In 2004, the Hokies’ first year in the ACC, Beamer guided Virginia Tech to a conference title en route to being named ACC Coach of the Year. He repeated as Coach of the Year in 2005, when he led the Hokies to a 7-1 league record, the Coastal Division title and a spot in the inaugural ACC Championship Game. Last year, Tech posted a 10-3 mark, topping the 10-game mark for the third straight year and sixth of the last eight seasons.

Beamer's Hokies have earned the highest national rankings in the program's history, spending 73 weeks in the Top 10 of the Associated Press poll over the last seven seasons. During one stretch that ended in 2004, Tech was ranked in 84 straight AP polls. For his part in the Hokies' run to the national title game in 1999, Beamer earned eight National Coach of the Year awards and was named the Big East Conference Coach of the Year for the third time. When Big East Conference football celebrated its first 10 years of existence in 2000, Beamer was voted the Coach of the Decade by the league's media. Following consecutive 10-2 seasons in 1995 and 1996, Beamer was voted Big East Conference Coach of the Year by the league coaches and was one of five finalists for the 1995 National Coach of the Year.

Beamer's record at Tech now stands at 156-82-2. Counting six years as head coach at Murray State prior to joining the Hokies, Beamer's overall 26-year record is 198-105-4. Beamer, the first alumnus to guide the Hokies since the 1940s, took over the Tech reins from Bill Dooley in January 1987.

During his undergraduate days at Virginia Tech, Beamer started three years as a cornerback and played on the Hokies' 1966 and 1968 Liberty Bowl teams. Beamer began his coaching career as an assistant at Radford High School from 1969 through 1971. Then, after one season as a graduate assistant at the University of Maryland, he went to The Citadel where he worked five seasons under Bobby Ross and one year under Art Baker. His last two years at The Citadel, Beamer was the defensive coordinator. In 1979, Beamer went to Murray State as the defensive coordinator under Mike Gottfried. He was named head coach at Murray State in 1981.

By Al Featherston for theACC.com

It's kind of ironic.

In one sense, football doesn't seem quite as important at Virginia Tech in the wake of the tragedy that struck the school's lovely campus last spring. Yet, as the new season approaches, it's becoming more and more evident that football has a key role to play in the school's healing process.

"I think that when we open up against East Carolina at Lane Stadium next fall there will be a togetherness in that stadium that we have never seen before," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said earlier this summer. "There have been a lot of exciting moments and a lot of great fan support in that stadium before, but I'll just bet if I know Hokie people that it will be tighter than ever next fall."

Beamer cancelled the final three spring practices and the spring game in the wake of the tragedy that saw a lone gunman kill 32 people and then himself on campus that terrible April morning. It was right to set football aside in the immediate aftermath of that terrible event. But life has to go on and we've all seen how sports can play a role in rallying a community following a tragedy. Just as many New Yorkers lost themselves in the Yankees' pennant drive in 2001 after 9/11 and many New Orleans residents found renewed pride in their city by following the Saints to the playoffs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Hokie nation is hoping to invest itself in a football team with championship aspirations.

"There's no way of getting around it," senior offensive tackle Duane Brown said during the ACC Football Kickoff. "[The shootings] happened. Everyone's trying to get past it and move on, but you can't take it away. In a way, I think we'll kind of be America's team outside of the teams we play. I've had people who don't follow football tell me that they are anxious for this season to start and to see what happens. It may be for a bad reason, but everyone seems to be pulling for us."

Virginia Tech will have a lot more going for it this fall beyond the hopes of its fan base and the casual good wishes of the sporting public. Beamer returns a powerhouse lineup - 16 returning starters off last year's 10-3 squad.

That record was hardly a fluke - Virginia Tech has been 10-3, 11-2 and now 10-3 again since joining the ACC after the 2003 season. The Hokies won the ACC championship in 2004 and reached the first ACC championship game in 2005 before losing to Florida State. Last year's 6-2 ACC finish was Beamer's worst, although it did include an impressive 27-6 victory over eventual ACC champion Wake Forest.

The Hokies lost their chance to compete for the 2006 ACC title in back-to-back games at midseason, when they fell at home to Georgia Tech and on the road at Boston College. Beamer's squad regrouped to finish the regular season with six straight wins - momentum the Hokies hope to extend into the new season.

There is no reason that can't happen.

Beamer has the ACC's best linebacking tandem in senior Vince Hall, the ACC's top tackler a year ago, and senior Xavier Adibi. He has one of the league's best cover corners in junior Brandon Flowers, who led the ACC a year ago in passes defended. And he has a defensive front that may be the deepest, most talented position on the team.

"After leading the nation in defense for two straight years, I thought the guys might start to feel good about themselves, but we've got a lot left to accomplish," Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster said. "I feel good about their attitude, though, and I'm glad to say they were able to stay hungry."

The defense can't be any hungrier than an offense that didn't quite match the excellence of the team's defense last season. Junior quarterback Sean Glennon goes into his second year as a starter hoping to elevate his game as the key to elevating the offensive performance of the team as a whole.

"You know, we won 10 football games with Sean," Beamer pointed out.

"I think I can get a lot better," Glennon said last spring. "I don't think anybody has seen exactly how good I can be. I have a season under my belt. I know what I'm good at and what I need to work on. I've seen a lot of defenses so my football smarts have gone up a little bit. I see things better. The game is slowing down."

Glennon will be surrounded by an experienced, talented cast of offensive performers. Junior tailback Brandon Ore returns after rushing for 1,137 yards as a sophomore. He was the only runner in all of college football last fall to top 200 yards in back-to-back games.

The receiving corps must replace David Clowney, last season's top receiver, but Glennon will have four senior wide outs to look for, headed by Eddie Royal and Josh Morgan, who combined to catch 64 passes for 945 yards last season.

The offensive line was re-shuffled in the offseason, but Beamer has three starters back - including potential all-stars in Brown at tackle and 2006 freshman All-American Sergio Render at guard.

The biggest rebuilding job facing the Hokies in the offseason was in the kicking game, where both placekicker Brandon Pace and punter Nic Schmitt graduated. But the kicking game has long been a strength for Beamer's team and it would be surprising if he didn't have more-than-adequate replacements waiting in the wings. For example, the reliable Pace is likely to be replaced by fifth-year senior Jud Dunleavy, who once nailed a last-second 51-yard field goal in a jayvee game.

So all the pieces are in place for Virginia Tech to make a run at not just the ACC title, but perhaps the national crown as well. The biggest question is 'How will the team respond to the pressure of carrying the hopes and dreams of the wounded Hokie Nation?'

"I don't think there's that much more pressure on us than there was before," senior defensive tackle Carlton Powell said. "There's always been pressure on us to perform and to live up to what we've done in the past. We'll prepare for this season the same way we prepare for every season."

STRENGTHS: Experience - with 12 seniors and eight juniors slated to start, Virginia Tech boasts the ACC's most experienced lineup ... Ore is a preseason All-ACC pick at tailback ... the receiving corps is one of the deepest and most talented in the ACC ... the duo of Hall and Adibi is as good a pair of linebackers as there is in the country.

WEAKNESSES: Inexperienced kickers ... newcomers at tight end.

EARLY BELLWEATHER GAME: Virginia Tech travels to Baton Rouge to take on SEC power LSU on Sept. 8. The nationally televised ESPN game ought to demonstrate whether or not the Hokies are legitimate national title contenders.