Sideline-prowling Wiles to return on other side
Wolfpack assistant awaits visit to Tech after being cut loose in December
For someone who’s spent nearly the past quarter-century in Blacksburg on every college football game day the town has hosted, there’s a keen sense of just how rabid the night-time scene in Lane Stadium has become over the years.
One man with that perspective is relieved the fans won’t be there Saturday night when Virginia Tech cranks up “Enter Sandman” minutes before playing North Carolina State. Charley Wiles has carved out a new role as N.C. State’s defensive line coach, putting his years on Tech’s sideline in the same coaching capacity behind him.
Sure, he’ll be a little sentimental this weekend, but those feelings would surely be magnified if more than 65,000 Tech fans were allowed inside the stadium after a long day of tailgating. Saturday will be no ordinary game day in Blacksburg because of the coronavirus pandemic. No tailgating will be permitted, and only 1,000 people (players, and friends and family members of players and coaches) will be granted access to the stadium.
“Obviously, mixed, mixed,” Wiles said of his emotions entering this weekend’s game — his first at Lane Stadium since being let go in December by
Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente after 24 years as an assistant. “It's about N.C. State, our football team and Virginia Tech and their players. Certainly not about Coach Wiles.
“Of course, if that was (former Tech coach) Frank Beamer on the other side, that'd be totally different, or (former Tech defensive coordinator) Bud Foster from an emotional standpoint. I'm glad — the silver lining … (is) not having fans. … That plays a factor, I think, not having a full Lane Stadium.”
Wiles plans to spend time tonight at the team hotel visiting with Foster, Wiles' longtime friend he coached alongside his entire career at Tech. Foster, who declined to be interviewed for this story, was also an assistant coach at Murray State when Wiles played there from 1983-86.
As much as Wiles looks forward to seeing his buddy and reminiscing a his eyes toward the future in a hurry when he was told his coaching days at Virginia Tech were over.
“Oh, you know, every good thing has to come to an end,” said Wiles, who saw 13 defensive linemen he coached at Tech get drafted by NFL teams, and four defensive linemen earn All-America honors. “It probably worked out about perfect. I have no regrets.”
Fuente admitted Wiles' return could add another emotional element to the game for Virginia Tech's defensive linemen and a team that has had to wait longer than any ACC team other than Virginia to play its first game this season.
“Not many people get to coach at one place for that long and have such a great run,” Fuente said. “So I'm sure there's players on our team that have a lot of respect for Charley and the job he did while they were together.”
Opportunity almost immediately knocked for Wiles after the conclusion of his run at Tech. N.C. State had an opening for a defensive line coach after Kevin Patrick departed to take the same job at Florida Atlantic.
Wiles, 56, said he knew he wanted to coach again if he could find the right fit. N.C. State (1-0, 1-0 ACC) checked all the boxes.
“I could not have written down anything any better, right?” Wiles said. “A fit for me where I've recruited. I know all the high school coaches in the state of North Carolina. … Then, you get in a program where I think it's a whole lot like the way Coach Beamer ran his program, so it was a good fit."
N.C. State coach Dave Doeren wanted to find somebody who was familiar with new Wolfpack defensive coordinator Tony Gibson. Wiles knew him from coaching against him when Gibson was at West Virginia.
The rest was good fortune for Doeren.
“Charley would still be (at Tech) probably if he hadn't been asked to leave,” Doeren said. “We just got fortunate. Sometimes, timing is everything when you're talking about hiring coaches.
“For him to go back into that stadium, it's probably going to be emotional for him, but I think he'll tell you the game is all about our guys and that's where his focus will be.
“He's a lot of fun, man. He's a guy who keeps the room alive.”
Wiles keeps a memento of his time at Tech — a lunch pail that Foster gave him in December during practices leading up the Belk Bowl. He's one of only a few people to get to keep one of the lunch pails, which were used as a symbol of the blue-collar image Foster created for his defense.
Somebody in N.C. State's football program suggested Wiles should bring the pail back with him this weekend to Blacksburg, but that's not on his agenda. He'll keep it in his office at home, along with other cherished memories from his football life.
“I thought, ‘Wow, hey, that's not a bad idea,' but probably not,” Wiles said. “I'd like to do that, but I'm not going to do that. That was kind of a clever idea, right?
“I'm excited now to make some memories and win some games — win a bunch of games, hopefully, here at N.C. State — and get some memorabilia from here.”