In his press conference back before Christmas, Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente said that while his team played “Hard, Smart and Tough” at times, they didn’t do so on a consistent basis.

“We’ve set out to be a hard, smart, and tough football team, and I thought we were at times, but we were not nearly enough. Not for my liking, not for our fans’ liking, not for the supporters’ liking, not for anybody that loves and cares about Virginia Tech and Virginia Tech football.”

The first step to fixing your problem is to admit that you have a problem, and Fuente admitted it during that press conference.  So, how does it get fixed?

We’ll have more on this subject in the offseason, but generally speaking, the best way to play hard, smart and tough is to sign players who are already hard, smart and tough.  That includes mining the transfer portal, and Fuente and the coaching staff did a good job of that last year.  I think everybody would agree that guys like Brock Hoffman and Khalil Herbert are the very definition of hard, smart and tough.

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