Recent Comments

BC never won the ACC. Sure they won the Atlantic div but not the whole thing like we (Tech) did.

Yeah buddy! Asswhoopathon!

My friends and I are Golden Hokie Club members. The three of us aggregate together and donate for one Hokie Club membership as well as buy season tickets. We're HC members chiefly so that we can maintain our season tickets and seats in the same place. We started giving to the HC once we were all out of school and could no longer make use of student season tickets back in 2000 or thereabouts. We were at school during the peak of VT football's rise to prominence, between the 1995 Sugar Bowl and the First Coming of Vick. So we were hooked early and often.

I live in SC and my friends live in GA and each game weekend we make the pilgrimage up to Blacksburg whenever there's a game. It takes some sacrifice and not everyone can make it each weekend, but I wouldn't want to be any other place on a fall Saturday. We've finally risen to the point (or more correctly enough people in front of us have bailed) so that we can get decent parking passes for home games now too. Still not as good as we used to have from parking in some dude's sketchy yard back on Greene Street, but the better access in and out of Litton Reaves is worth the slightly longer walk anyway.

But even with our fervor we have let some things go. We used to be religious about going to bowl games, however the last game that we all attended was the Orange Bowl versus Cincy; I went to the Peach by myself at the end of the 2009 because it was within easy driving distance. Since then the dates and/or locations of the bowls have been atrocious. The Stanford Orange Bowl was in the middle of the week after the holidays. Nothing like burning three vacation days all of 48 hours into a new year. Similar issues plagued the Russell Athletic Bowl and the Sun Bowl more recently. Logistics were awful for a variety of reasons.

We also grew tired of the awful ticket allotment that the university is forced to provide you with for the post season games. The rise of Stub-Hub and the like have legitimized the scalping market and laid bare the awful deal that you get from the ticket office by having to pay the pre-determined face value of the tickets for some of the worst seats in the house. When I went to the Peach-fil-A bowl against Tennessee I scored third row, 50 yard line seats to the beginning of the end of Lane Kiffin's head coaching career for what awful seats in the corners would have cost me from the VTTO. Similarly we got great seats to our awful performance versus Clemson in the ACCCG (the biggest disparity between face and market value EVAR typically). So even though we're members we are done buying post season tickets from the VTTO.

Now the awful bowl and ACCCG tickets aren't VT's fault, every conference team has to deal with that, but the arrangements with the conferences and the bowls sorely need to be modernized to reflect the actual demand for the seats. The *VERY* minor bump in status from buying those tickets from the HC/VTTO simply isn't worth it.

I think most Hokies agree with this logic. Additionally, I think most of us would pay more (or make more games) if we see results. As a fan base we are hungry for a winner (the magical seasons show that). Call me fair weather if you want, but people like winners...not mediocrity.

Not to pick on you, this is really for everyone's benefit, it just seems appropriate to post here because you mentioned it...

The Hokie Club actually has a nice big chart that tells you the benefits of each level! You can definitely get a window decal and a subscription to Inside HokieSports (really nice mag, I enjoy reading my Dad's) with Hokie Club Level giving! See http://www.hokieclub.com/forms/HokieClubBenefitChart.pdf.

That means the Noles will have had Three different Defensive Coordinators in Three Years.

Just a few observations from personal experience with the Hokie Club and being a donor/fundraising for organizations in general.

1. The Hokie Club Mission Statement basically says that it fundraises for "athletic scholarships, capital improvements, and programmatic needs of the Athletics Department."

Basically, you are only supporting athletics when you donate to the Hokie Club. But that encompasses student-athlete scholarships, so you are technically supporting academic scholarships, just ones restricted to athletes.

2. You must be an active Hokie Club member to apply for football & basketball season tickets.

Season ticket allotment is based on a points system in which you are awarded points for donations, years active, etc. The more you give, the better tickets/parking you get. The longer, more continuous your support is, the better tickets/parking you get. See http://www.hokieclub.com/tickets-parking.php.

It is tough to pay for the Hokie Club donation and tickets. A lot of folks can't justify cost of both. You can afford one, but can't afford the other, which leads to people dropping tickets AND the athletic fund donation. Why give a large amount of money to the Hokie Club if you aren't even getting any tickets? And with the last two reseatings, people couldn't keep up with bigger money Hokie Club donors in order to keep their current seats.

Our original seats before both reseatings were fantastic. We had them for 15 years. Now, because no one can afford them, they are empty at every single game. I haven't seen someone in our old seats for the last two years. It's upsetting to see yourself priced out of something you held so faithfully, even through the times when you couldn't GIVE a Tech football ticket away for free. So I can see where some Hokie faithful may have been discouraged and just stopped giving because they couldn't keep their seats.

I've been lucky that my parents can make our tickets happen every year. Hopefully, I will be the recipient of our tickets and Hokie Club account once I get out of school. And I fully intend to give as much as possible to retain our seats, maybe even get better ones.

That said, my ability to support the Hokie Club is completely dependent on the job market after I graduate. Which I think is how many people stand, especially recent graduates who want to give back, but can't. Season tickets and the ability to give Hokie Club donations are a luxury in this day and age for a great majority of people.

3. A common misconception is that a few big money donors are the be-all, end-all for fundraising. Yes, at this level, they are extremely important, but so are small donors. A good fundraiser treats every gift, even a one-time $5 donation, as important. Because even though one person only gives five bucks, that's five more dollars than you had before. And if 100 people give $5, which is low financial commitment from each person, you've still raised $500. That's the price of a semester's worth of books for a student athlete. You've also introduced 100 people to the cause and gotten them invested in it, even if it is a very minimal investment. That's why you see political campaigns ask for $5, $10, or $25, because inspiring lots of people to give, even at small amounts, is what makes a fundraiser successful.

So for those of you wondering if your $5 donation makes a difference, it does. It does, big time. And someone is appreciative, even if it doesn't seem like it. Because a student-athlete will be affected positively by your gift. They just won't know who to thank because the bursar doesn't tag names on the digital dollars the student-athlete sees on their paid tuition bill.

Okay, I'm finished now.

EDIT: added conclusion.

My whole point is that even if donations don't seem very rewarding for you, they are beneficial to you. I think many of you would agree that you derive some kind of enjoyment/fulfillment from Virginia Tech football, by watching them play, pulling for them, etc. and seeing the program be successful will increase your enjoyment/fulfillment.

Supporting, in word and in deed, what you care about increases the chances of its success. That goes for anything and everything, from political candidates to cancer research. Financial support gives the organization the ability to obtain the resources it needs to be successful. Tech has great leadership, in both athletics and academics, and I have total faith that the money given to them will be used properly and in the best way possible.

Bottom line is that more money means quality. Money also means better coaches, better practice facilities, better equipment, which in turn means better recruits, better opponents, and better results. And national recognition.

Ultimately, it's only us, the people who care about Virginia Tech football, who can band together and push our cause toward success. Because people who don't care about Tech sure as hell aren't going to give money to something they don't care about.

So think about giving. I would advocate first giving to your academic department because 1) they awarded you your degree and 2) academics are the foundation of the school. And you can look at it as a thank you for the world-class education they gave you.

Been a HC Member since I graduated, guess my dad always has been and I wanted to be a member like him. I slowly have given more when I could but held steady and not increased since economy downturn. Combine that with product on field and hard to get excited but I'll keep donating

I just want to know what Coach Rush Probst thinks of all this...

Can't hurt with Nnadi...then again, who knows how the coaching carousel ultimately plays out.

What you said about the Foundation reaching out is exactly why my donations go primarily to the Corps of Cadets, I get a magazine four times a year and emails regarding special Corps functions as well as a direct link to what my donations will be utilized to accomplish in maintaining and growing the Corps at Tech.

That $800,000 is our 'coach-in-waiting' insurance policy.