Tech's coaching staff will juggle new responsibilities at today's Spring Game

BLACKSBURG — Today’s spring game at Lane Stadium will be one of the first true indicators of the impact of Virginia Tech’s recent coaching changes.

The on-field action is one thing. Many fans will get their first glimpses of quarterback coach Mike O’Cain’s play-calling ability, though expecting offensive fireworks in a spring scrimmage might only lead to disappointment.

And they’ll see the early returns from recent hires Shane Beamer and Cornell Brown, both former Tech players who mark their official return as assistant coaches today in front of what should be a healthy crowd.

But what happens on the field will pale in comparison to what will happen before and after the scrimmage, which marks the end of the Hokies’ 2011 spring football session.

A large group of recruits, including many of the top prospects from the Commonwealth of Virginia, are on campus this weekend. One coach estimated that upwards of 50 high school players will be at Lane Stadium today for the spring game.

It should make for a very busy day for Tech’s coaches, especially Beamer and Brown, both of whom were hired in large part because of their ability to recruit.

"It’s gonna be pretty nonstop," said Beamer, who coaches running backs and also serves as associate head coach. "It’s a great problem to have, though, when you have a really good number of prospects on your campus like we’re going to have (today). Current sophomores. Current juniors. We’ll have a lot of guys here. It’s not just football (today). Football is probably the easy thing."

Beamer, the son of Hokies head coach Frank Beamer, developed a reputation as one of the best recruiters in the country while at the University of South Carolina. He had a hand in signing several major players for the Gamecocks, and he’ll be expected to do the same in Blacksburg.

And though this is his first job as a college assistant, Brown’s credibility as a former player — he was an All-American defensive end at Tech and won a Super Bowl ring with the Baltimore Ravens in 2001 — and his ties to central Virginia, specifically his home town Lynchburg, should make him a valuable asset on the recruiting trail.

Brown, one of Frank Beamer’s first major recruits, said he is already cultivating his skills as a recruiter. He learned some of the ins and outs as a graduate assistant at Tech from 2006-07, and he doesn’t have to learn the selling points for the school.

"I’ve always been a recruiter for Virginia Tech," Brown said.

He could have gone to just about any college in 1993 after a stellar high school career at E.C. Glass, but he bought into Frank Beamer’s program and helped turn it into a national power.

When he looks around now, he sees an expanded stadium, a brand new state-of-the-art locker room and many other reminders of the success the program has had over the last two decades.

He can’t help but think, and rightfully so, that he had something to do with that.

"Is this the payback? Is that why they brought me back? We’ll stick with that," Brown, 36, recently said with a laugh. "Since I didn’t get all the great facilities when I was here playing, they brought me back and let me coach so I can be a room over (from the luxurious locker room)."

If there’s anybody who can sell the Tech program to recruits, it’s Brown.

That was part of the thought process when he was added to the staff in February. Brown, who replaced 62-year old Jim Cavanaugh on Tech’s staff, coaches outside linebackers now and helps out with the defensive line. And he adds some youthful exuberance to the staff.

So does Shane Beamer, who coached in the SEC for 10 years before making it back to his alma mater in February.

Based on early observations, Beamer has a different temperament than the man he replaced on the staff, 59-year old Billy Hite, who moved into an administrative position after 33 years as a Tech assistant.

"I would say they’re complete opposites," Hokies running back David Wilson said. "Coach Hite is more laid back at practice. Coach Shane Beamer is a young guy. He’s more fired up, but both of them are good coaches. Both get the job done."

Shane Beamer, 34, is a lot different than his dad, too, who falls more into the laid-back category with Hite.

"I never met coach (Frank) Beamer in his youthful days, so I wouldn’t be able to compare them, but I haven’t seen any father-son comparisons, other than looks," Wilson said.

Beamer learned a lot about recruiting from his dad. He also inherited an easygoing personality — his practice field temperament notwithstanding — from his father, which might help explain his recruiting success.

Shane Beamer was South Carolina’s recruiting coordinator from 2009-11. According to Rivals.com, the Gamecocks classes those years ranked 12^th, 24^th and 18^th nationally.

"It’s like winning and losing. You’re only as good as your most recent game. Well, in recruiting, you’re only as good as your most recent signing," Shane Beamer said. "Every year, I’m the same recruiter. Every day you want to get a little bit better and just try to work at it."

To make room for Shane Beamer and Brown, Frank Beamer re-assigned Hite and Cavanaugh to administrative positions on the staff.

Hite’s job title now is associate to the head coach and a senior advisor, and Cavanaugh, who is considered one of the best recruiters in the country, is the director of recruiting and high school relations.

Moreover, Frank Beamer handed over play-calling duties to O’Cain in February. That was once the job of offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring, but Beamer said he made the change because of O’Cain’s rapport with sophomore quarterback Logan Thomas.

"Mike is in those quarterback meetings and talking with him," Frank Beamer said. "You find out more what (quarterbacks) like and so forth, and that’s one part of it."

The other part, Beamer said, is recruiting. He wants Stinespring back down in his old territory in the Tidewater area of Virginia.

"There’s times on Fridays he’s going to need to be down there and not be at the hotel with us, and that’s where he would get the quarterbacks and go over things and so forth," Beamer said.

Stinespring will still have authority over the gameplan, but O’Cain will call plays on game days.

"Me and coach O’Cain know each other really well," Thomas said. "He knows my strengths, knows my weaknesses. He knows what I like to do, what routes I like. He’ll play to my advantage."

Thomas said he’s already noticed some differences now that O’Cain is calling plays.

"We’re throwing the ball a little bit more than we have in the past," he said.

O’Cain has called plays during scrimmages this spring, but he recently said his new duties haven’t impacted him much yet. The real challenge will come in the fall.

"It’s going to be fun. It’s a challenge. I’ve done it before, and I’m looking forward to it," O’Cain said.

"It’s something where you always want more responsibility in things, and I think working with a young man like Logan makes it more exciting because you’re in there every day with him and you see him progressing, and hopefully I can progress with him as a play-caller and we can be a good tandem together."

The Hokies’ staff is different. New faces and new responsibilities. Time will tell how all this impacts the program. Today’s spring game will be a start.