—when I first joined this board, I thought quite a few posters on this board (I think we can all fill in the blanks here), were hysterical in their hyper critical comments regarding Fu, the coaches, the state of the program, etc. I am now, irrespective of COVID, have come to the conclusion that they now ’have a point’ and that their observations, while again, somewhat irrational at times, actually have merit.

—one thing we can consistently point to, and doing so in a pragmatic manner, are how games like the one we saw yesterday have become a consistent experience under Fu...that is, our teams aren’t prepared mentally, yes, physically, and we have an extra difficult time bouncing back from adversity. This is a sign of a dysfunctional system and culture of losing that we have allowed to penetrate our program. This is also, a sign of lack of leadership, in both the part of our coaching staff and most importantly, the players Themselves. We lack discipline and we lack passion; those are attributes that are the result (creation) of lack of leadership.

—-these dysfunctions arent just COVID-19 related, as they have been a part of us since Fu began, and at the end of Beamer’s reign...we’ve become very complacent and SOFT... to that end, EFFORT usually isn’t a teachable skill, either you have it or don’t, but when you see what I saw yesterday, not only were there considerable mental blunders that took place, clearly, our kids were not emotionally prepared (irresptive of talent weakness in certain key areas) to play that game....and that is on the coaches. Bottom line, we weren’t ready to play that game. We don’t possess a winning culture in attitudes and effort and that starts at the top. Period!

—using the EFFORT analogy, just for comparison purposes, did y’all see how Wake OWNED us in that category??? Those players as a whole were not more talented than ours, however their coaches had their kids ready to play....with effort and passion. Those attributes are CONTROLLABLE within each player....this is culture and this is something that is missing. Too offten, I see the kids joking, kidding around on the sidelines...like they aren’t serious about what they are doing, etc. This is a characteristic of Fu coached teams. They just don’t appear to be invested in what they are doing, as a whole...(I know there are individuals where this narrative doesn’t fit, but I’m speaking as a from a total program perspective).

—the final observation I will make on this subject is the performance of our QB. I like HH and I know he wants to be great. He’s a great kid too. However, HH wasn’t given the tools/coaching to be successful yesterday. He wasn’t mentally prepared and when adversity struck, he didn’t respond well. He looked confused and overwhelmed, didn’t he? This gets at the heart of the issue of our Offense. WE DO NOT POSSESS AN OFFENSIVE SYSTEM, but rather a collection of plays designed for certain player skill sets. That explains why we have all those crazy ****, mind scratching plays near the goal line, running Blackshear to the short side of the field, right smack into the teeth of Wake’s D...not once, but several times....and that again, is just scratching the surface of our problems. Yes, HH made some BAD reads yesterday, and yes, he kept making awful throws into coverage...and yes, we do have serious talent issues at WR....but isn’t that what coaches are supposed to do??? Figure out the weakness and exploit and manage through it.

Bottom line and in the final summation, it’s Fu‘s program and if he wants things to change, he must change them...but clearly, and given all the consistencies listed above which are dysfunctional and cultural in nature, I am coming to the conclusion that he can’t change them effectively: the clear regression of HH is tied inextricably to Fu’s trust in Corny....who is not a good OC and is clearly missing Coach Kill’s mentor ship.. I think he’s dealing with the D issues is his recent hires,but that will take some time to fix through recruiting and scheming. But Fu controls the O and the O must help us win games now. If I were Fu, I would take over this compartment of the team and demonstrate leadership....because if he doesn’t, this is the kind of loss that can devastate a program. It’s unfortunately become the norm around these parts. Again, culture, passion, enthusiasm, and leadership start at the top and those attributes have become elusive at VT.