LINK TO PDF VERSION
Coaching Highlights
• Adam Lechtenberg enters his fifth season in Blacksburg in 2021 and his second as running backs coach. He added offensive recruiting coordinator duties to his responsibilities this season as he continues to work directly with head coach Justin Fuente and the staff on Tech’s recruiting and roster management duties.
• Assists Fuente with managing all aspects of Tech’s roster from scholarship allocation to directing the team’s walk-on program.
• Made an immediate impact for the Hokies in his initial season as Tech’s running backs coach in 2020.
• In 2020, Virginia Tech set a single-season school record by averaging 5.58 yards per carry, a mark that ranked fourth in the nation among Power Five teams.
• Transfer RB Khalil Herbert thrived under Lechtenberg’s tutelage and produced prolific numbers running behind Tech’s offensive line.
• Herbert ranked second in the ACC, averaging 107.5 rushing ypg, while his 1,791 all-purpose yards ranked third in the nation. His school-record 357 all-purpose yards at Duke (10/10/21) were the top single-game total of any Power Five player in the country in 2020.
• Tech racked up 27 rushing TDs as a team in 2020, the squad’s best total in over a decade, while the Hokies averaged an ACC-best 240.1 rushing ypg on the season. That rushing mark was Tech’s best since racking up 270.5 ypg in 2000.
• The Hokies averaged 440.7 ypg of total offense in 2020, the third-best mark amassed by Tech over the past 25 seasons, while VT’s 7.7 yards-per-touch average in 2020 was the club’s best mark in a quarter century.
• Lechtenberg originally joined Virginia Tech in 2017 as director of player development and later served as Tech’s assistant head coach/executive director of player development in 2018-19.
• Veteran offensive mind has previously worked as a co-offensive coordinator, in addition to coaching wide receivers and quarterbacks at the collegiate level.
• Virginia Tech led the ACC and ranked sixth among Power Five squads with a 94.5 Rec Zone scoring percentage in 2019. The Hokies scored on 52 of 55 Red Zone trips and posted a 71.2 Red Zone touchdown percentage.
• During his tenure working with Fuente at Memphis from 2012-15, Lechtenberg served as director of player personnel and acted as a liaison between the football program and academics, admissions and housing.
• Lechtenberg oversaw the Tigers’ walk-on program that made a substantial impact on the on-field turnaround at Memphis under Fuente. In total, 11 of his walk-ons eventually earned scholarships at Memphis, while 23 made major contributions.
• Spent the 2016 season as passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach at the University of Tennessee at Martin as the Skyhawks ranked second in the Ohio Valley Conference in scoring (32.2 ppg).
• During the 2016 campaign five members of his receiving corps hauled in 25 receptions or more and six different WRs registered a TD catch.
• In addition to his on-field coaching duties at Tennessee Martin, his recruiting territory included Alabama, Tennessee and junior colleges.
• During his stint as co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Central Connecticut State from 2010-11 the Blue Devils boasted one of the Northeast Conference’s most potent offenses.
• In 2011, the Blue Devils led the conference and ranked 10th in the FCS in third-down conversions (45.7%). The team led the NEC and tied for fifth nationally in fewest sacks allowed (8.0), while ranking third in the conference in rushing (192.7 ypg).
• In 2010, Central Connecticut State earned a share of the NEC title with a 7-1 league record. The Blue Devils led the conference in scoring (30.2 ppg), total offense (399.5 ypg) and rushing (212.5 ypg).
• Recruited the all-time leading rusher in Central Connecticut State history, RB Rob Holloman, who ran for 3,672 yards with 30 TDs from 2012-14 and also caught 82 passes for 773 yards with two TDs.
• The Butte, Nebraska native earned his initial Power Five coaching opportunity as an offensive graduate assistant working with Fuente at TCU from 2007-09.
• Spent two seasons coaching wide receivers at NCAA Division II Wayne State University, where he recruited the all-time leading receiver in school history, WR Logan Masters. Masters caught 188 passes for 2,969 yards with 19 TDs.
• Began his coaching career serving as a high school defensive coordinator in Kansas upon his college graduation.
Prominent Pupils
RB KHALIL HERBERT D6-2021 – Chicago
Virginia Tech Ranked third in the nation with 1,791 all-purpose yards in 2020, including 1,182 rushing yards, a mark that ranked second in the ACC.
WR BEN AXLINE
Tennessee Martin Second-Team All-Ohio Valley Conference in 2016.
WR LONDELL LEE
Tennessee Martin Ohio Valley Conference All-Newcomer Team in 2016.
Playing Highlights
• Former walk-on defensive back at Nebraska under head coach Frank Solich
