The First Bank & Trust Friday Q&A: State Of The Program And Breakout Young Players
By: Chris Coleman | Lead Analyst and Columnist
February 23, 2024
Virginia Tech
Whit Babcock has a new CFO to work with. (Jon Fleming)
1) What kind of shape are we in as a total football program? Maybe a “State of the Football Program” address article? We just filled an athletic CFO-type position; how will that help? What changes should we expect? Where are we from an infrastructure standpoint? What positions do we need to add to keep up or catch up? What physical facilities do we need to be building or revamping? Do we have the infrastructure needed to sustain a top 20 program regardless of who the head coach is? — vtlee
Chris Coleman: On the surface, I think Virginia Tech football is pretty strong. The fan base is excellent, and that’s the most important thing long-term, outside of conference affiliation, but fan support does have some impact on conference affiliation, so maybe it’s the most important thing after all. Seeing how the fan base responded the last couple of years, even when the Hokies were playing some pretty bad football at times, was impressive.
Brent Pry gets recruiting. The talent level has improved, and the fans are happy with the in-state and regional focus. Building the new weight room and the Student-Athlete Performance Center really helped catch the Hokies up in a lot of ways. There is still some work to be done there. As I’ve said multiple times, I think Tech needs a sports science facility with modern, up-to-date recovery and prevention equipment, and properly staffed with people with experience in that field. The issue with that is there’s no room for a new building, and donor money is being directed towards NIL.
As far as the CFO position goes, yeah, I’m glad that hire was made because I’ve been pushing for it for a long time. However, new CFO Brandon Hall will have to be used properly, and he and Whit Babcock will need to see eye-to-eye on things. I figure there’s a reason Virginia Tech went through so many CFOs in the past and why it went so many years recently without one. There has been some disagreement about the books in the past, and by having no CFO, there isn’t going to be any disagreement. But now that there’s a CFO again, how will things proceed going forward? It will take a while before we have any idea.
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