Greenberg out at VT; Impact for UVA?

In a move that surprised almost everybody, Virginia Tech fired Seth Greenberg today. AD Jim Weaver announced the decision at an afternoon press conference. The search for Greenberg's replacement will begin immediately. According to VT's Associate AD Tom Gabbard, there is no good time to fire a head coach. Well, there is probably a better time than the end of April to do it.

The question now is "How does this impact the present and future of the UVA basketball program?". First off, the uncertainty in Blacksburg helps Virginia, at least until they hire a new coach. Transfer point guard Dylan Ennis, who is a target of both UVA and VT, may cancel his scheduled visit to Blacksburg in favor of a visit to Charlottesville. That remains to be seen. Some members of Virginia Tech's 2012 recruiting class may ask to be released from their commitment, but they will probably wait to see who is hired before doing so. Greenberg and his staff have been recruiting 2013 and 2014 in-state targets, and now all that work is undone. That certainly helps UVA with guys like Stanford Robinson and Anthony Barber in the 2013 class, who both received offers and interest from both schools.

For now, we will wait and see who Virginia Tech hires before we know what the long-term impact will be. People are quick to point out that Greenberg only got the Hokies to the tournament once during his tenure. They forget how totally irrelevant Virginia Tech basketball was before he arrived. He was able to bring in some solid talent, get more people to show up for games, and win a number of big games in the ACC, the biggest of which was probably a home win over Duke in 2011, with College Gameday in town. Yes, he probably underachieved, but trust me, they could do much worse. The timing of the firing is odd to say the least. Some coaches that may have been interested in coaching in Blacksburg have probably either taken another job, signed an extension with their current school, or moved on. Jim Weaver and the Hokies better be careful that they didn't fire Greenberg, only to hire a less competent replacement.