There was a lot of debate on Twitter after our loss in the baseball Super Regionals to Oklahoma. People distressed that we, once again, didn't win a team National Championship. One poor guy was all distressed that our rivals continue to beat us over the head with this fact. I tried to make the argument that after years of wondering through the desert as nomads of college sports, that we really didn't have any conference continuity from 1953 (when we got left out of the ACC when Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, Virginia and Wake Forest left the SoCon to form the ACC or you could argue in 1965 Tech withdrew from the SoCon. From HokieSports.com: July, 1965-May, 1978 - Tech competed as an independent in virtually every varsity sport. May 3, 1978 - Tech ends its 13-year status as a major independent by accepting a bid to join the Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference (a.k.a. the Metro) for all sports except football. The Hokies join Cincinnati, Florida State, Louisville, Memphis State, St. Louis and Tulane in the Metro, which was founded in 1975. Feb. 5, 1991 - After 26 years as a football independent, Tech officially accepts a bid to join the newly-created BIG EAST Football Conference. Tech joined Miami, Syracuse, Boston College, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Temple and Rutgers as charter members of the conference. July, 1991 - The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) adds wrestling as a conference sport. Virginia Tech joins the league in wrestling only. Tech joined American, George Mason, James Madison, Liberty, Old18678 Dominion, and William & Mary January, 1995 - Five Metro members - UNC Charlotte, Tulane, Louisville, Southern Miss and South Florida - voted Tech and Virginia Commonwealth out of the league. At the time, those schools were planning a merger with other Midwestern schools (hence, the birth of Conference USA) and the Hokies and Rams were not interested in such a merger. As a result, those five league members decided to vote them out of the league. Feb. 3, 1995 - Tech, VCU and the Metro agree to a $2.27 million settlement which the Hokies and Rams split. A portion of conference revenue was going to be withheld from the two schools, but this settlement put an end to the issue. Two weeks later, 1995 - Tech joins the Atlantic 10 Conference for all sports except football, which is in the BIG EAST, and wrestling, which is in the Colonial. July, 1998 - After seven seasons in the CAA, Virginia Tech's wrestling team joins the Eastern Wrestling League (EWL). Other members of the EWL are: Bloomsburg, Clarion, Cleveland State, Edinboro, Lock Haven, Pittsburgh and West Virginia. Aug. 24, 1999 - Tech and the BIG EAST announce that the Hokies will join the conference for all sports beginning in 2001-02. (But ask @Chris Coleman how well this went) June 27, 2003 - Virginia Tech President Charles Steger announces that the Hokies have officially accepted the ACC's invitation to join the conference. July 1, 2004 - Virginia Tech and Miami officially join the ACC. So from 1965 to 2000 Virginia Tech had no full sports affiliation, but even in those few years as full members of the Big East it was somewhat inequitable. Tech played Syracuse 4 times from the 2000-2001 season to the 2003-2004 season and played ALL 4 AWAY! And the Big East waited almost 5 years to admit Tech after if admitted Rutgers & WVU in 1994. And as @Will Stewart wrote in his 2004 Series Conference Wars "In 1994, Rutgers and WVU paid $500,000 each and got to participate in revenue-sharing immediately, but the Hokies weren’t so fortunate. Virginia Tech would pay $2.5 million in entry fees over ten years and wouldn’t get to share TV revenue for the first five years of conference membership, a loss of about $1.3 million in conference revenue-sharing per year." So I'll stand by my contention that there was no real big time conference continuity from 1953 until 2004 when Tech joined the ACC as full & EQUAL members. The first ten years of our membership in the ACC was under the stewardship of AD Jim Weaver. While Weaver had his strong points - I also believe that the hiring of Whit Babcock has taken our program to another level. So yes. Some of our biggest rivals have way more National Championships as compared to our none. But I would contend that our conference history has made it exceedingly difficult for us to be in the position to win National Championships in team sports due to the lack of continuity of the athletic program as a whole. 20 of UVa's 37 National titles are in Tennis & Lacrosse (one is in boxing which doesn't exist anymore). Virginia Tech doesn't even have a Men's Lacrosse program or even a Rowing program that UVa has won several more titles in. And without a continuity in a program it's hard to give the money & get the hires/recruits to win at that level. In fact Tech's ONLY National Championship appearance was on NCAA sports largest stage, football in 1999-2000. I'm not diminishing UVa's accomplishments in any way. I'd love to have any of those titles in Blacksburg. But my thought is how realistic has that wish been when you consider our program's history. One a positive note, I think if you consider fan excitement as an indicator of a teams success then Tech's athletic program is definitely heading in the right direction. In a year that saw us fire a football coach for the first time since 1986, our once football only school found me following basketball with a passion, then wrestling & softball & track/field & baseball. I know that having these sports at your fingertips adds to that as I can log into the ACCN or ESPN+ & watch things that weren't available just a few years back. But even with events available like never before, there has to be a reason to watch. I was thinking back a few years ago before VT Basketball's climb to relevance & @Will Stewart getting frustrated at me (on a Twitter message I think, but maybe on here) about fans (like me at the time) not following Tech Basketball. He was right of course, although I was probably 100% absorbed with Tech football at the time. But then again, Men's basketball wasn't interesting either. Success breeds interest I guess. With an improbable run by Tech's basketball & baseball teams this season, an ACC Tournament Title (maybe the crown jewel of ACC Conference achievements) & post season runs by softball & baseball. As well as runs by our wrestling team in the NCAAs.... it's been a VERY entertaining year. And I think 18 years of ACC full (and equal) membership is starting to pay off! Please read (or reread) Will's article from 2004 (link below) for a more in depth look at Virginia Tech's crooked road conference history. And may I suggest this topic & revisiting this article could make an excellent podcast for the Summer or even a series!