By Jimmy Robertson
BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech football program is in the midst of an off week, but that doesn't mean there is a lack of news.
At his weekly news conference, Tech head coach Justin Fuente announced the addition of former Minnesota, Northern Illinois and Southern Illinois head coach Jerry Kill to his staff as a special assistant to the head coach. By design, Kill's role isn't overly specific. Instead, Fuente wants Kill's insight on all matters pertaining to the Tech football program, such as planning, management, and the evaluation of practices, game plans and personnel. Kill, though, will not be an on-field coach.
"I expect him to be a resource for all of us to use," Fuente said.
Though they only knew of each other at the time, Fuente and Kill matched wits roughly 20 years ago when Kill worked as the head coach at Southern Illinois and Fuente was an assistant at Illinois State. The two became better acquainted during Fuente's five seasons at TCU – a time when Kill was the head coach at Minnesota. Kill and TCU head coach Gary Patterson are the best of friends, and during that time period, the two staffs often exchanged ideas.
Fuente invited Kill to spend some time in Blacksburg in early August to watch the Hokies, and Kill took him up on the offer. He had been Southern Illinois' director of athletics since February of last year, but made the time to stay with the Fuentes at their Blacksburg home and to observe the Tech program.
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"I told him I wanted him to just talk about everything down to the minute details that he noticed," Fuente said. "I've done this before with other coaches – people that you know you can bring in that are going to tell you the truth. You don't really want someone to come in and say, 'Yep, everything looks good' and then leave. You want someone that has the courage and the knowledge base to give you good feedback, but also understands that some of it we can take and implement, but we can't implement all of it. Everything looks different. Situations are different. Everything from how practice is organized to personnel to scheme and assignments and all that sort of stuff."
Health issues related to epilepsy forced Kill out of coaching in 2015, as he retired from Minnesota. He spent a year in administration at Kansas State before jumping back into coaching as the offensive coordinator at Rutgers in 2017. But again health issues forced him to retire.
Now, he's jumping back into college football, albeit in a less-pressurized role.
"I think I'm safe in saying that he doesn't want to be very far from football," Fuente said. "That's in his blood. That's who he is. Obviously, he's had some health issues to deal with, some difficulties along the way with his health, and I hope I'm not stepping out of line by saying that, in his heart and soul, he's a football man. That was probably part of his reasons."
Here are some more notes from Monday's news conference:
HANDLING THE BYE WEEK
Fuente plans on giving the players three days off this week, with the Hokies not playing against until Friday, Sept. 27. The team uses Monday as a standard day off and it will practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Fuente will give the players Friday and Saturday off before everyone reconvenes Sunday for preparations to play Duke.
"We're not treating it much different," Fuente said. "It's a little unique in that we're playing on a Friday and not on a Saturday. On the back end, it'll be a little different, but as far how we're going to handle this week, it's pretty similar to most weeks."
DEALING WITH ADVERSITY
Offensive lineman Silas Dzansi struggled in the Furman game. The redshirt sophomore was called for two false start penalties and allowed quarterback Ryan Willis to get pressured on a couple of occasions. Line coach Vance Vice took Dzansi out of the game during the middle of a drive and went with redshirt freshman Luke Tenuta the rest of the game, but the Hokies' staff hasn't lost confidence in Dzansi.
"I know what he's capable of, I believe in him, I see how hard he works every day," Fuente said. "He knows that he can and will play better. That's part of our focus this week. We've got to have [improvement] – as a group – I'm certainly not singling out Silas on this, but we've got to get Silas feeling good and playing better. That goes for every position."
DEALING WITH ADVERSITY, PART II
Willis hasn't gotten off to the start that many expected considering his status as a talented and experienced leader. He's thrown seven touchdown passes, but turned the ball over five times (four interceptions), and he took some shots Saturday against Furman. One led to Hendon Hooker's insertion into the game, which drew a loud applause from the Lane Stadium faithful. Fuente remains confident in Willis, though, and inserted him back into the game minutes later.
"I think he's done a good job of trying to stay focused on the task at hand," Fuente said. "It's a difficult job it's a difficult position. He understands that. When you play sports long enough, you're going to be in positions that are difficult. That's part of sports – handling those situations. I think he's done a good job. He's got to keep his focus on improvement and not on the other stuff, which is easier said than done, but I think he's done a good job so far."
RELATING TO RYAN
No one knows more about the ups and downs of playing the quarterback position than Fuente, who played at Oklahoma for two seasons before transferring to Murray State, where he set 11 school records and was the Ohio Valley Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 1999. Fuente has been relating his own stories to Willis and encouraging him to stay the course.
"Playing the position poorly is not very fun," Fuente said. "I know it because I've done it – a lot. But it can also fuel your fire and desire to improve and find a way to play it well. That's what you've got to have. You've got to have the ability to not ignore the things that didn't go well, but learn from and adjust and move forward. It's got to fuel your preparation so that you don't find yourself in those situations again. There is also nothing better than playing that position well. It's really a very … influential position in college football today in terms of being able to determine the outcomes of games, or having a large say in the outcomes of games. So playing it well is a wonderful experience, and struggling is difficult, but you've got to find a way to let fuel your preparation so you don't find yourself in that situation."
