Virginia Tech has fired head men's basketball coach Seth Greenberg after nine seasons at the school.

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In a press conference in Blacksburg on Monday, Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver made the announcement, saying "we need to go in another direction."

Greenberg took over the Hokies before the 2003-04 season, the year before they moved into the Atlantic Coast Conference. He took the Hokies to the postseason six times in his nine seasons in Blacksburg. On three occasions during Greenberg's tenure, the Hokies knocked off the nation's top-ranked team, including a 2011 victory over Duke at home in Blacksburg.

However, Virginia Tech has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2007, when the Hokies advanced to the 2nd round. The Hokies went to the NIT for four straight seasons until 2011-12, when the team went 15-16 and finished in 9th in the hyper-competitive ACC.

Virginia Tech twice went to the NIT Quarterfinals under Greenberg but never took the final step toward Madison Square Garden. In 2008, the Hokies lost to Mississippi, and in 2010, they dropped their quarterfinal match-up with Rhode Island.

Before that 2007 trip to the Big Dance, the Hokies had not made the NCAA Tournament since 1996.

In nine seasons, Greenberg went 167-117. His previous stops in college basketball include head coaching stints at South Florida and Long Beach State.

In recent years, Greenberg has had trouble retaining assistant coaches, losing six in the past four years. Weaver says with just one assistant remaining on the staff now, it seemed like a logical time to make the change rather than filling out the staff.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.