I think Brian White’s hiring is a meaningful signal that Virginia Tech recognizes the next era of college athletics will be won as much through fundraising, revenue creation, donor alignment, and strategic investment as through traditional administration. White does not arrive with the résumé of a longtime Power Four athletic director, so there is legitimate reason to question how quickly he can navigate the scale, politics, and expectations of the ACC. But he has a clear background in external revenue, development, ticketing, and brand-building, and he helped lead an FAU department that raised more than $26 million in philanthropic support in 2024–25 while its men’s basketball program reached the Final Four. For football, I expect White to view a successful, nationally relevant program as the department’s essential economic engine. His task will be to build the fundraising and roster-support infrastructure that gives Virginia Tech a realistic chance to compete in the ACC—while ensuring that football investment is disciplined and tied to a credible plan for sustained winning, not simply larger spending. For basketball, White has seen firsthand what an unexpected basketball breakthrough can do for a university’s visibility, donor energy, and national brand. My expectation is that he will treat football as the largest long-term priority, but see basketball as a high-leverage opportunity: a program that can become nationally relevant more quickly, create major moments for Hokie Nation, and attract its own dedicated donor base. The most encouraging version of this hire is not “football over basketball" (though that will be the case -- because every AD knows it must be football over basketball). It is an athletic director who understands that Virginia Tech needs a bigger overall revenue base, clearer priorities, and a strategy that allows football to become the engine while basketball grows strong enough to capitalize on its easier path to national relevance.

He comes from a basketball family. Whether that family informed his basketball hires (Dusty May came from his brother's staff) or he made the hires himself, he did a good job there and identified the next big thing in Dusty May. Its 100% writing on the wall for Mike Young and I hate that its going to end this way for him. But im less pessimistic about the future of the program than I was pre-hire. All of that is just speculation until the dollars actually show up, however. But it is good to know that since he didn't hire James Franklin, his hire he will be attached to will be the basketball one, making it more likely he puts resources there to get it right. I also like the fund-raising aspect of his background, so that could help bridge some gaps. Was expecting it to be a football dog-on-a-leash but came away cautiously optimistic for the future...just not the current state of things

other areas. I just hope that VT can start finding some strengths and playing to them, rather than letting each deficiency or weakness drown us - which seemed to be the case until the new BOV came along. They seem to have flipped script. Based on the article his top achievement was reeling in money for the naming rights. He was in a much larger metro area, so hopefully that won't matter. He hired Kiffin and May which are hard to beat. The other hires weren't as good, but FAU probably isn't the easiest place to hire. ** Edited by TDVick at 6/29/2026, 8:55:56 AM

Similar to Whit, he's got the chance to make the biggest impact on hoops early in his tenure, with the table already being set for football. His brother is a basketball coach. He was babysat by Jim Phillips, who ran his own basketball camps. He joked that he and his brothers all thought they were going to be NBA players one day. He very much cares about hoops. ** Edited by Chris Coleman at 6/25/2026, 10:08:44 AM

He obviously cant replace Franklin anytime in the next 3 years unless Franklin willingly leaves. Whit Babcock turned over football within his first 2 years. He turned over basketball a couple months after he was hired. White replaced basketball at FAU in year 1. He replaced football in year 2 (but in a similar situation where he inherited Lane Kiffin so he obviously wasnt going to fire him, so he made his mark on basketball). Thats just how it works. New AD comes in and someone from the revenue sports is on the chopping block, and it wont be the guy they just hired. So...

Is there no scenario where the new AD comes in, evaluates CMY with his own eyes, realizes there's a resource issue compared to the peer group we want to be in, and focuses on that? I get wanting to make your mark, but seems foolish to toss out a good coach just to make a change unless there's a legitimate concern.

Then they obviously would be immune to that sort of changeover. But some other things can impact those decisions even if youre doing the best you can given the resources...the biggest one being age. MY is close enough to retirement age that dumping money into the program even in a best case scenario will only yield short term results and then you have to make a new hire anyway. So is James Franklin in it for the long haul at VT? If not, do you want to be making football and basketball hires at the same time? Absolutely not. Miss on either one of them and it could tank your whole tenure. So if it doesnt make sense to ramp up funding for the basketball program just to make a new hire in a couple years, then the best path (for the AD, certainly not for the program or for MY) is to reduce funding for the basketball program, make it difficult to win, then have a conversation about retiring or stepping down when they inevitably have middling results. The previous admin saw this as the path forward and pulled out the resources they had promised so they could sell this strategy to prospective ADs. It could get real ugly if MY were to have a big year this season with reduced resources making it less popular to push him out. You'd have to give him a cushy landing spot and a long term role in administration just to convince him to move on. Then you'd have to push resources to basketball to hire a new coach and ramp up the efforts to ensure that hire worked. All while needing to feed James Franklin. The most likely outcome is MY outcoaches his resources but it does not lead to an NCAAT bid. He obviously would be doing enough to keep his job but they will work out a deal to pay him in an admin role and "retire" for a reasonable price.

road ahead of him. I fully believe MY could do a lot better with just an incremental push in resources but I also recognize he is closer to the end of his career than he is the middle. The last couple of seasons, he has just looked tired. Maybe getting a bump in NIL and some additional resources would put more spring in his step, but the story is more or less written for next season already.

I can see how MY wouldn't be seen as a guy to re-energize a program. I do think he's a heck of a coach and wish he would get 2-3 years of expanded resources and funding to make a solid run in March.

That's his guy. Loves coaching him. My guess is that he'd be content with retirement after that.

But I don’t see it as imminent. I think he serves through the end of his contract.

I don't think there is a lot of Mike Young support at VT, but I don't think there is a lot of momentum for getting rid from him in the near future either. I think basketball support within the VT powers-that-be was and will be clearly treading water for the near future. And I think Mike Young's results have played a decent sized role in that stance.

whether he will be able to get it for MBB remains to be seen- but I'm confident there isnt naivety.

I’m don’t expect any resources heading toward Basketball for awhile. So, the basketball zealots have to reserve their energy for years of complaining. That said, I ultimately think we end up in a good situation. It will just take 3-4 yrs. ** Edited by VT ChemE 1986 at 6/24/2026, 11:40:55 AM ** Edited by VT ChemE 1986 at 6/24/2026, 11:43:20 AM

the MBB fix he'd like to be. Neither could a new head coach.

The next person gets the schedule/pay/etc. to take the job that the first person would have stayed for if they had received the same fixes.

to resources, giving CMY an opportunity to make tournament before hanging it up. Couple that with some initiatives around facilities, providing a future to sell and the next hire can be a great one.