Virginia Tech football: Social media reacts to the Hokies’ new defensive coordinator

The Virginia Tech Hokies have a new defensive coordinator. As expected most fans weren’t happy because Sam Siefkes’s name was unfamiliar. Virginia Tech fired former defensive coordinator Chris Marve after the season in early December, and many fans were frustrated by the lengthy process. To make matters worse, Virginia Tech hired someone who has never been a defensive coordinator on a Power Four team.

Relax.

Siefkes comes to Blacksburg from the Arizona Cardinals, where he’s been the linebackers coach for the past two seasons. Before that, he was an assistant linebackers coach for the Minnesota Vikings for two years. Siefkes has college experience, too. He began his career as a graduate assistant at the University of Wisconsin in 2015. From there, Siefkes was the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin-Platteville in 2016 and 2017 before spending the next three seasons as the defensive coordinator at Wofford.

Siefkes enjoyed tremendous success at both schools and led outstanding defensive units in his three years at Wofford.

Several NFL coaches praised VT’s hiring, including Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon and former Vikings coach Mike Zimmer.