Will Bud break your hearts, Hokies?

Greetings, Hokies. Apologies for my semi-long absence, which can be attributed to two things: 1) A trip to Tuscaloosa to watch Alabama play Saturday night; 2) My annual charge to complete a comprehensive high school wrestling preview section for my newspaper … which has this same, unfortunate timing each season.

BUT … I’ll make it up to you with some instant info on defensive coordinator Bud Foster’s pursuit of the Clemson head-coaching gig. Along with a handful of hacks, I just spoke to Bud moments ago.

I had to chuckle, because he opened his remarks with “This is all I’m going to say …” but then, nice fella he is, continued to field pestering questions from the peanut gallery.

Below, the full text of the interview (not all of which involves the Clemson gig). More stuff from players and coaches to come …

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR BUD FOSTER

ON THE CLEMSON HEAD-COACHING INTERVIEW: “I did interview. There’s an interest on both parts, and we’ll just see where it goes from there. I’m one of several potential candidates for the job and we’ll see where it goes here in another week or so. That’s all I know, and that’s all I can say.”

ON THE TIMETABLE THE CLEMSON OFFICIALS GAVE HIM FOR A DECISION: “Within the next three weeks, probably. We had a good meeting, and that’s it.”

ON WHETHER HE HAS CONSIDERED WHAT HE’D DO IF HE GOT THE JOB BEFORE TECH’S BOWL GAME: “No, not necessarily. Right now, that’s all I’m saying about it. We’re getting ready for Duke.”

ON WHEN AND WHERE THE INTERVIEW HAPPENED: “It was Friday. It was here in Virginia. They came up here. In Roanoke. That’s it, OK.”

ON WHETHER THERE ARE ANY OTHER OPENINGS HE HAS PUT HIS NAME IN FOR, TENNESSEE AND SYRACUSE, FOR EXAMPLE: “No. I mean, Tennessee, yeah (it would be attractive). Syracuse, I don’t know. That would be a tough job.”

ON WANTING TO GET THAT NEXT OPPORTUNITY: “I’ve worked hard, worked my adult lifetime to work for this kind of position. If it happens, great. If not, I’m not going to lose sleep over it.”

ON WHETHER HE FELT GOOD AFTER THE INTERVIEW: “Yeah, yeah. That’s all I’m going to say. Whether I feel good or not … I don’t know anything else. I was a nervous wreck going in, and I felt good coming out.”

ON HIS CURRENT TEAM, AND DEFENSE, AND HOW FRUSTRATING IT WAS TO LOSE ANOTHER CLOSE GAME IN WHICH THE DEFENSE PLAYED WELL: “All I can say is this: I’m really proud of how our kids have played. I think we’ve gotten better each week. I’m real pleased with our effort. It’s a team game. We created some fumbles and the ball bounced the wrong way the other night. We had a ball in our hands on a pick and it went through, and you have those games sometimes. But it’s not a lack of effort on anyone’s part. We win as a team and we lose as a team. We had chances in all phases of the game to do something. We just ran out of time the other day.”

ON BOTH DEFENSIVE ENDS, WORILDS AND MARTIN, PLAYING HURT AND PLAYING WELL: “Yeah, I tell you, I’m really proud of those guys. Martins’ there, his knee is documented. He’s playing with an AC sprain, really banged up. And Jason popped his shoulder out again. They put it back in and he came right back in. And he didn’t play with one arm. He played with a purpose. I told both those kids I’m really, really proud of them. They’ve given of themselves. When you get your leaders like that – and I really think Jason Worilds is really developing into a prime-time player, like one of those ends we’ve had – that’s a great sign for things to come and good for the young kids to see. It was a big game and our kids played that way. We just came out on the short end of the stick this year.”

ON HOW MARTIN HAS PROGRESSED AS A SENIOR: “Orion is just a Steady Eddie. He’s going to give you everything he’s got. He’s always improved on some aspect of his game. He’s one of those guys that’s conscientious and does the very best he can.”

ON WHETHER HE TOLD THE DEFENSE ABOUT HIS CLEMSON INTERVIEW BEFORE THE MIAMI GAME: “No. Coach Beamer announced it to the team after the game. He asked me for my permission. I didn’t find anything out until the last moment. We wanted to make sure it wasn’t going to come out in the media and not tell those kids first. They’re the ones that it’s important to.”

ON WHETHER HE’S SAID ANYTHING TO THE PLAYERS SINCE THEN: “There’s nothing to say right now. We had a good meeting. It was get to know each other. … Our guys are smart. They know what’s going on, know I’ve been here a long time. In recruiting, when I’m in their homes it’s, ‘We don’t want you to leave, but if it does happen, it happens.’ If it works out, great. If it doesn’t, you guys will see me here on the sidelines again.”

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