Virginia Tech Athletics announced Monday that it has gotten a $20 million start toward the $120 million it plans to raise from private donors over the next four years.
The gift, from an unnamed donor, will be spent on athletics at Virginia Tech over the next four years, so, that’s $5 million a year toward the $30 million per year that the athletics department is hoping to get toward the $229 million Invest to Win initiative.
ICYMI
“We are deeply grateful for this extraordinary and timely gift,” Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said. “Doing more with less, while a testament to the talent of our staff and student athletes, is no longer an option. Invest to Win is about winning championships. Excellence in athletics complements our academic mission, elevates our impact, and inspires the passion and generosity of Hokie Nation, as demonstrated by this record gift.”
The “doing more with less” reference is a callback to a comment from several current and former Tech Athletics administrators highlighted in an article in The Athletic last month.
The common refrain: whenever the staffs of Justin Fuentes and Brent Pry would ask higher-ups for access to industry-standard resources, they would be told to “do more with less,” and that “Frank Beamer didn’t need that.”
Which is why Tech Football, once dominant in the ACC under Beamer, has had just two winning seasons in the past eight years, and has cycled through two coaches since Beamer’s retirement in 2015.
The school hired former Penn State coach James Franklin last month to succeed Pry, signing him to a five-year deal worth an average of $8.2 million per year – backloaded to pay out $26 million of the total in the last two years of the deal, in 2029 and 2030.
ICYMI
- Virginia Tech gets its man: James Franklin hired as next head football coach
- The first task for James Franklin: Getting Virginia Tech back on an equal footing
- Virginia Tech releases details of back-ended James Franklin contract
This should help get things going forward – as the school is committing $15.5 million per year to Franklin for assistant coaches and support staff, an increase of $7 million per year over what Pry had for assistants and support staff.
The focus now: finding the next donor toward the $120 million.
“The passion of Virginia Tech fans is unmatched, and their continued generosity will help elevate our program,” Franklin said. “There’s a clear sense of excitement from our fans about where we’re headed. This unprecedented level of support is critical and creates powerful momentum for everything we’re building.”
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Chris Graham
