In the Room Where it Happened

I just returned from a very busy two days at the Board of Visitors meeting, and of course the main point you'll all be interested in was the review of the university's debt capacity and credit rating. I'll do my best to run through the accounting as best I can.

Wait, we hired a football coach? OK, fine, I'll change topics.

Monday morning, there was a buzz in the air. There had already been talk that a deal was basically done, but no one could really point to a solid source of that information; it just seemed like the general chatter and common knowledge.

I knew something was up when I saw J. Pearson's phone light up shortly after we all sat down and called the first open committee meeting to order. He jumped up from his seat and headed to a back hallway reserved for BOV members (we get our own snacks!). He returned a few minutes later to whisper to Ryan McCarthy, who quickly joined J in the hallway. For those keeping score at home, J and Ryan were tasked by Rector John Rocovich to work with our administration to formulate the funding plan that we now know as "Invest to Win" back in September.

The shoulder taps and hallway exits continued - President Sands, Kay Heidbreder, and the rector himself.

It was unusual to see so many Board members and key university figures hopping up during an ongoing committee meeting, even if they aren't formally part of the committee (though the rector is an ex officio member of any committee when he is in attendance). Even stranger was to see President Sands on his phone; he generally does not do that during BOV meetings. His phone discipline and attention span are admirable.

I may or may not have been texting Joe at this point.

During a break, the chatter intensified. Everyone knew what was going on but no one really had any detail outside of the key negotiators in the process named above. Lunch time came and speculation had been that the Executive Committee closed session was related to James Franklin's hire. I can tell you two things: (1) I don't know what the topic of that meeting was, and (2) I know it wasn't related to James Franklin. The contradiction there only makes sense if you know some of the backdrop of things going on, but I can't elaborate on that.

In any case, after lunch it seemed like it was a done deal. At 2:00 PM, J went over to Kay and showed her his phone. She smiled, breathed a sigh of (apparent) relief, and gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up. Kay then went around the room and briefly chatted with President Sands and Rector Rocovich. Just before 3:00 PM, overheard in the hallway was "they signed the DocuSign." Made sense why the president and rector were on their phones immediately after Kay got their attention. To my knowledge, PSU reps were the last to sign regarding the terms of the buyout.

TKP broke the story at 3:13 PM. Take that for what you will.

It was a fun day to be a fan of Hokie football.

Coach Franklin made a brief appearance at the BOV open session yesterday and was very well received. His entry was delayed slightly because J and Ted Hanson were down the hall, buying him some Hokie swag from a pop-up bookstore shop. We thought they were ready to come in, but I guess they had to make sure they got the size right. Coach Franklin's remarks were live-streamed and you can watch them online, but he then went around the room and shook hands will all BOV members (including us constituent reps) and introduced himself, humbly, saying "nice to meet you, I'm James" and similar. I welcomed him and said we were glad to have him here. Big smile, and off he went.

The BOV amended the personnel changes report in closed session yesterday, and I have it on good authority that the amendment was to officially approve Coach Franklin's contract. I had replied with a quick "no" when asked by someone here if his contract could simply be lumped under an existing agenda item. That was a bit of a quick reply that lacked nuance, but it was still accurate. The closed session of the Academics, Research, and Student Affairs Committee considered only changes in faculty appointments, endowed positions, tenure, etc. You can't lump a football coach into that and say it's the same agenda item. The BOV can, however, make a change in closed session to an existing item before it. That's what they did, and they approved it in open session as required by law.

Best of luck to Coach Franklin, and welcome to him and his family. We hope Blacksburg and Hokie Nation treat you well and that you have many years of success on the gridiron.

Go Hokies!