Posted by: Chris Vannini on November 1, 2012

Al Golden is just one of many looking for answers.

Not about Thursday night's game against Virginia Tech, rather, his family's home in New Jersey. Golden was born in Colts Neck, NJ, one of the hardest-hit areas by Hurricane Sandy, which ravaged the East Coast.

Golden explained on the ACC coaches teleconference how he has kept in touch with family, and how there is still much they don't know.

"It's beyond any scope or anything I could have ever imagined," he said. "It was a situation where I wasn't really following it closely through the weekend.  Then I woke up Monday morning and saw that really the impact that it was going to have. Then to have friends send me pictures or a video of what it looks like now is unbelievable.

"A lot of people don't know it, but we grew up on the shore, literally, 15 minutes from the beach. A lot of our friends have homes on the beach that are not there anymore, just a roof top. So it's tough. We're praying for everybody, and going to do whatever we can to help everybody up in Jersey.

Golden said he parents have a beach house, and they have no idea of it's still there.

"You can't get in there yet was of the sand and the flooding, so we have no idea," he said. "But we know friends that have nothing left. There are no 20‑foot of dunes anymore and there is no house. So it's tough for everybody. My brother is the sheriff of the next county north, which is Monmouth County, and obviously, they were hit terribly hard, and Union Beach and Keyport and the Highlands, and a place we spent a lot of time growing up in Sea Bright, New Jersey. It's tough. It's tough to see on film and recognize areas and understand that the shore line has been changed forever.

Golden's brother sent him some pictures of the damage, and Golden can only wait and pray, while also preparing his, well, Hurricanes for a vital game Thursday night.

"It was just only Mother Nature, or I don't think people have seen it unless it was Katrina," he said. "Mother Nature or kind of something that was a result of war, you can't even describe it.  75% of Sea Bright is absolutely destroyed. Just half of homes everywhere. So he's in the middle of it.

"I'm not going to bother him. I just wanted to tell him we're thinking about him and everybody up there is in our thoughts and prayers."

You can donate to the hurricane relief effort at RedCross.org. You can listen to the teleconference by clicking here.

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Chris Vannini is the lead writer for CoachingSearch.com and has covered Michigan State sports for The State News, The Oakland Press and MLive.com. He writes a weekly column for the Detroit Free Press on behalf of SB Nation. Vannini lives in Big Ten country, so his foot speed is far from SEC caliber, but his pulse on coaches is hard to match. Be sure to follow @CoachingBuzz on twitter and send your feedback to chris@coachingsearch.com