The College Football Playoff is set to hire former Virginia Tech and Memphis coach Justin Fuente into a newly created football senior advisor role, CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello confirmed. According to Yahoo Sports, the sides could finalize a deal as soon as Tuesday. Fuente’s job is a position under executive director Rich Clark, who began his leadership role with the CFP in June 2024.
Fuente’s role resides on the executive side of the CFP and is not directly related to the selection committee, which picks the participating schools in the 12-team playoff bracket. Fuente will work with Clark and other officers to carry out the CFP’s day-to-day operations. That staff serves at the direction of the board of managers, which consists of university presidents and chancellors.
Fuente was once a fast-rising coach and a highly regarded offensive mind. He made his FBS debut as the running backs coach and eventually the co-offensive coordinator at TCU, where he constructed a prolific unit around quarterback Andy Dalton and helped guide the Horned Frogs to an undefeated 2010 season. That earned Fuente his first head coaching job at Memphis, and after consecutive losing seasons to open his tenure, he built the Tigers into an American champion.
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Virginia Tech hired Fuente in 2016 as the heir to the legendary Frank Beamer, and he opened his time with the Hokies on strong footing with a 10-win campaign out of the gate. Despite ranking in the AP Top 25 in each of his six years at Virginia Tech, though, Fuente failed to deliver on the high expectations the program built throughout the Beamer era. He posted two losing records and did not return to the 10-win mark after his inaugural season.
The Hokies held the longest bowl streak in college football at 29 years until Fuente’s 2020 team declined a postseason invitation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fuente spent one year away from the sideline after his firing at the end of the 2021 season. He joined the Indiana staff midway through the 2023 season as an offensive analyst under then-Hoosiers coach Tom Allen but did not stick with the program amid its coaching change at the end of the year. He did not hold a coaching job in 2024.
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