Frank Beamer will coach his final home game for the Virginia Tech Hokies and Lane Stadium will have his signature painted on Worsham Field at Lane Stadium.
Frank Beamer, the longtime head coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies football team, announced earlier this season that he will retire at the end of the 2015 campaign. In tribute to their head coach of the last 29 years, the Virginia Tech grounds crew will have Frank Beamer’s signature painted atop the 25-yard line markers before his final home game in Blacksburg, Virginia.
A better picture pic.twitter.com/OX0rNYOLur
— VT Grounds Crew (@VT_groundscrew) November 20, 2015
Since taking over the Hokies back in 1987, Frank Beamer has built a program of consistency, going 236-120-2 in 358 games as head coach. Virginia Tech has made a bowl game every season since 1993 under Beamer’s direction. At 5-5, Beamer will need to beat either 9-1 North Carolina on Saturday or arch rival Virginia in the Commonwealth Cup next week to make it to 23 straight bowl games.
2015 is the first year since 1993 that Virginia Tech has not been ranked inside of the AP Top 25. Many speculated that the Frank Beamer Era in Blacksburg was coming to an end shortly, but he still managed to catch college football by surprise with his retirement announcement mid-season.
The supposed heir apparent to Beamer as head coach of the Virginia Tech program is longtime defensive coordinator Bud Foster, who has been at Virginia Tech since Beamer took over the Hokies in 1987. Foster first served as the inside linebackers coach in 1987 and became the defensive coordinator in 1995. Though he has had opportunities to leave Virginia Tech before, it seems obvious he is waiting patiently to take over for Frank Beamer when the timing is right.
Virginia Tech will have their hands full when the Hokies take on the No. 12 team in college football in the North Carolina Tar Heels. North Carolina’s lone loss was an odd neutral site defeat in Charlotte to a bad South Carolina Gamecocks team. Kickoff for Frank Beamer’s final game at Lane Stadium airs on ESPN at Noon Eastern on Saturday.