When the Virginia Tech men’s basketball team was eliminated from the ACC Tournament by California last week, head coach Mike Young hinted at some changes to the roster for the 2025-26 season. Apparently, he wasn’t only talking about players.
On Friday, it was announced that two members of Young staff, assistant coach Christian Webster and recruiting coordinator Blake Wetherington would not be returning next season. Webster was a holdover from Buzz Williams staff and Wetherington was hired less than a year ago, in July of 2024.
Virginia Tech coach Mike Young making changes across the board
So far, Virginia Tech has lost four players to the transfer portal early, point guard Brandon Rechsteiner, wings Jaydon Young and Rodney Brown, Jr., and center Patrick Wessler. Rechsteiner leaving is not a surprise as he fell behind freshman Ben Hammond in the second half of the season in terms of starting, which is hopefully a good sign that Hammond will be back next season. Brown struggles with illness and injuries in his only season in Blacksburg. Wessler saw growth in his game this year while Jaydon Young leaving was a surprise after the strong finish he had to the season.
Mike Young will replace those departing players in the portal through incoming freshmen and portal additions, but as far as the coaching staff goes, assistant J.D. Byers was reportedly in the mix for the Radford job, but they went in a different direction.
After a transfer portal mass exodus last season, Mike Young is going to try for a second straight season to put together a team through the portal that will be competitive and look to get back into the NCAA Tournament. He’ll have a busy off-season adding to his staff as well and as we know this time of year, it’s still early in terms of players still leaving and coaches getting scooped up by other programs.