Recent Comments
I do. I have donated at the Silver Hokie level and held season tickets since 2006 and will continue to do so for the rest of my life - wins or losses, good opponents or lousy opponents.
I do not give to the Hokie Club because 1) I'm still a student and 2) if I gave 10% of my money, the HC would be giving me a few hundred dollars at this point.
In the future, when I have, y'know, an income, I definitely plan on supporting the HC.
DCHokie44....your post sounds eerily similar to mine.
I don't donate. I have only been to one home game in the past 15 years. (of course it was this year against Maryland)
I have seen the Hokies play at FedEx Field vs USC, Boise St, and Cincinnati. I also saw them play Maryland at College Park.
I honestly feel that if I had season tickets and/or frequently went to home games, then I would probably join the club and donate...but only going to 1 game in 15 years just kind of detached me from the experience.
Also, the birth of 2 children kind of took me out of the position to be donating...I simply can't justify giving money when I have so many other expenses for my kids....(travel teams for youth sports are EXPENSIVE)
If I lived an hour from Blacksburg I am sure I would have season tickets and be a donor....but until they decide to relocate Lane Stadium to Northern Virginia, then I don't think I will be donating.
Don't get me wrong...I live and breath Hokie football...its all I think about half the time....I have just resigned myself to watching the games on TV with my teenage son and eating good food and yelling at the TV.
Grimes is one of the best OL coaches in the country. LSU fans don't know jack shit. I know people in Blacksburg will certainly appreciate him if he stays. However I think he goes. But if we do have that plan in place, I sure hope its someone whos just as good
Not sure exactly what the specifics are. Just something I saw when I looked into Hokie Club info.
Currently not a HC member, might be in the future but we'll see.
Reasons I'm currently not:
- I still know enough people in Blacksburg that I can get tickets fairly easily.
- There's not enough exciting games on the schedule
- Bburg is not easy to get to from Atlanta
Kickoff time is sort of a factor, but I realize that's somewhat out of the school's hands, and I wouldn't let it ruin my fun.
The major problem is the schedule. I plan to be at OSU/VT for the next two years, perhaps Miami or GT game this year. I'll go to any ACCCG. I'll be at the UT/VT and ND/VT games in the upcoming years. But I'm not going spend hundreds of dollars in travel expenses to watch games against ECU/WCU/JMU etc.
Finally, our record doesn't make a huge in my attendance at a game. If we beat #5 ranked OSU next year, I'm no more likely to attend the ECU game than if we were blown out by 50 points. I'll be at the ACCCG if we're .500 or if we're undefeated. It's all about quality of opponent and ease of travel.
According to JC Shurburtt, it's looking like this is what's gonna happen. Alas.
However, he's also saying the Hokies have a plan in place if that's the case, so that's good at least.
Also, I'm seeing LSU fans posting things like "good recruiter, average coach." Yeesh, some people just don't recognize what's in front of them.
I'm a Bronze Hokie Club Member for the last 10+ years. over the years I have been a O&M level. But I support VT and I'm not a Graduate of VT. that HC money covers alot sports for VT and it's not all about Football. 0ver 35 years of giving and never once have I thought different. More VT Grads should support their College...Been a Hokie fan for 50+years
Correct me if I'm wrong... you're basically getting double points, too. Because you'll get points for year 1, points for year 2, and points for 2 consecutive years of giving.
This is great news!
Good analysis. Gives me hope for next year if our talent develops or we can get better talent. Bill Roth's 2013 summary has similar themes. The offensive changes pass my eye test. Conceptually it looked better than last year even though the results were worse. As you point out, the scheme shows the personnel weaknesses. CSL showed he can plan around the weakneses and the defensive strengths. He gave our guys opportunities to be playmakers. They were not consistently succesful. I'm sure they did their best. That is all I can expect of them. Sometimes the other guys are better.
Seems like the game plan fell apart somewhat after LT went out. Was it poor execution or did the play calling change? Leal certainly looked like he did not want to run or could not get loose. I wonder if he had read options called and didn't keep any. UCLA probably just stepped up the pressure on Leal. Is there a back-up game plan to account for the expected increase in blitzing?
That was pretty funny. Thanks for sharing. :)
I agree.. but it just seems crazy to me that the ACC would have that big of gap between teams.
I'm not a HC member now, nor have I have ever been. A few reasons:
1. I can't say that I recall ever being sold on the benefits of membership coming out of VT. I went from my BA straight into my Master's program at VT in 2005. I received a few calls when I was in graduate school about donating, but I explained that I was still a student and the calls largely stopped. Apart from the occasional mailer, I don't think I've ever received a whole lot of information on how being a HC member benefits me, apart from season tickets.
2. A lot of it comes down to finances. Unfortunately, my parents were by no means wealthy and I left VT with student loan debt up to my eyeballs. Combine that with my wife's student loan debt, the costs of living in the DC area, two year old twins (damn you daycare and diapers), and I'm still nowhere close to digging out, despite having a really great annual salary with my job. The cost of living factor in Northern Virginia became such an issue, that we're now moving out of DC to Colorado where we hope to have a better quality of life, combined with a lower cost of everything. Which brings me to my next issue.
3. Distance to games and frequency I can attend. Even living in Nova, I probably only make one game a year. Moving halfway across the country, I'm hoping to make one game every 2-3 years. Season tickets aren't a realistic purchase for me.
Given different personal economic circumstances over the next few years and elimination of my debt, I'd be happy to donate a small amount every year, and I'm hopeful that I can, even without the prospect of season tickets. Unfortunately, i'm still busy paying off the cost of my education to go to VT, and until that time, I can't afford or justify to spend any more money in that arena.
I just want to point out what a great forum this website is! If we tried to have this discussion on some other 3-letter sites on their message boards we would be blown apart, yelled at, called fair-weather, etc. When you read the comments above there is a lot of differing opinion and agreement...at the time of my posting this there is not a single -1 on this page. Awesome...just awesome!!!
Drinks (and Turkey Legs) for you all!!!
The recent grad program through HC just gets you a 2 year membership for the price of 1 year. So rather than renewing every year, you get a 2nd year free.
We can't control the ACC schedule though. Year to year, you don't know who the top teams will be. Remember when BC and Wake won the Atlantic? Where were Clemson and FSU then. How do we know who will be where 5 years from now or even next year? There's no prediction of success base upon historical success.
FWIW, I know a lot of recent grads who purchase guest student tickets.
You're absolutely right about the recent grad program. Phasing that out was a mistake. Now, most recent and young grads (the people you should want at the games because they are excited and want a great Lane atmosphere) have no way of getting in on season tickets because they've been priced out of it.
I hope the new AD will consider the implementation of a recent grad program that would allow access to priority tickets and season tickets without huge financial burden.
My alma mater has great opportunities for recent grads (which they define as under 10 years out from graduation). I get double points on every dollar I give so I can build up my priority points efficiently. Which means I will be close to season tickets and a parking pass much faster than I anticipated. Then again, I went to the University of Richmond and our season ticket buy-in level is much, much lower than Tech's. But the point is that they are giving me an incentive to donate and a way to get season tickets in financially reasonable and quick way. It's almost instant gratification, which is what my generation is all about.
that was really long. I apologize for that.
Meant the Atlantic but typed faster than I thought. Good catch.
No because I'm a starving grad student.
Ive been a follower of this site for a few years, but this is the first time that Ive felt compelled to comment on the boards as this is a topic that is top of mind for me currently.
I have been a HC member since I graduated in 2004. I started out as a Bronze and am now Silver, so certainly not a high level donor (or one that the Athletic Department would pay much attention to). I have made the decision to discontinue my HC membership and give up my season tickets heading into the 2014 season. This will mark the first time that I havent had season tickets since my freshman year at VT in 2000 (back when we had to wait in line for tickets rather than the bogus lottery system in place now). I almost let them go last year, but decided against it after the new coaching hires of last offseason. However, after another mediocre season and a number of other factors, my enthusiasm level is gone and Im just as content watching/listening to the game on Saturday than I am trekking to Blacksburg.
Here are the factors I evaluated prior to making my decision to dropping my HC membership and season tickets:
1.Home Schedule/Tailgating Environment: As others have said, our home schedules have left much to be desired over the past few years. Add in a bunch of noon and one oclock kickoffs and the tailgating environment has diminished. I was there when LSU came to town back in 2002 and showed VT what big-boy football and tailgating was all about. I was there as what a Saturday in Blacksburg meant changed and grew to be big time with GameDay and an electric environment every single Saturday. That hasnt been there in a couple of years. People trickle in. I have parked in Lot 8 by Litton Reeves since 2005 and the parking lot rarely approached 50% capacity this past season. Its just sad compared to what it was just a few short years ago.
2.Cost of Tickets vs. Quality of Opponent: For me personally, I struggle with paying the price Im paying for tickets (especially when you factor in the donation) to see the likes of Western Michigan, ECU, James Madison, Liberty, et al. I had to sell two extras for the W. Michigan game this past season and had to haggle with a scalper to get up to $10/ea. Its hard to swallow paying $50 face plus $40/ticket in donation for something that is worth almost ten cents on the dollar. I looked at our future schedules and determined that we have 11 of what I would call plus games (Miami, UVA, OSU, Clemson, Wisconsin) in the next seven seasons. We also have 11 minus games (W&M, WMU, Furman, Liberty, etc). Instead of spending $2,400 year (donation plus 4 season tix) over those seven seasons to see a lot of games that I dont have any excitement about, I have decided that Im willing to pay 2x face for those plus games if warranted and then just pocket the other $15k over those seven years.
3.Post Season Tickets: One of the benefits, supposedly, of being a HC member is getting priority post season tickets. In my experience this is completely and utterly false. The tickets I have gotten from HC are far worse (and far more expensive ) than I can get on the secondary market. So whats the benefit there?
4.Reseating: With the online seating system up each year, your current seats dont really matter anymore. If I decide in five years to start buying tickets again, all I have to do is stroke a check and Ill get a chance to pick my seats again. Granted, I may lose a few spots in my standing, but Im never going to be a top level donor anyway, so Im okay sitting on the 10 yard line. The value of your seat placement just isnt as important as it once was.
5.Life: As a couple other folks have said, I have also entered that stage where life is more important than being in Blacksburg on Saturdays. I have a kid now who will start playing soccer, etc. this year and I would much rather be at that game on Saturday than in Blacksburg cussing about how pathetic our offense is playing.
It was a very hard decision for me to make when I decided to let me HC and tickets go. This would have been year 10 of my membership/continuous giving. When I made my first donation in 2004 I thought for certain that I would be a lifetime member one of those old guys in Lot 1 and 2 with their kids and grandkids running around enjoying Hokie football. My vision has changed. Im disheartened by the program right now and Im okay doing other things with my time and money. Some will say that if I were a true fan that I would keep going with my donation and tickets. But I view it as this, if youre unhappy about something, do something. I am. I am talking with my (albeit small) wallet.
Ill always be a Hokie though. I just want to see the program returned to a Top 15 program, bring back the excitement and the fire to win.
If he goes, which is what its looking like I can't even begin to imagine how/why/wtf is CFB doing? He finally gets a great coaching staff we have a mediocre year and then bamm bye bye o-line coach. I am not saying this out of spite but maybe just maybe things are slowly starting to slip by CFB.
yes I know we can't control SEC teams and their $$$ but still.. would be sad for all of #HokieNation