Longtime Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster, who has coached with the Hokies for the previous 33 years, will retire after the 2019 season, the school announced on Thursday.
Foster, the architect of Virginia Tech’s “Lunch Pail Defense,” is the longest continually tenured FBS assistant coach at the same school. He was hired by former Hokies coach Frank Beamer as inside linebackers coach in 1987 and was elevated to co-defensive coordinator in 1995. He assumed control of the defense the next season and has held that role ever since.
Current Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente persuaded Foster to remain on staff after Beamer retired in 2015. Foster has been Tech’s associate head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach the past three seasons.
The school said Foster would continue to work as an ambassador for the athletics department once he retires from coaching.
“Virginia Tech has been home for 33 years and I’m grateful to continue doing what I love for one more season,” Foster said in a statement. “I’ll always be indebted to Coach Beamer for bringing me to Blacksburg back in 1987. Coach Fuente has been phenomenal to work with and I can’t thank him enough for the way he has embraced our defensive philosophy and the many traditions of Virginia Tech football.”
Under Foster’s direction, the Hokies finished in the top five in the FBS in scoring defense in seven seasons. Tech ranked No. 1 in scoring defense in 1999, when it went 11-1 and lost to Florida State 46-29 in the BCS National Championship Game at the Sugar Bowl. The Hokies were also No. 1 in scoring defense in 2006 and second in 2001, ’04 and ’05.
Virginia Tech’s 2006 defense was No. 1 in scoring defense (11 points per game), total defense (219.5 yards) and pass defense (128.2 yards per game).
Foster won the Broyles Award as the sport’s top assistant coach in 2006 and was a finalist three other times. Since he took control of the Tech defense in 1996, 45 of his players have been selected in the NFL draft, including 11 in the first or second rounds.
“There’s only one Bud Foster,” Fuente said. “When [Tech athletics director Whit Babcock] and I first discussed the head coaching job at Virginia Tech in 2015, one of the many appealing aspects of the opportunity was that it could potentially come with the best defensive coordinator in the country. I’m personally grateful for how Bud accepted me and the fact that I’ll be able to work with him for a fourth season.”