Hokie Club(The following column will appear in the January issue of Inside Hokie Sports. If you’d like to order the magazine, please click here - https://www.hokiesports.com/magazine/. Tech students get a discount!)
January 22 will mark the one-year anniversary of the day that Whit Babcock learned he would be the new athletics director at Virginia Tech.
“I remember exactly where I was standing when the phone rang,” Babcock said, smiling as he recounted that call. “It’s been an exciting first year. We’ve put things in place, but man, the first year went by fast. It’s been a whirlwind.”
Of course, Babcock’s biggest move in year No. 1 was luring basketball coach Buzz Williams from Marquette to take over a Virginia Tech men’s basketball program that had finished in the ACC’s basement three straight years. Babcock, and the university’s administration, made a bold statement with its financial commitment to Williams, his assistants and the basketball support staff.
Year No. 2 began with Babcock releasing a five-paragraph statement under the headline that read “Babcock and Beamer have higher expectations. Anticipate improvement next season.”
Both the AD, and his legendary football coach, know that 7-6 seasons don’t fly at Virginia Tech.
“We both understand the significance and importance of a successful, national brand for Virginia Tech football,” Babcock said.
That “significance and importance” translates to tickets sales, Hokie Club donations, university development and more. It’s the financial train that carries every other sport at Tech. It’s also critical to local and regional businesses from restaurants to hotels to clothing stores and more. Virginia Tech football isn’t just a team. It’s one of the region’s leading economic drivers.
“We have to be better, and I’m confident we will,” Babcock said on our bowl edition of Tech Talk Live! from Washington, D.C. “I have the confidence in Coach [Frank] Beamer, who’s led us to championships before, when he says we have the parts to get us back there again.”
Babcock said he supports the plan that Beamer has in place for 2015. And after 22 straight winning seasons, “he [Beamer] has earned the opportunity to elevate our program back to where we all want it to be, competing for ACC Championships.”
Step No. 1 for Babcock was re-signing defensive coordinator Bud Foster to a new five-year contract.
“We knew going into the year that Bud had earned a very significant retention bonus that was due at the end of the year, but his contract was basically a series of addendums going back to 1997,” Babcock said. “Basically, we wiped the slate clean and started over.”
Foster has built a dynasty on defense at Tech during his tenure as the Hokies’ coordinator. Losing him would be nothing short of catastrophic at this point for Tech’s program, and – as Foster showed in his emotional “This is home” interview with Mike Burnop following the Military Bowl – his heart is in Blacksburg.
The Hokies’ 2015 defense should be tremendous. All four defensive line starters, all four backups, and the injured Luther Maddy return. Depth is huge, and the Hokies will return their top eight linemen.
In fact, 19 of the 23 defensive players on the Military Bowl depth chart, plus Maddy and cornerback Brandon Facyson are back. End result? Tech will return a really solid, experienced defense in 2015.
As for the offense, this isn’t 2012 when the Hokies sputtered their way through a bowl win over Rutgers. After that season, Beamer made massive changes, replacing receivers coach Kevin Sherman, line coach Curt Newsome, quarterbacks coach Mike O’Cain, and he brought in a new coordinator to replace Bryan Stinespring, who moved to the role of tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator.
Everyone knew it would take a couple of years for a new offense to click, and this year’s unit gets a pass because of the number of injuries on the offensive line and at tailback.
Tech freshmen scored the majority of points in 2014, and rookies Isaiah Ford, Cam Phillips, Wyatt Teller and Bucky Hodges are among those who will have bright careers at Tech. Repeating a familiar theme, if Shai McKenzie, Marshawn Williams and Trey Edmunds had been healthy this past season, the Hokies would have finished far better than 7-6.
Still, Tech will need more consistent offensive line play and dramatic improvement in its kicking games if the Hokies are going to have a better year this upcoming fall.
The 2015 schedule is much tougher, with road games at Boston College, East Carolina, Miami and likely Coastal Division favorite Georgia Tech. All four of those teams won in Blacksburg this past season. Throw in a trip to Purdue and the opener against national championship game participant Ohio State, and you can see the weekly challenges this team will face.
But here’s what’s exciting: you saw a bit of a 2015 preview in the bowl game against Cincinnati.
In the pre-bowl practices, the Hokies worked Der’Woun Greene with the kickoff return unit and Greg Stroman at receiver. Given the chance, both took advantage of it.
“Stroman,” associate head coach Shane Beamer said “is better than we thought.”
You saw more of a power running game with two tight ends. You saw Foster use his ’30 package’ on defense. The Hokies used three linemen and six defensive backs at times during the game.
“That’s something Torrian [Gray, Tech’s defensive backs coach] and I have been working on,” he said.
In this scheme, Foster doesn’t “have to roll ‘7’s” (as Foster would say) to make a big play defensively. That’s the advantage of having experience, speed and talent up front and on the back end.
This upcoming spring practice at Tech will be huge for guys like quarterback Michael Brewer, Ford and others who weren’t here for spring ball last year. If the offense can get healthy and be more consistent, the Hokies have a shot to have a terrific team this coming season.
I’ll tell you what else we learned about the Hokies this past month: We saw the culture of this program, and the desire to play for something bigger.
After that Wake Forest game, there was no finger pointing. None. It was a bad game and an embarrassing day. After that, those kids knew they weren’t playing for a conference title, or a major bowl, but they still figured out a way to score a dramatic last-minute win over UVa.
And in the weeks leading up to what many would consider an insignificant bowl game, while Frank Beamer was recovering from throat surgery, Foster, Scot Loeffler, and Shane Beamer did an amazing job of running the team and getting it ready to play.
The team came together and won its final two games, which was tremendously gratifying not only for the seniors, but also for longtime observers of the program.
Similarly, Babcock talked about Hokie Nation coming together this spring. Following the example set by the staff and players is a good place to start.
We are getting tremendous effort and commitment from our players on the field and in the classroom, and we are getting unwavering dedication from our coaches and support staff in the meeting rooms and on the recruiting trail.
As Loeffler said after the bowl game, “We need to have the best offseason and spring practice in Virginia Tech history,” and that goes much farther than just the kids on scholarship and the coaches.
Here’s what has to happen:
- Virginia Tech has to close strong in recruiting and sign “difference makers” in February. Seriously, Feb. 4 has to be one of the biggest days in Hokie football history.
- When that football schedule comes out, and season tickets go on sale, Tech fans need to buy them all on a season-ticket basis, as was the case from 1999-2012. Tech needs to get that sellout streak going again. The Buckeyes are coming to Lane Stadium for Monday Night Football, and the Hokies return what looks to be a heckuva team.
- Spring practice needs to be huge for some of the younger guys, especially the offensive linemen and kids who redshirted in 2014. Also, the Hokies need to keep kids on the field and out of the training room. I love Tech’s trainer, Mike Goforth. He’s one of the best in the business, but I’m sick and tired of talking to him about ligaments and surgeries and recovery times and such. I’d rather talk baseball.
- We need to have the highest engagement and attendance ever for our Hokie Club tours in 2015. Babcock and his staff have listened. Tech has enhanced fan experience with pregame activities at Lane Stadium and Cassell Coliseum. The staff has improved the sound system and lighting at Cassell and totally changed the interactive nature of and content of the Hokievision video scoreboards. Tech has improved concessions and created mini plans and restructured ticket pricing to make tickets affordable. The Hokie Village was a huge hit in the fall, and more exciting plans are on the way as well. This is a big spring for the team, but it’s a big one for the Hokie Club, too.
- Most importantly, Tech fans need to feel really proud of what’s happening here. Look at the economic and NCAA issues that many of Tech’s peer institutions are having. Look at Tech’s graduation rates compared to its peers. Examine that 22-year long bowl streak (sixth-longest in college football history) and see how amazing that really is. Look at what kids like Ford, Hodges, Teller and McKenzie and basketball’s Justin Bibbs have done already during their freshman years. Pretty neat, eh? Understand how nice Tech’s new indoor practice facility will be when it opens later this summer (http://www.hokiesports.com/indoorpracticefacility/) and take pride in knowing that your support, your Hokie Club donations paid for this. No state funds and no taxpayer dollars. Just your commitment to build college football’s preeminent indoor building. It will be a $21.3 million glass palace. Take a video tour here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpeyQAw_-_s
It will be one year since Babcock got that phone call on Jan. 22, 2014, and a lot has happened in the 12 months since. A lot of exciting things have been put in place in the last year.
As a result, the next 12 months should be even more exciting.