There has been an uncharacteristic amount of movement in the revenue sports the past 12 months with continued turn-overs. If you were AD for a day, where do you focus your efforts? Here are a few of the areas that are probably on some list,
1) Aligning with Beamer on direction, investments, etc. and extending his contract another recruiting cycle
2) Restructuring the budget to upgrade revenue sports coaches comp packages (Men's bball, Bud, Lefty, Gray, etc.)
3) Upgrade at men's bball all around
4) Continue to expand facilities and capabilities for non-revenue sports
5) Fball scheduling
6) Fball facilities
7) Refresh on hokie respect campaign - or some other useless initiative
What is your top priority for VT?
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Comments
Getting the basketball program on the right track, without a doubt.
If JJ gets fired than finding his replacement will probably be number 1. Oh and bring Stick it In back please!
I would say 3) Upgrade at men's bball all around, and 2) Restructuring the budget to upgrade revenue sports coaches comp packages (Men's bball, Bud, Lefty, Gray, etc.)
I picked those two because I feel like basketball can be a huge $ maker if you have a good team. Not to mention we are in the best conference (ACC) if we can make the tourney every other year that would be huge for the whole school and athletic department. Also look at whats happening now, coaches salaries are becoming very very very competitive and its starting to shape College Football. If we want to become a powerhouse or at least contender we will need to step up the $/ incentive part to stay competitive.
#1 isn't a huge priority because as we all know it CFB won't be around forever, yeah it would be nice but don't see it happening.
1) Stick It In
2) Try to get 2 home Thursday games to make up for 2013
3) New Basketball Coach
4) Hokie Club reform
Someone should start up a petition to bring back "Stick It In" for the new AD. From all the responses I've heard, this was taken down because of the reactions of a few.
As is everything peoples feelings get hurt over in society. A few equals millions.
I'd say 2) Restructuring the budget to upgrade revenue sports coaches comp packages is the first priority and that also ties into a lot of the booster program. There isn't anything immediate to do regarding football scheduling in regards to opponents for right now as VT seems set for a couple years and the indoor practice field should be breaking ground in the spring. The only other thing that might be rather immediate is making sure the ACC gives VT a Thursday night home game this year, hopefully Miami.
My thinking is that football has to be healthy for everything else to run well. Basketball I think you need to give JJ another year to try to right the ship, I don't know how long his contract is but it can't be a long one for a coach with no previous HC experience.
I think putting new energy into the Hokie Club is step 1, because it has implications for everything else. We can't wave a magic wand and come up with more money for coaching salaries, recruiting budget, etc. We need booster support. The thread we had on this topic showed there are some major deficiencies in HC organization and outreach. Engage the boosters, and prioritize/bring back the things people want (Stick It In, All Maroon Everything at LEAST once per year guaranteed, Thursday night game).
I can't help but agree. It's a do for me I do for you thing.
When you boost the boosters e.g. Giving them things they want, amazingly enough we will reciprocate.
We as a team, fan base, and even an institution (when it comes to the first two), started really resting on their reputation.
We got lax in our offense and we paid for it.
We always were a vaunted place to play, and still are, but we have a lot of fans who go for fun or socializing and don't support the right things.
Our higher ups wanted us as a fan base to become something we weren't. We use to be rabid fans. Tough as nails, heart of gold. We started putting too much into the latter.
It'll come back. We have the leadership we want in place, and if they listen, they will be successful. It's as simple as that.
YES. Implement a solid fund raising program. Make the Hokie Club better with more incentives. Make an effort to reach out to alumni and the rest of VA. Get more corporate funding. Sure, Lane Stadium and Worsham Field is much better than Advance Autoparts Lane Stadium or CarMax Worsham Field, but I would much rather VT be in the position to attract and hire elite coaches when Beamer retires. (Or keep the good ones VT has.)
Yes.
Prioritize specific needs: facility upgrades, salary increases, scholarship funding, etc.
Restore relationships with alumni, non-alumni supporters, and corporations.
Then.....raise money like never before.
Oh where do you even begin?
This includes the reinstatement of Stick It In and the Goodbye Song. Get rid of the stupid cartoons in the stadium as well. No Hokie needs to be told how to act during gamedays. Let us police ourselves. We take pride in being good fans. Not having the Athletic Dept trust us is INCREDIBLY insulting as fans
As a person, I really do like Coach JJ. I think he's a great guy that COULD become a great coach oneday. But you do not cut your teeth on the coaching circuit in the ACC. Its unfair for everyone involved to ask him to fix the VT basketball program right now. Coach K, even after coaching at Army, took 3 years (with the first 2 seasons being .500 basketball or worse) to get Duke to be the Duke we know. And his hire came immediately after a season where Duke made the Elite 8 and 2 seasons after Duke lost in the NCAA Championship Game under Bill Foster. I don't think its unfair to say that Coach JJ will likely never be the coach that Coach K is, so why do people think he's going to have quicker success at a basketball program with very, very little historic success that is already playing at a putrid level in the best basketball conference in the country, that is only going to get more tough when Louisville comes in?
In order to spend money you have to make money, and the Hokie Club has all but failed at fundraising in recent years. I have never in my life seen a more passive fundraising body, and it goes all the way up to the top. We should have annual fundraising drives to bring in more money, and we should have far more incentives to give than to just get football tickets (which, should we ever get good enough again, will become increasingly more and more difficult for young alumni to obtain with the alumni base exponentially growing by the year). The only times you hear from the HC right now is if you have a local rep that wants to make sure you re-up for the year. No push to give a little bit more, no justification as to why you should give or where the money goes and why they might need more. Nope, just "hey, you're time is due, where's your money?" This needs to change... badly. There is SO much potential there, even in a bad economy, for us to make more money, and to not even see the Hokie Club TRY is just sad. This laziness is what cost us coaches like Pete Hughes and Bonnie Henrickson, and it will cost us more if things don't get better.
Lets put it this way, our alumni base is so ill-informed about athletic giving that many believe that when they give to the Alumni Association to their college every year that those funds also go towards the Athletic Department. Trust me, I heard the "I'm not giving any money until Stinespring is fired" multiple times a night when I used to work the phones back when I was in school. In fact, not a penny of those donations go towards the Athletic Department. The VTAD is run separately, funded by the Hokie Club and any revenue they bring in from their teams, but you would never know that because the Hokie Club doesn't even TRY to inform their base of just how important their giving is.
Welcome to the site man. Very poignant.
Thanks, man! Consider me one of the new TSL refugees.
By the way, love the avi... Gobble Gobble, Mo.... well, you know
Yeah, I'm also a fugee of the sideline.
Best way to explain TKP is to say this, one is on the sideline, the other is on the field.
You will enjoy this immensely.
SIIIIIIIX!! (MV's will know what I'm taking about)
Everyone wants six.
Comparing JJ to Coach K isn't very helpful. It was a different era and Coach K is one of the three greatest coaches, ever. The fact is, JJ has no comps because no one with his lack of resume has ever been hired in the 60+ years of the ACC. No one. To further put his stamp on the ACC, JJ is about to be the first coach ever to finish 15th in the ACC.
The only realistic comp to JJ is Ricky Stokes, who had never been a HC before and was hired cheap. He went 16-15 his first year, then followed that up with a 8-19 season, 2 conference wins. Then he went 10-18 and 12-17 before finally being let go. Just to prove his VT experience wasn't an outlier, he got two years at ECU where he won 14 games. Total.
The fact is that JJ will likely get another year because a new AD won't be on site until April or later. That's too late to fire a coach, as we've found out before. JJ will get another year. Good seats will likely still be available at Cassell.
Never said it was a good comparison, but the one I heard the most while frequenting TSL in recent years. Some people figure that since Coach K was relatively new when he was hired then JJ will be as well if we give him enough time.
Problem is, even our generations greatest coach needed 3 years at a Duke that had just lost in the natty title game before he could get a winning season. We pretty much need to see a better turnaround than that, so while I would like to think JJ could be the Beamer of basketball, we just don't have the time in this conference to keep wallowing like this. We need to see life, and see it soon, so we really need to go out and get a coach with tournament experience and get us playing to where we likely should be playing.
Comparing JJ to Coach K is like comparing Beamer to London. The sheer lack if context in the comparison makes it irrelevant.
I never really thought about how much Hokies Respect clashed with Stick It In until you pointed it out. However, I would be in favor of bringing back Stick It In AND keeping Hokies Respect. To me, sportsmanship is underrated and under appreciated. I encourage players (and fans) to be competitive but I want them to do it in an honorable way. I don't think saying "stick it in" when our offense is in the red zone is as offensive or disrespectful as singing "hey hey hey goodbye" so I would argue that it could still work in conjunction with Hokies Respect. I would much rather players play nasty hard nosed (but clean) football for the duration of a play...but when that whistle blows it actually warms my heart when opposing players help each other off the turf. It's a sign of respect and I'm a fan of that. I don't see any problem with reinforcing that.
+1,000 for suggesting the return of the Goodbye Song.... this used to be awesome.
1. Beamer transition plan
2. Fundraising overhaul
3. Giving a shit about basketball
4. Facilities assessment
Implode cassell
Keep Bud and Gray occupied
Beat osu twice
The second and third I agree, but why implode Cassell? Yeah its old, but they did do recent renovations on it. Not that your comment bothers me, just curious is all.
cassell has the capability of being really loud, the problem is its just never full
Ticket pricing and game times have a lot to do with it never being full.
I would say it's more the quality of our basketball program.
I would go to cheer this team if I wasn't paying through the nose for the privilege of watching us lose.
Implode is a little overboard, but, yes it is old, and has some stiff ACC competition. Dean Dome, Carrier Dome, PNC, etc. Although, Cameron is a shithole......debunked my argument.......ah hell keep it.
I hope Norwood Teague is the new AD. He is probably the best chance we have getting Shaka since you know he brought him to VCU and all. He does a fantastic job, I like him a lot. One of the best in the business IMO.
He's at Minney now, they've got $$$. Biggest enrollment in the country.
Increase revenues.
Everything else is a result of how successful you are at that.
15 things our new athletic director should do (in order of importance):
A lot of people are talking about the basketball program... Definitely important, but I'm not sure what an AD can do other than fire/hire coaches? The facilities are nice, we are still suffering from the shitty position JJ was put in. I say we wait until JJ gets a chance with players in his system. No need to end his contract early, lose more money and recruits, and spend more time rebuilding. Perhaps in the mean time add an assistant coach to fire up the players? I think it's important to be patient here. If the new AD can FUNDRAISE, we will be able to afford a big name coach if JJ doesn't pan out.
Note: I've edited/added things a million times.
Strong point #4.
And I know just the guy:
The rockidr4/@thecapncool guide to being an athletic director:
1. Go check on the XC team.
They work real hard, and probably have to beg the school for enough money to buy shoes.
2. Buy Donuts
I have been hired to come work in Blacksburg. Blacksburg has Carol Lee's. I'm going to eat Carol Lee's.
3. Eat donuts
C'mon, I have donuts.
4. Print one maroon effect and one orange effect shirt in every size for each seat in Lane Stadium.
We're gonna need some t-shirts
5. Print one "Stick it in stick it in stick it in" t-shirt in every size for each seat in Lane Stadium.
We really gonna need some t-shirts.
6. Sell advertising on white out shirts, one in every bluedie bloo in blahdy blah.
I'm not kidding, t-shirts.
7. You get maroon pants. You get maroon pants. EVERYBODY GET'S MAROON PANTS!!!
Now you can have all of the joys of watching VT play in #AllMaroonEverything while wearing #AllMaroonEverything
8. Only buy one set of helmets for the entire year.
Citation to my next door neighbor for this one. It's going to be orange for the base plasic, wait shut up, don't hate me yet, I'm not done. The paint will be maroon.
"Fucking what is he doing"
Think about the helmet gashes. Our boys fighting the good fight down there in the trenches will have the most magnificent helmet gashes in the history of little plastic hats.
9. Nike Pro Combat Jerseys
Gonna talk to NIKE about getting some sweet jerseys. They can have the nike logo extra big so that we can lower the cost a bit.
10. Present all of these really fun and cool things that I've done.
We need money.
11. Put up great stands around the track
We have an Olympic class track. Let's give people some more places to look at people doing stuff on the Olympic class track.
12. Get some really cool and exciting meets to happen on the track
If Boston University can get Galen Rupp on their track setting an American Record, Virginia Tech can draw in some really cool stuff. We can bring our atmosphere. We can cheer for people. We can get amped about people running really fast. I believe in us.
13. Declare pie the official dessert of the university
Mmmm. Pie.
14. Go back on my word and bring VT into the modern #TeamCookie era
#LunchPailDessert
#8...colored helmet gashes...awesome.
I had to wonder where you were going with the whole orange helmet thing, but dang...this is a fabulous idea! Oh and pie....the official desert of VT!
Try all the delicacies of VT food...then get to work on making some $
What's the deal with the "Stick It In" chant? Is it just a running joke, or do people really care that much about it? I mean, it's better than the Hokie Pokie... but I don't get why every other poster is seemingly butthurt about them removing the chant. And yeah, I get the sexual metaphor.
The Stick it In chant is/was awesome. It's a piece of our identity that was force-ably taken from us. We want it back.
I didn't think it was that awesome of a chant, but I guess I'm in the minority. Something like this would be better, and the Old Hokie chant is the closest we've got to it
*imagining us with the ball in the redzone, about to score*
Hokie, Hokie, Hokie, Hi
Tech, Tech, VPI
Solarex, Solarah
Polytech Virginia
Rae, Ri, VPI
Team, Team, Team
Nope. Doesn't work for me.
I care that much about it.
I care about it because I watched it die sadly. It was just something fun to encourage the team. What I hated was that Weaver nixed it after "complaints" (i.e. one old fogey thought it was disagreeable, so of course there must be a massive problem among the fanbase). Then it slowly died during my final years at VT, to the point that if anyone started doing it in a small group, that group got weird looks from others rather than joining in to the epic sound of 66,000 people doing it.
One of the best things about it is that it was OURS. Every school has a "Lets go! ______!" cheer (or "O-H! I-O!" <- same cadence and everything). Stick it in was ours and it was fun, and they killed it. It's perfect, as it's recognizable, loud, but not really damaging to offensive communication.
My freshman year was 2005, and Lane was always so loud. They banned in 2008, and I've just felt like that's coincided with a general quieting, an increase in paper-airplanes, and just a softening overall of Lane. It's probably a coincidence, but I imagine adding Stick It In! would help fight the trend a little.
The procession of nooners hasn't helped, either.
Stick it In was awesome, and it really does need to come back. But so does the Goodbye Song. Nothing was more ballsy and badass than Lane Stadium back in the day when, after the game was clearly over, the Marching Virginians would start playing the Goodbye Song with about 5 mins to go and have it slowly build and build and build til it was loud and proud right at the end.
We need a resurgence to reintroduce a bit of the 'in your face' that Lane used to have. Not to the violent end of being in your face, but the stadium needs its bite back. We need our edge back. Hokies Respect grabbed us by the balls and made us whimper. We need that to change, badly.
I agree wholeheartedly with this. I always thought the Hokies Respect thing was idiotic. It's a stadium on a college, with a ton of college aged kids, what do you expect? Holding hands and sing-a-longs? This isn't uva.
You want a nice, pleasant event where you can have good, clean family fun and relax? Go see a play. This is football.
I'm picturing the opponent's defense trying to stop one of our guys from pushing the ball into the endzone, and 66K+ fans plus the 11 on the field loudly and forcefully rooting against them. That was intimidation, and it went hand-in-hand with when we could out-physical our opponents.
Plus, the go-go beat (though I hate go-go music) was very characteristic of the home area of much of our student base. State pride and such.
I can kind of see the appeal now. I hadn't thought about it that way.
I know a lot of people on the site aren't huge TSL fans, but I came across this - an open letter to the search committee by Will Stewart and I think it is an excellent write-up on what the search committee should be looking for and what most of as fans of Virginia Tech feel we deserve in an AD. Just to be clear it's free content.
http://virginiatech.sportswar.com/free-content/2014/01/21/an-open-letter...