Foster and Friends
Foster and Friends
Foster and Friends Vol 136 Bud Foster Unscripted Part 2
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In part two of the series...Bud Foster breaks down the "Beamer Years" and how important Coach Beamer was to Virginia Tech, the football program and the state of Virginia.
Welcome to Foster and Friends. Send us a text message. Bud and I would love to hear from you.
In this business, um you don't get that opportunity very often. You don't get a chance to to uh go out on your terms, and I've been very blessed to to have this opportunity and and I can't when I can't thank you enough.
SPEAKER_01Foster and friends is presented by Envision. Locations are in Christiansburg in Salem, Virginia. For the best in eye care and fashion, it's envisioned. By the River City Distillery in Radford, makers of Win vodka, it's a good day to enjoy a win. And buy Brick House Pizza. Visit our Radford location in the Brick House Garden featuring live music in the best in comfort food. Brick House Pizza means good times. Now, from the NSV Radio Network, Foster and Friends. Here's Bud and Mac.
SPEAKER_06It is Fostering Friends for another weekend, and uh hope everybody had a terrific Mother's Day last weekend. Uh I know we did here, uh, but how was your mother's day? Was it good?
SPEAKER_04It was awesome. It was awesome. Jesse and I uh you know, we went out on the boat on Sunday on the pontoon and uh took a cruise up and down Clayter Lake, and it was uh it was a nice sunny day. It was a little cool on our end. I mean, it was 72 degrees, you know, which uh not like you. You're probably down there for what you hit in mid-80s right now, probably 86 to 92, depending on what day. Which I would prefer, you know. Um, but no, we had a we had a great Mother's Day. I uh grilled out some uh salmon on uh uh cedar plank.
SPEAKER_06You know, kind of teach me how to grill salmon. You gotta teach me how to grill salmon. I love salmon. Oh and and V does a great job with it. We buy smoked salmon, but uh you gotta teach me how to grill it then.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we we get it, but uh anyway, we just we had a good day. It was it was a good uh relaxing day. We spent the weekend at the lake, and uh anytime you go down there, I don't care. It's it just a getaway. It's a getaway. I love it. I love it. That's my happy place.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that's that's yeah, the the beach is is uh V's happy place, and uh you know, she's got three sons all around the world, and so uh, and then she took her mom is uh still in Belgium and doing good.
SPEAKER_04So yeah, my well I'm gonna say with uh her job, I mean, she's involved you know, as a nurse, and she sees a lot of craziness. And I'm sure the getaways on the on to get out on the intercoastal or out on a boat and you know, ride in your Jeep, just whatever. That's a good release.
SPEAKER_06It's a Florida thing. Yeah, it's a Florida thing.
SPEAKER_04She said Florida thing, but a good release, right?
SPEAKER_06It's right. We went to there's a breakfast place up at Ormond Beach called Ormond by the sea, and there's a breakfast place up there where you see the ocean, you sit there, and and uh uh we were having mimosas and everything. She goes, Why would we not want to be here since we live here? You know, I know what she was trying to say. It's like we've got to do this. I go, hey, twist my arm. I understand. This is where we, you know, and then it's fun to watch the weather, and then the rain rolls in. It's a typical, you know, Florida, Florida day, so it's uh all good. So hey, it's part two of unscripted and uh a lot of positive comments. I've got people here that that know me, but that listen to uh our podcast. And I know you know we've got a lot of good friends and good people up that way that not only hear the radio show, but they um, you know, with our our affiliates, but but they uh you know take part of the podcast or whatever. And we are we are shifting towards a new, and I'll talk more about it later, probably. We're shifting towards a an altering of a format. That sounds like it's more important than it is, but we're gonna do we're gonna do some different things. And um uh, you know, yeah, we're still gonna cover college and football and what's happening in hirings and firings, but we're just gonna we're gonna do some different things uh on the show. So this is um our second week of, and if you haven't heard, you can go back to one of our podcast outlets and listen to Unscripted Part One. Uh, I'm diving into the world of Bud Foster, and we last week uh got into all kinds of things with um uh you know Murray State, Bud's high school, uh his mom and dad, or whatever. But now, now it gets the move to Virginia Tech, which has got to be one of the more interesting things on what happened, and Bud's gonna dive into that today because the lean years after Bill Dooley left, uh, how Frank Beamer goes from Maryland to the Citadel to Murray State, wins at Murray State, and then ends up in Blacksburg, and then of course the rest is history. So we're gonna get into some numbers and things. So that's uh uh are you ready for me to quiz you again uh week two? Oh, yeah, unscripted part two.
SPEAKER_04I am ready.
SPEAKER_06Well, if Michael Jackson can have a two-part movie with the second part waiting forever, I don't know when we'll get Bud Foster deserves a part two. So you you got a part two today. All right, we'll go to break, we'll come back. This is Foster and Friends, and this is the NSB Radio Network, the Frank Beamer Years, Unscripted, part two, when we come back.
SPEAKER_04Hi, this is Bud Foster for Envision. For over 30 years, my good friends, Dr. Scott and Becky Mann, have built a practice that truly cares about their patients.
SPEAKER_00I can just remember being pregnant with my first son over 30 years ago, and we bought the practice from Dr. Henry Stewart, who'd had it for 50 years. Was scary, but we moved forward and we're actually in the same location, and now we're up to seven doctors and over 25 staff in the two locations.
SPEAKER_03The technology is amazing. Uh we used to take pictures on literally Polaroids, and now we went to digital, now we have widescreens, and um, we can do things today that 10 years ago were only images you could only generate maybe at a teaching hospital. And now we can do those chairs out when our patients come in.
SPEAKER_04Go see your award-winning Envision team. They have two locations, Salem and Christiansburg. They will meet all your eye care needs. Well, I and and but anyway, they were running that old. They ran with McNabb, you know, midline option and all that stuff. And James was um I could have put a cone out there, and it would have played better.
SPEAKER_01Foster and Friends is brought to you in part by Envision with locations in Christiansburg in Salem, Virginia. For the best in eye care, it's Envision.
SPEAKER_06It's Foster and Friends, NSB Radio Network, and you heard the bump coming in, the uh unscripted part two with uh our own Bud Foster. And uh, I had said a couple of weeks ago, I said, but I I need to, you know, this is your life. I need to get into the, you know, why why is Bud Foster sitting in a Zoom window with me every week now? That's kind of what we're you know, maybe that's part three. We'll work into an hour-long show on how we got there. But anyway, all right, you're at you're at Murray State, you had a great run as a player. You end up, as you told us last week, you started coaching and and Frank Beamer, you know, is there. He came from the Citadel, and you had really a good run. But now Frank gets the Virginia tech job. What how did you find out about it? How quick was Frank to say, hey bud, you're coming with me? Because I know you were a graduate assistant.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and and uh yeah, so actually at my end of my time there, I kind of elevated from being a GA to being a restricted earnings coach to then I think my last year I might have gone into full-time, you know, at Murray State. So my restricted earnings, I was making like eight, six thousand dollars one year, eight thousand dollars the next year. And then I think uh my last year at Murray State, I made I was up, I was you know, up to sixteen thousand dollars, you know, and this is like 19, what was that, 86, 85, 86 era? And coaches weren't making the salaries or anything wasn't like it is now, you know. I don't care. FCS level for sure was not, and you pay probably your top, your head coach, your coordinators, and you know, maybe a couple other guys, but it was top heavy in, you know, at at the lower level of football. And even probably even at um well, probably at Virginia Tech, even at that time. But um, we had I said we had played Eastern Illinois in the um, well, we beat Austin P for the OBC championship. And coach told me at that time that he was being interviewed for the um Virginia Tech job. And so he said, I want you to come, which was I was flattered. We went up to Eastern Illinois. Uh they had a quarterback by the name of Sean Payton. They beat us in the last minute of the game, last drive. That means our luck, you know, at the end, didn't know it at the time, but that was the last game I would ever be involved with at Murray State University as a player and as a coach, because coach got the job um at Virginia Tech. And so, yeah, he stepped was true to his word and said, Hey, we're coming to Virginia, you're coming to Virginia Tech if you want to. And uh, well, without a doubt, I mean, what was I gonna do?
SPEAKER_06You had no trepidation, right?
SPEAKER_04I mean, you know Yeah, I'm a young guy, but the only thing I just I'd been married now for two years. I just had a son. My uh my son Grant was born in August of the of 1986, our last year there at Murray. And um, but uh yeah, I was ready, I was ready to go, man. You know, it's division one football. Um, I didn't know a whole lot about Virginia Tech, you know, I didn't realize that was VPI, and then they changed to Virginia Tech.
SPEAKER_06As an independent, too, at that time, right?
SPEAKER_04Yes, yeah, independent and uh in the Metro conference and everything but football.
SPEAKER_06Football is got it, yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_04And uh, I tell you what, the old metro, we can get into that, would have been a really good football. Yeah, I would have anyway. We uh we get the job at uh at Virginia Tech and we come and and um you know it's um I mean it's a whirlwind because that's really kind of my first time, you know. Frank, I didn't even realize it, you know, was his first time as a head coach at Murray, and I'm kind of so green coming in, but then we go to Virginia Tech, and it's just you know, I'm throwing the wolves as far as recruiting and that type of thing. And I told you I was a recruiting coordinator at Murray, but I really didn't, you know, wasn't on the road a whole lot until the end of my time. But it wasn't like the I'm traveling all over like you do at Division I, you know, and so but so we got it going, we put the staff together. Um, but it's just we're going to town trying to recruit, but then we find out you know, after a coach takes the job that this place is being placed on, is going under investigation by the NCAA.
SPEAKER_06So that was a Bill Dooley mistake. I mean Bill Dooley.
SPEAKER_04You know, you're all I can't remember what our numbers were at that time. It was 95. It wasn't 85, I don't think. It was like 95, might have even been 105. I don't know. But whatever we had, Coach Dooley, he was spreading the wealth, but not to the other to the other sports, but they were with football players. And basically, you know, just mismanagement of um, you know, uh um the operation, you know.
SPEAKER_06And um how do you get I got all right? I this is you you do really opened up a gap. How do you he was asking other sports for a couple of controversies?
SPEAKER_04Because he was the AD. He was just no, he wasn't asking sports, he was just putting their football players on the scholarship in the room.
SPEAKER_06So wrestling if if if he was just yeah, if if a wrestling had a limit of 12, now they had 15 or something.
SPEAKER_04I don't know if they had if they had 12, they only probably had about seven or six because those, you know, five or two. Well he stayed within the limits, but he added uh he added football players to those scholarships, you know what I mean? So um, and so and he was the AD and the head football coach. The athletic department was a little separated almost, and it was kind of interesting. It was separated almost from the university in forms of a variety of things like my pay and and and my uh uh my pension and stuff like that. It seemed a little bit different. That was separated until you know we went through this process. But there was also an academic scandal where we had some student athletes were getting grades um, you know, from one department. And um, so all this kind of hit at one time, and we were placed on uh we came lack of institutional control. That was, and that was the same year, I believe, that in uh SMU got the death penalty, but we were fortunate we only lost like 30 scholarships. I say only only we lost like 30 scholarships a year for the first three or four years of our tenure here. So that's basically like playing with both hands tied behind your back and getting, you know, going out there and trying to block or catch a ball without having you being able to use a hand or just use one hand, getting the hell beat out of it, you know. And then we upgraded our schedule because we wanted to coach one that had a vision that we were gonna be the, you know, we wanted to be one of the best, we're gonna have to play the best. And so um, you know, we were playing Clemson, Florida State, Miami, South Carolina. I mean, we were playing, you know, just a bunch of good people. Um, but our first couple years were a little tough. We were two and nine, three and eight, and then in '89, we went six, four, and one. And uh, but we didn't go to a bowl game. We beat three bowl teams that year, I think in in '90, we went six and five, beat four bowl teams. Didn't go to a bowl game. Now I don't know, I can't remember if we were left out because of sanctions at that time.
SPEAKER_06I was gonna say, I bet you were bowling eligible. Probably.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we probably were.
SPEAKER_06That was always a sanction back then. That was one of the things they always, you know, tagged schools with.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but it was a, I'm just telling you, it was a fight. And uh in 91, we went five and six, but our you're really getting it's it it seems like you'd be coming out of this um time with all your players, but because we lost so many players and had so few, we didn't have many seniors. So in 1992, this was a big year. Coach went, you know, we kind of showed some improvement coming. We had to dig ourselves out of a deep hole.
SPEAKER_06But also, you're a member of the big east now in 91.
SPEAKER_04Well, yeah, we joined the big east in 91, and which was a great um that was a great time for Virginia Tech. It really was. All of a sudden we're getting in a league. We now we got a chance to compete. There's bowl alliance, you know, so that's the first time that Virginia Tech has had that potential opportunity for you know that type of thing. But 91, we were five and six, and I can't remember what our record was. Well, I don't even know if they kept a record in the Big East at the time today. But 92 we went 2-8-1. But we were predominantly a freshman sophomore football team just because of the sanctions, because of who we kind of gum through and our program, and uh but we were two, eight and one, and of those eight losses, we were leading going into the fourth quarter with seven of those with this young football team. And anyway, long story short, coaches getting some heat from you know, alumni and things, and this is before social media. I can only imagine what it'd be like now, you know, if with the social media, but he he let go of a bunch of staff guys, and um luckily I was able to hang on, and uh he brought in a guy for us defensively, Phil Elmation. Phil um coached it all over the country, and I just saw Phil this weekend. I spoke at the Blacksburg Sports Club here the other day, and Phil was there. He lives in Myrtle Beach right now, but uh Phil was our defensive coordinator 93 and 94, and really helped us change our program in a lot of ways, you know, with expectations and things of that nature, not just from a defensive standpoint as much as it was offensively as well. But we ended up going 9-3 and 8-4 in those two seasons with Phil. And um, and then Tech won their first bowl, well, second bowl game, because we they they beat uh in '86 Coach Dooleys last year. They did beat NC State, um you know, and and um in the Peace Bowl. And um, but uh that was only that was Tech's first win ever in a bowl game. And then we beat Indiana in '93 at the independence bowl, which they were a really, really good football team. Yeah, they were yeah, and uh, but anyway, uh those two seasons were big for us because I remember telling Phil we got a chance to be really good here. We got some good young talent. I thought we recruited really well, particularly in state at that time, and we were able to attract some really good kids. But '93 was the guy that we got that was a game changer, was Cornell Brown. You know, and we had a Cornell on the show. Cornell was the number one recruit in the state of Virginia. Uh his brother Ruben Brown, who went on and played a great career in the NFL, went to Pitt. Um, you know, everybody thought Cornell was gonna go to Pitt. Ruben was an all-American at Pitt as an offensive offensive guard. But we got Cornell, and Cornell immediately came in and started for us. And uh, but that changed us. All of a sudden, we get a guy like Cornell Brown, who is like I said, was the number one player in the state of Virginia to come and come to Virginia Tech. That just all of a sudden started opening up the door for us and attracting recruits, and particularly going nine and three.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, makes a bit, yeah, makes and by the way, just to go back, so what happened was in those years when you just joined, because you were only playing one or two big East teams at the time. In other words, your schedule had um, but they probably didn't count since you were new. That's why there was like one and oh, and then one and four the next year, because you you you filtered into the uh yeah, to the biggest. That's what they are. Okay, great stuff. We're gonna uh we'll go to break here, we'll come back. It's um the beamer legacy from you know Maryland, the Citadel to Murray State, and then the tech years, and now things really get rolling in the midst of a 23 straight bowl stretch. And uh, of course, Bud was a big part of that. We'll talk about that when we come back at Foster and Friends Unscripted 2 with Bud Foster on the NSP Radio Network. When you walk into a restaurant, say your favorite pizza place, what's the first thing you notice? The way it smells, the vibe, maybe the party atmosphere. If you're traveling in Southwest Virginia or lucky enough to live in the Radford area, hopefully you have visited Brickhouse Pizza, a staple since 1972. Brickhouse Pizza has become a legendary stop. Jeff and Diane's Main Street attraction features artisanal wood-fired pizza with fresh ingredients prepped every day. Brickhouse's pizzas are made with flour imported from Italy. Throw in the recipe for their homemade brew, and you have the recipe for fun. Brickhouse Pizza is open Tuesday through Friday at 3 30, Saturdays at 11.30, and the Sunday brunch begins at 10. Fresh food, cold beer, great times. That's Brickhouse Pizza, 311 West Main Street in Radford.
SPEAKER_08Although Ford was a man that forced us to make the run.
SPEAKER_06Welcome back, Foster and Friends, NSB Radio Network. It's unscripted part two. Uh, and who knows, we may have to do a Rocky trilogy with five or six uh talking talking to Bud about the role. And uh uh so Frank Beamer is there, Bud is there, uh 93-94. Bud was just talking about the two, you know, tech went nine and three and then eight and four, an independence bowl win, a loss, and a gator bowl. But boy do things, and when you start, when you look at that 93 season, on and I counted Frank and your staff had 23 straight bowl appearances.
SPEAKER_04You know, starting in 93, you know, I was fortunate to go to 27 straight bowls, but I was with coach, we then, you know, toward when his time, you know, when he retired after 2015, we'd gone to 23 straight bowls. I mean, that's that's which was at the time was the I Mace had been the longest streak at the time. I know when we retired, when I retired at 27, it was for sure the longest streak. And I'm not for sure if if coaches um in his tenure, that was the longest streak in the country at the time. Yeah, and we weren't going to a bunch of uh you had a couple. We went to the San Francisco Bowl. That was the diamond walnut bowl, but we played the game. Yeah, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_06Look at the no gator, sugar, orange, gator, music city, sugar, gator, gator. No, no, no, no. You guys are gonna go.
SPEAKER_04We went to you know, you uh we went to eight BCS games and played for a national championship in those 23 run year run, you know. So that that was we were as good as anybody in the country, you know.
SPEAKER_06At that time, how were you developed? Okay, so I'm gonna now from the Bud Foster point of view, how were you? Becoming such a dominant defensive coordinator?
SPEAKER_04Well, I don't know. My first year as a coordinator, you know, we just talked about 93, 94. So Phil, he got, you know, Phil's one of those guys. He's been everywhere. And he's uh and just a great football coach. And I learned he was a he was a he was a mentor to me when it was all I learned so much and just quite a bit from him in my two years with him in different ways. Uh in a and uh but he left and went to the University of Washington. And I told you we we brought their their package from University of Washington to Virginia Tech in '93. So that was kind of our 93 and 94. Phil left and went to become the secondary coach at Washington. And I think he was going to be co-coordinator as well. So Coach Viewer promoted me. I was co-coordinator 95, but I was really the one responsible to talk to the defense, make the adjustments, all those kind of things. Um, and we went, you know, 10 and 2. Now that was not an easy 10 and 2 for me. Uh I'm gonna go, I'm gonna step personal, step out of the box right here. So here I am. I get the job in 1995 as coordinator. But my first wife and I, you know, we're struggling a little bit. And so um we get we we separate that summer through probably well through the night through 96. So here we are, Bud Foster starting his first career, his first time as the defensive coordinator at Virginia Tech. We've got a senior, junior, senior-oriented group, you know, from that '93, '90, you know, that era. We are freshman sophomore primarily. We start out, we lose to Boston College, we're good Boston college team 20 to 14. Then we get shut out by Cincinnati, who was a pretty good football team. Uh, we were horrendous offensively. But I'm sitting there, and I had my I'm separated from my wife, but I've got the kids.
unknownUh-huh.
SPEAKER_04So I've got a nanny, and I remember we're getting ready. Oh and two.
SPEAKER_06And how old are you? And how old are your kids at this point?
SPEAKER_04Uh, I don't know. Grant was born in '86. Hillary was born in '88. Uh, and Amy Joe, I don't know if she was a little bit more.
SPEAKER_06So they're seven, eight, seven, eight, nine. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So anyway, but I've got to live in nanny. Um, but I'm pushing the golf cart, we are my grocery cart. I had to get groceries for the nanny and all that. We're like uh we had Wednesday night, that was my late night. And I'm putting in in food line, pushing a grocery cart filled. It wasn't like I'm just getting milk and a couple things. I've got it things piled up, man. And uh I'm going like, and I'm 0-2, I'm getting ready to get run out of here on the rail, you know.
SPEAKER_06Now you actually you you were you scared after the 0-2 start a little bit?
SPEAKER_04I was because we're getting ready to play Miami. Miami's coming to town who we had never beat. They've got Ray Lewis, I can't remember even who they had on offense. They were still, you know, they were still.
SPEAKER_06But Frank Beamer, but Frank Beamer had your back, right?
SPEAKER_04I mean well, you'd like to think so, but that was just my mentality, you know. Sure, I get it. Here I am. And I had such a you know, I I going into telling these kids that, hey, you know, we've been we got better these next these last two years, but we're gonna take it another level. That's that's a whole lunch pail philosophy, you know. That was we're gonna be different. And I but I that's where I had to look at myself too, and I and that's where I learned well, number one, perseverance. Here I am struggling for my life on the side of my personal side of it. And then I'm also struggling as a from a coaching standpoint where I'm you know, here I am, we're 0-2. Uh, we've played pretty good defense to be honest with you, those, but um you know, but we're on the losing side and we're playing Miami, who we Virginia Tech had never beaten. And then we ultimately beat Miami 13 to 10 in that ball game, and we never looked back. We went on after that, I will say this, after that Cincinnati game, we had a the we had a couple seniors step up in the locker room and said, we were we're too good a damn football team, and we will never lose a game the rest of the year.
SPEAKER_06Which proved to be pretty prophetic with a run of 10.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we went we won the next 10 and and beat uh you know, beat um uh Texas in the sugar bowl that year.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I got okay. Just real quick. All right, Black Entertainment Network, Edge of Miami game.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Okay, in front of 51,000, 13-7. And then yeah, the the run, then you got uh your ad Pittsburgh at Navy Akron Rutgers at West Virginia. Uh you knock off number 20 Syracuse 31-7. That was at Lane Stadium, too. Uh, and then Temple, uh, you blow away number 13, Virginia, 3629. Um at that game. And then yeah, you beat Texas uh in the Sugar Bowl 28-10. So that is quite the run.
SPEAKER_04Uh it was, you know, I tell you, beaten Virginia, they were ranked 13th in the country. We beat them up there. That was the game that uh uh who was it, their trainer stuck his foot up.
SPEAKER_06Oh, Joe Geek.
SPEAKER_04Joe Geek with the So uh he don't think he was gonna try, he was just being silly, but you know, we uh we had a really, really good run um, you know, down and that was a great football game. We had to come back and win that game. But um anyway, um yeah, that was uh that year, though, the Miami game, we just needed a well, we needed a hump game that year. I think in '93, our hump game to get our program going to where we wanted it was against Pitt and uh Johnny Majors was in in '93. And then but we really elevated there. But then once the 95 uh season came through, we really didn't look back. Now, I I'll say this 90 um 9 what was it, 97? Uh, we had a a lean year. We went seven and five. We really started out, we were really good that year, and then we kind of faded at the end and um lost to a really good North Carolina team in the Gator Bowl.
SPEAKER_06Well, what was all right? So, what were you what were you learning from Frank Beamer then? And what were you seeing from Frank and the leadings and the guidance during those years?
SPEAKER_04I mean, that's a great question. Particularly early when I uh was I learned from coach just uh to be even keel, to be patient. And what I learned from coach when I was playing for him, and then coming up as a coach, like I told you before, he was always coach was always at his best when things were at their worst.
SPEAKER_06It seems like he just always he could circle wagons better than any other.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and he was never, you know, he always used it, nothing's ever as big as it seems, or as uh, you know, or as bad as it seems, or as good as it seems, or as bad as it seems, but somewhere in between lies reality, you know, and he just kind of kept me on that mode. He'd be in my headset, like, bud, go to the next play. Because I'd be like, I, you know, I was just one of those, I'd be venting a little bit on any, and and but as he knew it was he knew me, I was just that was my way, but I was still thinking about the next play, you know. But I was just uh, but no, but coach taught me as much as anything to take a deep breath, you know, go to the next play. Um, you got to be better the next play, get them on the sideline, let's get them right, bud. You know, let's just whatever it may be. He was just that calming effect guy that when I might have been, you know, thinking crash and burn, he was, hey, everything's fine, you know, or and uh, but um he would never let me get too high, but he would never let me get too low, you know, and that was probably the the being too low. I really didn't get real high. I was one of those kind of going to the next going to the next play, man, you know, and going to the next game, going to the next season, you know. You uh will enjoy afterwards. But um uh but coach was just he kind of kept me on that even keel, which that was him when it was all said and done.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, good stuff. Well, all right, we'll go to break here. Good time because we yeah, Virginia Tech gets on a roll 99 in 2000, 22-2, and an appearance in a national title game at that point. What was Bud Foster thinking? Watching Michael Vick and having to having a tutor, a quarterback. We'll get into that when we come back. It is Foster and Friends, and this is the NSB Radio Network.
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SPEAKER_04Wednesday night now is my late night, and I'm putting in food line, pushing a grocery cart, filled. It won't like I'm just getting milk and a couple things. I've got it things piled up, man. I'm going like, and I'm 0-2. I'm getting ready to get run out of here on the rail.
SPEAKER_06It is Foster and Friends, and it's unscripted, part two with Bud Foster. Uh, just going back through uh Bud's Virginia Tech days and uh also, but but and and you were talking about you know the grocery cart and the nanny and having to do a lot of stuff from a personal standpoint. So as you're getting close now, 97, 98, uh 98, a good year. And of course, the the 99 and 2000 seasons were just they were golden uh in uh Blacksburg. Was your life quieting down a little bit?
SPEAKER_04Yes, it was, you know. Once uh in in 98, we were a really good football team. We talked about 99, but 98, we were nine and three. We lost three games by I don't know, it was under 12 points total, you know. We and uh it was just a heartbreaker. We we lost them all at the like just gut punches, but we came back and won, you know, that was a sign of that team. But that was a team that had, you know, defensively, we had everybody coming back.
SPEAKER_06Uh and uh you lost to Temple by four, Syracuse by two up there, and Virginia escaped 36-32.
SPEAKER_04They beat us on uh the that with a mod Hawkins catch right up to we had a mod on here. But you think about that, that was that what is that six? So you got four, two, and four. So we lost those three games by that total of points.
SPEAKER_07Right.
SPEAKER_04And but we had a guy on the sideline named Mike Vick. And uh so I was offered a job by Steve Spurrier. Bob Stoops had just left um to go to from Florida as a defense coordinator um to leave to go um.
SPEAKER_05Did he go to Oklahoma then?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think he went to Oklahoma.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, Bob Stoops went to Oklahoma then.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. And so Steve Spurrier called me and offered me a job at Virginia Tech. I mean at uh University of Florida.
SPEAKER_06Wait a minute, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're not skipping over coming to Gainesville. Well, yeah, well, well, okay. I I got offered, but no, no, no, no, no, no. What what happened? What was the decision then?
SPEAKER_04Well, I knew we had a guy on the sidelines named Mike Vick.
SPEAKER_06And I guess the transfer portal wasn't invented yet.
SPEAKER_04So no, and uh, but um, you know, I'd done my homework with a couple guys uh about Coach Spurrier. I mean, everything I've heard was he was a great guy. Yeah, but he was also um you know, he was the Office coordinator and the head ball coach. And um, you know, and he he would you could be halfway through your defensive practice or team period and they're done offensively, he's gonna call a team up. That's the end of the day. You know, it's like, damn, we had you know, we had we had some more stuff to cover, you know. But anyway, coach was always good to me, I'll say, because he offered me a job at when he was at South Carolina, you know, he just liked him, he liked Bud Foster. And I I I had a chance to meet with Coach uh a couple times, talked to him on the phone several times, and then met with him uh at the national convention. And um, and we actually had it in in Nashville where we had beaten Alabama. That was part owed. We beat Alabama pretty pretty soundly, and um, and I think that was part of the reason he was interested in me, and then offered me the job. Um, but the big key was we had everybody back on defense. We had um this guy by the name of Mike Vick, who he was our scout team quarterback, who I had a chance to see him every day. I was tired of seeing Mike Vick. I couldn't wait for somebody else to see Mike Vick, you know, have to try to defend him. Not that we, you know, he was running our ship the scout team. I didn't run the offense, but you know, and scrimmages and things of that nature. He was just uh, you know, he was a pain. But hey, that was I just knew we had a chance to be really, really were there other offers filtering in?
SPEAKER_06I mean, were there people other people calling you saying, hey, but we love what you're doing, because what year was it was it 99 or 2000 when you won the Frank Broil's award for best?
SPEAKER_04Well, yeah, 2000. I won the Broil's Award in 2006. Yeah, but I won the uh I won the AFCA coach of the year, assistant coach of the year like in 2000. But okay. No, in between there, I I had some great job offer opportunities. And and but you know, I I I can throw it out. It was Georgia with Mark Rick, uh Kevin Sumlin at Texas AM. I mean, the last job offer I was Brian Kelly at at Notre Dame, you know, and uh but besides Coach Spurrier twice. And um, but um you know, there was just um and then some head coaching opportunities that that kind of fell through. Uh but to leave is a you know Virginia Tech, we were we were at the time in this in this era well I didn't need to go someplace else to chase what we were chasing, you know, from 2004 to 2000 uh what is it to we can go to 2011, we went to how many BCS one, two, three, four, five BCS games in like eight years, you know. And uh it was just uh we were in that hunt. We won the ACC four times, we won the coastal division six times. Um you know, uh we went we won 10 or more games eight years in a row, which is still, I think, fourth in the history of college football. And um, you know, uh and we just I didn't need to go someplace else to chase what we were chasing. And um we were a top 10 football team, you know, and um we were an elite defense, and um life was good for Bud Foster. I you know, the face scale was getting better and better. Uh ultimately they gave me a deal I couldn't refuse. I got a big time annuity that um that was a game changer.
SPEAKER_06Was that Frank's doing? Was that Frank's doing?
SPEAKER_04It was, you know, and uh I had to stay for five years, but it was I was gonna get a boatload of money that, you know, kind of set me up for retirement as an assistant coach. And there was a time where I was the highest paid assistant coach. Now that passed by because you know, Virginia Tech, we just that's kind of why we're at where we are now a little bit. We kind of got satisfied and we didn't invest like we needed to, in my opinion. But long story short, I still had the best contract. I had a five-year rollover contract. So it was every my contract was gonna go until I was wanted to end. I was gonna get a five-year, you know, and um so and that was all Coach Beamers doing. That's why you stay with a guy for, yeah, I was with him for you know close to 40 years. I mean, you just uh just he took care of me, was very loyal to me. So in turn, for me, I was loyal to him, you know, and we created a great relationship. Um, I mean, he was a mentor to me, but he was so many other things, and I like to think, you know, I was so many other things to him too, you know. But um that was, you know, from Coach Beamer's time there. Now, towards the end of his time, we you know, we had the wagons circled in the state of Virginia. Then you had some guides, you started having some of the top players start leaving the state.
SPEAKER_06Oh two, oh three, right before you step into the ACC. And then, of course, the first what was six, seven years in the ACC, eight years, you guys just like kicked. Was there talk at that time? Uh I mean, was the Atlantic Coast Conference coming into the conversation in 02 and 03?
SPEAKER_04Well, we were starting to hear some things about expansion, you know, and I don't know if it was the ACC, you know, I don't know if we were quite ready for the SEC. My understanding is once we joined the ACC, there was a couple years later when the when the SEC expanded, like they went to Missouri and AM, we were in the mix, but we had just joined the ACC. We felt like that was we were more aligned that way.
SPEAKER_06So the first year you command in 04, you go 10 and 3 from 04 to 2011, tech was 84 and 24. Yeah, you went 10 and 3, 11 and 2, 10 and 3, 11 and 3, 10 and 4, 10 and 3, 11 and 3, 11 and 3. That run is was freaking incredible. Um, you had five coastal titles in 04, 7 and 1, 10 and 3. It was the first uh when you guys stepped in, 10 and 3, 7-1, and you were first in the ACC, and that's before the league went to divisions, coastal and Atlantic. Right. But you guys had five coastal titles during that run as well.
SPEAKER_04That was, you know, we lost to NC State by one point in uh in that uh that ACC season, and we lost to an undefeated Auburn team in the Sugar Bowl 16-13 or 16-14. We were a really good football team right there, you know. Uh we lost, we we won the division and lost to Florida State the next year. Really was probably one of our better football teams. But then that stretch, we went that was kind of then the Tyrod Taylor era. You know, everybody talks about Mike Vick, and Mike was a Mike was a game changer, don't get me wrong. But Tyrod Taylor, he changed Virginia Tech football too. I mean, all he did was win three ACC titles as our quarterback.
SPEAKER_06Quite the run. All right, when we uh when we come back, Bud finds out that uh Frank Beamer is going to retire and uh that conversation. So we'll get into that when we return. This is Foster and Friends. It is unscripted, part two with Bud Foster. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER_04Hi, this is Bud Foster for Envision. For over 30 years, my good friends, Dr. Scott and Becky Mann, have built a practice that truly cares about their patients.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we just try to do everything with the patients in mind. Everything we do is from the patient's point of view, and we try to put them first and really have state-of-the-art equipment and technology and then old-fashioned personal care and attention.
SPEAKER_00Oh, well, I think it's mainly about the relationship and that we care. We care for them and they become family. Women we've been in that office now for over 30 years. So it's it's more like a family environment and that we do care about providing the best vision care available.
SPEAKER_03Over 30 years ago, we started with one office, one staff member, one doctor, and we've just kind of grown from there. The community's been great in supporting us, and now we have two locations. Uh, we're getting ready to add our sixth and seventh doctors and about 25 staff.
SPEAKER_04Go see your award-winning Envision team. They have two locations: Salem and Christiansburg. They will meet all your eye care needs. I want to thank uh Coach Beamer for giving me an opportunity to do some really special things and give me an opportunity to get a chance to experience uh the dream of a lifetime. But it's time for me to step down the end of the season.
SPEAKER_01The lunch pail lives on the NSB Radio Network. Once again, here's Bud and Matt.
SPEAKER_06Welcome back, it's foster friends. It has been, I as I said, I've got too much to talk about. We may have to go unscripted part three. I mean, it just may have to happen. The the dominance kind of starts to wane a little bit uh between 2012 and 2015, 7685-7676. When did then Frank say, I'm thinking about retirement? What was the conversation you had with him? And do you remember the very did he surprise you? Did you know it was coming? But do you remember your initial conversation with Coach Beamer?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well, you know, he never called me in and said, Hey, look, but he'd been going through some health issues. He'd had he was in balance, as we is now known. He had, you know, some throat cancer, and he'd had a couple stints put in and some different things. I mean, uh, coach was you know, was slowing down. You know, as far as his physical you know, his his uh motivation to win and and competitive drive and all that, that was still there. Um, but he was just slowing down, you know. And uh and like I said, some of the top players were starting to leave the state and that was affecting us. And um you know, there was the rumblings and you could just being close to it, you heard it, but you didn't know when it was gonna happen, if he's gonna keep going. Because I think Witt was gonna let him Wit Babcock was the AD at the time, you know. Jim Weaver's uh retired, was going through some health issues himself with Parkinson's and things. But um coach made the announcement I think going into the week of um Boston College. So, you know, which you've got probably three of our last four games are against our rivals, and I take throw out Miami was probably in that mix would have been the other team, you know. And we lost a tough one to Miami, but but then we you know had a had to beat Virginia to you know to go to a bowl for coach. And uh that was a crazy week because we lost to North Carolina. We've got to win this last ball game to go to be bowl eligible for coach, you know, coaches uh you know, streak to go and finish him out the right way. But that was also the time, you know, I was approached by Whit Babcock. You know, I was told after coach, we'd had a couple meetings, you know, that and I wanted the head job here. There's an you know, everybody knows that. And was open and and said, hey, look, I think our fan base and you know wants to go in another direction. You know, I think I think they were concerned that I would be a status quo guy and do what we do, but that was not going to be me. I mean, I knew what we had to do to if we wanted to continue on a path to get better. Um I I mean I'd been around a lot of programs, you know, I'd visited a lot of places. I saw what our when we talked about that on, you know, I think last week, you know, about what we needed to do to get back to where uh you know we expected to be. And um, but long story short, it was we, you know, we were gonna go in another direction, but Witt wanted me to stay. And he was gonna that was gonna be he was gonna I was gonna be the carrot also to lure the next head coach, which as we know was Justin Fuente, who was the hottest head coach in the country at the time.
SPEAKER_06We got to get through the Fuente era, we got to get you through the paddles and the heart issue and all kinds of stuff. So we haven't even come, we haven't even scratched the surface yet, okay? So it's a it's a tease. The Fuente, what happened, the Fuente, and we yeah, there's so much, so much left to cover. So with that, have a good weekend. Think about next week now, because it's unscripted part three. For Bud Foster, I'm Mac McDonald, and that's the NSV Radio Network. Good job.
SPEAKER_01Foster and friends is presented by Envision. Locations are in Christiansburg in Salem, Virginia. For the best in eye care and fashion, it's Envision by the River City Distillery in Radford, makers of Win Vodka. It's a good day to enjoy a win. And by Brick House Pizza. Brickhouse Pizza means good times.
SPEAKER_08And here with the ball. At the Virginia 634, they play off 13-7 with 23 seconds left of the game. Fires downfield. Intended for brain.
SPEAKER_09No flag on the plays. That ball is showing up to anybody, not just him. They both had a chance for it. I think that's a good call by the official.
SPEAKER_01Foster and Friends is a presentation of the NSB Radio Network and Mac McDonald Media.
