to spare them from a mandatory overhaul of our culture and AD staff. Whit is probably like most ADs and coaches - I'm too old for this. They hired a coaching staff to return us to the early 2000's blueprint at the exact moment the upper tier hit on the afterburners towards a new coaching/financial model. Let's face it - it requires a certain "skill" to totally sell out the integrity of your university to sports. I don't blame them because what's happening is sickening and cheapens a degree and those paying retail. What used to be a state/regional sales job by the coaching staff has now expanded to a nationwide sales job coordinated between several entities - very complicated to run actually. All universities have built their country clubs, raised tuition during economic hardship, knew they built a bubble protected by federally subsidized student loans, got in over their heads with their Covid-era policies, and now sit flat-footed as a bigger fish (corporate sports) eats them alive. The programs that were already cheating just flooded the system after the thin, pretend veil was lifted. It's actually cool now to brag about how much you're paying players. They had a head-start of a couple of decades or more of bag men. I really thought the ACC / ESPN contract would go away, and the Clemson/FSU lawsuits, would expedite the ACC's collapse. Then the expansion happened. Now my worst fear is we die a slow death and our beloved fan base erodes beyond repair. We (VT) need an external event to speed this up.