Florida State Football: 5 best coaching candidates to replace Jimbo Fisher

2. Justin Fuente, Virginia Tech

Justin Fuente has only been the head football coach of the Virginia Tech Hokies for two years but he’s already been rumored to take over the in Tallahassee. Fuente has had success at both of his head coaching stops thus far. He put the Memphis Tigers back on the map. Memphis hadn’t seen success since DeAngelo Williams was their tailback. His quick build of Memphis only took two seasons as he won ten games in year three.

He then arrived in Blacksburg, VA and convinced Bud Foster to stay on board and keep the defense in tact. The Hokies have won nine and ten games since Fuente arrived at Virginia Tech. He’s had good quarterback play from a JUCO transfer in Jerod Evans and now in a freshman named Josh Jackson. Jackson, from Ann Arbor, Michigan which is a place that desperately needed a quarterback this season, threw for 2,700 yards and 19 touchdowns as a freshman.

Fuente doesn’t have experience down in Florida but he is an ACC football coach. Fuente understands the pressure of major conference coaching over the past two seasons, even if the spotlight at Virginia Tech isn’t quite as bright as Florida State. I can see Fuente moving around again after only two seasons as well. He hasn’t spent more than five seasons anywhere in his career and that career has spanned many states as he’s coached in Illinois, Texas, Tennessee and Virginia.

Fuente is from Oklahoma and played for the Sooners and Murray State in Kentucky which gives him even more depth of knowledge about the south. I can see Fuente not only being excited to make another jump up the college football ladder but also excited to take on Deondre Francois and James Blackman as quarterbacks. FSU isn’t lacking in money or talent to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive. Fuente would be a great hire for the Seminoles.