Gary and I met back in 2009 when we were both assistant coaches in the ACC. He was doing some really good work at the time for Florida State, and was pretty consistently the best poolside conversation you could find in the whole league.
Taylor and Lopez Have Their Work Cut Out For Them
In both cases, though, the bar for success has been set very high. While many people liked to rumble that Hawke was underachieving at Auburn, Taylor will have to at least show something in between the last few years and the Dave Marsh years. At VT, Lopez will replace a coach that, in my opinion, overachieved during his tenure. So he'll have to get another level of overachievement.