![]() ![]() The failure to bounce makes it much harder to avoid the ball or to hit it with the bat. This kind of delivery is dangerous, as a batter will be expecting the ball to bounce on the pitch. So here we go.In cricket, a beamer (less commonly beam ball) is a type of delivery in which the ball, without bouncing, passes above the batsman's waist height. Now its on to whatever bowl is smart enough to land a strong, well traveling team and fan base that is certain to flock in even larger droves to watch Frank’s last game. His Hokies responded with a narrow win at Georgia Tech, a very gamey performance against heavily favored and highly ranked North Carolina and crowned their coach with a hard-fought, come from behind win over rival UVA. On November 1, with his team sitting on the bowl-eligibility bubble at 4-5, Beamer announced this would be his final season. More importantly, Beamer’s teams have won 278 times, making him first among active D1 coaches, and sixth all time, ahead of names like Holtz, Osborne and Schembechler.īut all things must pass. This combination of dedication, development and discipline has resulted in 93 of his players getting drafted into the NFL. Players who misbehave on bowl game trips get pulled from the lineup and receive a long, slow ride back to Blacksburg aboard a Greyhound bus. At the same time, Beamer’s strict code of conduct is legendary. An astounding 25 sets of brothers have played for his program. (Oh no, it’s not Florida State, as the NCAA vacated their 2006 Emerald Bowl appearance.)īeamer has succeeded by valuing every player and treating them like family. Since that bowl game in 1993, the Hokies have gone to 22 consecutive bowl games, the longest active streak in the NCAA. During Frank Beamer’s tenure, the team has blocked 136 kicks and intercepted 335 passes, and returned many of them for touchdowns.Īs a result, they have won 10 or more games in a season 13 times, have won 7 conference championships and played for 1 national championship. ![]() By creating chances and capitalizing across all facets of play, the Hokies would score points at any moment, and turn games in an instant. Bang! Game over.Īnd that’s the moment when the world was rudely introduced to a phenomenon now known as Beamer Ball. There, with the game fairly even and the first half almost over, the Hokies caused a fumble and returned it 20 yards for one touchdown, and then promptly blocked a field goal and returned it 80 yards for a second. The team went 9-3 and made it to the Independence Bowl. But in 1993, the carefully coached chaos of Virginia Tech football finally exploded. This engineering school in the Virginia mountains had been to only 6 bowl games in 95 years, had only 1 ten-victory season, and had just gotten slapped by the NCAA for recruiting violations.īut Beamer had a novel idea: What if you can score points on ANY play, no matter who has the ball and irrespective of the game situation? Beamer appointed himself coach of special teams, assigned some of his best players to that unit, and then drilled the entire team relentlessly on the fine art of creating turnovers, faking and blocking punts, bamboozling the opponent…generating opportunities in every way imaginable.įor the first six years, it didn’t work the team went 24-40 amid grumblings of disapproval in Blacksburg. It was a decision so unpopular among Tech fans that the athletic director had to state, “He’s not a big name, but it’s a sound decision, and I’m standing by it.”īeamer inherited a mess. And then, in 1986, he landed the big job: head coach at his alma mater. And he was a competitor, earning 11 varsity letters in football, basketball and baseball, and getting accepted into Virginia Tech, where he was the starting cornerback for three years.įollowing graduation in 1969, he built a modest coaching resume at Maryland, the Citadel and Murray State. He grew up on a farm in a place called Fancy Gap, and went to a high school called Hillsville. And when it’s fourth down, you kick the ball to the other team.īut then Frank Beamer came along. The game of football always followed some basic tenets. ![]()
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