1) I’ve been intrigued by the lack of decommits from our 2022 football recruiting class under the current circumstances regarding our coaching uncertainty. Do you:

1. A) Think they (recruits) are just waiting and seeing what happens over the next few weeks?
2. B) The above, however, making contingency plans (more likely, of course) and just not announcing they are re-opening their recruitment or decommitting?
3. C) Staying committed because of anticipated abnormally large losses due to usual attrition via seniors, transfers because of likely coaching changes, discontent with lack of playing time, etc. and the upcoming required roster reduction (due to Covid)? In other words, do you think with the expected higher than usual player losses they see a greater opportunity to get on the field early or a more favorable depth chart situation?
4. D) All of (or a bit of all) of the above – Edde4hokies

Chris Coleman: Good question(s), and I’ve actually been a little bit surprised that there haven’t been any decommits as of yet.  Some recruits pay close attention and have a good grasp of what’s going on in the program, but others don’t. They aren’t any different from regular fans from that standpoint. I still get the question from random people sometimes, “So, do you think Fuente is going to get fired?” My response each time is, “Yeah, that’s a foregone conclusion at this point.”  It’s obvious to me and most people who pay close attention, but it’s perhaps not so obvious to others.

I think all four of your points are accurate to a certain extent. I think if I were a committed recruit, the coach was on the hot seat and then got fired, I’d want to wait until the new head coach was announced before I made any decisions. However, I’d also have a list of schools I’d want to consider if I didn’t like the new coach, or in case he didn’t want me.

Of course, it may not be that simple. A recruit is likely to have other schools contacting him the whole time saying, “Man, you shouldn’t go to VT because Fu just got fired, and you don’t know who the next head coach is going to be. We want you, but we are also recruiting other guys at your position, so if you want to get on the boat, you need to commit now.”

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