Virginia Tech Football: The Hall of Fame Career of Frank Beamer

Blake SilversJun 7, 2018

Without legends like Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno walking the sidelines, the new dean of big-time gridiron is Frank Beamer, who has become a legend in his own right. Taking over at Virginia Tech in 1987, he has spent the majority of his coaching career at the helm of his alma mater, which is nearly every young coach's dream.

With solid defense and innovative special teams, Beamer brought the Hokies from a nearly irrelevant independent to yearly contender. As I said in an earlier article about future hall of fame coaches, he may very well be the greatest coach of all without a national title at any level.

In tribute to a career already worth remembering, let's take a look back at the hall of fame career of Virginia Tech's legendary head coach.

Murray State Head Coach (1981-1986)

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Before returning to his alma mater to take over the Hokies, Frank Beamer had worked his way up through the coaching ranks and was the head man at Kentucky's Murray State.

At the 1-AA level, after having been the program's defensive coordinator for two seasons (1979-1980), Beamer took over as head coach in 1981 and would remain at the position until leaving for Virginia Tech.

During his time with the Racers, Frank did a lot of winning. He posted an overall record of 42-23-2, going 27-16 in Ohio Valley Conference play.

In his last season at Murray State, Beamer's team won a conference title and made a playoff appearance. All this was enough for a homecoming call from Blacksburg.

Virginia Tech

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After Bill Dooley left the Hokies amid turmoil and NCAA recruiting violations, Frank Beamer was called home to take over the program. Because he was not a "big name," some questioned how capable Beamer would be with an up-and-coming program.

From 1987 through the 1990 season, an independent Hokies program under Beamer posted two losing seasons and two seasons over .500, including a finish in the Top 25 (Coaches Poll) in 1990, but it was time to take the next step and move on to conference play.

Joining the Big East

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Virginia Tech had a tough start in the Big East, going 5-6 followed by a 2-8-1 record in 1992, but little did the fans know, that would be their last taste of mediocrity for a long, long time.

The Hokies would never again, as a member of the Big East, miss the postseason, and Beamer Ball racked up three conference titles from 1991 through 2003. Along with Miami, Virginia Tech was one of the mainstays atop the conference, even playing for the BCS title after the 1999 season.

The Big East years put the Hokies on the map for good with names like Michael Vick and Corey Moore. When a new conference came calling, Tech was in the driver's seat.

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On to the ACC

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Atlantic Coast Conference expansion would bump up the conference to 12 teams and make way for a conference championship game starting in 2005. The Hokies joined Boston College and Miami in the ACC, which left the Big East limping.

Frank Beamer showed up in 2004 and won the conference, then lost to Florida State in the inaugural ACC Championship Game in Jacksonville in 2005. Between the 2004 and 2011 seasons, the Hokies would win four conference titles and appear in the title game five of its seven years in existence.

Beamer has posted double-digit wins every single year of ACC play, has been to five BCS bowls as a member of the conference and has an ACC record of 53-11.