With respect to Duke, Duke plays to a different strategy that works very
very well for them. They have a whopping 11 or 12 Grad students on their roster. They make a very strong appeal to "come to Duke, we are elite academic institution" and get to play baseball in one of the two best leagues in the country. Right, wrong, or indifferent, that works well for them. They match their school to the grad level equivalency of the Ivy League. The Ivy League sends a lot of good players to major college ball now. Duke has four of those kids in their lineup. Including their best offensive player and their elite closer. There is tremendous maturity with those guys. But 11 or 12 Grad students is a lot. Ironically, the second baseman that hit the two homers last night is actually a VMI grad student.
Duke supplements their baseball scholarship money with significant academic aid. Just the reality of things with them. And for guys looking for a grad degree from a place like Duke, that can be enticing. As far as VT goes, we have a lot going well. And we have grown a lot in the last few years. But like anything, getting to one level is a big step, but keeping at that level and even taking one more step takes some continual innovation and evaluation. I do anticipate we will be evaluating things moving forward (with respect to philosophy, program setup, etc.). Will be interesting to see how we look heading into the Fall.
** Edited by VTScoop at 5/22/2024, 1:35:47 PM
Thread Replies (31)
Need to ask/answer the question of what is holding us back
-- VTJay
May 22, 2024 at 10:18 AM ET
VTJay
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05/22/24 10:18 AM ET
Pitching, fundamentals & hitting
-- hokiepro
May 22, 2024 at 09:05 PM ET
hokiepro
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05/22/24 09:05 PM ET
Is our head coach in job jeopardy? Is he completely safe?**
-- Atl-Thumper
May 22, 2024 at 08:34 PM ET
Atl-Thumper
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05/22/24 08:34 PM ET
With respect to Duke, Duke plays to a different strategy that works very
◄
-- VTScoop
May 22, 2024 at 01:31 PM ET
VTScoop
•
05/22/24 01:31 PM ET
My son and I were told recently, if you want to play college baseball you
-- Hokie Chris
May 23, 2024 at 11:36 AM ET
Hokie Chris
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05/23/24 11:36 AM ET
You buried the lede, Scoop.
-- Will Stewart
May 22, 2024 at 08:18 PM ET
Will Stewart
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05/22/24 08:18 PM ET
Just setting it up for those paying attention :-). One of the best things
-- VTScoop
May 22, 2024 at 09:31 PM ET
VTScoop
•
05/22/24 09:31 PM ET
Yes sir. I left out that golden, encouraging nugget. That's good for VT.**
-- Will Stewart
May 22, 2024 at 09:34 PM ET
Will Stewart
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05/22/24 09:34 PM ET
All due respect…. I don’t think that matters.
-- wahoo2023
May 22, 2024 at 09:56 PM ET
wahoo2023
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05/22/24 09:56 PM ET
It's surely not the only answer VT needs.
-- Will Stewart
May 22, 2024 at 11:35 PM ET
Will Stewart
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05/22/24 11:35 PM ET
From what I’ve heard from friends of program
-- wahoo2023
May 23, 2024 at 10:06 AM ET
wahoo2023
•
05/23/24 10:06 AM ET
Will, how does Tech’s endowment compare to some “peer” land grant universit
-- BackInTheBurg
May 22, 2024 at 08:59 PM ET
BackInTheBurg
•
05/22/24 08:59 PM ET
Wikipedia has the list ....**
-- Will Stewart
May 22, 2024 at 09:32 PM ET
Will Stewart
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05/22/24 09:32 PM ET
How does VCU have a larger endowment than Tech. Medical School have any-
-- BackInTheBurg
May 22, 2024 at 09:39 PM ET
BackInTheBurg
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05/22/24 09:39 PM ET
MCV is a very large part of it. Also the prior president was
-- Nelsonia Hokie
May 23, 2024 at 08:29 PM ET
Nelsonia Hokie
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05/23/24 08:29 PM ET
In my defense, I did search for some info, TAMU for one and it didn’t pop
-- BackInTheBurg
May 22, 2024 at 09:36 PM ET
BackInTheBurg
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05/22/24 09:36 PM ET
We are almost double the size of USC's and Clemson's endowments. VT, NC
-- VTScoop
May 22, 2024 at 09:25 PM ET
VTScoop
•
05/22/24 09:25 PM ET
VT endowment is larger than Clemson, comparable with NC State, and
-- Irish Hokie
May 22, 2024 at 09:18 PM ET
Irish Hokie
•
05/22/24 09:18 PM ET
Fair point on Duke and its niche to get a degree (MBA) from Duke
-- VTJay
May 22, 2024 at 01:48 PM ET
VTJay
•
05/22/24 01:48 PM ET
I have always thought VT should be upper third ACC…. Consistently.
-- wahoo2023
May 22, 2024 at 01:09 PM ET
wahoo2023
•
05/22/24 01:09 PM ET
VT seems to have health issues with its best arms annually
-- hokiepro
May 22, 2024 at 01:31 PM ET
hokiepro
•
05/22/24 01:31 PM ET
Pitching (coaching) is an enormous problem and obvious to anyone
-- Irish Hokie
May 22, 2024 at 01:04 PM ET
Irish Hokie
•
05/22/24 01:04 PM ET
Yeah not that complicated. There is a reason he had to bring in 8 portal
-- vtfin91
May 22, 2024 at 09:02 PM ET
vtfin91
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05/22/24 09:02 PM ET
I think Duke is case study. What is it Pollard is doing to hit at a higher
-- HokiePWC
May 22, 2024 at 11:12 AM ET
HokiePWC
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05/22/24 11:12 AM ET
Wrt the “technology” at Wake…we’ve got the same pitching lab tech
-- hokiepro
May 22, 2024 at 12:45 PM ET
hokiepro
•
05/22/24 12:45 PM ET
They keep pushing foreward on the kinetics end. Their analystics team is
-- HokiePWC
May 22, 2024 at 04:10 PM ET
HokiePWC
•
05/22/24 04:10 PM ET
We are really going to have to have some portal hits next year to fill in
-- Nortazhokie
May 22, 2024 at 11:58 AM ET
Nortazhokie
•
05/22/24 11:58 AM ET
Yup. Our margin for error here is slim.**
-- HokiePWC
May 22, 2024 at 04:10 PM ET
HokiePWC
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05/22/24 04:10 PM ET