It didn’t matter that Virginia Tech won its game last Saturday by more than four touchdowns or that the football team was within one win of bowl eligibility. Athletic director Whit Babcock had already made a million-dollar decision. It was time to fire the coach.
Right at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Virginia Tech announced that it had parted ways with coach Justin Fuente, having negotiated his termination fee down to $8.75 million from $10 million. If he had waited about another month, Babcock could have made the move for $7.5 million under the contract extension Fuente signed in 2018.