Orange Bowl Preview - Frank Beamer

The Hokies head coach in today's football world would be without a job after getting off to a slow start as head coach of his alma mater in 1987. We look at the Bearcats opponent from the top to the bottom starting with the man himself Frank Beamer – Head Coach...

Born in 1946 in Mt. Airy, North Carolina, Frank Beamer still has his southern charm when talking with recruits and the members of the media. A graduate of Hillsville High School and Virginia Tech University, Frank Beamer played for the Hokies from 1966-68.

After his playing career he worked on his postgraduate at Radford University where he received it in 1972 and started his climb in the coaching ranks as a Graduate Assistant at Maryland.

After one year Beamer left Maryland to become an assistant coach at The Citadel where he would stay for six seasons before being hired as the defensive coordinator at Murry State for two seasons and then becoming the Racers head coach in 1981.

With a record of 42-23-2 and an Ohio Valley co-championship, Beamer was tabbed as the Hokies head coach in 1987. Including this season Beamer has an overall record at Virginia Tech of 176-89-2. Included in these victories are Big East Championships and fifteen bowl games including playing for a National Championship in the 1999 Sugar Bowl.

In the coaching profession Beamer is considered one of the most respected coaches in the business.

It's hard to think of Virginia Tech Football without Frank Beamer and fans of the University of Cincinnati may be watching their own version of the Frank Beamer story in Head Coach Brian Kelly.

But keep in mind Beamer didn't have the early success Kelly has achieved watching his teams combine for a 24-40-2 record in the first six seasons. But in 1993 Beamer and the Hokies started to look like the program we see today going 9-3 and never looking back.

Frank Beamer is a man of principle as he's refused to leave the Hokies program even when bigger money came calling. In 1990 Beamer received a new contract but refused a pay raise until all classified and faculty employees of the university would have the same chances for a raise as salaries had been frozen at the time.

When offered another raise Beamer wouldn't sign the agreement until his assistant coaches had been taken care of.

While the Virgina Tech program has received much praise during Frank Beamer's career, it wasn't until Michael Vick came along that pushed the program into the limelight of college football without them ever looking back.

Frank Beamer has become a coach icon in his time at Virginia Tech and may be one of the last longtime head coaches at a college program. His teams are known for their defense and special teams and the phrase “Beamer Ball” is well known in the college football world.