Justin Fuente, VA Tech Part Ways After 6 Seasons; J.C. Price Named Interim HC

Three days after a 48-17 win over Duke, Justin Fuente's tenure as Virginia Tech head coach has come to an end. 

In a statement released Tuesday, Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock announced a mutual parting of ways with Fuente in his sixth season:

"We sincerely appreciate the contributions that Coach Fuente made to our football program and the positive impact he made on our student-athletes during his time at Virginia Tech. While it is never easy to make a change, I believe in order for our football program to attain the type of sustained success that is expected at Virginia Tech, the time was right for new leadership of our football program."

J.C. Price, who is in his first season as co-defensive line coach on the Hokies staff, will serve as interim head coach for the rest of the year.

Fuente was named Frank Beamer's successor as Virginia Tech head coach in 2015. The 45-year-old spent the previous four seasons at Memphis where he led the program to a 26-23 record with back-to-back bowl appearances in 2014 and 2015. 

Beamer cast a long shadow for any coach to follow. He retired after 29 seasons as head coach and led the Hokies to 23 consecutive bowl games from 1993 to 2015 and seven conference titles (three in the Big East, four in the ACC).

Fuente's tenure with Virginia Tech started strong with a 19-8 record in the first two seasons. He signed an extension in 2018 that tied him to the program through 2024. 

Since the start of 2018, the Hokies are 24-23 and have had two losing seasons (2018, 2020). They are 5-5 in 2021 with two games remaining in the regular season.

Fuente went 43-31 in six seasons at Virginia Tech. The team was ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll after a 2-0 start, but it has since lost five of eight games.