Virginia Tech Coach Seth Greenberg has been fired after nine seasons with the Hokies, according to two people with direct knowledge of the decision who requested anonymity because it has not been officially announced yet.
Athletic Director Jim Weaver is scheduled to hold a 4 p.m. news conference Monday, and is expected to make the news official then.
Virginia Tech will have to pay Greenberg $1.2 million to buy out the remaining four years on his contract.
Greenberg compiled a 170-123 overall record during his time in Blacksburg, but only made one NCAA tournament in 2006-07. This past season, the Hokies finished with a 16-17 record, just the second time they had finished with a record worse than .500 record under Greenberg.
Weaver told The Post in February that despite the disappointing campaign, Greenberg’s job security was “not even a topic” at that point in time. But since then, Greenberg has seen two of his three assistant coaches, and his director of basketball operations, depart for other jobs.
According to a third person with knowledge of the situation, Greenberg’s lone remaining assistant coach, John Richardson, had been negotiating to take a similar position at Old Dominion in the past week. Richardson was an assistant at Old Dominion before coming to Virginia Tech.
But it seems Monday’s firing caught Greenberg by surprise. When reached by phone when news first broke about an afternoon news conference late Monday morning, Greenberg was hosting a recruit on campus and even joked with a Washington Post reporter, “I’m still employed, so I don’t think it’s about me.”
