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If Georgia wanted him, I'd be willing to bet he wouldn't need to sit out at all. Tried to transfer to East Caroline or Western Michigan, yeah, then he'd have to sit out.
Yeah I mean they need to do something
If you want to attract the top tier investors, then you need to provide the top tier experiences to make them feel like their asses are being appropriately kissed. Our suites were built in 2002 and 2005 and haven't been updated since. The experience has remained unchanged for 20+ years, and we wonder why we can't attract legitimate wealth to help bankroll the team. Cassell is stuck in the 1960s, with absolutely no premium experiences to be had, and we wonder why we can't attract any actual wealth to help pull it up.
As Whit said, we have long taken far too much pride in being cheap. And that couldn't be more glaring than when you go to a game in Lane or Cassell. The quality of experience we have is that of an extremely large high school. The lines throughout the concourses for both concessions and restrooms are an absolute joke, and the quality of items being sold are just as bad. The only reason that so many with the fanbase aren't completely fed up with that situation is because they just don't know any better. For a school with such a strong engineering and architectural program, the amount of choke points you experience when trying to walk around in either facility should be flat out unacceptable. And don't get me started on the joke that is stadium entry for Lane. We should be trying to make that process as streamlined and effortless as possible. You WANT people coming in early and spending on food, drink, and merchandise. And yet it always seems like they are going out of their way to make it as painful as possible just to piss you off.
Ugh. How have we handled this in the past?
On one hand (probably the right hand, pun intended), I say sit him out and let him and the team know that we expect more out of our players, especially our captains. On the other hand, fuck that, play his ass, he hasn't even been to court yet.
Volleyball would be the first to go, they'd probably attach men's tennis to it but I don't know if scholarship numbers even out.
Some of the other sports like golf are so inexpensive I don't even know what you'd gain by cutting them. Men's Golf spent $689K in FY2023.
Swimming is pretty expensive so I could see that on the chopping block, even though we've been fairly competitive there.
Worried about AI stealing what they've made
Could just quote the Allman Brothers Band
"Not gonna let 'em catch me, no.
Not gonna let 'em catch the Midnight Rider."
Wonder what the Brent Pry equivalent quote/spin would be.
I almost wonder if the Hokie Club should be run more like a "Club" - in the sense that there should be club tiers with an upfront capital buy in and then annual "dues" that cover a portion of ongoing capital outlays/depreciation expense on facilities, debt service, and O&M for the athletics dept. That could result in more tangible facilities improvements that club members could see and utilize, while also funding athletics. Shifting away from a donor/fund model and more to a private club set up seems logical given the direction of this whole thing. If I buy into club seating at a pro venue or a resort or anything like that, I'm not a "donor."
Just play him.
Next man up. I don't care if it is a freshman. It is time to see who can play and stop coddling stars. We did that last year and see how it worked out for us?
Swimming/Diving use the Christiansburg Aquatic Center but its more because it was designed for competition with seating. War Memorial technically has the required pool and dive pool but its older and not conducive to viewing as the one in Cburg.
Siefkes: I want you looking and playing g like UGA
Wooden: I got you
Siefkes: not like that
The problem with VT is that the fan donations haven't turned into any meaningful improvement to the fan experience in a very long time. I mean we still deal with absolute dogshit WiFi and cell signals during games. While everyone else is rolling out fancy food and drink options, coming out with suite experiences that you have to pay a premium for, fan party decks, embracing the tailgating and bar scene with districts around the venue to make every game an all-day affair regardless of kickoff time, making the gameday experience feel more premium with better ways to get involved, with mobile apps with up to date information and other ways to stay engaged, as well as upgraded video boards and speakers and adding LED lights to enhance the night game atmosphere....
We have really done none of that. None of the investment is coming back to benefit the fans. And even what we were told, that we give to make the teams better, football and men's basketball have been crap more often than not the past decade+. At a certain point you have to question what the money is going to, and if it is being used appropriately. Not even as a 'providing a product', but just making sure its not being funneled into the pockets of someone instead of being spent on improvements.
I mean hell, just a few years ago the school came out and started a fundraising campaign to renovate Cassell to bring it up to modern standards, as it is widely regarded as one of the most out of date facilities in the sport. We raised money for it, and mothballed the project without an explanation. If you gave to that, why the hell would you give to the school again?
Mike Gundy in the press conference after it happened:
"I've probably done that a thousand times in my life" about driving with a blood alcohol content over the legal limit
Was quite a thing to say at the time.
Yep, this was last summer:
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/40481286/oklahoma-state...
According to the probable cause affidavit, troopers pulled Gordon over in the Oklahoma City area after he swerved his car into the adjacent lane twice and was caught speeding 17 miles per hour over the speed limit of 65.
During the stop, a trooper detected the odor of alcohol in the vehicle. Gordon admitted he had an open bottle of vodka and of tequila, which, according to the affidavit, were found half empty. Gordon initially refused a sobriety test. He was arrested on complaint of DUI, transport of an open container of alcohol, failure to maintain single lane traffic and speeding. At the Cleveland County Jail, Gordon registered a blood alcohol level of 0.11 and 0.10.
In week 1 against South Dakota State, Ollie Gordon racked up 126 yards on 28 carries and 3 TDs
Stepping back from the current specifics, my primary issue is that VT (and most universities) still think in terms of donations vs providing a product to customers. The same should be said on the academic side, coupled with their current 65% overhead.
There is no business, customer service or product view to drive revenue (even cross sell/upsell, meaningful differentiated experiences, etc), just the same old asks and similar offering on a declining product. Younger generations will donate far less, have less school loyalty, and only put their money where they get real value and enjoyment. This problem is going to crash like a wave as older donors pass away.
Realize you're a business and operate like one. There is a Chief Revenue Officer for athletics - How are we driving revenue? Begging for cash?
Really really stupid thing to do anytime let alone a week before the season.
VT does have a chance to play "big boy" football with this. P2 teams wouldn't hesitate to play him until at least the court date and then reassess.
Well if there was one position we could definitely not afford to lose anyone, its LB
So naturally, this happens. For a team captain nonetheless. Right after the AD went to beg the BoV for more money for football.
Just unbelievably stupid for him to even be in this spot. At least when this happens to Georgia they have conference and national titles to show for it.
Offseason legal troubles, SCar and Vandy on the schedule...VT2SEC confirmed!
So he's sitting out of year transferring to UGA?
Ollie Gordon and OK St beg to differ.
And let's not act like NIL has anything to do with name, image, and likeness or marketability. It's just pay to play
(I typed that before reading your second sentence)
Apparently he already has a reckless Driving charge too, greater than 20mph over, on a separate date.
This year AI will generate images of my winners. You get some strange results when you type in some image requests and I learned you cannot use phrases like "a long horn beating a buckeye" because AI will not generate images of violence...
EDIT: Well so much for that. The images were there when I first posted, but now they seem to be gone, I guess AI doesn't want to share their work.
I would think a DWI would be a significant hit to the marketability of your name, image, and likeness. Now if we are in a pay for play scheme, probably not so.
Play him til his court date. If he's found guilty, suspend him for 2 games.
Of course, its just a coincidence that the 2 games before his court date are SC and Vandy and the 2 after are Wofford and ODU