About two-thirds of me was expecting an announcement of a contract extension for Bud Foster during Thursday’s Media Day, but there was also a part of me that could see a retirement announcement as a possibility as well. The retirement announcement is what we got, and I’m sure there is plenty to digest for Hokie fans.

As we’ve been talking about here on TSL since the spring, Foster’s contract was going to end following the 2019 season. He was either going to sign an extension or retire, and I think most folks were of the opinion that he was going to sign an extension. But then weeks went by with no extension, and then months. People started to ask the question, “why isn’t this extension getting done?”

Will and I sit in an office together every day, and we talk about everything you can possibly talk about that is Virginia Tech related. After awhile, we decided that the extension wasn’t getting done for one simple reason: because Bud wasn’t sure what he wanted to do.

A lot has happened to Bud Foster over the last 12-18 months. He went through a divorce, then got remarried. He had knee replacement surgery. He spent the last few games of last season coaching from the booth because he was ill. All of those things, plus the fact that he turned 60 in July, can change a person’s way of thinking. I doubt Bud is interested in coaching himself into an early grave. Life is too short, and you only get to live it once.

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