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Mike Young questions his coaching after loss to Virginia: 'What the f*** am I doing wrong?'

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz03/07/26NickSchultz_7

An up-and-down regular season in Blacksburg came to an end Saturday as Virginia Tech dropped the finale to Virginia, 76-72. The Hokies never led, but were able to keep things close down the stretch.

Still, Mike Young voiced his frustration after the game. He questioned what he could be doing wrong from a coaching standpoint, and he expressed it in no uncertain terms.

Young noted a missed dunk from Tyler Johnson with 12:21 to play, which would have brought it to a 51-51 tie, and two missed free throws from Ben Hammond. On the UVA side, Ugonna Onyenso made a huge three-pointer late to help seal it. As he assessed it all, Young wondered, “What the f*** am I doing wrong?”

“To take nothing away from those guys – they played really hard. Both teams played really hard,” Young said in the postgame press conference. “The game, missed dunk would’ve tied it. That kid’s playing his guts out. Hammond missed two foul shots. He’s up close to 90 [percent] on the year.

“And No. 33 [Onyenso], come on, man. Give me a break. Really? Kid makes two threes, and that huge one over there in front. Come on. What the f*** am I doing wrong?”

With the loss, Virginia Tech dropped to 19-12 overall and 8-10 in ACC play heading into next week’s conference tournament. As for Young, the sense is he will be back with the Hokies in 2026-27.

The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman reported the expectation is Young will return for another season at Virginia Tech. He has a career 123-97 record with the Hokies, including a 60-70 mark in ACC play, since taking over the program in 2017.

Virginia Tech has made two NCAA Tournament appearances under Mike Young’s watch, but haven’t gone dancing since 2022. The Hokies made the NIT in both 2023 and 2024, but missed the postseason entirely a year ago. That led to questions about how 2025-26 would go, and it’s now on to Charlotte for next week’s conference tournament.

Heading into Saturday’s game, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had Virginia Tech as one of his first four teams out of his Bracketology. With the loss, the road to an at-large bid got even tougher for Young and the Hokies as they prepare for next week.