Whit's the Right Fit at Virginia Tech

Up until now, Whit has been an outsider with a view. His Virginia roots provided him an understanding of the history and tradition of Virginia Tech athletics, but not the minutia of day-to-day operations. By his own account, every employee has a blank slate, and he'll begin the job with no preconceived notions. He's going to put forth the effort to take the vitals of the entire department via one-on-one meetings without a timetable, but rather a sense of urgency. "We're not going to change just for the sake of change," Whit said.

That's a logical, methodical, and intelligent way for Whit, or any new CEO, to begin his or her tenure. He'd probably get more of a roar from the fan base if he came in and immediately shook some things up. However, his plan for due diligence is prudent. Competent bosses don't try to fix problems they don't understand. Furthermore, aside from Tech's recent skid, the athletics programs have flourished more than floundered under Jim Weaver. Whit may not have to drastically change the way Tech does business.

Whit was a batboy for his dad Brad's baseball teams at JMU, and played baseball there too. "I'm a product of the student-athlete experience." Whit has the insights of an athlete, coach's son, and administrator. Combine that with his age—43 years old—to get an athletic director that can relate to the perspectives of almost all the stakeholders at the table.

Throughout his press conference Whit made it clear Blacksburg is a destination and not a steppingstone for him. He said, "It's good to be back home again in Virginia". He later called the Director of Athletics position at Virginia Tech a "dream job".

He wants to engage donors and fans by creating memorable experiences and building relationships. He understands excellent customer service is crucial to an athletic department that relies so much on fan donations.

There has been plenty of negative fan experiences aside from the losses as of late: "Stick It In" being banned, interactions, or lack thereof, with the Hokie Club, and passing up a Thursday night game in Blacksburg to name a few. As Whit said, he can't control wins and losses, but he can show fans he wants them to get their dollar's worth with little things like #ALLMAROONEVERYTHING. A small gesture might go a long way when trying to coax money from folks.

As Whit said, "There's an old adage in our business that everybody's first gift is their smallest." He's interested in securing new donors while retaining current ones. Considering Associate Athletics Director for Football Operations John Ballein told David Teel that there are only 9,953 Hokie Club members and, "Our pro players, last year, made almost $48 million ... and we didn't receive any money from them," Whit will have an opportunity to open a lot of currently closed wallets.

While fundraising is important, he gets that Tech will never have the budget of Ohio State or Texas and will have to be financially sound. In his own words, "We've got to out-people people, we've got to hire very well, and we've got to be very financially sound with our resources."

He left Cincinnati in a much better place than he found it. Matt Opper of Down the Drive, a Cincinnati blog, wrote this after he learned Whit would be moving on.

His tenure spanned just two years, but he did more to progress the Bearcats athletic department than Mike Thomas did in 6 years. Thats not really hyperbole, its [SIC] an objective fact. He got the Nippert [Stadium renovation] project, that had been sitting on Thomas's desk for almost the duration of his tenure, to actually break ground. He locked down [men's basketball coach] Mick Cronin and sent shockwaves through college football by bringing Tommy Tuberville in.

He raised money, built things, retained a successful coach, and hired a big name one. (And say what you will about Tuberville, but that was a smart outside the box move. After Cincy lost Brian Kelly and Butch Jones in a six-year span, and it became clear Cincy was on the outside looking in of conference realignment, Whit needed to make splash. He could market Tuberville as going 13–0, and undefeated in the SEC to keep the fundraising momentum going, as well as win some football games.)

After watching his introductory presser, I was impressed by the soft spoken, but bright and personable young administrator. Given his Virginia heritage (fifth generation Virginian), student-athlete background, affinity for the job itself, detail to a budget, ability to raise funds, hire coaches, and focus on the fan experience I believe Whit's the right fit at Tech.

The only question of the afternoon that slipped him up, "What is a Hokie?" I didn't know that answer when I first stepped on campus either, but I learned quickly, and the answer is always, "I am." You're a Hokie now, Whit. Welcome to Virginia Tech.