Whit Babcock isn’t pleading poverty because he thinks he can get Virginia Tech donors to open up their checkbooks.
He knows that Tech Athletics has pretty much tapped out what it can get from its money people.
There isn’t another $50 million or $60 million a year just sitting out there waiting to be tapped.
What Babcock is doing is, he’s daring the Virginia Tech administration to fire him.
Be careful what you wish for there.
“I want to acknowledge our fans, donors, and alumni. They have been absolutely amazing, and they are second to none,” Babcock said on Tuesday, in his first public comments since Virginia Tech President Tim Sands announced the firing of Brent Pry, the head football coach, who was 0-3 this season, and 16-24 in parts of four seasons.
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- Virginia Tech Football coaching search | Laying down how the process might play out
- Virginia Tech interim coach Philip Montgomery to fans | ‘We’ve got nine games left’
Good work there – kiss up to the stakeholders.
Pry is the second failed football coach in the Babcock administration – Babcock’s first hire, Justin Fuente, was let go with two games left in the 2021 season after putting up a 43-31 record in his six-year tenure.
Babcock has been the AD at Virginia Tech since 2014.
Tech’s record on the football field under his management: 74-69.
He’s had successes outside of football – Buzz Williams took the 2019 hoops team to a Sweet Sixteen, and Mike Young brought home the 2022 ACC Tournament title; John Szefc had the baseball program a game away from a College World Series berth in 2022; Kenny Brooks led women’s hoops to a Final Four in 2023.
Williams and Brooks are gone, off to greener pastures – i.e. more money at schools with bigger budgets; Young’s teams have gone 51-49 over the past three seasons, including 13-19 in 2024-2025; Szefc hasn’t even made an NCAA Tournament since the magical 2022 run.
And Babcock is telling the world that his athletics department needs to find tens of millions of dollars per year more than it has to be able to compete on an even footing with its peers in the Power 4.
“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 and from an athletic department standpoint, a structure and organization more in line with a corporate business,” Babcock said Tuesday, knowing as he said the words that there is no more loose change in the couch cushions for him to be able to tap into.
He’s making the pre-emptive case to keep his job here – saying, in essence, I’ve done the best I can with the limited resources you’ve given me to work with.
He’s not wrong.
Thing is, while I don’t know that a new person could do a better job, it does seem apparent that the current administration has done what it can do.
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Chris Graham
