Full Transcript of today's Press Conference

What Virginia Tech AD Whit Babcock said in his 'State of the Hokies' like address

Click the above link for the full transcript. I'll highlight some talking points that have been brought up via Twitter to highlight the full quote

Yesterday, spent four hours yesterday morning with Justin. Saw and heard what I wanted to see and it energized me. And again, Justin and I had been meeting throughout the season and had planned to meet first thing on Monday morning, win or lose vs. UVa.

With Justin, we covered recruiting extensively, the depth chart, strength and conditioning, coaches, coaching, community outreach, fan donor engagement, his media appearances, former player involvement, that this is a results-driven business, what the identity to our team is and needs to be, where we need help and support, is he committed, does he want to be here and do right here? And his answers were honest and sincere and genuine and, again, certainly energized me. Any past misunderstandings that Justin and I may have had are greatly, greatly exaggerated. Please keep in mind any leak that is put out there is always with a motive. We get along just fine and yesterday was a great example. So no issues on that front.

About what was already said, and a fair representation on Twitter.

Certainly one thing I want to start with, because some of it is just about removing incorrect information, the decision on Justin's future here was never made about money.

Yes, we are in a bind financially and yes, there's buyouts, but we were determined to make the right decision either way, because I cannot imagine a working relationship where you have to have somebody around you don't believe in that you just keep for money. So that was absolutely not the case. If it was the right thing to keep Justin, we could do that. If it wasn't, we could have done that. So you can lose, risk money no matter which way you go. So make the right decision and the rest will take care of itself.

Throw out any thought that money played a part in this.

This is something I also wanted to share transparently. I will enjoy some of this. Here is the scouting report on our team that matters the most to me, and where I got it was not from my eyes, it was not from any coaches here, it wasn't from any message boards, that's for sure. I talked to a very small number of people, coaches, perhaps scouts, others who have played against us, watched our films, studied it and really drilled down. Because I wanted an outside perspective on what we bring, how people prepare against us, what our scouting report is. And in general, I'll give what we found, which leads to the reason that Justin we feel like can certainly do it. I will enjoy this one the most.

Our offense, from people that you would know, incredibly talented people, the offensive scheme is very well thought of, it is adaptable, it is hard to prepare for, we didn't always execute how we needed on third down, we have a quarterback you can win with, we've now regained some of the identity on offense that we want. What we have not done a good job of is dehumanizing Brad Cornelsen. So you will see him tomorrow. Maybe we'll start our own talk show. Hokies are kind of trained to love defense, question offense. And even to the average fan, me and most of you watching, if a play doesn't work it's pretty easy to blame that. So our offensive coaching and philosophy is really well respected and not very easy to prepare for.

Yeah, ok this part was about as bad as it was portrayed on Twitter.

Furthermore, this is now away from those opinions and now mine. For Justin, this was Year 1 in some respects. And please let me explain it like that. We are not going to look at it like Year 1. We know it's Year 5. What I mean is this, that this is Year 1 of being totally Justin's program, all of his players. I believe that the transition from Coach Beamer and Bud Foster was harder than anticipated, not because of Bud or Coach Beamer. Awesome. Justin and I couldn't be more complimentary. But those are two legends to follow. There is always this thing for a reason that it's hard to be the guy that follows the guy, and I now feel like Justin is getting his feet under him and getting his own group, so in some way it's Year 1. And again, I want to reiterate, Coach Beamer and Coach Foster could not have been better. It is absolutely nothing against them. I think most of you understand what I mean by that, but please don't get me in a bind with that. Justin handled that transition great, as well as anybody could. We did not gut the house down to the foundations at that time. We kept a few wings and renovated it while living in it. Now, that renovation on that house analogy is complete and we're very pleased with it.

The full quote doesn't make me feel any better about this. It even looks like they're trying to still blame Beamer and now Bud for all the issues that are present now. I don't like that at all.

Finally, last what we would ask from Hokie nation if you can do it when we play again in nine to 10 months if you are up to this. Don't tear it down. Some will continue to try to tear and never stop just to justify their previous position of thinking that we needed to make a change. As Buzz Williams used to say, 'are you a fountain or are you a drain.' Are you putting out things consumed and helpful to others, or are you just a drain.

If you can be involved, please do. It hurts us when you pull your support. You are really hurting all 22 sports, scholarships, all of that. If you are able to participate, we now need you more than ever. We have 20,000 donors strong and working our way up. Those that threaten publicly usually don't give that much, but we do know some of you feel that you can't invest in us. It is a gift, we will receive it when you are ready to give it.

Maybe a little bit better than was originally said, but why invoke a coach who left us for greener pastures 2 years ago? Why even take that pot shot at small money donors? Even if its not as bad, its still bad.