As long as Bud Foster is a defensive coordinator, he’ll be at Virginia Tech.

That’s what the longtime Hokies assistant told his players after practice last night. It was rumored that some big time schools, including Georgia and Florida State, went after Foster for their vacant defensive coordinator jobs.

But Tech director of athletics Jim Weaver sweetened up Foster’s current five-year rollover contract with an annuity payment that will kick in after the 2014 season, if Foster is still on staff with the Hokies.

I’ll have more on this story, including quotes, coming soon.

UPDATE: Here’s the full story for tomorrow’s News & Advance ...

HD: Bud Foster says no to Georgia
SUM: Virginia Tech offers Hokies defensive coordinator a contract bonus to keep him in Blacksburg.

BY NATHAN WARTERS

(434) 385-5540

BLACKSBURG – Bud Foster may eventually leave Virginia Tech to take a head coaching job somewhere, but he’s not going anywhere else to be a defensive coordinator.

Hokies director of athletics Jim Weaver made sure of that by offering Foster a contract bonus Monday that prompted Tech’s decorated defensive coordinator to turn down an offer to take the same job at Georgia.

Foster said coach Mark Richt recently offered him the defensive coordinator job with the Bulldogs and Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher and Florida’s Urban Meyer also showed interest, but he said he turned them all away after Weaver offered him a contract bonus that will kick in after the 2014 season if Foster is still on staff.

“I’m real proud that Tech came back and has given me a nice package that’s going to keep me here,” Foster told reporters after practice Monday.

The bonus doesn’t change Foster’s yearly contract, but the coach will receive a lump sum in the form of an annuity at the completion of the 2014 season.

“If Bud Foster is going to continue to be a defensive coordinator, we want him to do so at Virginia Tech rather than relocating. … If he is here for five years, he will get a stipulated amount of money as an annuity at the end of that term,” Weaver said.

Weaver said he is not ready to reveal the sum of that annuity.

“We still have some things to work out on that, so we won’t be releasing those details until we get that all done after the holidays,” Weaver said.
Weaver and Tech coach Frank Beamer met and talked about sweetening up Foster’s current five-year rollover contract when the news started swirling about multiple schools being interested in the coordinator’s services.

“Coach Beamer and I started talking in New York last week (when we were there for meetings), and then we visited again Thursday and Friday when we were back here as things were heating up with Bud getting involved or getting calls from a couple of people in the SEC,” Weaver said.

It’s not the first time teams have come calling for Foster to join their staffs. Steve Spurrier has come after Foster multiple times, once at Florida and another time at South Carolina.

“We’ve gone through this with Bud maybe three times for sure, maybe four,” Weaver said.

“I remember going down to Nashville when Steve Spurrier was trying to hire him at Florida in (1998) and we made sure we kept him at Virginia Tech, and then it happened at least two more times and maybe a fourth time, but we just felt very strongly that if Bud’s going to be a defensive coordinator, there’s no need for him to be a defensive coordinator any place other than here at Virginia Tech.”

Beamer told his players after practice Monday that Foster was staying. Of course, that’s provided Foster is not offered an attractive head coaching position.

But after this recent move by Virginia Tech, it may be difficult to lure Foster away for any job.

Take Cincinnati, for example. Foster was asked what he’d do if the Bearcats offered him their head coaching job.

“That would be hard to do right now, to be honest with you, unless they’re going to come up with a lot of money,” he said.

For now, the Hokies players can breathe a sigh of relief.

“We were glad he’s going to be around, but we didn’t even know he was (thinking about) leaving at all,” Tech cornerback Rashad Carmichael said. “I feel like coach Foster is as much a Hokie as anything, as much as the maroon and orange on the bird.”

Foster is currently in his 23rd season on Tech’s staff and his 15th season as the team’s defensive coordinator.

The Hokies, who take on Tennessee in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on Dec. 31 in Atlanta, finished in the top 10 in the country in total defense for five straight seasons from 2004-08 and have a chance to make it a sixth straight season this year. They currently rank 14th.

Foster has been a finalist four times for the Broyles Award, which is given to the nation’s top assistant coach. He won the award in 2006 after leading the Hokies to their second-straight season as the top-ranked defense in the country.

Foster has been with Beamer for most of his playing and coaching career. He was a strong safety and defensive end at Murray State when Beamer was the team’s defensive coordinator from 1979-80, and he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Murray State in 1981, Beamer’s first year as a head coach.

Foster has been a member of Beamer’s coaching staffs every year since.

“The thing is, here coach Beamer has been extremely good, and I want to ride this thing out with him,” Foster said. “He’s been extremely good to me. We’ve been doing this for a long time together and there’s no reason to stop now. Let’s go finish this thing. It’s a good deal all the way around. I’m extremely pleased.”