Indiana Football Hiring Former Virginia Tech Coach Justin Fuente as Analyst
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana football has added former Virginia Tech head coach Justin Fuente as an analyst to coach Tom Allen's staff in Bloomington, according to Richard Johnson of Sports Illustrated.
The addition of Fuente comes exactly one week after Allen fired former offensive coordinator Walt Bell, and promoted Rod Carey to that same role without an interim tag. Prior to being given the offensive coordinator role, Carey was a quality control coach for Allen at Indiana.
Fuente was the head coach for six seasons at Virginia Tech from 2016-21, and took over for the Hokies after legendary coach Frank Beamer retired following the 2015 season.
Virginia Tech went 10-4 and reached the ACC Championship in 2016 during Fuente's first season, and for his efforts, Fuente was named the ACC Coach of the Year. However, the Hokies have not reached 10 wins in a season since 2016.
Overall, Fuente went 43-31 and 28-20 in conference during his six seasons in Blacksburg. After making a bowl each season from 2016-19, Virginia Tech went 5-6 in 2020 and 5-5 in 2021, and did not play in a bowl game in either year.
When Virginia Tech failed to make a bowl game in 2020, it snapped a 29-year streak of bowl game appearances. After the 2021 season, Fuente and the school mutually agreed to part ways.
Prior to arriving in Blacksburg, Fuente was the head coach at Memphis from 2012-15. He finished with a 26-23 record during his four years there, however, the Tigers went 19-6 during his last two seasons as the coach. Memphis won a share of the American Athletic Conference title in 2014 and finished the season ranked No. 25 in the AP poll, and in 2015, Memphis ranked as high as No. 15 under Fuente.
Overall, Fuente has a 69-54 record as a head coach at the FBS level.
Related Stories on Indiana Football:
- ROD CAREY MADE HIGHEST PAID IU ASSISTANT COACH EVER: After firing Walt Bell, Indiana football coach Tom Allen chose to promote Rod Carey to the role of offensive coordinator, without an interim tag. On Friday, details surrounding Carey's contract were reported by the IndyStar, and revealed that Carey is going to be paid more money annually than any Indiana football assistant coach ever has before. CLICK HERE
- ROD CAREY'S PLAN FOR INDIANA OFFENSE: Indiana football offensive coordinator Rod Carey spoke to media on Wednesday for the first time since being promoted to the role following the dismissal of Walt Bell. Carey stressed that he won't change the Hoosiers' whole system, as that's too hard to do midseason. However, he wants to focus the offense on running what the players do best. CLICK HERE
- HOOSIER ROUNDTABLE PODCAST: HoosiersNow.com reporters Daniel Olinger and Jack Ankony talk about the firing of Indiana football offensive coordinator Walt Bell, the subsequent promotion of Rod Carey to the same role and what it all means for coach Tom Allen and the 2023 Indiana Hoosiers. CLICK HERE
