"‘Bud, this is my team, not your team,’" Foster vividly remembers Beamer snarling, followed by the "suggestion" that he shut his mouth.

Foster was stunned. Beamer had never said anything like that to him, or anyone else, before. Not during Foster’s days playing for Beamer at Murray State University in 1979 and 1980. Not during the seasons he spent as a graduate assistant and assistant coach at the same school. Not during what was then 18 years together at Tech, where Foster had risen from inside-linebackers coach to co-defensive coordinator in 1995 to sole occupant of the position a year later.