Since the past three recruiting classes have been the best classes in Virginia Tech football history, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the Virginia Tech assistant coaching staff in terms of their individual recruiting territory responsibilities, as well as their individual success in these classes.

Below you'll see a chart listing the current known primary recruiting areas for the Virginia Tech assistant coaching staff.  At this time, it is unknown to me who is responsible for Georgia, Alabama, Delaware, and the Shenandoah Valley / I-81 corridor in Virginia.  

Logical speculation and assumption would be that Coach Pearman is responsible for Georgia and Alabama, due to his former position at the University of Alabama, and Coach Stinespring is responsible for the Virginia Shenandoah Valley corridor, due to his knowledge of that area.  Speculation and assumption would also say that Coach Ball is responsible for Delaware.

Additionally, I can not say with certainty which coach is responsible for Washington D.C.  I believe it to be Coach Ward.  I can say with certainty, that before Lorenzo Ward became a member of the VT staff, Bud Foster was responsible for Northern Virginia, and former defensive back coach Lou West was responsible for Washington D.C.  This is evident by Foster's signing of Willie Pile out of Alexandria, Virginia, in 1998, and Charles Hattan out of Fairfax, Virginia in 1999.  Additionally, Lou West signed Lee Baker out of Washington, D.C. in 1999.

Once Coach Ward arrived, a territory responsibility shift was made by the staff, and now Coach Ward recruits Northern Virginia.  In all probability, he also recruits D.C. as well.

There is no doubt coaches Wiles, Bustle, Cavanaugh, and Stinespring have been the most prolific recruiters on the Virginia Tech staff in the past 3 seasons.  Additionally, the success coaches Ball and Ward have had in a limited amount of time at Virginia Tech is a very encouraging sign of good things to come.

Coach Ball has landed some high level athletic talent coming out of Maryland in the past two classes in Michael Crawford, Vincent Fuller, and Richard Johnson.  Couple that with Coach Hite's renewed focus on consistently talent-rich DeMatha High in Maryland, and Virginia Tech should continue to have a strong presence in Maryland recruiting for many years to come.

Coach Ward's nearly instant success in Northern Virginia with high-demand, national-caliber prospects such as Chad Cooper and Mike Daniels, and his "near miss" with Virginia's top ranked prospect, Brandon Royster, is also a positive sign for the future.  Watch out for Coach Ward. I believe he will become another "prolific" recruiter for Virginia Tech's staff as long as Tech is able to keep him.

Finally, for those "keeping score", Coach Stinespring and Coach Wiles each have a verbal commitment to their credit for the VT recruiting class of 2001.  It will be interesting to re-visit these totals in February of 2001.  Look for Coach Cavanaugh and Coach Stinespring to have big recruiting seasons this year, mostly in Virginia.

This information is maintained by James Arthur - This part of HokieCentral is always under construction.  If you've got additional recruiting information that you'd like to see included, or if you believe our information to be in error, please contact:   james@hokiecentral.com

HokieCentral Home