+1 to most of what Greywolf said.
Defense comes down to the players, particularly at the college level and in the era of the spread and hurry up offenses. You need your player to be able to beat their player 1:1, and there’s simply not many spots on our defense where we can do that.
Ten years ago, Herring was gifted the most defensive talent I’ve ever seen at NC State. He had a fantastic year. I could have coached that defense.
It wasn’t like Herring was a magician either. Like Hux, he’d made plenty of stops. Some were good. Some were not so good. He had arguably his best year at NC State. I’m sure if he’d have stuck around longer, when the talent dropped off, our opinion of him would have as well.
The same thing goes for Norm Chow. I loved the guy and was sad when he left, but he was aided by coaching some good talent and a QB that was greatly better than advertised. His track record since leaving has been pretty mixed (and downright awful as the head man at Hawaii). He’s one for Wolfpack legend though.
If we want an external reference, check out the big plays VT has given up this year. Is Bud Foster now suddenly a horrible DC? Nah, the talent level at VT is just down from where it was 5-10 years ago.
As for Hux, he had a good defense at Pitt before joining NC State. I’m guessing that he can again.
