The Virginia Tech Coaching Files: Norval McKenzie

McKenzie's Background

Age: XX | Hometown: Powder Springs, GA

Norval McKenzie, an Atlanta-area native, committed to Vanderbilt as part of the Commodores' Class of 2000. He played four seasons at Vanderbilt before joining the Georgia high school coaching ranks in 2005 at Hiram High School, which is northwest of Atlanta.

Coaching Experience

In 2008, McKenzie joined his alma mater's coaching staff as a graduate assistant.

Since breaking into college football, McKenzie has bounced around a fair amount. Here are McKenzie's stops on his coaching journey:

It's important to note that McKenzie's time at Vanderbilt preceded James Franklin's arrival there in 2011. The two do not have a coaching history together.

Unlike Virginia Tech's new quarterbacks coach, Danny O'Brien, McKenzie has considerable coaching experience, including seven years as a position coach at the Power 4 level.

What Does He Bring to the Table?

If you believe the rumor mill, James Franklin was very close to retaining Elijah Brooks as Virginia Tech's running backs coach. Alas, Brooks announced on Dec. 14 that he would not be returning to Blacksburg. The hiring of McKenzie broke shortly thereafter.

The main differentiator between McKenzie and Brooks is McKenzie's experience recruiting the Atlanta area. Virginia Tech has multiple coaches on staff capable of recruiting the DMV area — we'll cover that later in the series — but did not have a realistic option to head south and recruit the largest population center in the Southeast. Atlanta and the surrounding areas produce lots of talented players every year, meaning the Hokies should position themselves to compete in this area.

While McKenzie may have experience recruiting the Atlanta area, he's not been overwhelmingly successful. 247Sports credited McKenzie with three recruits in the Class of 2026, two of which live in the Fort Lauderdale area. All three of his signees are low-to-mid level three-star prospects. 247Sports hasn't credited McKenzie with a signee rated higher than a .9053, which is a low-level four-star. If you talk to people around the Georgia Tech program, they'll tell you McKenzie's recruiting on The Flats left a lot to be desired.

While McKenzie's recruiting abilities may be questionable, his history of coaching productive running backs is much clearer.