Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG – After announcing a transition of leadership for the Virginia Tech football team Sunday, Director of Athletics Whit Babcock and Interim Head Coach Philip Montgomery addressed Hokie Nation and the media Tuesday afternoon. Babcock was able to detail the path that the University is taking towards finding the next head football coach as well as speak to the upcoming changes to the Athletic Department.
Read and watch below to see what they had to say:
Director of Athletics Whit Babcock
Opening statment: First, I want to thank Coach Pry, his wife Amy, and his family for their time at Virginia Tech. He was a pleasure to work with and cared about this place deeply, represented Virginia Tech with class, improved our recruiting efforts in Virginia and regionally – like he said he would when he arrived. He invested in the team culture, cared for his student athletes, connected well with former players, engaged the community and fan base - and was a wonderful teammate to the entire Department. We will miss him and wish him well. College sports, especially Power Four football is a results oriented business, and we obviously didn’t win enough football games. He handled the end of this chapter with class and I wanted to express my appreciation and respect to him and his family.
On Coach Montgomery: Secondly, I want to thank Coach Montgomery for agreeing to serve as our Interim Head Coach. He’s been a head coach and an offensive coordinator at multiple Power Four schools and knows how to lead. As you can imagine, it’s a tough situation for him when the head coach who hired you is dismissed and you’re processing the disappointment of that and an uncertain future ahead. Within a matter of an hour, he’s then tasked with leading the program, speaking to the team, and keeping this group together for the remainder of the season and now to doing weekly media sessions with you guys. He will have our full support as will his family and I wanted to express my appreciation and gratitude to him as well.
On the search process for Virginia Tech's next head football coach: I also wanted to offer some clarification and relative transparency on our search process which is in its preliminary stages. We will have a search committee with some internal staff support behind it. The committee will include members with extensive football experience and insight, Board of Visitors and campus representation, and Executive Leaders. The committee’s collective expertise and strength will enable us to make the best decision for the next head coach of the Hokies. This will be a collaborative decision, and the committee voices will carry tremendous weight. We are confident our committee will make an outstanding selection, will be aligned with our BOV and campus leadership and certainly alignment within our committee when identifying our next head coach.
On the future of the Athletic Department: With additional campus financial support anticipated and new resources available to increase traditional and creative revenue generation, I’m confident you will soon see a modernized structure, built for success in this rapidly changing environment of college athletics, more in line with professional football type organizational structure (on the football side of things) and from an Athletic Department standpoint, a structure and organization more in line with a corporate business. It has become a $150-200 million annual enterprise after all. I and we will modernize, evolve and adapt to this new landscape successfully. I’m excited for this new era, and the forthcoming initiatives and opportunities planned. We truly can “make a major move” as Dr. Sands referenced.
Acknowledging Virginia Tech stakeholders: Finally, I want to acknowledge our fans, donors, and alumni. They have been absolutely amazing and they are second to none. They have been doing their part and then some, to will us to victories and success. And I sincerely apologize we haven’t stepped up yet and returned the favor with results on the field. The paradigm of the College Football landscape has obviously changed and we are better positioning ourselves for success, to be ahead of the curve rather than chasing behind it. It’s up to us to do our part, as an administration and athletic department to aggressively adapt, modernize and invest to win, strategically and to reward this fan base in a manner they deserve, expect and demand. We will do that. Thank you Hokie Nation.
Interim Head Coach Philip Montgomery
On what he is focusing on at the moment: Our focus really has to be on the players right now. We've got a group of young men that have poured a ton of work, they've been molded together, their world has been rocked a little bit right here, and our job as the coaching staff is going to be to continue to pour into them, provide them leadership, guidanance a plan and direction.
On the opportunity that is in front of the Hokies' football team: I talked to the team the other day. We've got nine games left, you've got about 12 weeks of that. We've got an opportunity right now to write the ending of what this story is going to be. We've got some things we've got to fix, we've got some things to change, we've got to continue to grow and develop but with that being said, we've got a lot of time to get that done. It starts this week, I am excited about getting back on the field with them, today is going to be our first practice.
Message to Hokie Nation: I know how passionate you are about Hokie Nation and about Hokie football. We're going to live up to that part of it, but I will tell you these young men need your support, they need your energy, they need your focus. There are enough things going on in the world today of college football, but they need to know that you are behind them, I know that you will show them that. You are a great fanbase, you have built a tradition here and I am excited to see your reaction to those young men and what they are going to do on the field each and every week to go and make you proud and to represent this university and this athletic department in the right way.