Yes, in that year VT dropped significantly in comparison to our peers, but was that one person and one person alone is holding back MBB? I know many want to believe that because changing one person is the easiest fix. IMHO, look across Burruss. That is the more likely place that the actual lack of setting real goals and pursuing them is (not) happening. WB is doing what he can with what he has to work with. Probably he is like CMY in 2026. Your last sentence seems to think all the AD does is spend and promote the revenue sports. He is responsible for much, much more.

on the ratios. Once again, imo, you are attempting to minimize Whit's incompetence. While I do agree Burruss has responsibility in this malaise, Whit still is ponderously responsible for the situation we're in. Burruss is responsible for the lack of oversight and the festering, but Whit is the cancer that keeps metastasizing over the body that is our AthDept. Whit is the main problem.

What do you really think Whit could do when Burrus says "no" IMHO Whit is dealing with an undercapitalized situation and when that is the case, there are many things the CEO could do if not undercapitalized. IMHO Whit is not responsible for the undercapitalized situation because I do not believe he has had the freedom to go to the kind of fund raising that is needed. And I do not think he has had that authority to do that.

but, as usual you are looking to make an excuse. Saying he is under capitalized because he hasn't had the freedom is complete and utter BS. Not only has he had freedom but, he has had plenty of offers to help him and the department. Nobody tied his hands to keep the CFO position a revolving door and when the dust settles the reality of that smoke and mirrors game will be apparent. Your defense of Whit is eerily reminiscent of your defense of Stiney with one potentially glaring similarity. Both may have been able to do better BUT, both were loyal yes men who rarely, if ever, challenged their bosses even if they believed differently or knew better. The difference being that Frank kept things largely consistent and trending upward while Sands oversaw driving things in a ditch. ** Edited by 2hhoop3 at 4/2/2026, 1:07:59 PM

"What do you really think Whit could do when Burrus says "no" Despite the punctuation, how do you know this statement is accurate? How do you know this (bring receipts)? At least in the next sentence, you state it's an opinion. We can agree to disagree on the ratios of blame, but I'll stick with mine. Whatever happens to Whit is of his own doing. And, since his buyout of over $ 1.4MM /annum is there, he bears almost all the responsibility. Sands and the BoV bear the responsibility of a lack of oversight and accountability.

Some VT fans, STILL expect basketball to be the nineties, recurit a kid to 4 years and a past tactics of basketball systems. While VT fans are in the bubble, colleege basketball is NOW ahead of football in player compenstation, transfers and frankly a physical style with not any embracing on systems..... It's NBA style. VT objective in college football is NOW evolve into a power 2 brand, expectations of college football. Our goals are no longer be competitive in ACC but national. That takes a 220 million dollar and more, Just ranges 15-20 million dollar NIL player compensation AND 10-12 million for coaching staff plus another 10-12 million for head coach not to include player development another 5 to ten million. Also, first class venues with visual entertaning product meaning, winning program, LED lighting and integrate huge screen need polished facilities for professional appearance. This includes also updated indoor practice with HVAC not just a shed. lAnd believe it or not this type of investment for playing in power 2 is a solid return on investment For some fans, this world is really out of touch, These are the folks who remember VT football and they thought a high investment for buying a season ticket. ghee and 25 dollars to the hokie club. Coaching has changed drastically in basketball and the skill set is more CEO type of program leader, and huge staff of experts drafting plays, player development, whiile you have staff for player research and devlopment and NIL including valuation, transfers and recrutiing. Then you have fitness program 4-6 staff to craft indivual training and one more more financial development (reaching out to the donors) show them what they invest (the audience is to the big govers 6-7 figures) and corporations (the 25 dollar donation just doest pay for pencils). Then VT has been left behing in faciltiies and there his huge business case, for what to do, and then as an buesiness portfolio, where is the 2-3 year returrn on investment on all this My take ride the football train NOW, and being succesfuil, translates into potential revenue streams that can be used no not only reinvest in football but other potential revenue programs such as basketball, wrestling. women's softbal

to engage them with basketball. If anything the effort has been to discourage - so don't come lecturing people now as if it is their fault.

anything for the fans? The only two things that comes to mind, were NOT for the fans: Moving home Wisconsin game to Charlotte, and MBB deciding not to play in the NIT. Yeah, both those things really motivate me to donate and attend.

Will happen many more times at colleges all over the land. Id bet if I went to a sports bar tonight during the ncaa games most people can’t name two teams that played in the tournament this year. It’s a bygone of an old era and won’t likely even exist in 10 years based on current tv ratings

Right, @Andy Bitter?

point it wouldn't shock me if VT didn't get top dollar in the deal and left money on the negotiation table. Since Babcock likely won't be the AD when the game is played, VT has just given the new AD the perfect get out of jail free card to any questions asked by the media especially when they are critical of VT's "business" decision. The standard response could become "The contract was not signed under my watch. However, as AD, I am going to make sure VT still honors the contract. Next question."

is played. It feels like we might be close to giving a lifetime contract at this point.

keep delaying the series until 4028.

it. At this point it wouldn't shock me if VT didn't get top dollar in the deal and left money on the negotiation table." I wonder how the local businesses and the local Chamber of Commerce feels about selling the game and going to Charlotte? They must be pleased as punch.

time" college athletics needs to follow the Gordon Gecko business model. If VT makes a business decision that will benefit the local businesses, then great. However, I get that VT shouldn't be willing to sacrifice its interests in order to satisfy the local businesses. Particularly if it is assumed the local businesses would look out for their interests first before VT's interests if the roles were ever reversed. If VT earns normally $2M for a home game and it has the opportunity to earn $10M playing in Charlotte, then even the local businesses probably would have difficulty saying they wouldn't make the same decision if they were in VT's shoes. The other piece to this puzzle is the local politics and what kind of working relationship VT wants to have/maintain with the local community. If that is important to VT and VT is only earning $5M playing in Charlotte, then it may be willing to sacrifice the extra $3M in order to maintain a positive relationship with the local community. Particularly if issues/scandals have come up involving VT in some way which could negatively impact the relationship. My biggest objection to the decision is it is unlikely VT will have the same level of home field advantage in Charlotte that it does in Lane. You could even include the home field that VT had at FedEx when it played USC and Boise State too. For some reason I think a lot of Wisky fans will end up traveling to the game. More so than who would normally attend the game at Lane, so VT probably will be looking at a 70-30 or even 60-40 split. I guess there is even the possibility it may be closer to a 50-50 split give off a similar vibe as when VT played 'Bama in Hotlanta or SC last year. Plus, it doesn't look good that Wisky didn't move its home game too. A double neutral site series gives off a completely different vibe than a "home-home series" where only 1 team moves its game. Heck a home-home plus an extra neutral site game would have come across as being better.

Lane or playing in Charlotte. Perhaps someone on here does. To me, it had better be a pretty big differential. VT publicly touts the Town-Gown relationship, but that's just lip service to keep the Town approving off campus housing projects. Generally, VT dictates and the Town responds affirmatively. The first sentence is pretty much a "DUH!" Next, I didn't see Wisconsin moving it's home game to an off campus setting, say like Green Bay. Once again, the Great Negotiator worked his magic. And, once again, what about the fans?

everything in its power to keep it a highly guard secret. As far as why Wisky didn't move their home to Green Bay, it is my understand that VT took the initiative for whatever reason. At least that seems to be the public answer. I guess it is possible a wealthy Hokie booster ponied up the money or facilitated the ponying up the money to get VT to make the switch. Also, it wouldn't be too shocking if Wisky said VT's home game had to be played in a certain size stadium before it would sign on the dotted line. Unfortunately, fans will probably never know the complete picture on how the negotiation process played out even if the home-home series gets pushed back to 5058 when Will's greatx100 granddaughter is running TSL.

game is unknown. I've attached a link to the HokieSports article announcing the shift. The article mainly touts "exposure" and "viewership," nothing about money.

same exposure and viewership regardless where the game is played. Especially if both teams are ranked in the preseason poll. There is no way VT could make a strong case that less people would tune into ABC to watch #15 VT vs. #10 Wisky play on the Drill Field than they would if the game was played in Charlotte. VT just doesn't want to publicly admit that they bent over and took one up the tailpipe because someone made it rain enough.

narrative that has difficulty passing the smell test. While at the same time you are confident it can't be disproven as long as people toe the company line because VT is protected from FOIA. Plus, if the money wasn't good, then VT is protected from looking like idiots. When VT announced its FedEx games against Boise State and USC or its CFA Kickoff Classics against 'Bama, I'm trying to remember if VT presented money as being a primary factor or more a secondary factor with "exposure" and "TV ratings" being the primary factors.

that implies there is as reason to CYA. And, my opinion, they "need" to CYA because of their incompetence and fecklessness.

pass the smell test for people including myself and as Paul Harvey would say "there's more to the story."

the explanations ring hollow. And, once you lose your credibility, it is very, very difficult to re-obtain.

before and received limited responses, mostly with negatives, but, I will ask again. What would people list, both positive and negative, as the accomplishments of the VTAD under Babcock's guidance? If it makes it easier to answer people can limit their reply to top 2 through 5 on both sides of the ledger. Another way to put it would be give me your own balanced(both good and bad) review of the department's performance during Babcock's tenure.

responding to @VTCALS72 . It is an extensive list, that keeps growing. He's made a few good hires, but that just may be pure luck on his part. His communications are poor and practically non-existent. He isn't proactive at all, and his fiduciary incompetence is well documented. He has allowed ever increasing siloing in the AthDept. His fund raising sucks. Like I said, the list of cons is almost endless.

work or did other people do it and he is taking the credit because he is VT's AD? I am referring to the improvements in softball, men's/women's soccer, wrestling, golf, and maybe men's/women's basketball. I believe all those sports had moments of "improvement" during his tenure as AD. If fans were to do a resume builder for Babcock, then how much credit should he truly receive on his resume vs. the credit going to people like VTChip or an independent organization (i.e. SERTC)?

and my opinion would be that regardless of the debate on the amount of credit,if any, due those improvements would be fair for inclusion on the positive side of the ledger.

time, it may also look odd too if the negative side included something about individuals stepping up to fulfill duties originally assigned to the AD. Particularly if said team showed signs of improvement because of the increased financial support. At least I think one of the biggest negatives people have about Babcock is he may be too willing to let people outside the organize fulfill duties fulfill duties assigned to the AD or delegated to someone within the organization.

nice way of questioning his drive and motivation. ;-)

The $$$ are not good. If the $$$ were as good or better, it would have been touted.

if it wasn't for a whole lot more money, why give away a home game against a quality opponent?

view of reality and a tortured relationship with grammar and spelling which often makes it hard to discern his point if, in fact, he has one at all.

just changed his username again.

We are now almost done with the second year of the new ACC model for distribution of money to schools. It has two parts and heavily favors football success and this is worth many more millions compared to basketball success. 1. Annual success initiative that pays based on results for that year. Bowls, Playoffs, top 25 ranking, March Madness. 2. Media money distribution based on 5 year rolling average of tv viewership across football (75%) and basketball (25%). 40% of media money is guaranteed to be split among schools each year. 60% is now variable and based on the five year average. Stanford and Cal won’t be eligible for extra media money until sometime around 2033 (estimated). SMU won’t get any until about 2036. ND only gets a share based on basketball.

Teams earned $4 million for an appearance in the new 12-team College Football Playoff with the chance to earn more by advancing through the playoff – $4 million for the second round, $6 million for the semifinals, $6 million for the title game. As the CFP money grows, so, too, will the distributions.The ACC is projected to receive more than $13 million per school when the new CFP contract begins with the 2026 season, up from $5 million currently. During a Feb. 6 NC State Board of Trustees committee meeting in Raleigh, Beverly Armwood – the department’s chief financial officer – outlined other dollar amounts behind the success initiative. As part of the presentation, she explained, football teams that reached a bowl game in 2024 would receive $1.8 million, teams that finished in the AP Top 25 would receive another $1.8 million. For each game played in the NCAA basketball tournament teams would receive approximately $350,000 (men) or $60,000 (women).

Is worth it. Had our 5 star ALL TIME recruit actually performed….. season would have been a success.