Brad Cornelsen

Coaching Highlights

•    Veteran offensive coordinator and QBs coach enters his sixth season at Virginia Tech in 2021.  

•    Under his direction, the Hokies have produced three of Tech’s top four seasons for total offense over the past 25 years. Only the 1999 campaign (451.8 ypg) tops the 2016 (444.4), 2020 (440.7) and 2018 seasons (428.7).

•    Tech’s 7.7 yards-per-touch average in 2020 was the team’s best mark since that stat began being tracked in 1996.

•    VT set a school record, averaging 5.58 yards per carry in 2020, a mark that ranked fourth among Power Five squads. 

•    Tech led the ACC by averaging 240.1 rushing ypg in 2020, the team’s best mark since the 2000 campaign, while VT’s 27 rushing TDs were the school’s most since 2010. 

•    Thanks to a tenacious blocking unit and the play of RB Khalil Herbert, who produced 1,182 rushing yards on the season, the Hokies amassed three games with 300+ team rushing yards in 2020. Tech previously owned a total of three 300-yard rushing games in nine seasons from 
2011-19.

•    The Hokies set a school single-season record for completion percentage (62.2) in 2020, while the three top seasons for passing yardage per game have also come under Cornelsen’s guidance: 261.4 ypg in 2016, 253.8 ypg in 2018 and 239.5 ypg in 2017. 

•    Three of Tech’s top seven team seasonal totals for TD passes have also come during Cornelsen’s tenure - 31 in 2016, 29 in 2018 and 24 in 2019. 

•    Three of the top five seasonal marks for team first downs have come in the past five years for the Hokies: 330 in 2016, 290 in 2018 and 288 in 2017. 
•    QB Braxton Burmeister became the latest Tech quarterback to excel under Cornelsen’s watch, producing a 3-1 record in four starts last season.   

•    Playing to the strengths of his players has also been a staple of Cornelsen’s offenses at Tech. Versatile offensive weapons such as RB Raheem Blackshear, TE James Mitchell, as well as WRs Tre’ Turner, Tayvion Robinson and Kaleb Smith all return in 2021. 

•    Three of the five best seasons for the fewest turnovers in Tech history have come since Cornelsen’s arrival: 14 (2017 & 2020) and 16 in 2018. 

•    Three of the top five school marks for TD/INT ratio over the past 25 seasons have come in the past five campaigns: 3.88 (31 TDs/8 INTs in 2016), 3.00 (24 TDs/8 INTs in 2019) and 2.90 (29 TDs/10 INTs in 2018). 

•    Virginia Tech led the ACC and ranked sixth among Power Five squads with a 94.5 Red Zone scoring percentage in 2019. The Hokies scored on 52 of 55 Red Zone trips and posted a 71.2 Red Zone touchdown percentage.

•    Has overseen three of the top four single-season receiving performances in school history - Isaiah Ford (1,094 yards in 2016) and Cam Phillips (983 in 2016 & 964 in 2017).  

•    Despite not entering the starting lineup until the season’s third contest in 2018, QB Ryan Willis threw 24 TDs, a mark that tied as the second-best in school history. 

•    Under Cornelsen’s direction, Virginia Tech tied or broke 10 offensive single-season records in 2016: points (490), total TDs (61), first downs (330), passing first downs (172), TD passes (31), total offense (6,223), completion pct. (62.1%), passing yards (3,660), pass completions (279) and total plays (1,087).

•    Helped QB Jerod Evans register one of the most productive seasons of any quarterback in school annals in 2016. Evans set eight single-season school records, including total offense (4,392), passing yards (3,546), TD passes (29), total TDs accounted for (41) and rush yards by a QB (846). 

•    Along with current Tech head coach Justin Fuente, helped take a Memphis program that had gone 3-21 in the two seasons prior to their arrival to a squad that went 19-7 and earned back-to-back bowl berths in 2014-15.  

•    During his final two campaigns for the Tigers, QB Paxton Lynch completed 64.8 percent (555 of 856) of his passes for 6,807 yards with 50 TDs and 13 INTs (147.9 rating). 

•    By contrast, in the three seasons (2009-11) prior to Lynch’s arrival at Memphis, the Tigers compiled a 5-31 record, threw for 7,182 yards with 37 TDs and 36 INTs.

•    Under Cornelsen’s tutelage in 2015, Lynch threw for 3,776 yards, with 28 touchdowns and only four interceptions. He tied an FBS record with seven touchdown passes in the first half of Memphis’ 63-0 victory over SMU. 

•    In 2015, Memphis finished 11th nationally in scoring offense (40.2 ppg). The Tigers also converted 48.8 percent (101 of 207) on third down to rank eighth in the FBS. 

•    In 2014-15, the Tigers averaged 185.0 rushing ypg and scored 60 TDs on the ground, producing 11 games with 200 or more net rushing yards. 

•    The Tigers set a school record for points in consecutive seasons (993 in 2014-15) and boasted a +19 turnover differential (53 takes/34 gives) over that timeframe.

•    In 2014, Lynch guided the Tigers to a Miami Beach Bowl win over BYU. Lynch was the MVP after throwing four TDs and running for three more TDs, tying an FBS record for touchdowns responsible for in a bowl game.

•    In 2011, Northeastern State receiver Trey McVay became a first-team All-America pick, catching 82 passes for 1,533 yards. His 16-catch, 425-yard performance vs. Harding set an NCAA single-game record at any level.  

•    In 2005, Cornelsen helped Laurent Robinson become an All-America selection. His 292-yard game against Indiana State in 2005 still stands as a conference record. 

•    Spent the spring of 2001 at NW Missouri State working as a graduate assistant under College Football Hall of Fame head coach Mel Tjeerdsma before taking a similar role at Oklahoma State in the fall.

•    His father, Bruce, two uncles and several cousins comprise a Cornelsen coaching family tree that has been synomyous with successful football at the college and high school levels in Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas. 

Prominent Pupils 

T     CHRISTIAN DARRISAW   D1-2021 – Minnesota
Virginia Tech    Consensus All-America second-team selection, first-team All-ACC pick in 2020.  

QB    JEROD EVANS   
Virginia Tech    Set VT single-season records for TD passes (29), passing yards (3,546) and total offense (4,392) in 2016.

WR     ISAIAH FORD    D7-2017 – Miami
Virginia Tech    Set Tech’s single-season record with 79 catches in 2016. 

RB    KHALIL HERBERT    D6-2021 – Chicago 
Virginia Tech    Ranked third in FBS with 1,791 all-purpose yards in 2020.
 
QB     JOSH JACKSON   
Virginia Tech    Set VT freshman records with 2,991 pass yards and 20 TDs in 2017. 

TE    DALTON KEENE    D3-2020 – New England
Virginia Tech    Caught 59 passes for 748 yards & eight TDs from 2017-19. 

QB     PAXTON LYNCH    D1-2016 – Denver
Memphis    Threw for 8,863 yards with 59 TDs at Memphis. 

WR     TREY McVAY     
Northeastern State    Set the NCAA all-division single-game record with 425 receiving yards in 2011.  

WR     CAM PHILLIPS     FA-2018 – Buffalo 
Virginia Tech    His 236 catches and 3,027 rec. yards are VT career records. 

WR     LAURENT ROBINSON     D3-2007 – Atlanta
Illinois State    All-America selection and MVC Offensive POY in 2005 with league-record 86 catches for a school-record 1,465 yards. Falcons, Rams, Cowboys, Jaguars (2007-12).  

QB     Ryan Willis      
Virginia Tech    Threw for 3,622 yards with 33 TDs & a 139.3 rating in 2018-19.

Playing Highlights

•    First NCAA Division II quarterback to pass for at least 4,000 yards and rush for at least 2,000 yards during his career at Missouri Southern State from 1995-98. 

•    Missouri Southern State Athletics Hall of Fame (2014). 

•    Was on the same Oklahoma roster as current Tech head coach Justin Fuente in the 1995 Oil Bowl, an annual Oklahoma vs. Texas high school summer all-star game. 

•    Earned Oklahoma all-state honors in football, basketball and track at Texhoma High School.