4 worst head coach hires in Virginia Tech basketball history

Virginia Tech will always be a football school, but Buzz Williams started to change that, and Mike Young has continued the most successful stretch of Hokies basketball in school history. These coaches made sure that wasn't a very high bar to clear.

By Josh Yourish | Mar 7, 2024, 8:56 AM EST

Virginia Tech Hokies head coach James Johnson / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

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Bobby Hussey. Bobby Hussey. player. Bobby Hussey. . 1997-99. Record: 23-32. 447. . 2

Virginia Tech has routinely elevated assistant coaches to the head job and that process has routinely failed. It didn’t work with Allen and it was even worse when Bobby Hussey took over after Bill C. Foster’s retirement.

Foster had taken Virginia Tech to the NCAA Tournament in 1996 and finished with a 23-6 record, but after a 15-16 season in 1996-97, Foster retired, leaving the program to Hussey, his assistant of six years. Hussey had previous coaching experience at Davidson from 1981-82

Hussey signed a four-year contract but was fired following his second season at the helm. The program immediately deteriorated under his watch and then-athletic director Jim Weaver said in a prepared statement, “It became apparent that the Virginia Tech men’s basketball program no longer held the respect of its fanbase.” He backed the statement up by citing the 4,040 per game attendance which was a 38-year low for Cassell Coliseum.

Hussey never got another head coaching job in college basketball after his dismissal and he was replaced by Ricky Stokes, who didn’t fare much better leading the program.

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