Robert Eugene "Bud" Foster Jr. (born July 28, 1959) is a retired American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach and former player. He currently serves as a defensive advisor/analyst for the

Virginia Tech Hokies The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams representing Virginia Tech in intercollegiate athletics. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 22 varsity sports. Virginia Tech's men's sports are football, b ...

. Following the 2006 season, he received the Frank Broyles Award, which is annually given to the top assistant coach in college football. Foster's

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and 2006 Hokie defenses led the nation in total defense. Foster is regarded as one of the best defensive coordinators in college football. On August 1, 2019, Foster announced he was retiring at the end of the 2019 season. Since taking on his first coaching position at Virginia Tech in 1987, Foster coached over 50 players that were drafted in the NFL including first-round draft picks

DeAngelo Hall DeAngelo Eugene Hall (born November 19, 1983) is an American professional football coach and former defensive back who most recently served as the assistant defensive backs coach for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). ...

Kyle Fuller Kyle Brandon Fuller (born February 16, 1992) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Chicago Bears in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft and play ...

, Tremaine Edmunds and

Terrell Edmunds FeDerius Terrell Edmunds (born January 20, 1997) is an American professional football safety. He played college football at Virginia Tech and was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft. Early life Edmunds a ...

; Pro Bowlers Hall,

Brandon Flowers Brandon Richard Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is an American musician. He serves as the co-founder, lead vocalist, primary songwriter, keyboardist, and occasional bassist of the Las Vegas-based rock band the Killers, which he formed with Dave Ke ...

and

Kam Chancellor Kameron Darnel Chancellor (born April 3, 1988), nicknamed "Bam Bam Kam", is an American former professional football safety who spent his entire nine-year career with the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played colleg ...

and Super Bowl champions Chancellor, Roger Brown,

Tyronne Drakeford Tyronne James Drakeford (born June 21, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the San Francisco 49ers, New Orleans Saints, and Washington Redskins. He ...

, Cornell Brown, Pierson Prioleau, and

Kendall Fuller Kendall Christopher Fuller (born February 13, 1995) is an American professional football cornerback. He played college football for the Virginia Tech Hokies and was selected by the Washington Redskins in the third round of the 2016 NFL draft. Fu ...

. Foster also coached former All-Americans John Engelberger,

Anthony Midget Anthony Midget (born February 22, 1978) is an American football coach. He is the assistant secondary coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Virginia Tech. After a short-lived career ...

, Corey Moore, Ben Taylor, Ronyell Whitaker, David Pugh, Willie Pile,

Darryl Tapp Darryl Anthony Tapp (born September 13, 1984) is an American professional football coach and former defensive end who is the defensive line coach for the Washington Commanders. He played college football for the Virginia Tech Hokies and was sele ...

, Jimmy Williams, and Xavier Adibi.

Playing career

Foster went to high school in

Nokomis, Illinois Nokomis is a city in Montgomery County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,142 at the 2020 census. Geography Nokomis is in eastern Montgomery County, along Illinois Route 16 (State Street), which leads southwest to Hillsboro and nort ...

. A 1981 graduate of

Murray State University Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky, in the Southern United States. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper-level an ...

, Foster played

strong safety Safety (S), historically known as a safetyman, is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free sa ...

and

outside linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the lin ...

for the

Murray State Racers The Murray State Racers are the athletic teams that represent Murray State University (MSU), located in Murray, Kentucky, United States, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks (for football, the Football Championship ...

from 1977 to 1980.

Coaching career

Murray State

Foster began his coaching career as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

at Murray State in 1981, Frank Beamer's first season as the head coach. After two years as a

, Foster was elevated to a full-time staff position. He coached outside linebackers for three seasons before taking over the inside linebackers as well in 1986. He also served as the Racers' recruiting coordinator and worked with

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their position. Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

Virginia Tech

Foster moved with head coach Beamer to

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

in 1987 and became the inside linebackers coach. He coached the outside linebackers for the next five seasons. Foster assumed responsibility for both sets of linebackers prior to the 1993 season and also took over special-teams coaching that year. The following year, he coached the inside linebackers and special teams. Foster assumed the position of co-

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator (DC) is a coach responsible for a gridiron football team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's coaching structure, wit ...

in 1995 and took over as the sole defensive coordinator in 1996. After helping Virginia Tech to the national championship game (

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

) in 1999, Foster was recognized as the 2000

American Football Coaches Association The American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) is an association of over 11,000 American football coaches and staff on all levels. According to its constitution, some of the main goals of the American Football Coaches Association are to "mainta ...

Defensive Coordinator of the Year. Tech's 1999 defensive unit led

Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

in scoring defense and ranked third in both total and rushing defense. Under Foster's coaching, the Hokies' 2001 defense proved to be one of the nation's best, ranking among the top eight teams in Division I-A in six different categories and leading the way in

shutout In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...

s with four. In 2000, Foster took a defense that returned just three starters and turned it into a unit that led the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

in rushing defense, placed 16th nationally against the run and tied for third nationally in interceptions. He won the Frank Broyles Award in 2006. Towards the end of the 2014 season, Foster signed a five-year extension with Virginia Tech. Following the retirement of Frank Beamer, Foster was promoted to Associate Head coach under new head coach

Justin Fuente Justin James Fuente (born July 30, 1976) is an American college football coach. He was the head football coach at Virginia Tech from 2016 to 2021. He was the 2016 ACC Coach of the Year. Fuente was the head football coach at the University of Memp ...

for the 2016 season. Foster announced his retirement, which was effective at the end of the 2019 season. Going into his final season, Foster's defenses at Virginia Tech led all FBS programs in sacks and interceptions since he was promoted to defensive coordinator. His 33 seasons at Virginia Tech made him the longest serving assistant coach at the same school. Foster led seven different defensive units that finished number one in the country in total defense.

"Lunch pail defense"

Since the 1995 season, a battered metal

lunch pail A lunch box (or lunchbox) is a hand-held container used to transport food, usually to work or to school. It is commonly made of metal or plastic, is reasonably airtight and often has a handle for carrying. In the United States In the Unit ...

has been the symbol of Virginia Tech's blue-collar mentality on defense. Each week a list of goals is put in the lunch pail and a player is chosen to have the honor of carrying the lunch pail onto the sidelines. The Lunch Pail Defense Foundation was founded to fund academic scholarships for students from the area near Blacksburg, Virginia.

Personal life

Foster was named as a recipient the Distinguished Alumni Award at Murray State in 2022.

Statistics

Foster's defenses consistently rank among the top in the nation. Below are Virginia Tech's defensive statistics since 1995.

References

External links

Virginia Tech profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Bud 1959 births Living people American football safeties American football linebackers Murray State Racers football coaches Murray State Racers football players Virginia Tech Hokies football coaches People from Nokomis, Illinois People from Somerset, Kentucky Coaches of American football from Illinois Players of American football from Illinois