When we last saw the Virginia Tech football team in a real game, they were getting blown out by UCLA, 42-12 in the Sun Bowl. It has been a long wait, and much has changed, between then and now.

That was December 31, 2013, and on that day, Charles Steger was still the president of Virginia Tech, Jim Weaver was the athletic director (it was his last day), and James Johnson was the head basketball coach. We knew that Tim Sands was going to be the next president (that was announced on December 6), but hardly anyone knew Whit Babcock’s name at the time, and no one had any inkling that James Johnson was going to be fired and replaced with Buzz Williams — by Whit Babcock.

And that doesn’t even cover the changes inside the football program.

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