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With James Johnson in as head coach, it’s time for him to get to work and build his coaching staff. According to reports, Johnson may have struck a deal with College of Charleston interim head coach Mark Byington. For some local basketball fans, this should be a familiar name.
Byington graduated from Salem High School in Salem, Virginia where he was named the Player of the Year in the state of Virginia as a senior. He then went on to start at UNC Wilmington for three seasons and was named to the 2nd team All-CAA Defensive team as a senior.
Byington doesn’t have a long coaching resume but he’s been effective wherever he’s gone. He was an assistant coach at Hargrave Military Academy in 2001 and 2002. From there he became the Director of Basketball Operations at UVA in the 2004 – 2005 season. After the 2005 season, he then grabbed an assistant coach position at the College of Charleston and has been there ever since.
Overall, this would be an excellent hire by the Hokies. Byington is a good recruiter and was the main reason CofC landed the #3 center prospect in the country this past year in Adjehi Baru. He’s also a good X’s and O’s coach according to his former boss Bobby Cremins.
"Mark is an excellent basketball coach and X's and O's man," Cremins said. "He's a hard worker and is destined to become a very successful head coach in the near future."
This is a good start to the staff if this rumor turns out to be true. Byington would bring an active, high-energy attitude to the staff and should be a very effective recruiter at this level as well. Also, there’s an outside chance that Baru could follow Byington to Tech since the Hokies were in his final three before he decided on going to Charleston.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
What remaining recruits for football do you really like our chances with.
Fuller, Hamilton, Reid, Green, Facyson, and Burks. I think those guys have the best chance at jumping aboard. I would like us to take 1 good WR as well but we really need to get North on campus soon. Other than that, I say lets see what pops up during camp and begin to narrow our list a bit for 2013 and start focusing on 2014.
Have you heard anything about montrezl harrell yet? I know marshall wood is staying but I can’t seem to find anything about harrell.
I think Trez is weighing all of his options right now. But, I will say things look a lot less likely than a few days ago. It wouldn’t shock me to see him go to UK.
who his chris holmes , on rivals it says he has offers from alot of people besides virginia and virginia tech.
I think there are some grade concerns there and I know both schools want him to camp this summer. My guess is UVA or VT will likely offer him then.
Can someone please explain to me why Doug Martin taken 1 spot ahead of DW was a great pick but DW at pick 32 was a reach? Wilson averaged 1 more yard per carry (I could end the argument there)), led the NCAA in YAC, and played in a much more competitive conference. Additionally, every defense keyed on DW and very few of his runs were untouched runs. Doug Martin benefited from a diverse attack at boise and a weak competition and had lots of untouched runs. If DW played against that competition every week he would have gone over 2000 yards. I get that Martin is more polished and DW has some weaknesses , but the difference in potential is huge. These so called “scouts” don’t know what they are talking about. Watch the film- DW is a beast.
I’ll agree with you on the premise that DW is a better running back, and had better stats. But I believe the one weakness that DW has, and will possibly doom him in the NFL, is his vision. I had hoped it would have developed more the second half of last season. But in all honesty, I would still take Ryan Williams over Wilson (Wilson’s stats are better since he played an extra game, in comparison to RW 2009 stats).
I agree that 2009 RW is a better back than DW. RW is one of the best pure running backs I have ever seen, he would get the absolute most yardage out of every play and always hit the right hole. He had tremendous change of direction, balance, and leverage. Watching DW was tough at times this year because he is an unbelievable athlete but his vision at times was suspect. In the beginning of the year I am pretty sure that he hit the correct hole maybe 2/3 of the time. But I do think that his vision and decision making got much better as the season went along (outside of the one sugarbowl play) which is promising. I also think that with the right coaching and blocking scheme he can be very successful in the NFL. However, the argument wasn’t who was better between DW and RW it was regarding Doug Martin and the perception that Martin was a much better pick than DW.
I believe the big thing is that Martin was more complete in that he was an all down back with excellent receiving and picking up blitz. DW wasn’t as good at the blocking aspect and was average receiving skills. His other abilities and gifts made up for some of the areas that he wasn’t as fundamentally sound at. In the NFL those natural abilities and gifts don’t tend to cover up your technical flaws as easily as they did in college. DW is MUCH more electric and IMO has more potential but Martin was the safer pick of the two.