{"id":8450,"date":"2016-03-27T21:08:19","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T01:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=8450"},"modified":"2016-03-28T08:20:07","modified_gmt":"2016-03-28T12:20:07","slug":"is-kenny-brooks-virginia-tech-bound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jmusportsblog.com\/?p=8450","title":{"rendered":"Is Kenny Brooks Virginia Tech Bound?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"kenny_brooks\"Update: He’s gone.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

News broke over the weekend that Kenny Brooks had interviewed for Virginia Tech’s vacant women’s basketball head coaching position. It’s not a real surprise that the Hokies would be interested in Brooks. His Dukes are coming off their third straight NCAA tournament appearance and he’s the program’s all time winningest coach. He’s proven that he can recruit the region and has done very well with the resources at his disposal. He could be quite successful at a P5 program that was willing to give him even more.<\/p>\n

Virginia Tech Athletic Director Whit Babcock is undoubtedly well aware of Brook’s accomplishments. Babcock is a JMU alum and Harrisonburg native.<\/p>\n

Brooks is very well compensated, by CAA standards. He recently signed a 2-year contract extension, with no raise however. JMU pays him $225K a year. There is no buyout clause in the contract. Virginia Tech’s former head coach, Dennis Wolf, had a base salary of $233K plus a $133K retention bonus prior to be fired. Assuming Brooks could negotiate a similar sort of contract, it would be a nice step up.<\/p>\n

For his part, Jeff Bourne almost sounded resolved to the fact that Brooks would likely leave. He told the DNR’s Nick Sunderland<\/a> \u201cWe\u2019re willing to obviously make an offer on our side that we think is attractive. But we are also fully cognizant that Virginia Tech is an ACC school and with their resources and package that they\u2019ve put together, there\u2019s clearly a difference between what a CAA school can do and what an ACC school can.\u201d Sort of a weird way to play your hand JB.<\/p>\n

We should hear something soon. JMU now faces the very real possibility of needing to replace both its basketball coaches this offseason. Considering Brooks is on the men’s coaching search committee that might be a tall order.<\/p>\n