Orange and Maroon Media, LLC is seeking hardworking and self-motivated people to contribute to the coverage of Virginia Tech football at thekeyplay.com. Ideal candidates would join our team ASAP.
These are not positions for full-time, salaried employees, but we will pay you competitively for your work as a freelancer. If you are a student looking for firsthand experience, we offer seasoning as well as credit hours — the latter provided you meet your department's prerequisites. In any event, writing for The Key Play is an opportunity to feature your work before a large audience and engaged community.
If you write well, self-edit like a boss, and are passionate and knowledgeable about Virginia Tech football, then we want to feature your work on our website.
If you bring social media, digital, visual or something unique that would stand out in front of a passionate audience of Hokies fanatics, then we want to share your work.
There is an opportunity here for anyone who thinks they can bring something cool, new, unique or interesting to our website or social channels.
Couch Columnist (Blogger)
No, you don't have to write exclusively from your couch, although you can if you want to. This is a freelance writing opportunity best suited for those who want to share well-substantiated thoughts and opinions on Virginia Tech football with a large audience. TKP will provide the platform and megaphone.
An Ideal Candidate:
- Has interesting opinions and unique perspectives on Virginia Tech football;
- Is an excellent writer;
- Is a self-editor (requires no outside editing) with excellent command of English;
- Doesn't bury the lede;
- Is self-managed;
- Can communicate intelligently about football, and has more than a rudimentary understanding of Virginia Tech's schemes, personnel and strategies;
- Can manage their time, work efficiently, independently, but also collaborate in an online environment; and
- Laughs.
To Apply: Email a resume, cover letter and writing samples to joe thekeyplay [DOT] com. The deadline to apply is July 17, 2026.
Football Reporter
Do you want to cover a game from Lane Stadium's press box, or ask James Franklin "How are you?" and write about it? TKP needs people to cover Virginia Tech football media opportunities and games in person throughout August camp, the 2026 football season and beyond. Football games occur (mostly) on Saturdays in the fall. TKP intends to cover all such events, so a flexible schedule is a must. These are examples of the quality of work we are looking for.
An Ideal Candidate:
- Is an excellent writer;
- Is a self-editor (requires no outside editing) with excellent command of English;
- Doesn't bury the lede;
- Has journalistic instincts and interview skills;
- Is self-managed;
- Has experience writing practice reports and gamers;
- Can accurately transcribe interviews and quotations;
- Can communicate intelligently about football, and has more than a rudimentary understanding of Virginia Tech's schemes, personnel and strategies;
- Can manage their time, work efficiently, independently, but also collaborate in an online environment; and
- Laughs.
To Apply: Email a resume, cover letter and writing samples to joe thekeyplay [DOT] com. The deadline to apply is July 17, 2026.
Recruiting Ninja
Is National Signing Day better than Christmas? Do you refresh the portal more than your group chat? Is "Invest to Win" more than a slogan to you? TKP needs one or more people to cover Virginia Tech recruiting.
Responsibilities include:
- Conduct and publish interviews with prospects and high school coaches;
- Publish a weekly recruiting roundup post;
- Write new commitment posts;
- Post updates from around the web in the recruiting forum;
- Manage an internal recruiting targets board;
- Stay up to date with all the twists of recruiting and provide updates on TKP; and
- Help manage @TKP_Recruiting to network with and interview prospects.
An Ideal Candidate:
- Is an excellent writer;
- Is a self-editor (requires no outside editing) with excellent command of English;
- Doesn't bury the lede;
- Has journalistic instincts and interview skills;
- Is self-managed;
- Can accurately transcribe interviews and quotations;
- Can use social media and online contact to interview recruits, their family members and coaches;
- Can communicate intelligently about football, and has more than a rudimentary understanding of Virginia Tech's schemes, personnel and strategies;
- Has outstanding people skills;
- Can manage their time, work efficiently, independently, but also collaborate in an online environment; and
- Laughs.
To Apply: Email a resume, cover letter and writing samples to joe thekeyplay [DOT] com. The deadline to apply is July 17, 2026.
Digital Media Guru
Can you turn a strip-sack into a GIF before the ball stops bouncing? Do you dream in graphics, hype videos and perfectly timed memes? TKP is looking for someone to lead our social, video and visual coverage, and make Hokies Twitter jealous it didn't post it first.
Responsibilities include:
- Create and publish graphics, video clips and GIFs across TKP's website and social channels;
- Provide real-time coverage of games, practices and breaking news;
- Grow and engage TKP's audience on Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook;
- Package writers' columns, film breakdowns and interviews into shareable visual content;
- Develop original series, memes and video concepts that fit the TKP voice; and
- Track what's landing and adjust from there.
An Ideal Candidate:
- Knows the platforms, trends and what actually works;
- Can design graphics, edit video and cut GIFs (Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects or similar);
- Can write short, sharp social copy that lands;
- Has an eye for design, timing and what makes content shareable;
- Is self-managed;
- Is passionate and knowledgeable about Virginia Tech football;
- Can manage their time, work efficiently, independently, but also collaborate in an online environment; and
- Laughs.
To Apply: Email a resume, cover letter and portfolio or work samples to joe thekeyplay [DOT] com. The deadline to apply is July 17, 2026.
Comments
This is going to be so fucking cool, I'm pumped for the JMMF era of TKP!
Well, I hope I can find one or more people to jump in. Maybe you're interested. 😃
FTFY.
I thought we all agreed to go with James "Mamma Mia" Franklin
Laughs... hehe 😜
How many current VT students are on TKP anymore? It's been 14 years since I officially joined as a college sophomore...
I'm assuming that's what the digital media guru is for, but I'd imagine the current number of active TKP VT students has to be less than 10, but I'm not even aware of one.
On a more positive note I'm glad to see you pushing for positive changes Joe, and I look forward to seeing what the future of this site looks like!
I joined as a college freshman fourteen years ago. There were dozens of us at that time, but I think the move to paywall only probably cut the number of VT students down by a lot.
You can be on here without being a paying member now though, right?
Nope, Joe changed that - free users can still view/comment on non-paywall articles.
I think Gen-z doesn't really do message boards though; they interface on other platforms (tiktok, twitter, insta, etc)
Which is why a social media guru would be great for TKP. It would also be cool if TKP could do a promo for students to get some younger folks hooked.
Yeah, the social media guru part being great to the future is what I was alluding to, but you stated it better. I'm with you on the promo side of things too. The youngins are going to need some guidance on what to do if we actually have a good football team again!
My daughter is interior design and well versed in digital graphic. Also, huge VT football and Bball fan.
I'm going to see if she is interested. She's far ahead of schedule and actually listed as a senior at the start of her junior year.
Nice, sounds like you did a lot of things right in the parenting part of your life from that statement alone!
My how this site has evolved over the years.
I think I was one of the first hundred or so to "join" way back, when it was only a few months old. Still enjoy the site, the style, the content, and the members!
Alas, the only thing there aren't 500 people on here more qualified than me to cover is the Iditarod. Don't think you'll want to pay for me to go to Alaska.
If you need a couch columnist for non-VT topics I'm your guy Joe.
I would love to be your digital media guy but my skills peaked with my Bud Foster McGuyver Mashup gif
I could do a column called "Old and In The Way" and and bitch about any and everything that's too newfangled for me, but people on TKP have already had enough of my long winded bullshit on the fishing threads, so really, there's not much left I can opine on except the olden days.
In other words, nevermind.
gimme a taste of the most recent newfangled thing
Well geeze Louise fernley, put me on the spot. Most recent is definitely paying the players out in the open. Why, back in my day... Back in the olden days, Clemson came to town on a gray, rainy and miserable football day and beat us, as was expected. I sat in an almost empty stadium on the 50 with a Tiger fan who moved down and sat nearby. He had a thermos of Irish coffee and shared it with me. One thing I remember about our conversation was that he thought the kids should get paid and I wasn't so sure. He then said "Well, Danny (Ford) isn't gonna let some stud football player walk around on campus without any money in his pocket for essentials and incidentals". I also heard rumors of even at VT, sometimes money could be found in a player's locker after a good game, but of course, those are just rumors, right? I think I like the old way better.
Then there are cell phones in the stadium and the attendant whining of fans for more and better wifi so they could play on their phones during the game instead of engaging fully in the game and those around you. And what's with those square squiggley things you're supposed to use instead of tickets? Yeah, I'm forced by life to own a cell, but other than phone calls and texts, it stays at home idly. Unless traveling, of course, when one is forced to have a cell since now there are almost no pay phones left in what used to be a civilized world.
And what's with the fascination with uniforms? I'll never understand that. Hokies should look like Hokies, dammitalltohell!!
So, as you can see, my days in the sun are past , nobody likes to listen to Grampa bitch, and I'm too lazy to do anything too productive anyway.
This is epic level "get off my lawn". Love it.
You could call the column, "OK Grampa". 😂
Well, I saw Frank play, his senior year was my rat year. Let me tell you about that bowl game and that fabulous grill in Memphis with the steaks from heaven, or maybe I'll just take a nap.
I was expecting something akin to the proverbial clock on the vcr and got gold nugget after gold nugget akin to grampa Simpson giving Bart a good talking to.
Hey, I was young once, as evidenced by my collection of 8 tracks! During my salad days, I could, after a bit of fumbling, set the clock on my vcr, and since we're confessing here, I can honestly say I have never seen an episode of the Simpsons, since I quit watching cartoons when I discovered popping bug fishing for bream and a buddy with a driver's license and car and similarly eaten up with fishing and of course, the Simpsons hadn't been invented yet.
Now...on to politics, right?
But hey, you can probably do things that many of 'The Young and the Helpless' crowd are not capable of doing, such as:
1. Change your oil and oil filter (now, in fairness and with full disclosure, I can't do that either)
2. Change your head lights and blinkers
3. Change your air filter
4. Change your wiper blades
5. Fix a corroded battery terminal
6. Build furniture from scratch with actual lumber and not an IKEA kit - I had to add this non-car one to make up for my inability to do #1
Of course, I'm being tongue-in-cheek here. But only somewhat. I'm truly flabbergasted how many people cannot do most or all of the above items on their own these days.
I've never been a mechanic, but cheap old cars and flat wallets do cause one to learn some basics. Changing points and plugs, rotors and sometimes new wires, changing the oil and filter, these were not upper mechanicism, and didn't always come easily, but it wasn't like rebuilding a carb or replacing water pumps, etc.
Never done anything Ikea, but never built anything more than a bridge for my creek and a shitty deer stand or two. Got my furniture the old fashioned way, it was given to us by family, usually. Furniture making demands skill, patience and a brain function I seem to lack, along with the motivation. We're at the giving the furniture away stage now ourselves but these days, folks seem to have money enough to buy new or really nice stuff from wherever and drive vehicles that cost more than our first couple of homes combined. Hell, with what most of you younger people spend on your phones in a year, we used to live well enough, for us, with long distance charges reigning us in and telephones that just worked at home. I can also give a lesson on party line etiquette, if that ever comes back in style.
How did we survive?
I can't do #6 but I have done all the first five.(the oil filter can be tough depending on the car model-some can't really be accessed readily without a lift or pit; the headlight similarly depends on style- I don't have the grip strength always to turn it and some cars require a lot more disassembly than others). I can and have changed a tire which is another skill commonly missing among many/most folks these days (but hate the 'donuts'-wish full size spares were still standard
Also I can read and use a folding paper map and /or atlas. It's not that I don't use apps like Waze but mostly for the alerts on traffic/police/construction zones. I can tell you a dozen different routes to get from point A to point B. Too many folks today are lost without a map app on their phone or in their car.
A lot of this stuff is cheaper, faster, and better for someone else to do it.
Even wiper blades - it's a 10 min drive to autozone, 5 min to walk through the aisle to find the blade for my car, 5 min to install, and 10 min to drive back. My mechanic will swap the blades at cost next time I take the car in for routine service. My wife and I both have careers. We have three kids between 2 and 5, and two dogs... we try to outsource everything that doesn't bring us enjoyment. Life is too complex right now to not. Most of my peers/social group are in a similar scenario.
Also, raw materials are expensive. When I was younger I built a bar, a kegerator, a coffee table, etc from scratch. The lumber for the bar and coffee table would be pushing 4 figures today. I can buy stuff that looks better from wayfair/ikea and it will be less money and less time.
Not to mention the fact that if you don't have garage/workshop in your home, you likely don't have a place to do a lot of this stuff.
As a 'younger' person that does most of these things. There are quite a few factors that play into this especially on mechanical work and you hit on a couple of them.
1 ) There's essentially no cost savings most shops do oil changes/wiper blades/etc at cost or even a loss when compared to what I have to pay for oil off the shelf. Retail mark up for 8qts of oil is significant.
2) Manufactures continue to make it more difficult to diagnose and fix issues without software, specialty tools, or a bench to get to a service part that's buried under 15 covers and seals.
3) The added complexity of these things generally makes their lifespan quite a bit shorter than years previously. They're checking boxes for emissions, mpg, manufacturing cost etc at the expense of part longevity and simplicity.
4) warranty requirements. Its far easier to provide service records if you're having a dealership/shop work on your stuff. Otherwise you've generally got a lot of hoops to jump through to make sure you've only used oem spec parts to make your claim.
The only thing that keeps me working on my own things these days is being hard headed and halfway enjoying the work. I too though find myself 'outsourcing' more and more things I can do myself. I still think its important for people to have a basic understanding of how any of the things they rely on work that goes for everything from cars to technology, to construction etc.
just did a 300hr service on my outboard last weekend in 109 heat index. Definitely contemplated life decisions while I was balancing on the transom seeing 3 different oil fill holes where there should have been one..
All great points. Between decreased costs and increased complexity, the upside of DIY has drastically fallen.
While there are some more complicated systems that are simply harder to work on, too much of this is by design.
Some of it isnt even by design to screw the consumer, it is just easier to assemble or fit in the car or other actual engineering reasons that basically have people saying we can make this work or we can have people work on their cars so they choose A).
I had a head light go out years ago. I had to replace the whole assembly not just the bulb because it was one piece and you couldn't get in there to swap bulbs. $160 fix vs $3 fix (at the time). It was 100% easier to replace the whole assembly took less than a minute to unscrew the 4 screws, put the new on one and screw it down (and plug it in). Now one of my cars is dont even want to attempt to replace the air filter based on where it is, its not worth yhe effort. And its probably in that sport because its where it fit, not just to screw over consumers. The complexity of cars have skyrocketed in the last 25 years and they need to fit everything in there and keep weight low so gas mileage is higher.
But some of it made so that a consumer cannot do the repair and you must go to a dealer for repair.
That's what the shop will say anyway. There is almost always a way to still do it. Might take some ingenuity but it is possible.
Dealership wouldn't even give me a price on a swapping out the ignition module in my old 2012 ram. Wanted to diagnose it first. Told me it was impossible to do without their fancy computer. Well, i found a 50 dollar app from a group of smarter people than I that had harnessed the native software that Fiat/Ram at this point were using. Fixed it in 15 mins in my driveway with a screwdriver and a bluetooth obd2 adapter to access with my phone. Car manufacturers make almost no money on new sales at this point, service is where their bread is buttered. You tell me what that will incentivize.
When i was very young i DIYed everything as a matter of necessity. Now, it is a matter of principle and I hope even if i were to find 400 million laying in the street that I wouldn't change that. Too each his own, but lets be honest society in general has gotten lazy. DIY has never been able to compete with economies of scale on price or efficiency.
I don't know about that. The world needs mechanics, plumbers, carpenters and electricians for sure, but the world also needs dreamers, thinkers and writers and musicians, folks with a different kind of brain and different talents. "Different strokes for different folks, and so on..."
oh man, plumbing, there is DIY i dont even try, I am happy to pay some one to deal with my shit.
The most important thing I learned as a maintenance tech while I was in college was the line between jobs I would do myself and the ones I should hire a professional for.
edit: and always take care of the kitchen staff, they will slip you food
The older I get the more I stay away from ladders too. Folding ladder sure, 3 stories up to clean gutters, nope.
I just spent thousands of dollars replacing perfectly good second story windows with hurricane windows so I don't have to climb up there and put up the storm shutters.
If you had to climb a ladder to prep a window for weather was it really perfectly good?
Fair point.
I have decent DIY in my blood, but respect this take 100%. I do a decent amount of electrical but will not touch water. A small leak due to a "rookie" mistake can cause serious damage and be rather costly, especially on the second floor.
For example, I will replace a sink faucet fixture, but will not change out a toilet. The small chance I seal it incorrectly by a smidge is enough for me not to do it.
I was a "plumber's helper" for a few years and have done a fair amount of different things plumbing-wise, but even changing a faucet can turn into a major deal. Water and electricity are remarkably similar in that they make sense to experienced and scare most of us away. I could change out a toilet, but I won't because I can afford a plumber, and I could change out an attic fan or replace a light fixture but again, between my aging body and my ability to afford a pro, I just ain't agonna do it. And working upside down crammed into a vanity space with replaced knees, bad back, screwed up shoulders isn't worth the bucks it takes to get them to change stuff out.
Preach my good sir, preach. Oh, the knees. That alone makes me want to throw in the towel.
I can't even do that. I tried to throw an old lime into the weeds and found that I could no longer throw overhand without looking like al little girl who isn't into sports. Don't get me wrong, plenty of women and girls can and could out throw me even in my sorta prime, but this was a major slap in the nads.
A few weeks ago, I had a dream that I was running across my yard. I haven't been able to run for at least 11-12 years, but I guess my brain is somehow hoping the new knees would be able to jog at least. We'll see.
LOL!!! Here's a leg for you and my vote for your column Old and In the Way!!!!
I think it would be a hit
Well thanks, Easy, but I'm thinking TKP is way too important for the likes of me to be doing anything other than run my mouth stream of consciousness blathering on topics that catch my attention. I was just joking about that column, and I'm sure when a few weeks have passed something else will definitely piss me off about the modern world, but there are folks here far more qualified to speak on almost anything I might go on about.
I used to rebuild engines and carbs and build hot rods out of 60's muscle cars.
I kept a Honda 650 running for 140,000 + plus miles with no dealer help. Sync up 4 carbs anybody?
The computers are sometimes not repairable and also not available without a dealer. I have swapped out ECMs with 3rd party ECMs. John Deere has just a lawsuit regarding self repair.
There was just a spate of lawsuits where manufacturers would void warranties if you did the work DIY.
Yeah i really got peeved at John Deere for them leading the charge on not letting owners repair their own tractors. I excluded any John Deere tractor from my recent tractor purchase search.
Remember the feedback BMW got when they went to charging a monthly subscription to make the heated seats in their cars available for use by the end user?
I forgot about that one.