The impossible has happened – I’ve had enough Virginia Tech coverage.

When the Sugar Bowl bid was announced several weeks ago, I wrote a piece called "Brace Yourself … Here it Comes" about the upcoming wave of Hokie coverage that was about to descend. The title was tongue-in-cheek, but there was more than a little truth behind it.

And in the weeks since then, I have discovered a simple, undeniable fact: yes, Virginia Tech, there is such a thing as too much Hokie coverage. I didn’t think it was possible, but I have discovered that yes indeed, even for this diehard Hokie, it is possible to OD.

Of course, that last paragraph was tongue in cheek, as well. I think. The truth is, for the first time in my life, my eyes have glazed over a little bit when confronted with the wave of articles that the national championship game has generated about Virginia Tech football. It’s simply too much for one person to even think about reading.

It’s a good thing that HokieCentral’s own "HokiefromWV," who does the VT Hokie News portion of the web site, took a few days off, otherwise, he might drop dead from exhaustion trying to track down all the Tech articles available on the web.

But the real problem here isn’t an overabundance of articles. It’s an underabundance of games. While all this ink has been generated about the Hokies and Noles (and in this business, all these electrons), not one football has been snapped, thrown, or kicked. It’s just a bunch of practice and a bunch of jawing. There’s been very little hard news, if any.

Can we stop talking and play the darn game? Tuesday can’t get here soon enough.

Speaking of hard news, there is a little on the injury front, coming out of (unfortunately) the Virginia Tech camp. As Randy King details in a Thursday update in the Roanoke Times, one of Michael Vick’s bullet passes did some serious damage to one of Emmett Johnson’s fingers, severely spraining it and cutting it to the point where it required stitches. Man, that sounds painful.

Randy King also talks about Ike Charlton’s decision to throw his name in next spring’s NFL draft. If he is selected in the first or second round, he’ll go ahead and leave Tech for the NFL. If not, he’ll return, continue to take graduate-level classes, and play another season for the Hokies.

Certainly, Tech would hate to lose Ike, but I respect whatever decision he makes. Ike has already earned his degree and has been a credit to the university during his career, so if the next level is available to him, and he wants to take that step, then more power to him. I have nothing but respect for Ike, who hasn’t really had a chance to show his stuff here at Tech. He’s so good that no one throws his way!

One noteworthy news item that slipped quietly under the radar recently was reported by the Arkansas Democrat about a week ago. It said that Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster, whom I not-so-jokingly call "Virginia Tech’s next head coach," recently signed a five year deal with Virginia Tech valued at $200,000 per year.

I’m guessing that he doesn’t get the whole $200k in salary. He probably gets a salary in the low $100k range and receives additional compensation for radio and Hokie Club appearances, bringing the total package to $200k.

But more noteworthy than the bucks is a clause in the contract that says if Foster leaves Tech for a non-head-coaching job, he has to pay Virginia Tech $300,000. It’s unusual to see a coach get locked in like that, but you’ve got to figure that after turning down Florida’s defensive coordinator job last year, Foster is pretty much waiting for a head coaching job before he’ll even consider leaving Tech.

One theory that flew around last year when Foster was being courted by Florida is that Bud was promised the Tech head coaching job when Beamer retires. That’s pure speculation (in fact, it may have been me who made that one up), but it makes for good gossip, and it doesn’t sound unreasonable. No disrespect to Rickey Bustle intended, but I think that Foster is Tech’s most likely head coaching candidate. He has a presence that no other assistant coach on Tech’s staff has, he’s an X’s and O’s whiz, and he’s a no-nonsense type who commands respect.

In other coaching buzz, Bryan Stinespring is greatly respected by his fellow coaches and will probably rise quickly in the ranks, as well.

One last note: I would link to the article that mentioned Foster, but it is no longer on line.

BBBS Tickets: remember how we donated unused football tickets to the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the New River Valley? Well, you can do the same with basketball tickets, as well. To find out how, check out HokieCentral’s BBBS ticket donation info. If you think this is something you might like to do, then please bookmark the link for future reference.

Guess the Sugar Bowl Score and Win: over on his Vanity Plate Images web site, Jim Meadows of the "Licensed to Win" print fame is having a contest to guess the Sugar Bowl score and win two of his prints. All proceeds go to the Virginia Tech Athletic Fund, specifically the Eddie Ferrell Memorial Scholarship Fund. For more info, see this link to the contest.

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