When it comes to March Madness, Virginia Tech fans have always had at least either the men or the women playing in the NCAA Tournament. For the first time in a decade, neither team made the field. To compound matters, it’s also the first time that neither team made the NCAA Tournament and the football team finished below .500, according to David Cunningham of Tech Sideline.
Talk about disappointing numbers. However, those numbers sum up right now where the athletic programs are at in Blacksburg and this can’t be put on the coaches, well ok, maybe some of it, but it paints a dreary short-term outlook for Hokies’ athletics.
Virginia Tech athletics heading down a troubled road
It’s safe to say that Virginia Tech fans are reaching a boiling point with the current state of athletics. Athletic Director Whit Babcock is at the forefront of their frustration and it’s understandable. He has poured a lot of resources into a football program that is finishing the regular season 6-6. This season was a huge miss by head coach Brent Pry and his staff when it comes to results on the field, then factor in the number of players who left in the transfer portal for a payday elsewhere.
It’s been a year since men’s basketball coach Mike Young went through a massive exodus from the portal and four of those players, Sean Pedulla, MJ Collins, Tyler Nickel, and Rodney Rice are all going to be playing this week in the NCAA Tournament with their new schools. Given the job Young did with this year's team, you can’t make the case that if the Hokies had retained those players they wouldn’t have been knocking on the NCAA Tournament door in what was a bad ACC. He is rumored to have a better NIL package this off-season, which might be the only reason he’s staying on the bench with the Hokies.
Following a loss last March in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks bolted Blacksburg and Kentucky for more money and much more NIL resources than he had at Virginia Tech. Let’s not fool ourselves to believe he left for any other reason. He loved Virginia Tech.
Megan Duffy was hired from Marquette to replace him and took a roster with a handful of players who stayed after Brooks left, added in a transfer and a freshman, and had them at 18-12 and 9-9 in the loaded ACC. She did a great job in Year 1, but she needs more resources, let’s not kid ourselves after being the first team left out of this season’s tournament.
The writing is on the wall and it’s not a very good outlook currently for Virginia Tech and the programs need more resources or this is going to be a common theme each year, something that will drive coaches, players and fans away.