Without putting much thought into it, Justin Fuente’s hire of Adam Lechtenberg as Virginia Tech’s 10th assistant coach isn’t exactly groundbreaking.  Lechtenberg has never had an on-field coaching role at a major university, and he served as Virginia Tech’s “director of player development” this past season.  He served in a similar role under Fuente at Memphis, and was an offensive graduate assistant at TCU under Fuente.

I think most people, myself included, were expecting to see the Hokies hire a veteran assistant coach who had recruiting experience in a critical region.  That’s what most other schools seem to be doing.  So without going deep into thought about it, the Lechtenberg hire seems sort of boring, doesn’t it?  A lot of people on our message boards thought the same thing about hiring Cincinnati’s athletic director until they actually studied his resume.  When you think a little more deeply about the Lechtenberg hire, it’s actually quite revolutionary.

Having a 10th assistant coach who is actually coaching a position has always seemed like overkill to me, though that appears to be the direction that other schools have taken.  Not Fuente, though.  Adam Lechtenberg will have no positional coaching responsibilities at Virginia Tech, meaning he can go out and recruit and evaluate prospects whenever he wants, as long as it is within NCAA rules.  That’s an advantage Virginia Tech will have over their competition.

It also lessens the burden on Virginia Tech’s coaches on Friday nights during the season.  Recall the story that Jim Cavanaugh told us during Michael Vick’s recruitment, about the first time he went to see Vick play in high school when he was coaching at North Carolina.

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