Hokies promote Lechtenberg
BLACKSBURG — All Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente had to do to find his new running backs coach was look down the hallway, promoting Adam Lechtenberg to the backfield coaching position.
Lechtenberg, a native of Butte, Nebraska, has worked since 2017 at Tech with Fuente, but the duo has a history that stretches back to their time together a dozen years ago at Texas Christian. In Lechtenberg’s new role, he’ll interact with a crowded backfield that could feature at least 12 scholarship players next season.
He’ll replace Zohn Burden, a graduate of Salem High in Virginia Beach and former Old Dominion assistant who had been on Fuente’s staff at Tech since the ’15 season. Burden came to Tech to be the Hokies’ wide receivers coach, but he switched in ’16 to running backs.
Virginia Tech revealed Sunday when it announced Justin Hamilton had been promoted to defensive coordinator that Burden and cornerbacks coach Brian Mitchell wouldn’t return or coach New Year’s Eve in the Belk Bowl against Kentucky.
Next season, Tech is slated to have Deshawn McClease, an Oscar Smith High alum, Keshawn King, Jalen Holston, Caleb Steward, Terius Wheatley, Tahj Gary, Cole Beck and J’wan Evans in its backfield, plus two incoming freshman running backs, a junior-college transfer and immediately eligible transfer Khalil Herbert from Kansas.
Arriving at Tech in 2017 to take the Hokies’ director of player development job, Lechtenberg added the role of assistant head coach in January 2018, and had his title tweaked to executive director of player development. As the assistant head coach, he was the 10th assistant coach hired on Fuente’s staff and had on-field duties beginning last season.
Before his time at Tech, Lechtenberg was the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach in the 2016 season at Tennessee Martin, a Football Championship
Subdivision program in the Ohio Valley Conference.
He also worked with Fuente, when Fuente was the head coach at Memphis, as director of player personnel.
Lechtenberg graduated in 2002 from Nebraska after playing defensive back for the Cornhuskers, and went on to get his master’s degree in 2009 from TCU. He oversaw his first college offense in the ’10 and ’11 seasons as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Central Connecticut State, an FCS team in the Northeast Conference.
He made that move after serving as an offensive graduate assistant from 2007 through 2009 at TCU, when Fuente was the Horned Frogs’ running backs coach for two seasons, before becoming a cooffensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for a season.