1) Kansas and Arizona are two schools that had terrible football programs but are having recent success. Do you see any similarities to their programs and VT? — runnerVT

Chris Coleman: Not really. To compare the fanbases of both schools… well, that wouldn’t be much of a comparison at all. Also, neither one of those schools plays in a state that has a lot of recruiting talent. In fact, Kansas doesn’t even border a state that has a lot of in-state recruiting talent. They are as remote as remote gets. To a certain extent, Blacksburg is remote, but it’s nowhere close to Kansas. Virginia Tech has a good in-state talent base to draw on and also borders Maryland and North Carolina. There are plenty of players to be had within the six-hour radius.

I can’t really see any comparison between Virginia Tech and those two programs. I don’t think Kansas is sustainable unless it manages to continue to hire very talented head coaches, which could be difficult. Lance Leipold is outstanding. I also think the Jayhawks keep him for awhile. He’s 59 so he doesn’t fall into the age range that schools like to hire. Kansas is never going to “recruit well” in the traditional sense so it has to be able to get by with pure coaching, and he fits the bill there. He’ll be a good coach for them for awhile, but if he’s not adequately replaced, the program will likely return to its former ways.

I know a lot less about Arizona and third-year head coach Jedd Fisch. He came from the NFL and has improved them each year. He’s got an interesting story. He didn’t play high school football, but he always wanted to coach, so he went to Florida with the goal of somehow getting on Steve Spurrier’s staff. He succeeded and became a GA before moving on to the NFL. It’s a heck of a story.

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