Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer has seemingly finished his sweeping reforms to the offensive coaching staff. Beamer has, perhaps, made more coaching changes during this off-season than he has during any other year during his career with the Hokies.
It started with the firing of quarterbacks coach and offensive play caller Mike O’Cain. Then the offensive line coach Curt Newsome and wide receivers coach Kevin Sherman left the program. However, the biggest move that Beamer made this offseason may have been the demotion of offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring. The former OC is now Virginia Tech’s recruiting coordinator and tight ends’ coach.
The Stinespring saga is far from over in Blacksburg. There are plenty of fans out there that think that the coach should have simply been fired. Personally, I think that would have been a stupid move by Beamer. If Stinespring were out on the open market he would be picked up immediately by another big name program for one reason and one reason only. He can recruit, and he can really recruit in the tidewater area of Virginia (the area that produced Michael Vick, Marcus Vick, Tyrod Taylor, etc.).
So now that all of these coaches are either gone or in a smaller role, let’s take a look at the new faces on the Virginia Tech coaching staff and determine if they are upgrades on the people they are replacing. We’ll start with new offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler.
On paper Loeffler is the perfect fit for Virginia Tech. He wants to run the football by any means necessary. He wants a running back and quarterback combination that can run the football. He is also an accomplished quarterback’s coach who could be the perfect fit with Logan Thomas. However, Loeffler’s one year with Auburn was an epic disaster, but that could be blamed on the fact that he was trying to run a pro-style offense with spread offensive players.
Loeffler, isn’t the only former Auburn coach that will be on the Hokies staff this year. Jeff Grimes has been added to the staff as Virginia Tech’s new offensive line coach. Grimes was on Auburn’s staff for the last five years, so he has some accomplishments that are noteworthy (a BCS Championship comes to mind). Grimes will have his hands full in 2013, as the Hokies’ offensive line may have been the most disappointing offensive unit in 2012.
The final piece to the puzzle is Aaron Moorehead, who has been Stanford’s receivers coach for the last three years. He will be assuming the same position at Tech. Of the three new hires, this is the one that I am the most wary of. The only reason for my wariness is that Stanford’s prolific passing offense these past three years has mostly been on the backs of great quarterbacks and great tight ends. Moorehead may very well be a great coach, but questions will continue to be asked about him and the other new hires until the start of next season.
After a 7-6 season, Beamer had to do something. We won’t know if he made the right decisions right now, or in a month or maybe even a year, but we will find out.
