Virginia Tech, Mike Young Hire J.D. Byers As New Assistant Coach

By: David Cunningham | Managing Editor
Mike Young and Virginia Tech hired J.D. Byers as their newest assistant. (Jon Fleming)

Virginia Tech and Mike Young hired J.D. Byers on Tuesday as the men’s basketball program’s third assistant coach. The addition comes after former associate head coach Mike Jones departed for Maryland.

Byers has 13 years of coaching experience at the Division I level after spending the last six seasons at VCU. He worked alongside Mike Rhoades in three separate stints — at Randolph-Macon from 2007-10, at Rice from 2014-17 and with the Rams. He also spent time at St. Francis (Pa.) in 2010 and Radford from 2011-14.

After Rhoades was hired as the head coach of Penn State in late March, Byers followed to him to Happy Valley, where he spent two weeks.

A Lebanon Valley alumnus, he’s helped turn around multiple programs, including the Highlanders and Owls. Radford recorded its first postseason win at the D-I level in program history in 2013-14 while Rice improved by 18 wins over three seasons.

In his six seasons in Richmond, VCU posted a 129-61 record with three NCAA tournament berths and three A-10 titles. Byers also played an integral role in signing the conference’s top recruiting class in three of the last four seasons with the Rams. He recruited three of the six highest-ranked prospects in VCU history.

Byers brings a defensive acumen to Blacksburg; four of the last five defenses for Rhoades & Co. ranked in the top 15 in adjusted efficiency. In 2019-20, the lone outlier of the group, VCU was 45th.

For reference, Virginia Tech’s highest adjusted defensive efficiency rating in the Mike Young era was 53rd in 2020-21. Moreover, in the 19 seasons since joining the ACC in 2004, the Hokies have had a top-30 defense four times — 2007-08 (No. 8), 2009-10 (No. 24), 2010-11 (No. 27) and 2018-19 (No. 20).

J.D. is the husband of Virginia Tech volleyball head coach Marci Byers. She took control of the Hokies’ program in January 2020 after spending 12 years at Radford, which coincided with J.D.’s stint with the Highlanders.

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  1. Nobody cares more about Mike Young’s success than Mike Young

    I assume he got the coach he wanted to help his program improve

    Go Hokies

  2. I believe the Roanoke Times reported that Byers coached the guards and was involved in the offense, and did not coach the defense. Not sure who is right. Hoping he learned some defense by being part of the program.

  3. Makes sense for all involved. Let’s get better. Welcome to Blacksburg Mr. Byers. Go Hokies!

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