Virginia Tech AD announces negotiated Justin Fuente buyout
Virginia Tech will pay Justin Fuente a sum of $8.75 million after firing the head coach after six seasons. Athletics director Whit Babcock announced the total on Tuesday morning after the dismissal.
The buyout number is lower than the number initially reported at $10 million. If the program waited to fire Fuente until after Dec. 15, the buyout figure would have been further reduced.
Justin Fuente went 43-31 in his time in Blacksburg, and the Hokies are 5-5 this season. J.C. Price, defensive line coach, will serve as the interim coach for the rest of the year.
Making $4.25 million a year in salary, Fuente was the ACC’s third highest-paid head coach behind Dabo Swinney and Pat Narduzzi.
Virginia Tech suffered their third three-game losing streak at Lane Stadium in the past four years this season, falling to Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Syracuse in consecutive weeks. The man that Fuente replaced, Virginia Tech legend Frank Beamer, only had two such streaks in 29 seasons.
The head coach narrowly avoided his firing last season in large part thanks to a 33-15 beatdown he dished out to his hated in-state rival, Virginia, in November of 2020.
“We sincerely appreciate the contributions that Coach Fuente made to our football program and the positive impact he made on our student-athletes during his time at Virginia Tech,” athletic director Whit Babcock said in a statement Tuesday morning. “While it is never easy to make a change, I believe in order for our football program to attain the type of sustained success that is expected at Virginia Tech, the time was right for new leadership of our football program.”
Additionally, Fuente released a statement on Tuesday following his firing.
Justin Fuente says goodbye
Early Tuesday morning, Virginia Tech announced it “mutually agreed to part ways” with coach Justin Fuente, effective immediately. In the press release, Fuente released a lengthy statement thanking Hokie Nation.
In his statement, Fuente thanked a lengthy list of people and conveyed how grateful he was for his time in Blacksburg.
“On behalf of Jenny and our family, I would like to thank President Sands, Whit and the entire Virginia Tech community for extending me the opportunity to lead this football program for six seasons,” Fuente said. “To the many incredible young men that I had the privilege to coach, so many of you have made a lasting impact on our family. I can’t thank you enough for your dedication and your commitment to doing your very best, whether that was on the field, in the classroom or in your personal lives.
“To the fabulous assistant coaches and support staff at Virginia Tech, I can’t express how much I appreciated all of your work and all your sacrifices. It takes so many dedicated, hard-working and loyal people behind the scenes to make a football program run smoothly. Thank you.
“Finally, to Jenny, Cecilia, Caroline, Charlotte and the rest of our family, thank you for your unwavering love and support. We have all been in this together and we will continue to be in this together on the next step of our journey. We leave Blacksburg with many great memories, but above all else, our family cherishes the many relationships that have been established and that will always endure. To all of those players, coaches and staff who are still fighting on, know that the Fuente family is always cheering for you.”