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Sunday was "bittersweet" for Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall after hearing that Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer would be resigning at the end of the season.

Hall, a Virginia Tech standout from 2001-2003, knew Beamer, coaching in his 29th year in Blacksburg, Va., wanted to spend time with his kids and grandchildren, but was still a little surprised he made the announcement so soon.

"Coach Beamer's been so much more than a football coach for me," Hall said. "Everybody always asked me when I first go in the league, 'Why did you go to Virginia Tech over some of these other schools?' It's that personal connection, that personal touch that those coaches just created with me and a lot of the other players that they were able to recruit and get to come to Blacksburg.

Hall, who said he'll be writing an article about his former coach sometime this week, said he still keeps in touch Beamer.

"When you've got the option to go to Miami on South Beach, or LA, or anywhere else, it's kind of hard to figure out why would you go to Virginia Tech," he said. "But Coach Beamer has been so much more than a football coach to me and a lot of other guys. We still talk to him this day."

Beamer, 69, is the winningest active coach in the FBS and helped put Virginia Tech on the map during his tenure, collecting four ACC championships, three Big East titles and six trips to a Bowl Championship Series bowl game.

Hall joins rookie safety Kyshoen Jarrett as the two players in the Redskins locker room to have played under Beamer, along with his brand of football, "Beamer Ball," affectionately dubbed for his special teams unit's aggressive style of play.

As for the coaching vacancy, Hall believes it should rank high with other Division I programs.

"I think it's up there," Hall said. "I think the history we kind of established there and the tradition we have is definitely going to be sought after. I think last couple years, we've kind of not been as great just because we haven't been able to get a lot of top recruits. Just to be able to see the way Coach Beamer's been able to take guys who were either walk-ons or two-three star guys and turn them into NFL players, it's just a tribute to him and his coaching staff." 

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