Virginia Tech Makes Changes to Coaching Staff: What Does It Mean for the Future?

Frank Beamer is well known for his undying loyalty to his staff, but it has been his recent coaching shakeups that have Virginia Tech in the news this offseason.

It started last week when it was announced that his son, Shane Beamer, would replace the longest tenured assistant in college football, Billy Hite, as running backs coach.

Hite has been at that position for 33 years and was promoted to assistant to the head coach and a senior advisor of the staff.

The younger Beamer's hire brings a huge recruiting boost to a program that is not known for bringing in five-star talent. He was recruiting coordinator at South Carolina while they brought in Marcus Lattimore and Jadeveon Clowney. He also coached Anthony Dixon at Mississppi State.

The next news was with the hiring of former standout Cornell Brown as outside linebackers and defensive end coach.

Brown is largely accredited with being the recruit to catapult the Hokies into national relevance. He has coached in the CFL and NFL Europe where his defenses consistently ranked among the best in the league in scoring and rush defense. He's only 35 years old and, like Beamer, should bring a great boost in recruiting.

To make room for the hire, Jim Cavanaugh was moved to director of recruiting and high school relations. Cavanaugh is widely recognized as an outstanding recruiter, ranked fourth best in the country by ESPN.

The news completely overshadowed the announcement of the schedule and it was assumed that the changes to the coaching staff would stop there, despite widespread complaints regarding offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring.

But news broke today that Stinespring would no longer be doing in-game play calling and be replaced by quarterbacks coach Mike O'Cain.

O'Cain has been instrumental in the development of Tyrod Taylor and has assisted Stinespring in some play calling in the past. A primary reason behind the move is rookie quarterback Logan Thomas will likely start this season and O'Cain knows his capabilities better than anyone on the staff.

While Stinespring will retain the title of offensive coordinator, largely for financial reasons, and create the game plan, O'Cain will be doing the in-game play calling. He did this at Clemson and had a sporadic career there. His offenses ranked 31, 71, 30 and 110 in the country during his tenure. He also recruited Phillip Rivers while at N.C. State, but never coached him. 

We then later found out that there would be more changes. Torrian Gray will coach all of the defensive backs, Curt Newsome would only be coaching center and offensive guard and Stinespring will coach offensive tackle and tight ends.

But perhaps the most interesting news comes from the promotion of Shane Beamer. Despite being hired only a week ago, Beamer is now also the associate head coach.

It's an interesting move for a team that hasn't made coaching changes since 2006 and it leaves a lot of people wondering: What will happen to Bud Foster?

Foster is a fan favorite who was assumed to be the heir apparent once Frank Beamer retires, but the promotion of his son would appear to say otherwise.

It is a well established fact that Foster is waiting for the right head coaching position to open up and Hokie nation takes a collective sigh of relief whenever he is passed up or declines a position.

But Shane's promotion calls for a second look at what the future of Virginia Tech coaching will look like.

Frank Beamer has said with these hires that he will do what is necessary to turn Virginia Tech into a national title contender. Bringing in young coaching talent while keeping the wealth of experience of Billy Hite and Jim Cavanaugh was a brilliant move, as was bringing in Mike O'Cain to call the plays for Logan Thomas.

It's this further promotion of Shane Beamer that could be the only potential backfire. Hopefully Foster is behind the move and it won't be cause for concern but only time will tell how it plays out with regards to the future head coaching position.

For more news on Virginia Tech, the ACC and national college sports, follow me on Twitter @VT_CaceClosed.