Is the future in question for Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer now that he's 68 years old?

Published May. 14, 2015 11:14 a.m. ET

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This week, a Virginia Tech fan asked Andy Bitter of the Roanoke Times about Hokies head coach Frank Beamer and his future with the team. Beamer is now 68 years old, and the fan wanted to know how other college coaches have fared at that age and beyond.

Bitter dug into the record books to find out.

"For starters, coaches at the Division I (and even more specific, the FBS level) being active past 68 years of age is a relatively new phenomenon," Bitter wrote. "It doesn't seem like that, since Florida State's Bobby Bowden and Penn State's Joe Paterno went so far beyond that to make the typical retirement age of 65 look comical. But they are actually the anomalies in this whole thing."

Bitter noted that there are five active head coach, including Beamer, that are 68 or older: Kansas State's Bill Snyder (75), South Carolina's Steve Spurrier (70), Ohio's Frank Solich (70), Central Florida's George O'Leary (68) and Beamer (68).

Looking back in time, Bitter found that Penn State's Joe Paterno had a 141-68 record after turning 68. Bobby Bowden went 111-47 with Florida State, and Amos Alonzo Stagg went 67-92-11 with Chicago and Pacific.

Bitter tallied a total of 14 coaches who kept chugging along beyond the age of 68. While the feat is certainly a rarity, it wouldn't be unprecedented for Beamer to keep winning games at Virginia Tech for years to come.

(h/t Roanoke.com)

Photo Credit: Peter Casey/USA TODAY Sports