BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Frank Beamer is staying at Virginia Tech.
Beamer said Monday that he will remain coach of the No. 6
Hokies, ending a wild 1½ days that included a visit with North
Carolina athletic director Dick Baddour, a widely reported job
offer from the Tar Heels for as much as $1.4 million and a series
of meetings with Virginia Tech officials.
|  | | It might have been a difficult decision, but Frank Beamer decides to stay in Blacksburg, Va. |
"When you get away a little bit, you realize how special this
place is and the relationships that we have at this place," Beamer
said. "The excitement of this place, the great fans at this place.
There's just so many things.
"I know the grass looks greener sometimes, but when you sit
back and look, you see how green the grass is right here."
He will receive a salary increase of 25 percent to more than $1
million, and bonuses for when the Hokies reach a Bowl Championship
Series game, athletics director Jim Weaver said.
Virginia Tech also added $100,000 to Beamer's budget for
assistant coaches' salaries.
"This is the university doing what it feels is right," Weaver
said. "The university feels strongly that Frank Beamer should be
among the highest paid coaches in the country, because he certainly
is one of the best, if not the best."
Beamer's success at Virginia Tech has made him a frequent target of other programs, with Clemson and Alabama among the schools that have courted him.
He was the near-consensus national coach of the year last season after leading the Hokies to an 11-0 regular season record and the national championship game.
The Hokies capped a 10-1 regular season Saturday with a 42-21 victory against rival Virginia, and are in contention for a Bowl
Championship Series berth. It would be their fourth trip to a major
bowl in six years, the best such stretch in school history, and
highlights the Hokies' remarkable turnaround.
Beamer, nearly fired in 1992 after compiling a 24-39-2 record in his first six seasons at his alma mater, has guided the Hokies to a
74-21 record since. Tech will extend its bowl streak to eight years
this season, has won three Big East championships in the past five
seasons and become a fixture in the national polls.
For a time Monday, it looked as if Beamer was leaning toward the Tar Heels, who have a glistening new athletic facility and a
football history similar to Virginia Tech's.
Earlier in the day, Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud
Foster said Beamer met with his staff and was "struggling" with
the possibility of leaving after 14 seasons.
"I think the bottom line is we're with him whatever he
decides," said Foster, a member of Beamer's coaching staff since
1981, when both were at Murray State.
"He has a lot of loyalty to his staff and with his staff,"
said Foster, who turned down Florida's defensive coordinator job
before last season. "He's a guy that knows how to run a successful
program, it's not one guy. We as his assistants appreciate that."
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