Virginia Tech Basketball: Hokies make great new hire in Mike Young

Virginia Tech basketball has found a new head coach in Mike Young. Here’s a look at the impact of the hire going forward.

Well, it’s official. The Virginia Tech Basketball head coaching search is over after roughly six days of rumors and the like. Former Wofford head coach Mike Young has been announced as the new head coach for the Virginia Tech Hokies.

Now, on paper, if you’re thinking: Why did Whit Babcock hire a coach from the Southern Conference who’s had losing seasons? It’s perfect to ask that question.

The Wofford Terriers went 30-5 and undefeated in SoCon play in 2018-19. Shooting guard Fletcher MaGee was one of the best 3-point shooters in college basketball last season. Five of Young’s NCAA Tournament appearances have come in the past 10 seasons.

I’m a fan of this hire for a number of reasons. First, Young is a native of the Southwest Virginia area and is familiar with recruiting in the Northern Virginia area. Don’t believe me? 6-foot-8 forward Cameron Jackson would beg to differ. He’s a native of Winchester, Virginia and attended John Handley High School. He averaged 14.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game this past season.

Secondly, he’s built and rebuilt the Wofford program, time and time again. The Terriers have had their moments of despair, but Young is 299-244 (.551) as he heads to Blacksburg to take over as head coach. In 2017-18, they beat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and North Carolina Tar Heels. In the NCAA Tournament, they lost to the Kentucky Wildcats by just six points.

Finally, what a lot of Virginia Tech fans don’t realize is how lucky they were to have Buzz Williams. In just five short seasons, he turned around a program that’s in one of the toughest conferences in college basketball and led them to three-straight NCAA Tournaments. Not many coaches could possibly do what he did with such limited resources.

Now, donations continue to rise in the Virginia Tech athletics department and in 2018, they rose 59 percent to $44.7 million. As the Hokies look to keep pace though, they’ll look to increase their efforts in the donations department. A lot has been said about the basketball program, but the fact remains that they’re behind a lot of top programs when it comes to giving and donations.

Young is a quality hire and if given time and the right resources, which has already been promised, he’ll do a good job with this program. He’s familiar with the area and has shown he can recruit and develop players at the Division I level. Now he’ll just need to hold on to all the players he can and get a jump-start on hiring staff and recruiting.