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It’s official: Seth Greenberg is out at Virginia Tech

ACC Basketball Tournament - Virginia Tech v Duke

ATLANTA, GA - MARCH 09: Head coach Seth Greenberg of the Virginia Tech Hokies reacts as he coaches against the Duke Blue Devils in their Quarterfinal game of the 2012 ACC Men’s Basketball Conferene Tournament at Philips Arena on March 9, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

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After going four consecutive years on the wrong side of the bubble, it was a 15-16 season and a ninth place finish in the ACC that finally did in the Head Hokie.

“We have terminated Seth Greenberg’s contract,” athletic director Jim Weaver said.

The irony is that this decision had less to do with Greenberg’s record than it did with the fact that he had lost essentially his entire coaching staff this offseason. James Johnson went to Clemson, John Richardson went back to ODU and Robert Eshan left for UAB along with director of operations Jeff Wulbrun.

“It had nothing to do with losing. It had nothing to do with NCAA appearances,” Weaver said. “It had something to do with people leaving and something to do with me wanting to change the direction and the leadership of the program.”

Apparently, the people that left didn’t give glowing reports of Greenberg during their exit interviews. Weaver said the rest of the department has a “family environment” and “it became crystal clear last week they didn’t have that.” The decision was made that Greenberg’s contract was not going to be extended, which is why he was let go now. What’s the point of keeping him around if he’s not in the plans for the future?

The biggest issue with this firing is the timing. Greenberg had no idea that he was going to be fired hours before the press conference to announce the decision, let alone when he was out in Pittsburgh this past weekend recruiting. It’s late April, the middle of the spring evaluation period and Virginia Tech has a team that needs to be rebuilt and a star recruit in Montrezl Harrell that will now have every coach in the country calling his phone.

Who can they hire at this point? Weaver said in the press conference that their affiliation with the ACC will make the position one that is desired, which makes the likelihood of the Hokies swinging and missing at candidates they have no chance of landing seem high. I promise you this: trying to hire Shaka Smart, Brad Stevens or Chris Mooney would probably be a bad idea.

Are they going to be able to make a hire quickly enough that the program will have anyone out of the road recruiting this coming weekend? Because if not, the Hokies will find themselves even further behind.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.