake at a place like Penn State.
 
97, I saw an article the other day stating PSU was neck and neck with Alabama for the top recruiting class. He has it rolling in Happy Valley, I really don't see him leaving. I think USC's only hope is that his wife hates being stuck in the boonies, and longs for the beaches and weather in southern cal.
 
If I'm Dave, I stay at Wake, earn a good paycheck, fanbase will love him forever, if he goes 8-3, 7-4. Those records will get a pitchfork and a stake at a place like Penn State.

Yes those r good reasons but u could have said the same about Franklin at Vandy. People want the bigger stage. I think perception is Clawson is not like that. However remember he made somewhat bold move to leave a national champ program he built at U of R to switch to asst FCS bc he thought it was the better way to move up in FCS. Btw if u have 3 or 4 losses at place like Wake the plan is to do even better at school with more resources.

This should be a moot point tho...Ped State should have got the death penalty.
 
There has been plenty of talk about Tech hiring Loren Johnson from highland springs to the staff mainly for recruiting. He is a former all conference safety for Tech in the 90’s. Rumor is that he doesn’t get along with Fuente which would make sense because hardly any highland springs guys end up at Tech now. A new coach could get a guy like LJ on board for recruiting purposes.
I'm ok with this turning into Clawson/VT thread but I would like to point out does anyone remember when we were trying to get into the Big East for football in the late 90s?

Clawson is the hire I have been hoping for there for when they pull the trigger because VT isn't going to get a big name hire. He may have some Tennessee PTSD from being OC but he gets more resources then at Wake, a fan base desperate for anyone to come in and a pretty decent recruiting class to start out with if he can maintain it. He wont have to play Wake but every 5-7 years but still be in the ACC where he is familiar with the territory. Had he just waited it out another 2 years at UR he would still be the coach at UVA today IMO.

Let Loren cut his chops here I would love to see an out of the box hire like that instead of whoever is coaching Bucknell. With NIL coming up recruiting is going to be more important than ever. Don't bail out that fool in Blacksburg who hopefully is on his way out.

I really just hope they get rid of Fuente. Just the antithesis of VT football. Eschewed traditions for his brand. Had enough hubris to think he could just waltz in and revive VT while they were already losing recruiting ground under Beamer in the state. VT is best when they have blue collar kids from VA that are under the radar. Could argue the same could be said for UR but we've had a ton of talent pulled from other states on our roster.
 
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We do have some fans like that but I know our limits. I’ll tell you right now why we can and should win the coastal over all those programs; Miami can’t seem to get it together, they should be the beast of that Division but have won it once since joining the acc. Pitt doesn’t have a ton of fan support and is wildly inconsistent from year to year. GT could become a monster because their new coach is recruiting the atlanta area very hard but they still have limitations admissions wise. UNC doesn’t actually care about football and after mack brown retires I’m not sure we’ll see any kind of consistency out of them. And uva is uva, need I say more? Also their head coach is a flipping weirdo. The coastal will likely stay the way it is unless miami ever starts being the program they should be. Clawson should be licking his chops looking at that kind of a division.

I'm confused. You told us all coaches should just cheat a lot and then it will be all better.
 
Yes, kill this and start a new one called 'clawson future jobs'
Or we could just go about living our lives and talking about Clawson on this thread and you could read the other threads or start a new one.
 
I'm confused. You told us all coaches should just cheat a lot and then it will be all better.
That’s a way to do it too. Multiple ways to be successful coaching. That is part of the reason why I sort of want Hugh Freeze at Tech. I know it will never happen but that would be a fun ride.
 
Yea, those would be the easy ones since they are the other P5 Private Schools. I think Dave can (and has) get Wake onto the same level as Vandy and NW. Stanford might be a heck of a move if David Shaw ever leaves Stanford.

Purdue is a school that would be a perfect fit for Dave but i think they are in pretty good shape at the moment with Jeff Brohm.
Stanford likes Shaw and I doubt would push him out the door barring a real meltdown. They’re nowhere close to that level yet.
 
Stanford likes Shaw and I doubt would push him out the door barring a real meltdown. They’re nowhere close to that level yet.

Wasnt suggesting as much. David Shaw has been mentioned in connection to various NFL jobs in the past. At some point, he may choose to leave for one of them.
 
Hold up here. Your hitting my other team ow I like Franklin at PSU. He is fantastic recruiter and leader. His game day coaching had some off moments. I don't see him going anywhere. Penn State is a better job than USC too.

As far a Dave at Penn State, there are very few jobs in the country with the fan base driven expectations than Penn State. Just look at the above comments, Franklin has Penn State a perennial Top 10 program and yet a fair portion of the fanbase wants him gone, yesterday, because he can't consistently beat a Top 3 program in the country,Ohio State.

If I'm Dave, I stay at Wake, earn a good paycheck, fanbase will love him forever, if he goes 8-3, 7-4. Those records will get a pitchfork and a stake at a place like Penn State.

fwiw Franklin averages 4 losses a year at Penn St., has been there 8 years, has a huge contract & still somehow gets mentioned for bigger jobs. Why wouldn’t Clawson want that pressure cooker.
 
Hold up here. Your hitting my other team ow I like Franklin at PSU. He is fantastic recruiter and leader. His game day coaching had some off moments. I don't see him going anywhere. Penn State is a better job than USC too.

As far a Dave at Penn State, there are very few jobs in the country with the fan base driven expectations than Penn State. Just look at the above comments, Franklin has Penn State a perennial Top 10 program and yet a fair portion of the fanbase wants him gone, yesterday, because he can't consistently beat a Top 3 program in the country,Ohio State.

If I'm Dave, I stay at Wake, earn a good paycheck, fanbase will love him forever, if he goes 8-3, 7-4. Those records will get a pitchfork and a stake at a place like Penn State.
Franklin is overrated. Can’t coach. Good recruiter but means nothing when you can’t win. Four losses already this year? Pathetic. I love PSU but won’t shed a tear if he leaves. Teams are top 10 early in the year but haven’t been finishing there.
 
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Depressing to think about how we have completely destroyed our chance to be on this list. Can you imagine us in the Big East and what that would do for our national exposure level? It's criminal that we accepted mediocrity for the past decade and did this to ourselves.
Who other that UR alums believe this was a possibility? What do we offer the Big East? We have a small school with a small alumni base. We bring Richmond exposure but we are the fourth most popular team in this city.
 
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We were in the discussion, now just a distant memory.

 
We were mentioned all over national media at the time. Couple of examples:

The conference leaders want six eastern and six western — really, midwestern — schools. The eastern division of the league will consist of Georgetown, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova, Providence and either Richmond (also a non-Catholic school) or Siena — a late entry but a potentially appealing one because it’s a Catholic school that (more importantly) plays in a 15,500-seat arena in Albany, N.Y.


"I think the Big East will expand ... from 10 to 12," Christopher said. "I'm not sure it's actually set in stone but it does appear to be headed that way.

"I don't know that it's next year but it's probably sometime in the next five years. That would be the time window I would say. The four schools, the only thing I can tell you as someone new walking in the door is exactly what's been in the media. I don't think I'm telling you anything that anybody who follows this doesn't already know. It's Saint Louis, Dayton, Richmond and VCU, who are the four schools who always get mentioned. The last part I'll say is this decision is going to be made at the presidents' level, frankly, and that's the way it should be."

 
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We were in the discussion, now just a distant memory.

This was a 2013 article. GT voted against UR, because AW3 wasn`t with the team.
 
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Franklin is overrated. Can’t coach. Good recruiter but means nothing when you can’t win. Four losses already this year? Pathetic. I love PSU but won’t shed a tear if he leaves. Teams are top 10 early in the year but haven’t been finishing there.
I hear you. He does have the number 1 recruiting class coming in. But yes, he has a track record which is good but not great. In game management seems to be an ongoing issue. Will be interesting to see if the USC rumors are more than just that.
 
Clawson makes $3.6 mil/yr. Why would he want to leave Wake?
$ 5 million a year. That is why. Its about money. Always. Yes - the other things factor in, but everyone has a price. And I think if LSU or VA Tech came calling and offered Clawson $5 million or more, he has to listen and take that call. The good news is that I would fully expect Wake to bump him up to about $4 million a year after this season and offer him longer years.
And I don't see Tech paying 5 million to Clawson (they would want a household name for that price tag). But LSU could pay that price - but again, I think they go big name hunting on this one. Clawson will be in the mix - but probably after some big pipe dream names.
 
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