by Mike Gibson

The definition of Irony: Virginia Tech football fans

Virginia Tech legend Darian Varner 👏👏 https://t.co/ws4aAsySdt
— Zac Kracht (@ZacKracht22) January 5, 2023

Two legends: Manny Diaz at Temple and Darian Varner at Virginia Tech.

Just when you thought the transfer portal couldn’t be a bigger joke, the reaction of Virginia Tech football fans to the flipping of Darian Varner from there to Wisconsin was particularly amusing.

There were a lot of reactions on the Virginia Tech Hokie message board to the news and most of them ranged from “what does signing day mean anymore” to “bleep that guy” to “what does loyalty mean in college football?” Some even speculated he was released “because of his medicals” (he was not).

The dictionary says the definition of irony is a “state of affairs or an event that seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a result.” Close enough in that Virginia Tech fans expressed outrage over Wisconsin doing to them the same thing they did to Temple.

Not an admission of the irony on the order of something like this:

“Oh no. It’s OK he left Temple. It’s just not OK he left us.“

To me, it’s just the best illustration of why the transfer portal is so unfair.

It’s rich that Virginia Tech fans are so upset with Varner now but don’t realize that Temple invested the most to advance his career.

Virginia Tech wasn’t the aggrieved party here. It was Temple. The Owls took a chance recruiting and developing Varner. He had his best year under the tutelage of one of the best defensive line coaches in America, Antoine Smith. Varner even hurt his foot at Temple and Temple paid for the successful surgery.

His thanks?

Looking around.

Temple has had more defensive linemen (three) drafted in the first round over the last 15 years than either Wisconsin or Virginia Tech.

There is no guarantee that Varner’s career would have been served better at either Virginia Tech or Wisconsin.

In fact, if you look at the last Temple portal transfer to Virginia Tech, Jadan Blue, there’s plenty of evidence he would have regressed there. Blue’s best year at Temple was 2019 where he caught 95 balls for 1,067 yards and four touchdowns. His best and only year at VT was 12-128-1. In fact, his worst full year at Temple was the COVID one of 2020 where he went 41-385-5.

So if your worst year is better than one place than your best year is at the new place, why transfer?

Blue found out the hard way.

Varner might thrive but no Temple player who hit the portal and transferred had a better year there (wherever there was) than here. There was one exception, Penn State’s Arnold Ebiketie but that’s of more than 50 transfers, a two-percent success ration. That means 98 percent of the Temple players who remained made the right decision.

That’s the logic behind it but, when it comes to transfer portal and logic, that goes out the window.

Particularly when fans of one school are up in arms over losing someone they essentially stole from another school.

Friday: The General Plan

Monday: The Specific Plan

6 thoughts on “The definition of Irony: Virginia Tech football fans”

joninohio
January 9, 2023
11:00 am

I guess the logic is if coaches can just up and leave whenever they want, the players should be able to also. Even our enthroned Matt Rhule up and left us when the bigger money came calling, left us in the lurch when a couple more weeks might have kept us in the top 25, broken TUs seasonal wins record and showed that 2 mil per year just wasn’t enough. I wonder where we’d be now if he had stayed? We’re just SSU (Stepping Stone Univ.) and always will be. If Drayton succeeds I sure hope he hangs around a bit longer.

Reply
- Mike Gibson
  January 9, 2023
  11:26 am
  
  Both coaches and players should have to sit out a year before they move to another school. That way, you don’t have situations like Cincinnati and Louisville playing without their head coaches in bowl games or Temple having to use interim coaches in a couple of bowl games. One day in the not-to-distant future we’re going to have a situation where one P5 coach leaves for another P5 team and can’t coach in a CFB playoff game because he’s recruiting for the new school. A joke indeed.
  
  Reply
  - Brian Krulikowski
    January 9, 2023
    7:26 pm
    
    Unfortunately a one year sit out doesn’t hurt a coach with a buyout or a guaranteed check….just a paid vacation. It still unproportionately affects the student-athlete.
kj101941
January 9, 2023
3:38 pm

We all bemoan Big Government, but amateur sports need it. Olympic and College sports are in need of new principles, laws, rules and ethics. Some of the most influential people have abstained – college presidents. Mass media CEOs run college athletics. Why? University Trustees and Presidents sold their souls to the $$$$ devil. And, State legislators have also abstained from their responsibilities.

Back to the tactical, Drayton has a plan, let’s hope it works. He is bringing in dudes who are fast and have length. Seven kids coming in this year stand 6-6 or 6-5, compared to only two in 2022, and four in 2021. We need some of those kids to lift and eat! Temple can’t be Tuff if Temple is tiny.

Two predictions: 2023 will mark the return of Foley-like performance on Special Teams, and TUFB will go bowling.

Reply
walkingoffthechessboard
January 10, 2023
1:28 pm

As a guy who remembers freshmen not being eligible to play, and guys staying at one school for all their eligibility, describing what is going on now as the “wild wild west” isn’t doing it any justice as far as I am concerned. College sports needs a reboot with a set of guardrails that will still make the word “college” relevant…or just make the players employees.

Reply
- kj101941
  January 10, 2023
  6:32 pm
  
  we lost, $$$$ won. California will usher in the new wave of “player employees”
  
  The Ivy League will be the only one standing. Those university presidents won’t budge.
  
  https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-labor-board-region-sides-with-usc-athletes-seeking-employee-designation-2022-12-16/
  
  Reply