Tech offensive coordinator Ricky Bustle turned down an offer from Clemson to be their offensive coordinator. The offer was reportedly a multi-year deal with a substantial pay raise, but Bustle cited his nine years at Tech and not wanting to leave as his reasons. He said that the only reason he even talked to Clemson is because they are his alma mater - if the offer had been from any other teams, he wouldn't have even listened.

Ricky's real reason, I believe, is that the words "head coach" were not included anywhere in the job offer. Much has been made of Bustle's loyalty to Tech, because he left for South Carolina for one year, and then returned in 1995 because, as he said, he and his family just missed Blacksburg.

That may or may not be the entire reason that Bustle left South Carolina. I've read that while he was there, there was some confusion about what his responsibilities would be, and he wound up in a situation that was not what he was promised. He became unhappy, and coincidentally, Tech had just gone through a nightmarish year with Gary Tranquill, so Bustle's return to Blacksburg was a natural fit for both sides.

Having said that, I do believe that Ricky and his family do like Blacksburg and Virginia Tech, but I also think that he's a talented coach who would definitely listen to a head coaching offer from just about any Division 1-A school. And he may have one come his way in the future, maybe the near future (although typically, Tech assistants have not been offered 1-A head coaching jobs). Don't think we've got this guy sewed up for good, particularly if Clemson ever offers him the head coaching job. They certainly could have used his offensive coaching expertise, because Clemson needs it in order to keep up with Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida State in the ACC.

But hey, we'll take one more year. As we've talked about before, stability in the coaching staff is vitally important at the college level.

As for Bud Foster and the head coaching job at Murray State, Foster has not interviewed yet, but he is scheduled to, although I don't know what the date is.

There's an article in this morning's Roanoke Times, Tech's Custis Wants Crowd to Fill Cassell. It's a plea from Ace Custis for last year's crowds to return to the Cassell. Last year's attendance averaged 8,357, while this year's is a paltry 4,376, and Ace is naturally upset and is wondering where everybody went.

As a fan, when your star player has to plead with the public for more people to show up, it's embarrassing. I don't expect a very big crowd for today's game at all, since it's only expected to get up to about 18 degrees today (but hey, it was 10 degrees for the UMass game last year, and that didn't stop people from showing up).

If you've been checking out the Hokie Talk message board, you can see that there's a discussion thread there about this subject, so I'm not going to say any more about it at this point. I'm just going to keep going to the games.

In the last two weeks, there have been two letters to the editor printed in The Roanoke Times that complain about the paper's coverage of the Orange Bowl-bound Hokies. Namely, they say that there was too much of it!

I say that there's no such thing as "too much" coverage of the Hokies. I read a lot, and if there was enough material, all I would do is read about the Hokies. I know you guys are the same way, so show your support for The Roanoke Times. Email them and compliment them on their excellent coverage of the Hokies this year. The email address you want to use is [email protected]. Letters should include your full address and your phone number. Letters of 200 words or less are given preference. Let them know what you think and to keep covering those Hokies!

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