Hokie Club“From the blue waters of the Chesapeake Bay to the hills of Tennessee, the Virginia Tech Hokies are on the air!”
That familiar refrain, delivered by the voice of Virginia Tech football, Bill Roth, opens every Virginia Tech broadcast and reflects the network’s goal of reaching Hokies fans everywhere.
The colorful and energetic Roth will mark his 30th season as Virginia Tech’s football play-by-play broadcaster after returning to the Hokies’ broadcast booth in 2022.
For 27 seasons (1988-2015), Roth was Virginia Tech’s lead play-by-play voice. On the field, Michael Vick, Antonio Freeman, DeAngelo Hall, Tyrod Taylor and dozens of other collegiate All-Americans and future NFL stars made history, while in the broadcast booth, Roth was the voice that chronicled their successes and the Hokies’ subsequent climb to national prominence.
Along the way, Roth has been the voice behind Virginia Tech’s rise from football independent through the BIG EAST to the ACC, to the 1999 national championship game (2000 Sugar Bowl) and through countless ACC championship seasons. He brings a great appreciation for the history and tradition of Virginia Tech from his early days with the university, having called many of the Hokies’ high athletic moments.
Besides serving in the play-by-play chair for Virginia Tech football games, Roth hosts podcasts within the Virginia Tech athletics department and writes a regular column for Inside Hokie Sports magazine.
In addition to his Virginia Tech duties, Roth continues to call national games for both ESPN and Westwood One. He joined ESPN’s college football play-by-play team in 2016, calling baseball and other sports for the network. Additionally, he is part of Westwood One’s national radio team broadcasting NCAA basketball and football.
Roth also serves as a professor of practice in Virginia Tech’s School of Communication where he helped launch Tech’s popular sports media and analytics (SMA) program in 2016. The SMA major prepares aspiring journalists to produce and deliver sports news, consider ways to promote the sports industry and analyze data related to sports accomplishments, fan participation and social media.
Within the Commonwealth, Roth is a (record) 12-time recipient of Virginia Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association and was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.
Virginia Tech’s department of athletics established the Bill Roth Student-Athlete Endowed Scholarship, which is awarded annually to a deserving Virginia Tech student-athlete with an interest in communication or broadcast journalism.
A Pittsburgh native, Roth graduated from Syracuse University’s renowned S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1987. He was awarded the distinguished Robert Costas Scholarship from Syracuse in 1987 and was inducted into Syracuse University’s WAER Hall of Fame in August 2014.
Roth and his lovable pup, Baxter, split time between their homes in Blacksburg and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.