Virginia Tech has been through disciplinary problems before with their
football team, and at various times in the past, the football coaches and VT
administration have puffed out their chests and promised to crack down on poor
behavior. There has been talk before about protecting the image of the
university and the integrity of the football program; steps are sometimes taken,
but bad behavior and bad publicity have always cropped up again. This time the
rhetoric has a different focus, and I find myself wondering: Is this time
different? Or are we just hearing an old, tired song?
I'm not here to give a litany of past transgressions by Tech's football team
and the disciplinary responses to them, but a few major events in recent history
stand out and give perspective to the current discussion.