Va Tech honors Beamer before 25th season as coach

Virginia Tech honored coach Frank Beamer before Saturday's season-opener against Appalachian State, then announced at halftime that he's signed a contract extension to keep him in charge of the Hokies program through 2016.

The contract extension comes after he and the school opened negotiations in August 2010. Terms were not released, but the school said athletic director Jim Weaver would discuss details of the contract Tuesday.

The game marked the start of Beamer's 25th season as the coach at his alma mater. A brief video was shown on the video board, and Beamer was presented with a painting of himself by school President Charles Steger and Weaver.

Beamer is 240-118-4 overall and 198-95-2 with the Hokies. Only Penn State's Joe Paterno, with 401 victories, has won more games among active Division 1 coaches. Beamer also is second to Paterno in bowl appearances with 18. Paterno has 37.

The No. 13 Hokies are the only team in the nation to have won at least 10 games in each of the last seven seasons.

The 18 bowl appearances have come in consecutive seasons.