'He Had a Vision About This Place'

Beamer inherited a fractured program when he arrived. Outgoing coach Billl Dooley had landed Virginia Tech on a three-year probation, stripping the Hokies of scholarships. Beamer won 16 games those first four seasons combined, but bottomed out in 1992. The Hokies went 2-8-1, and fans buried Beamer in criticism. In private moments, Cheryl could see how much the losing wore on him, that he felt as if he was letting people down.

But during practice and at the coaches' office, his demeanor didn't change. He didn't think about the problem, only what could be done to fix it. While burning garbage at his parents' house at age 7, Beamer burned the right side of his body. For four summers, Beamer endured more than 30 operations for the damage the fire caused. His mother would make him walk the halls of the burn ward and look at the other patients. There was always someone in worse condition than him.

"It was kind of her way of saying, 'Hey, don't feel sorry for yourself,' " Beamer said. " 'Do something about it. There's no need to pity yourself.' "

In 1992, after a midseason loss to Louisville, the phone rang in the Beamer house, and daughter Casey, then 10, answered. A man's voice asked to speak with Beamer. "He's not home," Casey said. "Could I take a message?"

The voice starting cursing at little Casey. The man said: "Tell your father he's a terrible coach. Tell him he should be fired."

Casey ran into the living room, tears streaming down her face, to tell Cheryl what happened. Crushed, Casey curled up on the couch the rest of the night. Cheryl met Beamer at the door when he walked in and told him about the phone call. He walked to the coffee table next to the couch and sat down.

"Casey, sometimes in life we're up here," he told her, raising a fist above his head. "Sometimes we're down here. Right now we're down here. But I'm going to work hard, and Daddy's a good football coach. One day, we're going to be up here again."

He believed it. Virginia Tech went to the Independence Bowl the next season, and has been to a bowl game every season since.

"I've often told Frank, I think he's at his best when things are at their worst," Cheryl said. "When he gets down, that's when he gets going."

'Very Proud' of His Program

Virginia Tech's coaches gathered in a meeting room, expecting the worst. It was a Sunday night in 1995, the first coaches' meeting of the week. The day before, Cincinnati had handed the Hokies their second straight loss to open the season. The assistants expected Beamer to scream and berate them. Hite thought to himself: "If I was the head coach, I'd come in here and fire every one of these guys here, because I could have done as good a job myself doing just what these guys did."

Beamer walked calmly into the room.

"Our players really want to win," Beamer said in a steady voice. "We've got Miami this week. Put them in the best position to win this football game."