I didn't then but I do now. Here is the difference to me. (long)

I got out of grad school in 1991 and had attended all home games from 1985 (only missed one home game from 85 to 2012). The thing I remember about that season was that we were in almost all of the games. A majority we were in the lead going into the 4th qtr (couple exceptions like Da u and maybe even Hoovers). We seemed to be right on the precipice of something big if we just made a few changes. There was excitement around the program and Beamer was a personable soul who bled orange and maroon like I did (I'm sure we both still do).

Those changes happened. I bought my first season tickets in 93 and by 95 was a Golden Hokie living the dream. For football, there was no better time to be a Hokie than that stretch up to the National Championship game and even the few years after. I was not happy with joining the ACC as, back in those days, we made fun of them as being a weak conference. In addition, I knew it would be a long time before we could compete in anything but football. I would have rather been in the SEC as it set us apart from UVA still, it played to our strength - football and it also drove our $$ as football was the leader in revenue.

By 2012, I was unhappy with Beamer as I felt like he had squandered all the good press and success. We were always just one or two games from getting back. When I finally realized he wasn't changing and the administration wasn't going to make him, I stopped buying tickets and went back to being a $100 giver to maintain my status of years giving. My hope was we would someday get a new coach who could deliver.

I could not have been more disappointed in the hiring of Coach Fuente. To bring in a Memphis coach to our program was embarrassing to me. I interpreted it as no real coaches were interested in following Beamer (a big task I am sure) and our administration had bought into our being a second tier football school.

I think 5 years in, he has shown he is in over his head. For all the reasons in the original post, he needs to go. There is no excitement around our program. We have been begging fans to give money but we haven't really made huge strides. Why would we? The product is terrible. Since losing Beamer's recruits, Fuente has struggled to win 7 games and this year will be no different. He is a non P5 recruiter who has shown very little in the way of knowing how to run a big time football program.

He has been the transition coach from a Hall of Fame coach. He has failed to this point and I don't see any of the excitement and hope that I saw in 1992. He has the personality of a brick wall and does not connect with fans (I can only assume not with recruits as well given his history). To be successful now, you have to be a salesman. It's less about X's and O's - you can hire good coordinators. It's about managing the brand and making it a place where players and fans will go through hell with you to be a part of the build. At this point I would not go to Kroger with Fuente.

That's the difference. Beamer sold me on the future and I bought in. Fuente is incapable of providing that feeling or promise. It's time for a change. I know we don't have the money but I ask you how much money is it going to cost our brand if we keep him? We used to be in the football conversation every year but now we are very close to being irrelevant in college football.