A Sinking Feeling...

We are now a few weeks out from Pry being fired, plus the announcement of new funding going into the athletic department, and about a week out from that funding being approved by the BoV. But the initial relief of Pry being fired + a plan being put in motion to finally invest like we should have been all along has begun to give way to a sense of doubt for me.

The messaging around all of this has been nothing short of an absolute mess.

A VERY large chunk of this new funding is supposedly going to come from philanthropy, but there has been radio silence from all fundraising entities... Hokie Club, Triumph, etc. Whit Babcock is reportedly not involved in the coaching search, yet is listed among a final approval trio of him, Sands, and Rocovich. Eddie Royal is on the ACC Network saying they want "someone like Frank". Bruce Arians goes on Pat McAfee to say we're hiring a GM first, then a coach. Then Whit contradicts that in his own interview with Bill Roth, doubling back on that and mentioning the Ole Miss model of HC & GM 50/50.

Hello? Is anyone in charge here? Do we have a plan or are we just throwing shit (and a lot of money) at the wall?

Whit may not be "involved", but this total lack of direction, messaging, and leadership has his handiwork written allllll over it. The further we get from Pry's firing, the more a simple question keeps coming to me like a thorn in my mind.... why exactly is Whit Babcock still here? What is his function, if he has no seat at the table for football decisions? Why is Whit the spokesperson for this initiative - doing interviews with Bill Roth detailing the plan, etc. - if we are in this situation thanks in no small part to his utter failure to begin with?

Even Tech Sideline is pointing out today on their podcast, that this whole process so far has been a mess with no clear or coherent plan. Andy Bitter is calling out the piss poor messaging and how it's being rolled out, and allowing Whit to be anywhere in the vicinity of the process - much less being its spokesperson - is horrible decision making given how Whit is currently viewed by the fandom. They also pointed out that an 8 person committee seems.... like 3 or 4 people too many, and I have to agree.

If Whit stays... then what? We're gonna hire a new football coach, but he's not going to answer to the GM (if we go with the Ole Miss model according to Whit), so then who's he gonna answer to? Whit.... who didn't hire him? And what coach would want to come work under Whit?

And if Whit leaves/retires/whatever... what coach is gonna want to come here not knowing who their boss is gonna be?

How the fuck are they expecting to raise funds with this amount of uncertainty and lack of transparency around this entire process and the future state of Tech football? This whole thing is beginning to look less like a cohesive plan to reset VT athletics and set us up to compete, and more like a shuffling of deck chairs to give the appearance of doing something. The decision-making - and lack thereof - reeks. It reeks of the odor of the same people who got us into this predicament. It reeks of half-measures, status quo, and unwillingness to rock the boat.

I have a sinking feeling about it.