Fitzgerald has had about 5 seasons out of 17 that were good, interspersed among 8 losing seasons and a few average seasons. Beamer took 7 years before he had a good season, that is incredible patience from the VT fanbase which is not going to happen at any P5 these days. And none of that says their respective schools weren't willing to match the best offers they were getting elsewhere. Gundy is making $7.5m/yr currently, top 15 in the country and making him the highest paid coach in the BIG 12 - yes more than Oklahoma or Texas. Pat Fitzgerald was making $5.65m/yr last year despite posting a 3 win and 1 win season in 2021 and 2022. In 2011, the last season Beamer was good, he was the 3rd highest paid coach in the ACC, behind only CPJ and Fisher. Meanwhile Key is currently making ~$3m, which is dead last in the ACC and 3rd lowest in P5. I expect Key's salary to increase significantly if he can bring those 9, 10, 11 win type seasons, but keep in mind the GTAA is already massively in debt and we just struggled to come up with $15m to can the last guy who turned in 3 straight doo doo seasons.
For what it's worth, I agree that Chadwell's offense shouldn't hold him back, but you obviously weren't paying attention around these parts during the coaching searches last season. Plenty of people saw the word option associated with him and immediately wanted nothing to do with him.