Mike Young says coaching Virginia Tech ‘dream come true’

BLACKSBURG, Va. – Mike Young looked around Virginia Tech’s Cassell Coliseum and said he’s “so thrilled to be home.”

“My love for ball originated in this building many years ago,” Young said Monday at a news conference introducing him as Virginia Tech’s new basketball coach. Rattling off a list of former players he watched growing up, and pointing toward an NIT banner hanging from the rafters, he added: “I remember it like it was yesterday.”

The news conference came five days after Buzz Williams resigned to take the men’s basketball job at Texas A&M. Young, who grew up just 15 miles from Blacksburg in Radford, Virginia, said the Virginia Tech job is the realization of a dream that was decades in the making for him, since he attended Hokies games with his father as a kid.

“So help me goodness, I have felt this building shake on a number of occasions,” Young said.

Young, 55, accepted the job over the weekend, ending a 30-year stay at Wofford, the last 17 as head coach. He guided the Terriers to a 299-244 record and five NCAA Tournament appearances. This season the Terriers went 30-5 , climbed to No. 19 in the Top 25 and beat Seton Hall 84-68 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. They lost in the next round to Kentucky.

Young received a five-year contract that totals $11.5 million in salary, starting at $2 million per year for the first two seasons and then gradually increasing. Bonuses in the deal include a $250,000 payout for winning the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title.