Two thumbs up on bringing back the Fighting Gobbler as an alternate helmet.
VTCCA99
This. I will buy literally any merchandise with the old school fighting gobbler on it. I don’t have any tattoos, but that is the one thing I’ve seriously considered getting permanently added to my exterior.
ChazB
Any colour or context of extending a putrid Nike Deal for 24 months?
Andy Bitter
No leverage. Nobody’s really cashing in on apparel deals these days. The market and competition has cooled, especially with Under Armor pulling back.
The hope is that things change in a couple of years.
HokiePail
The program was on the decline from the very early 2000's. The offense was failing, they weren't winning some of the big bowl games, even ones they should have and recruiting started going down especially on the offensive side. Nothing was done when Weaver was around in order to refocus the program. The decline has been in place for 20 years imo. Hopefully Whit and Pry can bring it back.
vtrob
What is the status of improvement to the tennis facilities . Still on the drawing board?We need to improve the building to get players to come.
Hokie_Insider
TENNIS?!?!
grg
All of the comments have merit. Regarding Fuente, the things I read and heard on boards like this suggested he was just not all that involved in the outreach role - donors, recruits, prior players, alumni, HS coaches, media. And staff always takes their cues from the boss. Not a recipe for success in what is ultimately a people business, meaning the athletes you attract and retain are a threshold issue for success on the field. Sure, you can "coach up" some, but the Vicks and Edmunds and Tyrods and Flowers and Jones and Wilsons and Williams are difference makers, and many of the keys to VT's remarkable run were high quality athletes when they first arrived in BB.
Regarding Beamer and Foster, they built a fabulously successful program over a ten year span but it seemed the game evolved and they didn't. Other (ACC) programs caught up in training, coaching, staff and the desire to put resources into football success. VT still attracted good athletes - although a lot left early for the NFL - but coaching seemed unable to maximize results the last couple years of their tenure. I loved Foster and VT's hard nosed defense, but they were beaten over and over by scrambling QBs and far too often seemed unable to find an answer. In VT's heydey, they won most of the one-on-one battles - particularly when the chips were down. It seemed a Hokie always came up with the critical big play. The last several years it was frequently the "other guy" who rose to the occasion. (Hey, they have scholarship athletes, too.)
Pry seems to fully understand the criticality of relationships and outreach. I think he is doing an outstanding job and will be successful at VT. I like Whit's comment that he learns from experience. That's an essential attribute of all high quality performers.
Just an untutored opinion from a long time observer and fan.
McHokie78
Uniforms. Stick with our tradition colors please. The black and gray uniforms are not our school colors.
MYNAMEISHOKIE
Fun fact, black and gray actually WERE our school colors for about 5 years at the tail end of the 1800s, so using black or gray would technically be throwback to 1891!
That said, those uniforms are generally just one-off alternates, they're not our base uniform. I have no problem with a one or two neat alternates each year (as long as they actually look decent).
Hokiealways
We all know over the past 5 years, Virginia Tech has grown big time with student enrollment. I can't understand why we would spent $75 million dollars to revamp the looks Cassell Coliseum, and not spend these hard earned dollars on expanding the seating capacity. It makes no sense to me not to expand the seating. The way the new plans look now, we are reducing seating capacity. Just my 2 cents. GO HOKIES!!!
VTMedic513
We struggle to fill what we have. Many men’s games are 60-80% capacity until the big acc games against Duke, uva, etc. expanding capacity may only give you empty seats.
Hokiealways
Your vision is very limited for the future. We fill the Cassell for most all ACC games, and that's what it is all about. I attend every game. Go Hokies!!!
Jackie VT
With less people attending games these days, you don’t need to expand seating. We need to look at creating a better experience for those who do enjoy coming to the games.
Mercury
Individual seating does not get you the return on investment. An addition would cost 100-200 million for 10k seats . Then to get return on investment those seats per game for individual would be over 200 dollars per seat. If anything . See lane reduced seating a little to transform into club seating ouside where premium rents can be generated.
Also vt is not going to use up its debt capacity on athletics. They got many 8-9 figure projects they are building to include innovation 2 in alexandria ; new dorm complex next to old golf course replacement to randolph etc
From ad perspectiive world wise 65-70k is the sweet spot. Where if u get sell outs . More demsnd for limited tickets : increase in giving to get on a list
BlackwaterHokie
Obligatory:
Shoulder stripes SUCK.
extremehokie
Yep. Nothing more to say.
Al Czervik
Really good read Andy, both articles. Thanks you for what you bring to TSL. You're close to rivaling Monday Thoughts as my favorite content.
LMK
I would like to know what Whitt thanks of status of ACC and it falling way behind in dollars to SEC and big Ten
vtsquirm
Great job Andy!
Hokie67
The interview with WB just reinforces how great TSL is - and it's entire staff. And thanks to WB for being so open. Both of these are very, very unusual in today's college sports.
extremehokie
Sorry but I have a hard time believing all his rhetoric regarding the football program's importance, when he's let the program fall into oblivion. I know he/we have done quite a bit in the past few years, but I only hope it's not too late. What took him so long? The only good thing Fuente did was raise Whit's awareness from his flirting with Baylor. I like Pry a lot. We all know last years coaching was a veritable disaster, but let him pull out a couple surprise seasons, and it will be hard to keep him...unless Whit puts his money where his mouth is and continues to pamper the cash cow of VT athletics.
vtgriff09
I would say the good things Fuente did were to increase facilities, increase the budget, get to an ACC title gm after yrs of .500, and then work to maintain our football program as credible and somewhat respectable by qualifying for a bowl annually (despite the massive lack in funding, facilities abd resources). Keeping the ship at the .500 he inherited was a minor miracle..especially after you see the operation that we had last yr (and that was with way more money, facilties and resources). Makes me wonder how we would have done w these conditions w/ Fuente.
SCHokie1103
Absolutely couldn’t have said it better myself. This blame everything on Fuentes crap gets real old. The program was on its way down long before Fuente was hired. I love coach Frank Beamer but to me he stayed a few years too long and he wasn’t exactly getting what he needed to maintain what success he built. Thank you vtgriff09
atlhokie1
Maybe, but Fuente won with Franks old players and when they worked out of the system things went downhill.
Fuente was a good coach but not a great program CEO.
HokieGator
You could argue that if we wanted to save the football program from its decline, he should have forced out/fired Beamer/Foster.
His last several years were the definition of mediocrity.
He would have gotten trashed for doing it, but there's no question that we were a program struggling to get to 6 wins each year.
That said, I don't disagree with him lettting Beamer finish on his terms. Nor do I disagree with the hiring of Fuente. ... And I like the Pry hire. If there is one thing I think he should have done differently is force Fuente's hand in staff changes.
joepugh2
Totally agree with you on all points, particularly on forcing Fuente to change the offensive coordinator. My other issue with Fuente was the culture, he recruited fairly well, but his player retention was terrible and comments from former offensive players put his leadership of the program in a bad light.
JohnsonCItyHokie
Beamer was/is an institution at VT, and responsible for a lot of its growth as a university. Beamer had friends in all the right places - administration, donors, state government. If Whit had tried to fire him before he did, Whit would have been the one looking for a job. Politically it would never have been feasible. Thankfully Beamer is a unselfish person and willing to step down without a fight.
HokiePail
The program was on the decline from the very early 2000's. The offense was failing, they weren't winning some of the big bowl games, even ones they should have and recruiting started going down especially on the offensive side. Nothing was done when Weaver was around in order to refocus the program. The decline has been in place for 20 years imo. Hopefully Whit and Pry can bring it back.
DonQuiHokie
Thanks, Andy. Great work. I always enjoy hearing from Whit. He doesn’t lay all his cards on the table but seems to give the most honest answer he can within the constraints placed on him. I love that he fully recognizes that football is the tail that wags the dog, and that he believes Pry is the right guy for the job. Now, we just need to see some proof that he is right. Go Hokies!
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