Tradition: Virginia Tech doesn’t have a long winning tradition like some of the Big Ten Schools but they do have a rather impressive resume since the days of Bill Dooley. Frank Beamer has taken over at his alma mater and built a very strong program coming off of some NCAA sanctions. He has put together a fantastic coaching staff (even the unfairly criticized O-Coordinator) and has kept the key pieces of that staff together by showing them great trust, loyalty, and by taking numerous pay cuts to allow the university to increase the salaries of his assistants.
Billy Hite was the only coach held over from the “Dooley Days” and is still the Assistant Head Coach/RB’s Coach (32 seasons). He recently said about Beamer that, “His loyalty to us is absolutely unbelievable. All the friends I
have in coaching, I hear the horror stories about what they face every day when they go to work. Win or lose, there are no peaks and valleys with Frank Beamer.” Even though every year teams beg for D-Coordinator Bud Foster (Australian for FEAR) to bring over his "lunchpail defense" and pace their sideline like a lion ready to eat the heart of the weak (can you tell I have a man crush on him yet?), and every year Virginia Tech comes up with a way to keep him. They most recently gave him an annuity that will vest after 5 more seasons at VT. This “team” and its “philosophy” won’t be going anywhere for a while.
Professionalism: See Frank Beamer Above, no matter the opponent or the situation Beamer chooses never to embarrass another team. Beamer does understand that the polls take the final score of the game into account but he will never “run up the score” just to do it. As for fans, even though they are one of the few NCAA schools that take pride in eating their mascot during games (long live the smell of the turkey leg cookers) they are very knowledgeable as well as polite. There are always the rotten eggs that give programs a bad reputation but VT win or lose will treat opposing fans with respect and dignity (See Virginia Tech Hokie Respect campaign).
Academics: Virginia Tech has a fantastic academic reputation especially in the schools of Architecture, Engineering, Business, and Agriculture. Not bad for a land grant school that has to play “second fiddle” to other snooty in-state schools like William and Mary and UVA.
Proximity: East Coast…CHECK! Friends (Hello??)…CHECK! Can’t have disliked them in the past (Who can hate VT??)…CHECK!! Lived near the team…CHECK!!!
Outside the Big Ten: Representing the ACC with no chance of swapping to the Big Ten later (Rutgers).
National reputation: Third longest active consecutive bowl streak, only VT and Texas currently have a streak of 6 straight 10 seasons, perennial top 10 defenses, and ACC champs 3 times (.500 avg). If you take away the actions of two not-to-be-named brothers Virginia Tech has a good moral reputation as well.
Pro style offense: Since Virginia Tech tends to employ a more “traditional college QB” (exception Sean Glennon) they do have the ability to run the option. However, Virginia Tech runs mostly a pro style offense out of the two TE power I and the single back 2 wide sets. They run significantly less spread or option offense than teams like Michigan, West Virginia and Nevada.
A few of the more notable Hokies in the NFL include Eddie Royal, Darrel Tapp, Victor “Macho” Harris, Xavier Adibi, Jake Grove, Duane Brown, David Clowney, Andre Davis, Brandon Flowers, Shayne Graham, Deangelo Hall, Kevin Jones, Jeff King, Josh Morgan, and Chris Ellis…to name a few.
Bitter Rivals: (WARNING, the owner of this blog is not responsible for any feelings of unrest due to the opinions made on this blog.) When Virginia Tech plays who most consider to be a rival team the fans continue to show respect to the fans in and around the stadium but tend to be a little bit more rowdy after Enter Sandman blares inside Lane Stadium. True rivals of Virginia Tech (discounting historical rivals that are no longer relevant like VMI) in alphabetical order are:
University of Miami (da U) – The thugs from the south got the better of Virginia Tech when the program was still being built but recently it has become one of the more contested rivalries in college football.
University of Virginia (Hooville) – Battle of the Commonwealth Cup. Doesn’t the other team need to be competitive for it to still be a rivalry?? The Hoos may be turning the corner now that they are out from under Al Groh but they will always be the zima drinking, cheese eating, Jefferson loving, bow tie wearing, collar popping sissies we all know them to be (Colin Cowherd on UVA). Plus their mascot fell off of their horse in their big entrance (rip off of FSU) this season, check it out…never gets old.
West Virginia University (*edited to preserve the dignity of this blog*) – Battle of the Black Diamond Trophy. Even though they haven’t played in a few years since VT moved to the ACC, it’s still hard to say anything nice so I will just use some keywords. Meth addicts. Couch burners. Battery throwers. Hillbillies. (Phew that was tough)
Colors: Orange and Maroon are just fantastic! (As long as they stay away from those awful orange jerseys)
Plus…It’s better than this…
