Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 12 No. 2 | October 2019

inside.hokiesports.com 9 Providing Teamwork and Fast Forward Document Technology to Virginia Tech Athletics ... and your company! MFPs I Document Management I Managed Print Services I Production Print VBS VT ad 2018_Layout 1 7/26/18 10:28 AM Page 1 by Jimmy Robertson To get a sense of Mike Young’s popularity, consider this online story from a Wofford fan following a Terriers upset of NC State in 2014. The young man, a sophomore at Wofford at the time, went with his brothers and father to Raleigh to watch the game, and they saw Wofford guard Justin Gordon hit the game- winning shot with less than 2 seconds left. After the young fan returned to school following Christmas break, he saw Young coming out of the school’s cafeteria. “Wofford owns NC State,” he yelled. “That game was something else, wasn’t it?” Young replied. After the young man told Young that he and his family went to the game, he received a strict set of orders from Young. “Your family needs to come to every away game,” Young said. Hokie Nation craves that type of friendly banter from its coaches, and Young, the new Virginia Tech men’s basketball coach and a native of nearby Radford, has been seen at various spots all over town, often chatting it up with the locals who approach him. In that sense, he reminds many of another coach with Southwest Virginia roots and a down- home demeanor—Frank Beamer. “This is Home” rings particularly true for Young, who used to attend games at Cassell Coliseum. He remembers where he used to sit and relayed stories about being around for games when the building used to shake. He knows the history of Virginia Tech men’s basketball, including the most recent chapters written by Buzz Williams, and he wants desperately to continue recent successes. That desire is why he poured himself into the job right from the start. “The fastest roller coaster you’ve ever been on in your life,” he said, describing his first six months on the job. “It’s been awesome. To be a part of Virginia Tech and to meet so many passionate Hokie fans has been a great deal of fun. Been a lot of work, from getting here April 8 to the present, and that’s ongoing. “But I’ve said it before, I’m coaching basketball at Virginia Tech, and I’m the happiest guy on earth. Whatever lies ahead, bring it on. We’ll meet it head on, and we’ll continue to plug away at it.” Young, though, isn’t just friendly. He also happens to be a heckuva coach. He took Wofford, one of the smallest Division I schools in the country, to the NCAA Tournament five times since 2010. He guided the Terriers to a win in the NCAA Tournament in March, he’s won conference championships, he’s won conference coach of the year honors, and after this past season, several organizations named him the national coach of the year. Young and his staff, however, face a difficult challenge with his inaugural Tech team. Nearly all of the key players from last year’s team that led Tech to a third consecutive NCAA Tournament berth departed. All of the recruits who signed with Tech last fall decided to follow Williams to Texas A&M, as is their right. Only five players on the current roster played in 2018-19, and one of those, Jonathan Kabongo, could be out for the season with an injury. Young’s best Wofford teams featured a bunch of 3-point snipers who usually played off a solid big man inside. Last season, Fletcher Magee set the NCAA record for career 3-pointers, but the Terriers’ most valuable player arguably was 6-foot-8, 250-pound center Cameron Jackson, who averaged 14.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. On paper, the Hokies appear to lack those traits—consistent, or at least proven, 3-point shooting and a dominant force inside. And because of that, Young preaches patience both to the fan base and to himself. “I’m trying my darnedest,” he said. “I’m having a great time and really admiring our team, but there has to be patience … Because we are so new and we are building this thing foundation first, patience on my part is a necessity. It’s a reality.” The team certainly features a bunch of blue-collar, hard-working types. In that sense, this group emulates Young, who possesses traits inherent in most native Southwest Virginians. Williams owned those same traits, too. He worked insatiably to make this program relevant again. Because of those similarities between Williams and Young, the transition to Young hasn’t been overly difficult. “The message is always the same,” point guard Wabissa Bede agreed. “It’s just how it comes out. That’s the only difference.” Young is right. He needs to be patient. But Hokie Nation needs to be as well. Tech fans have their guy. They just need to give him time to do what he always has done—recruit good players, coach them up and win. In the end, the wait should be well worth it. Young living a dream, but also preaching patience, as he sets to rebuilding Tech basketball foundation