http://www.hokiesports.com/pr/recaps/20150430aaa.html
Really impressed with this hire. NFL experience, large tier 1 university experience. Whit really gets it and I'm excited for the future.
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Whit making it happen (again). I wonder if he is a distant relative of the Fullers?
Based off his background vs. what we currently have here, Whit has a big vision for his department. At Oklahoma he had a team of 20 people and here he will have 9. I expect some rapid expansion in the athletic communication arena now that he's on board. Great hire!
The hires that VT has announced recently (Dr. Sands, Whit, Buzz, Charles Phlegar etc.) have been very, very impressive.
The post-Steger/Weaver era has had a very impressive beginning.
The final candidates for the SVP, Provost and the VP, Research & Innovation are quite very impressive too. Tech is on fire.
+1000... those are some REALLY impressive candidates.
Its a near total changing of the guard- Weaver, McNamee (Provost), Betsy Flannagan (Development), Larry Hincker (Univ Relations), Walters (Vp for research) plus more.
This is not a bad thing
VT really badly needed to get out of the mindset that we were some small school in the backwoods of Virginia and it looks like Sands and Babcock came in with the full intention of eradicating any of that thinking going forward.
We're positioning ourselves towards being a regional power and potential leader in both academics and athletics. This is not a bad thing.
He rang the bell at New York stock exchange today. Getting the name out there.
This to me also points out another reason to A) join the Hokie Club B) up your donation. Hires like this cost money, increasing the staff costs money.
This won't be a popular opinion, as is often the case with me. But I will go back to Platinum Hokie when they put a better product on the field. As of now they will get my $100 Hokie Club minimum.
I will then re-up my season tickets when they start bringing in better OOC opponents and get different pricing for different games. I shouldn't have to pay the same amount of money for Furman and Ohio State.
Until then I will buy tickets from people at the gate 5 minutes before kickoff. It's a hell of alot cheaper, than buying season tickets.
How will buying season tickets matter for differential game pricing? Also you want to see things get better great, that's going to cost money.
You can still base season tickets as a per game basis. But the point is the consumer shouldn't have to spend the same amount of money on Furman and Ohio State. We should not play Furman at all to that point. Do a better job of scheduling. And before anyone says we can't get out of these scheduling agreements, it is done all the time. Ask Wisconsin.
As for your putting a better product on the field costs money argument. Well they shouldn't have become complacent in the first place. They shouldn't have been happy with only winning 10 games a year. They should have been pushing the envelope and trying to make this a better program.
I definitely think Whit is on the right track though. And he will get my money sooner rather than later. But I'm not going back to platinum hokie status till I see something a little better on the field. I have given them money for hokie club and season tickets since '96. I think I've bought a little time off till I see the product I want to see on the field.
I'm guessing we will be agreeing to disagree.
Ok in a real world schedule what teams should VT play at home in a 5 year period? Basically 2 every year? I mean is OSU, PSU, MICH, NE not good enough?
All you have to do is look regionally its not hard. We always get blasted for having a cupcake schedule no more FCS schools. So regionally we could play, MTSU, WKU, Cincinnati, UK, Toledo, Maryland, Navy, ODU. I could keep going if you want with FBS schools. If we do take the next step I don't want to be held out of the playoff because we played Furman and didn't beat them by enough.
I actually think the opposite is true. I've had a lot of people who aren't Hokies tell me they respect how Tech schedules OOC.
Oh are they one of the talking heads at the 4 letter network? As much as it is deserved or not we are blasted yearly by Mark May (who hates VT) and other pundits as having a weak schedule.
Let's not give them anything to talk about. I know we have Ohio State OOS this year but Furman is nothing great and Purdue was crap last year. Actuall Furman may could have beaten Purdue's team last year. However in the big scheme of things Purdue looks better because they are FCS. So if you changed out Furman with one of the other teams I mentioned our schedule would be great. If we could get this and a better product on the field they can have my money. Until then I will take a extra vacation in the summer.
The criticism VT receives for a weak schedule might be more of a product of the ACC and not playing Florida State, Louisville and Clemson consistently.
Unfortunately this is out of our control. We can only play In-conference who we are scheduled to play. However we got 4 games per year that we have control of we need to make the most of those.
I'm with you. The complacency we saw is infuriating and the OOC scheduling is shit. Always has been. My #sources tell me this was a Weaver philosophy that was supported by Beamer. They didn't want to play anybody that could beat them because it never paid off in the BCS era that was essentially a 13 game playoff, unless you ended up with multiple undefeated teams. Then that weak OOC might bite you depending on if SOS was taken into effect.
I'd be interested to see our OOC schedule in the BCS era and how many ranked teams we played per year. I'd venture to guess not many.
Our OOS has been very tough over the last 10+ yrs....
LSU twice
USC
Alabama twice
Boise State
Ohio State
Texas A&M twice (first team outside of the conference to beat them in yrs at home)
and out of these we've had 3 current or that year's Nat'l Champions
going forward we have Michigan, Wisconsin, WVU
We also had scheduled Kansas State who bailed and Wisconsin was on our schedule and re-scheduled when coach quite.
we have some cupcakes but so do all teams...
Nebraska twice...
Our OOC schedule has been good, we've not been afraid of scheduling a tough opponent. It will be good for years, too, given who is on the docket. I just wish it wasn't so Big Ten heavy. We've had to do this, to an extent, because the ACC hasn't been a bunch of world beaters in recent years, so a better OOC helps balance out the popular perception that we don't have much of an in-conference schedule. But that year when we play Notre Dame should be good for in-conference.
Wisconsin took full advantage of the fact that the BCS valued 0 losses more than quality competition. They never scheduled anyone.
Apparently, Paterno did this same thing. He loaded up on cupcakes much of the time and shut out regional competition (Pitt, specifically) so they wouldn't get beat by anyone competing for local recruits. Poor approach, in my opinion. At least we did schedule a number of good OOC opponents, some of which won the MNC the year we played them (LSU, USC, Alabama) and took on Boise, which not a lot of teams wanted to do.
You mean the VT AD can't force teams to play a game! This is BS I demand we play every Power 5 team within 3 states in the next 5 years, I also blame the AD for not getting those teams even when they say no, just show up at their stadium what are they going to do?
There is something to be said for what Paterno did (scheduling-wise... everything else, lets just avoid)... It prevented the rest of the state, and especially Pitt, from ever getting up enough steam to legitimately challenge them in the big picture.
Sometimes, I wish we would take more of an approach like this, and stop throwing bones around to teams like ECU, JMU, ODU, etc, where we have little to nothing to gain from playing them, and everything to lose.
I'm pretty sure PSU played Temple for awhile in the mid 2000's
Wait is Temple a FCS team?
Nope
No Sarcasm font sorry.
Joe, when are we getting sarcasm font?
/er..not sarcastica
PSU has played plenty of FCS teams. Including Coastal Carolina, Eastern Illinois, Youngstown St and Indiana State.
Once again its fine we can agree to disagree, this will be my last comment on this. There are a couple reasoning's to my thoughts.
1. If we are looking to take this program to the next level let's set a precedence not stay with the status quo. Most of the apologists like yourself are ok with where the program is I for one and my group of donors are not. It was ok while we were winning 10 games a year I could let the apologists and Frank Beamer be. If you are ok with our W-L record the last couple year then so be it. If you are happy with mediocrity, then mediocrity is what you will produce.
2014: Overall 7 - 6, 3 - 5 Conference, and 7th place in the ACC
2013: Overall 8 - 5, 5 - 3 Conference
2012: Overall 7 - 6, 4 - 4 Conference
If this is what you want to defend that's fine, I don't want to be the fat kid on the t-ball team getting a trophy for showing up. It must be where I have an insatiable desire to win.
2. If our two main coaches are not going to be doing in-home visits to players then why not play teams AWAY that recruits will actually come to see us play. It would be great for us to play against teams that we may be recruiting against. Like a E. Carolina (I know we already play them, better to play them than another FCS), ODU, Marshall, Maryland, Kentucky. We will never be going to Furman they are going to make 50k getting their ass handed to them and they won't help the recruiting aspect. The best thing that comes out of that weekend are our uniforms. But just think if we were playing ODU here or there in those lids and spanked them. That would give the recruits in the 757 another chance to see us in action and see we have some pretty nice uniforms.
3. This has been blown way out of proportion because I said I wasn't giving money to
Whit. Of course I am still giving money to them just around 5k less than two years ago. More or less the point of the original comment I made was, I would like if at all possible to start taking FCS opponents off of the docket, we have no control of who we play in the ACC from year to year. However we have some control of who we play OOC every year. So that way if our Conference schedule isn't the greatest one year we could have some nice OOC teams lined up. Much ado about nothing if you ask me but I am guessing I have had more time to get tired of the same old, same old than most of you here.
Don't be a jerk. Plain and simple. Have your opinion, present your opinion, but condescending others for their opinions and referring to them as "apologists" has no place here.
You wouldn't let go of this point over 2 months ago and here you are still harping on something that is such a silly point with evidence that is presented from one side of the parties involved from one instance. Move on. We're beyond signing day, spring ball, and on our way to the football season.
Trying to throw around how much you donate all nonchalant makes you look like a tool. You want your voice to be heard, but we aren't the ones to voice it to. Instead of lowering your donation, increase your donation so your voice is louder. Maybe then the coach might just visit you in your home, but as far as your concerned, he never does that. Until then, your long-winded rants over the same topic is falling on deaf ears over here.
Here comes the circle jerk of the high leg folks. This is why I stay to other boards. This board used to be great now it is used to stroke others with high leg counts.
Yes it has been let go of here, but on other boards with more people on it, it is still a viable topic. Just sit there and be happy we are 7 - 6. There is no reason for me to give more money till the dynamic is changed. The Athletic department knows that, they have called quite a few of us to ask why we lowered our donation amount. They went as far as saying they hear that alot, when I voiced my concerns.
So I think what I am saying is justified, I cannot wait till we get a offensive minded coach that has Bud as his defensive coordinator. I will give all the money they want at that point. Then the apologist and the circle jerkers will know what it is like to move this program forward from 1999.
Oh great opinions on football from a band geek, do you want to talk about your clarinet?
Yeah, you should just go ahead and stay on the 'other boards'.
And that has absolutely nothing to do with your leg count.
Grow up.
So you're a trumpet player?
You want to move the program forward by not scheduling FCS schools. I challenge you to find one power 5 program that doesn't have an FCS opponent on their schedule in 2015
Reread the conversation bro. That is the status quo why stick with it? We don't have to do the same thing everyone else is doing.
Replied to the wrong comment.
ND/USC as of now and soon the BIG TEN are the only ones I can think of.
Not because I want to contribute to either side of this conversation, but because I got bored and curious:
Oklahoma (Akron, Tennessee, Tulsa)
Texas (Notre Dame, Rice, Cal)
And I only got through the ACC and BIG 12 teams.
Being in the Big12, Texas and OU only have to schedule 3 OOC games, due to the round-robin conference schedule. If you looked only at the top 3 OOC games for teams in other conference, you would almost totally eliminate games against FCS schools. It is that 4th OOC game that usually ends up being filled by an FCS school. Some teams will schedule two FCS schools but get rightfully mocked for doing so.
So, if you don't like the comments section here, why bother? The debate started reasonably enough and I think your stance is worth discussing. You're welcome to do whatever you want with your money, and it sounds like you've done the most productive thing possible - tell VT Athletics what you thinkWhat you're not welcome to do is belittle other people who disagree and to call people names. That's not welcome here. This sub-thread has devolved past the point of being interesting or useful. We're going to get full-on Bender here pretty soon, so let's just end it here, shall we?
Dude I'm fine back to reddit
and 247. Where you can have conversations without jacking beamer off.
Also was he a trumpet player or not. Inquiring minds want to know.
Generally, the folks who use words like "apologists" when discussing the program's performance are people who have absolutely no clue how to improve the program's performance. You expose yourself and your lack of experience associated with a team sport at a serious level of competition when you utter that nonsense.
So, to educate you, I will start with why you schedule at least one "soft" out of conference opponent a season. College football's expanded schedule and scholarship limitations tax even the best conditioned athletes, especially when their bodies have not fully matured. In the not-so-distant past, teams played 10 game schedules. Now we see 13/14 game schedules. That takes a toll. Nobody, NOBODY can play at peak level for 14 weeks, especially not with the added strains of classwork that takes away from rehabilitation time afforded professionals.
Second, lower level out of conference and FCS opponents give a coaching staff an opportunity to give game experience to depth players that will be counted on in the future and may have to be counted on later in the season if the injury bug creeps up. Full speed experience is the only way players get better, yet for the reasons I listed in the previous paragraph you can't go full speed in practice to simulate that experience because you grind up your team. You have to be savvy with how you develop depth without beating your team up to get them ready. One cupcake a year is good business, and EVERY national contender follows that model with either an FCS or FBS weak sister incorporates it. As for Mark May's opinion, hey Matt Millen sits behind a desk and talks too. Do you really want either one running our program? There you go.
Now for the humbling part.You can have an opinion that in order for you to increase your donation that you want to see improved performance from the program. It is your money, do what you want. But, those improvements cannot happen without an increase in resource capital, so if you really are a fan, you have backed yourself into one heck of a chicken and the egg dilema with that stance.
I have had an opportunity to meet many folks on this board. The diverseness of life experience, knowledge, chosen passions and hobbies, is only matched by the collective communities love for Virginia Tech and their athletic program. These are nice people, and have made me feel welcome even though I am not a Hokie. I am just a fan who has been given the privilege of sharing the knowledge that I have in an effort to drive intelligence discussion and reflection of the program. Comments like "apologists, circle jerkers, etc." and then insulting members of the community because they made a choice to do something they loved that perhaps isn't something you enjoyed is the exact reason why I spend a significant amount of time trying to raise the level of the conversation. It is not and should not be tolerated here. If you have a problem with that, don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.
Now let me educate you.
1. I played baseball at ETSU
2. I think Whit is on his way to a great program and he has a idea that he is trying to execute unfortunately we have to sit through Beamer and his cronies.
3. You can get lower level competition vs. FBS team. If you want to look at the map above you can do a 2 for 1 with almost any of those. Most of those would love to say that we are coming to their town to play.
4. I think you are great analyst I really do its really the only reason I come here is to read your stuff, I just think its hilarious how you guys think this program hasn't been sitting in neutral since 1999, and the game has slowly passed us by.
5. The chicken and the egg comment is right on, however my problem with it is Weaver should have used the donors money a little better to begin with and some of us wouldn't feel slighted. Herickson, Pete Hughes, and the cheap hires of Loeffler and Johnson.
It won't take much to get us on the right track after Beamer leaves. We will get a good Offensive Minded Head Coach and Bud will stay almost like a co-head coach.
Also you have met me I have a quite a few Emory and Henry friends that I have been with and have introduced me to you. Me and you sat and talked football for a while one day, and you agreed with alot of what I am saying, it may be how it is coming off on the Internet. You are highly regarded with them as far as I can tell, but don't get on here and preach at me if I wanted to go to church and hear bull shit I would go there on Sunday. I will try to get Bro's to introduce us again if I am with him when we see you again.
So I don't need to preach. Here are the Community Guidelines. Circle Jerk Apologists and mocking someone for their extracurricular activities are out of bounds. http://www.thekeyplay.com/community-guidelines
To address each point:
1) You may have played, that doesn't mean you learned what it takes to build a program.
2) As someone who lived through VT being completely irrelevant in Southwest Virginia, I appreciate what Coach Beamer built in Blacksburg. I also said repeatedly all fall that if Whit Babcock, a seasoned professional with an excellent track record, makes the determination that a change is needed, then so be it. I trust him to make the decision, and I believe if he felt that the foundation for success was not strong, he would have removed Beamer when he was hired after a short review. That he didn't makes me confident that the program will continue to improve. I also did a lengthy review demonstrating the overall poor performance of recruiting classes that align with this down period, and that included poor performance by recruits who chose other schools besides VT. Besides Stephone Anthony, I don't think anyone can point to a big time recruit where the Hokies had a decent chance to land the kid and didn't where that kid has gone on to be a star somewhere else. I can name guys like Curtis Grant and Travis Hughes who ended up underachieving. Virginia as a high school pipeline dropped off during that window. We have seen out of state recruiting improve significantly after the staff turnover post-2012 and anyone who watched that spring game should be able to tell you that the offensive talent is far and away superior to 2012, especially at the skill positions.
3. I stated my reasons for either 1 off FBS or FCS games. I went through it. You have to save bodies and give game experience to young players. You don't want a rivalry feel. I am sure Furman isn't an ideal fit because of SoS, however the Hokies have scheduled home and homes with ODU, and if they give a game to JMU, W&M etc, that is revenue going to help another in-state program.
4. The offensive and defensive styles and philosophies have changed wildly since 1999. I don't understand that comment at all. To be perfectly honest, I wish they would return to the 1999 philosophy of vertical passing and power running. I thought it fit the available offensive talent in the state. But, the kids don't buy into that approach any more. Now, the Hokies have two true freshmen and a 6'7 tight end all coming off 50, 40, and 40 catch seasons. In 1999 only three VT WR's had more than 10 catches. On defense, the changes have come full circle to where Bud is reverting back to some of those old defensive concepts to attack spreads. He is ahead of most DCs when it comes to ideas (especially compared to the big 10.)
5. Like I said, that is your choice. You are the customer. But, if enough people share that attitude, the program can't afford to get better. At the NOVA Hokie Club event on Tuesday, Whit indicated that the Hokies are 60th in revenue generation of the DI Football schools. With what recruits are looking for these days, that won't cut the mustard. Just saying.
There were about 20 of us that went from platinum to golden or lower. That's just what I know of. Give me something on the field to be proud of and I'll give them money again.
I think you are using philosophy wrong our philosophy hasn't changed we are still vanilla and very conservative. Our scheme has changed alot but philosophy has not.
The game of college football at least the good teams are alot of high risk high rewards plays with minimizing the risk. It's fine if you think we are there but I assure you we aren't.
1. You're talking out of your butt a bit as on average TKP serves as many pageviews as any other Tech website. The community here is as, or more, active than any other Tech website.
2. Thank you for demeaning something we work very hard on making great.
I wasn't sure which comment you were responding to, but then I remembered that handy little arrow that brings you up to the parent comment. It was so convenient not having to manually scroll through all the bs. Thanks, Joe!
Your understanding of college football is incredibally juvenile and out of touch with reality. That is why its unpopular.
Have you seen the rest of his comments?
Just an incredibly juvenile and immature person all around
Lulz. Immature or douchy that could be up for discussion. Let's see some of the things I have posted about:
1. Shitty Recruiting practices
2. Shitty coaching
3.Shitty play (offsides) which goes back to coaching
4.Fuck yea let's stay in 1999 the Golden year of Hokie football.
5. Wake Forest
6. Removing my Tech donations till a better product is put on the field and a new coach is hired that cares about moving this program forward.
I may be missing something off the top of my head but you know its shit that can be talked about on other boards. If you strip the things I say down to the bare minimum I have points as to why our program is where it is at. Whether you guys want to see them or not is up to you guys.
Sam Elliott from Justified wouldn't say that, in other news did you see him without his mustache?
Penn St. still plays Temple every year so they don't entirely shut out the entire state
Edit: Didn't refresh to see your comment
You mean like UVA is? They are fixing to go 0-4 or 1-3 with @UCLA, ND, Boise and W&M.
There is such a thing as TOO strong an OOC slate too if it legitimately hampers your team's ability to win or build momentum.
I don't think I mentioned any of those teams. I said regional fbs teams. If you think Oregon, UCLA, and Boise are regional you need a map. You're welcome.
Im not implying anything. Im saying that there is a line that VT needs to be very conscious of not crossing.
This year proved anyway that a Conference Championship game is FAR AND AWAY more important then who you play in OOC for getting into the playoff.
I would love VT to have UVA's schedule this year. Well, this year, we have OSU, so it would be tough to give that up.
But I strongly disagree with your point that there is too strong of an OOC schedule. I want to be entertained, ECU and FCS games suck for that. I would rather us go 0-4 against OSU, Bama, Oregon and aTm than go 4-0 against ECU, Ferrum, Cincy and Bowling Green.
No college AD or coach is EVERY going to be willing to play those 4 teams as OOC.
Of course not, I was making a point.
There is no such thing as too difficult of a schedule. There is such thing as "this schedule sucks and I'm not going to the games." Happens a lot.
I would go to the Ferrum game this year if they created kids tickets for like $5 each. I want to take my kids to a game, but I'm not paying $50/ticket for kids who don't know anything about football. If you are going to play these stupid ass games, make it an event. Get families involved.
It's Furman but that is the point I guess. But I am starting to like you alot.
Put your kids in the kids Hokie club and they get a ticket to the ferrum game, 25 dollars. http://www.hokiesports.com/hokiekidsclub/
20 dollars too expensive.
Jesus Christ are you serious!
Hokie Kids' Club t-shirt and membership card
One (1) complimentary ticket per member to the football game vs. Furman (September 12, 2015)*
* Must register by Monday, August 31 to be eligible for complimentary football ticket. Instruction will be sent to parents on how to claim their child's ticket and how to purchase additional tickets to be seated with your child. Location of tickets is to be determined.
Complimentary admission into select Men's Basketball games (games TBD)
Complimentary admission into all Women's Basketball games
Early access into Football Fan Day (Date & Time TBD)
Birthday card from the HokieBird
Exclusive Hokie Kids' Club only events
Exclusive prizes throughout the year
Opportunities to meet Tech athletes & more!
25 dollars is too much for this? Why don't you go back to Peking in handicap spots and tripping up kids rollerblading down the street. Those seem to be more up your alley of entertainment.
And then at the end of the year where we can tack on 1-3 more losses, along with however we finish in conference and we end up in Shreveport, or Birmingham vs the #3 Team from the AAC, or the #6 from the SEC or B1G will you be entertained and buy up those tickets too?
By going straight P5 OOC we force ourselves to got AT LEAST 3-1, and lose no more then 1 conference game, or go undefeated in conference to even sniff a New Years 6 Bowl.
If you play 4 "Bowl Games" as your OOC, who cares about a game in Shreveport?
The budget, fans from outside travel distance to Blacksburg, recruits the list is long.
Three in years where they play ND. There are also many many other factors that go into scheduling a team. Does that team want to play a home and home or a neutral site game? Will that team only do games at their house? Scheduling conflicts etc. you act like VT is the first and only team to play FCS a games.
Yup that is what I'm implying. They are the only ones who play fcs games. Once again someone assuming instead of accepting what is being said. Like I said we can agree to disagree. They need to fix the scheduling and fix the product on the field until then I will be keeping my 5k in my pocket.
It would be easy to schedule 2 for 1's with most of the lower teams in the region .
Playing FCS schools is a no win situation if you win you could be held out of a upper tier bowl or playoff or if you lose that is all you are remembered for that year.
Maybe we should see if East Carolina is interested in a home-and-home.
No, wait, not that thing I said.
Stop killing me and my machine, I have to eat once in a while without spewing food/drink on my laptop.
ECU = Just say "NO!"
If we could just get WVU back on the schedule, oh wait... I was only kidding.
I'll see myself out now.
I don't think a football program should make decisions based on what Mark May thinks
If this is what you got from the previous post I can't help you. They may mean nothing to you but it doesn't mean they don't have a influence.
Every other team in the ACC schedules a Furman. This is not specific to VT
And it's not all because of football either.
There are political realities with budgeting and other state legislative issues with every school. And there are also politics in the more general sense of the word outside of the state issues.
Not saying that playing FCS schools is based all or even in part on that, but I'm saying sports is a branch of the University, and goodwill can be exchanged in multiple ways, and fans don't always know the plan.
That doesn't mean we should do it.
The NCAA made a huge mistake by allowing these games to count for bowl eligibility. I'm fine with playing FCS teams....as a scrimmage as a 13th game in late August. All proceeds go to charity, first come first serve seating.
Yay someone who gets it, have a leg. I don't know how I feel about Oregon, Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia. But let's say for the sake of arguing we switched out Furman for WKU that would be great. Directional schools should take the place of our FCS opponents.
They are actually doing differential pricing this year. Ohio State is $90, Furman $40, ACC games $55.
This is great I could get a ticket to Ohio State from one of my friends for $120 and still not have to pay for Furman and still make it out better than everyone else that paid for full season tickets.
I wonder if they are planning on doing the thing that they did in basketball where you were able to choose 4 different games to go to. I would totally do that if I could.
What do you honestly expect? Furman be free? There is a model for scheduling that include power five, mid-range, and fcs as is allowed. I've been impressed with reaching out to the BIG to schedule Ohio State, Michigan, even Purdue. Many conferences do not schedule OOC like that. Look at the SEC when they play fcs schools, what is their ticket model?
I go to games to watch Virginia Tech. I don't go to see BYU or Oregon
I agree with you, you simply can not expect to go to a game for free, and this year we have the defending national champs in lane. One thing I have come to realize is that not everyone will be pleased with how things are done. So by taking the amount of a donation to the hokieclub and simply cutting in half or even more people expect we are going to be great, then that is poor thinking IMO. You can't expect to not give money and see the program rise in the future. Guys Beamer has probably at most two years left. The man did have throat cancer! When it comes time to hire a new coach, Whit is going to need money to land a big name! So there's my thinking, rant over!
Oh that's no problem as soon as Frank leaves I will more than make up for it. I will probably be a diamond Hokie for a year. My thing is what has Frank and Weaver done with my money for the last 19 years? We were obviously understaffed and not paying the coaches who needed to be payed to stay here. Looking at you Pete Hughes and Bonnie Henrickson. There is plenty of left over money from the Weaver Era I'm not worried about that.
How about join the Big East winning it twice and playing for a National Championship. In the BCS era how many teams have played for a NC? Joined the ACC won it four times. Played in multiple BCS games. Increased the size of numerous sports venues. Increased the visibility of the sports programs, added sports programs. I mean the list for the last 19 years is ENDLESS!!!
So they used my money correctly for 3 years? Whit is running this thing correctly Beamer and Weaver did not I kept giving them money while they were winning I gave them a benefit of a doubt. If you're ok with where we have been the last 3 years that's fine I'm not.
How bout you let me spend my money the way I want. I'll start giving my money to Whit to hire the next head coach that wants to recruit and move the program forward.
I clearly remember the days when we were a football independent in the 70's/80's, on the outside looking in. Weaver and Beamer have done more for VT athletics since they both started at VT then any other combo I can think of in the NCAA. We were a regional afterthought, about at the level that Marshall is these days. Now we roll with the likes of OSU, Bama and FSU. Never sell Weaver and Beamer short, their life's work is VT athletics, and we are relevant nationally because of the foundation they have laid. Go Hokies!
That's not what we're talking about we're talking about in the last 19 years. You can say Weaver got us in the ACC and that's it. In the last 19. At my job if I did one good thing in 19 years I would have been fired. People making apologies for Beamer and Weaver are why we are where we are at. Keep being happy at 7 and 6
Whit's making great hires, we just saw one of the most impressive offensive springs in recent memory, and we're putting the finishing touches on the indoor practice facility. So yeah, I think the program's doing alright. You just seem like the kind of person who won't be happy no matter what (seriously, you're basing giving money to Whit on decisions Weaver made?). So do whatever you want with your money, I'm just glad I don't have to sit near you on gameday.
I was wondering when you would show up. Can't have a Beamer discussion without you whether you know what you're talking about or not.
Believe me the feelings mutual between me and you. I'm not the only platinum tier that lowered their donation because of feeling the same way.
If they want our money give us a reason to be excited about the program. Like I said I'll give money when Beamers gone.
"Can't have a Beamer discussion without you whether you know what you're talking about our not."
Lovely to see you as well.
Do you make a lot of money? If so, you should tell us. Maybe you could indicate that you have the ability to donate a lot of money to VT sports. Then everyone would agree with your concepts because you are the most successful person we have ever conversed with.
Nah I just used to own my own IT business that I sold for a good bit of money. Now I get to play in the Internet all day.
For some reason I'm reminded of don.domingue here.
What? No I never said that I wanted them to be free I would rather be able to a la carte my season tickets. I would leave Furman out as I'm sure alot of others would. If you want me to buy season tickets then give me teams I want to see us beat.
I wasn't calling you out, just more of a blanket statement I guess. And I do agree with you about $40 still being to high for furman. I think $20 a ticket for that game would be reasonable IMO.
Agreed but really people will be giving them away at the gate 5 minutes before the game.
What world do you live in? Name a single big time program that lets you al la carte your season tickets? That's why they are called SEASON tickets. Season tickets were what $350 this year? So thats $58 a game. More than fair. even if you add in the minimum hokie club donation at $100 that's $75 a game which is on par for what other big time schools charge. Every school has that one directional Michigan or middle Tennessee state on their schedule
OK let's run through these one by one...
"I'll donate more when I see a better product on the field"
OK great, spend your money the way you like. Just makes you come across as a bandwagon contributor.
"I will re-up my season tickets when they start bringing in better OOC opponents (A) and get different pricing for different games. I shouldn't have to pay the same amount of money for Furman and Ohio State (B)."
A) So Ohio State is chopped liver? Consensus #1, defending national champion? Our OOC schedule is hugely improved, some years are better than others, and I would still like to see a BCS-conference OOC opponent at home with more regularlity. But look at the future home schedules over the next five years: To me only '16 and '19 stand out as needing improvement, and '16 isn't all that bad.
'16 is OK with rivals UM, UVA, GT at home.
'17 we have Clemson.
'18 we have Notre Date + our rivals,
'19 is meh WF is our x-div.
'20 we have PSU and our rivals,
'21 we have Michigan *and* Notre Dame.
And that's just the home shedule. Over that 5 year time period we also play 6 quality OOC games away from Lane: Notre Dame x2, WVUx2, UTenn, Michigan. Plus a road game @FSU. So 10 quality OOC teams over 5 years, plus 2 marquee ACC matchups.
The main problem with our schedule is the ACC portion, where we don't regularly get to play the "good" teams in the other Division.
B) I don't know where you've been the past few months, but season tickets are differentially priced this season (2015). OSU is $90, Furman $40, ACC opponents $55 each = $350. That is also a discount off of single-game pricing by $45 ($20 OSU, $5 each for the other games).
1. I never said anything about Ohio State.
2. It's been 2 years since I've had season tickets in football.
I have a theory that you aren't actually interested in purchasing season tickets and your criteria are merely red herrings that you spew as excuses to obscure that condition. This theory is based on the fact that your criteria appear to have been met for the 2015 season (excellent OOC home schedule, differential ticket pricing) and yet you did not purchase season tickets. Probably because you didn't check. Because you aren't actually interested.
Or because we will be 8 - 5 this year with one of those wins coming to Furman the other to UVA. The other criteria for season tickets and platinum status is Beamer being gone. It's ok I can give you the cliff notes if you don't feel like reading. I don't support him nor will I, but I will be picking up basketball season tickets this year. As Buzz really impressed me.
The other part of the equation is the product on the field. The defense will n always be awesome because of Bud. However does anyone remember what the offense did vs. Wake Forest?
How do you know that we will be 8-5 by year's end, oh great Swami?
Because Frank Beamer teams always lose one or two they should win you must be new to being a hokie supporter.
I thought you said you were going back to reddit?
Because EVERYONE knows reddit is where people go to have well thought out conversations.
r/cfb is a great place/community. You guys probably wouldn't like it though they are realistic and keep each other in check.
You forgot to put -sarcasm- after your post
They say those who can't play coach
Apparently those who can't coach sit 30 rows back, shirtless, shouting obscenities.
Thanks to you, our team is armed with game winning tips like "catch the ball", and "throw it."
"You stink." "That sucks." "What a bunch of losers."
Not just cat calls, but subtle psychological ploys to prod your team to victory.
So here's to you, oh sultan of shouting.
Because while there may be no I in team, thanks to you there's always an F and a U.
Multi tasking seeing if I can get all my legs gone. Have you ever been to r/spacedicks? It's a good place.
We get it
I like to use my study breaks to read about the Hokies and be entertained by the great community.
You're wasting your time, and more importantly, my time so please stop being a dick a just leave if you're set on this mentality
N/M saw you were from WVA carry on.
This might be the greatest GIF I have ever seen. Literal LOL on that one.
Well I, for one, am helping you as much as I can with your leg problem. Yes, I would be quite happy to win 10 games a year on a regular basis again. I've been a Hokie since '67 when VMI was our big rival, so I've been around long enough to appreciate Coach Frank Beamer and all that he has accomplished. There are a whole lot of better fans than yourself who would love to be financially able to seriously support VT's athletic efforts, so your refusal just stinks to high heaven of selfish asshattery, but like all have said, it's your money. While it would be a bit like cutting off my nose to spite my face, I would suggest you take your money and stick it where your comments are coming from...I'm thinking we're better off without your stinkin' filthy lucre...just not worth the load of entitled crap you slather it with. I am sure ETSU would love your support. IMHO, of course!
Lol you mad bro? I already give money to ETSU.
Yeah, I'm chafed. Sorry about the money thing, that's your business. Just really got tired of you when you started on the trumpet player. More music, less you is the way I see it.
I about went the eff off after he made the clarinet comment. That's when I also started downvoting everything he said even if I agreed with it.
I must admit, I didn't agree with much he was saying, but I really dislike a bully, and that's what he was being. I feel like I could have shown more self restraint with an obvious troll, but as a bandsman myself, I just wanted to respond to what I perceived as his bigotry along with the general jerkiness his posts were showing toward the TKP community in general. Down votes just weren't enough, in the end, for me, but others handled him much better.
Yeah, I just didn't want to sink to his level. I kind of thought he might have been really trolling after that clarinet remark he posted that gif of a roided out football player from some movie or show I've never seen. Therefore I didn't want to feed into it. But I'm with you on the bully/troll thing. We don't do that around here which is why we like it here. When you get down to it, I kind of agree with him and I even defended him once about OOC scheduling, and on top of that, I don't even think clarinets should march! But I'll defend them against assholes like that guy.
I think the clip was from Revenge of the Nerds.
The gif was Booger from Revenge of the Nerds. I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. Some classic comedy there. I had no problem with the basis of his opinion, but how it was presented was like he was looking for a fight and then anything contrary to his line of thinking was insulted.
Try again bro. I've been a VT supporter all my life, and am a current VT student. I don't see why we shouldn't win 10 games this season. The only 2 games I see us losing, realistically, are OSU and Miami. Tell us why our team will lose a game they shouldn't lose with the quality of our team instead of blaming Beamer for everything.
I don't know sort of like how we lost to Ga Tech, E Carolina, Boston College, Wake, and Pittsburgh. Then looking like a JV team vs Miami. Yeah 8 - 5 sounds about right.
If you're attempting to be a troll, you're being a bad one. You aren't backing up your arguments with any factual evidence that we will be 1 win better in 2015 than 2014. I can see 8-5 as well, yes, but if our offense would have been more consistent throughout the whole years, some of the close losses could have been wins. You failed to mention that 5 of our 6 losses were about a touchdown difference or less. Please, go to reddit and take your logic there.
Uh oh someone is catching on. Once again must be a new hokie but yes I am trolling. Anyway you could go back multiple years where we lost games we should have won.
And once again, I am not a new Hokie. We have lost games that we should have won, but what implications does that have on the future? Absolutely none. Sheesh, you're like a broken record. Now please, GTFO!
I don't have any comments to add about the heated part of this discussion, but I am curious... Would you up your donation if Whit hired Bud as HC when Beamer is gone?
Bud's not going to be the head coach from what I've been told. He says all the right things cause he has to right now but he's not interested in it despite what he tells media. He wants someone else to be the figurehead.
But to answer your question yeah I would he wants to move the program forward. He would hire a great OC to go with him and Torrian's defense.
Wrong.
#sources
I posted this in another thread. Gotta remember to check the damn tracker. Big news though.
His midwestern hospitality will be a good fit in the Hokie family. Welcome!
Please tell me "Moris Code" will be a thing, what ever that thing may be.
Did you mean dork magic? It seems like it's been a while since we've been fully dipped.
This is a Awesome hire! Its great having someone with prior NFL experience and the fact that he's coming form the University Of Oklahoma show that he knows how to deal with a big time program.
Moris sounds like a great hire. He's got big shoes to fill coming in after Dave Smith, but looks to be the right guy to get the job done. Now I just have to teach myself to not type Morris every time.
Holy right margined thread, Batman. Clearly I have not been around here enough lately
I swear hammer time is getting closer and closer...
I can't believe it hasn't been dropped yet. I'm going to keep checking back to see. Joe must have important work things going on today.
Take your pick:
At the rate the dude acquires down-votes, Joe shouldn't need to drop the banhammer.
It's been extremely busy on the golf course these last couple of days.
Well this was fun thread haha. I need to magnifying glass to read some of the comments since they are hugging the right side the screen to much.
I like when they turn into vertical rows of letters.
Joe, this is the specific thread that makes me want to thank you for introducing collapsible comments.
Coincidentally, the feature is called 'Dim Comment Family'. At first I thought it meant you could dim an entirely family of comments, but I now realize that it means 'this is a family of dim comments'.
Ok really Horse? This has been a very serious discussion. Y'know what?
So I opened this thread with 140 unread comments and this is all I saw:
HokieBengal has been community banned since he dropped under -50 turkey legs.
I don't understand why he was compelled to devolve the discussion he started. He made valid points, but sandwiched them between horsecrap and personal attacks. I hope Tech eventually drops I-AA teams from their schedule too, but am not shortsighted enough to see revamping a non-conference schedule isn't an overnight solution.
It's fair enough to voice a dissenting opinion as long as it respects the community guidelines. HokieBengal's reasons for maintaining a low level of provided perspective that a minority of us on TKP have. I've personally given more than I ever have (still not a whole heck of a lot) since Whit's been in charge, but understand why longtime investors in the program are weary of buying back in until change happens either on the field or sideline.
Unfortunately for HokieBengal, he went over the edge with his personal attacks.
A reminder: don't downvote because you disagree with someone's opinion. TKP is more often than not a glass half full community, and I've noticed instances of downvotes when someone's shared a pessimistic or unsatisfied view of the program even though it's complied with the community guidelines.
What seems so out of whack to me is that he started making perfectly rational statememts, i.e., that he would increase his donation when the product on the field improves. Okay, fair enough. I bet there are a lot of people who feel that way. It's an understandable and defensible position.
But I also think he had an ulterior motive by the way he came into the discussion itching for a fight, saying he knew his opinion would be unpopular. And honestly, his original opinion wasn't even that controversial. But as soon as the discourse started, he blew a gasket and just started trashing everyone and everything.
Originally I down voted just his comments where he was directly insulting people, then I collapsed the threads of his tangent, bit I eventually got to the point where I was like, nah, fuck this guy and down voted every comment he made just to get him closer to community ban. It's the only time I've done that since joining here, but I feel it was warranted and would do it again in a heartbeat. All he wanted to do was tear down all the work you've put into this place and all the people who elevate the conversation here, while trying to play the cocky badass who has better things to do but for some reason just doesn't go and do those other things. Again, fuck this guy.
It was almost like he was trying to get banned to prove a point on some other board about this one. In that regard, I'm glad it was a community ban instead of you dropping the hammer, Joe.
His allegations of groupthink are off the mark. I've been around enough parlays among Egbert, Alum07 and fernleyhokie to know there are dissenting opinions galore here, and I've voiced a number of them myself. But the thing that makes this place different is that you demand a higher level of conversation. The disagreements here are based on facts and data and the opinions derived from them, and message board fodder that props up most other boards is kicked to the curb here. Keep it relevant and civil or GTFO.
Again, it was never what he originally said. That's a discussion worth having, but it was never the discussion he actually intended to have, and I eventually down voted even those comments just to nudge him closer to autoban. By that point, he'd pretty much revealed his intent.
Anyway, thanks again for all you do, Joe. This place feels like home, and it feels that way even though people here have strongly differing opinions sometimes. That's because you put in the work to do this the right way, and it shows.
/endrant
I disagree with everything you just said ... or I agree...sorry, confused, which direction is the circle jerk going this week?
I was off TKP for the weekend and only got to read through this late last night. I have sads I couldn't join the fun.
His basic point is a good one. However I know some Platinum level members and I would say it is not universally shared amongst them. HokieBengal is the type of fan that never looks in the mirror. Is it a bigger circle jerk for a group of disparate fans to post anonymously on a blog and give each other fake turkey legs; Or, is a group of wealthy donors with disposable incomes who call themselves fans witholding money to force an action they want a bigger cirlce jerk? One is some fans talking and the other is a dickmove power play.
I am 100% for people using their money how they want to but money comes with strings. Like in politics, you take money from the wrong people and they start thinking they get to tell you what to do. VT certainly needs the money, but in the end what we don't need are donors who have never coached college football or ran an athletic department a day in their life thinking they know what the hell to do. There's a reason janitors don't perform surgery.
You don't want to donate? then don't. You don't like Beamer? Then hate him and wait for his replacement. But don't try to use your money to push an agenda. You ran a fucking IT company, you're the janitor in this metaphor.
(no offense to janitors)
The circle jerk always goes counterclockwise. Did you even read the community guidelines?
I think you're forgetting one.
Dropped below 50, he started the day off with 250-300, is that a record fall?
Pretty sure UVA's program tanked faster after 2003.
My pastor told me a long time ago "The less you open your mouth the more intelligent you look to people. The more you start talking the more people discover how little you know"
It is a shame that a thread about such a good hire turned into this.
Man, I love video game physics engines.
This made me laugh so hard. I wish I had thought to do that back when I was playing Train Simulator on Windows XP.
someone got hired?
And then someone got fired.
I'll take some of the blame for that, but I tried to keep my mouth shut until he had already started leaning over the cliff by calling people "apologists" if they disagreed with his opinion. In the end I couldn't hold back from saying something to try and address his demeanor towards the rest of the group.
Oh and for the record, I don't play the trumpet.
I hear BengalHokie is also a musician so he was merely trying to strike up a conversation, but he plays the skin flute *drops mic*. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Step 1: Admit that your opinion will probably not be popular.
Step 2: Wait for people to start questioning the logic of your expectedly unpopular opinion.
Step 3: Call all who question the expectedly unpopular opinion circle-jerking apologists rather than actually engaging in a discussion about the reasoning behind your expectedly unpopular opinion.
Step 4: Base your argument on prior employment history, socioeconomic status and the opinions of financially secure acquaintances rather than on logic and reason. Accuse those attempting to use logic and reason of being members of the "high leg crew."
Step 5: Do not profit.
Step 6: Hammer time?
Leg for hammertime at the cellar
That was when I knew he was only here to troll. When you start throwing out the words like apologists, you start making the accusation that the person is wrong, and not the opinion, putting yourself up on a pedestal as the guy with the clear "correct" opinion and everyone else being beneath you. And once you start trying to talk down to others, any hope of any civil discussion was gone.
I don't mind that he originally stated an opinion that he knew wouldn't go over well (although, at the end of the day, it wasn't really that bad). If this place didn't allow controversial opinions to be said and discussed, this would be a rather boring site.
And the bitch of it is, we could have a really good discussion about when to buy back in, both financially and emotionally. We could have had that conversation with HokieBengal, if he hadn't had a raging Moses complex.
So back to the hire. This in my opinion is a HUGE move, while it is not as flashy as hiring a coach it has many implications for the overall athletic dept. If we see increase staff coming in to his dept. I'm going to be very happy about the future of the programs.
I'm really excited. I think this is gonna be absolutely huge for brand recognition and just getting the name of VT out there. Whereas before, our attempts at brand recognition centered around getting rid of the "TV" retro logo and putting vomit on our helmets, I think this is exactly the kind of hire we need to really move the athletics department forward on that front. Looking forward to what Whit does next (side note: I find myself saying this a lot).
Take a look at the concepts that were in the PDF that someone linked in that Whit thread last week... Shows where we are going with our brand, and it's a very nice refresh across the board... The refresh of the halls outside Beamer's office from the overly traditional to the cutting edge is must a site to see....
I finally feel like we are taking legitimate steps forward as a brand and a program, which will only help down the line.
So out of curiosity, I just wanted to tally up the carnage in here from what happened on Friday.
HokieBengal had 41 comments on this thread. In those 41 comments, he or she managed to tally up an impressive (and still increasing) 370 downvotes, for an average of 9.02 downvotes per comment. Of those 41 comments, 13 managed to make it to the blur, with an impressive Top 5 of all at more than 20 downvotes, topping off at 47 downvotes for talking about a clarinet.
Well done, ladies and gentlemen...
That is precisely how a website polices itself.
I have a dumb question. What is this blur or blurred comment(s) that everyone talks about? I'm assuming when a comment gets enough downvotes it "goes away" via being blurred. But I've never seen that, here and on other comments that have gotten many downvotes.
What browser are you using?
Firefox 37....I thought that might have something to do with it.
I know that it works in Chrome and IE, and not in Safari. Looks like it doesn't work in Firefox either.
Also, you may now only express yourself through the image of Searels and Wyatt having a spirited exchange. So let it be written, so let it be done.
Yeah, that got really funny really quickly. I've had fun with that this morning.
Funny story about Safari: I see the blurs over the comments on my iPhone's web browser, which is Safari.
It doesn't work on Firefox for me either.
But iOS and OSX Rabid Albino Ocelot are still different platforms, at least technically, right? So the coding on your iPhone will be a little bit different than the coding for Safari on a Mac. Just like how in Chrome on my Note, the-10 comments actually appear dim, not blurred, but on my Windows 8.1 laptop it's actual blur.
Must've mistaken the dim for the blur. Do they actually call the new OSX rabid albino ocelot? If not they need to. Too many boring update names. Anywho, leg for the comment, coding doesn't really exist to me
At first I was like woahh 187 comments
and then I was like oh my.. i'll leave now
Although I must say, sorting through the wreckage of this thread allowed me to utilize the small v and slider tools for the first time. And they were excellent.