Righting the Ship

Here is a truism that you can take to your grave: the success of any organization first and foremost depends on the people running it.

Money is great. Resources are great. They give you a seat at the table. But they are not a substitute for good people. If you hire mediocre people, you will not succeed. End of story.

As an enjoyer of good writing and college football, I often furrow into exposés on other programs. In these pieces, you will invariably see the struggles of said program blamed on lack of resources.

Florida's facilities aren't good enough! (Their current one looks like this.)

UCLA doesn't have enough money! (They rank 30th in spending and just lost to New Mexico by 25.)

Last December, Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne warned Bama fans that they "do not have more money than the Vatican." That's right: the real problem with Alabama football is that they need more money.

This week, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors announced a plan to spend an additional $229MM over the next four years to primarily support football. Athletics director Whit Babcock is likely on the way out, having articulated the Hokies' financial shortcomings to the BOV back in August, and a restructuring of the entire department surely coming soon.

While these funds are necessary to compete at a championship level in a variety of sports, the prism through which we should view Virginia Tech football over the last decade is not merely a lack of resources, but poor leadership — along with acknowledging the extent to which the two are correlated.

On the mistakes of the past, and the lessons learned for the future.