Virginia Tech has hired Cincinnat’s Whit Babcock as its new athletic director.
Babcock has been Cincinnati’s athletic director since 2011. Since his arrival, he has hired Tommy Tuberville as the Bearcats’ head football coach, and he’s raised $86 million in private donations and personal seat licenses for the renovation of Nippert Stadium.
Babcock was an Associate AD at Missouri, Auburn and West Virginia for five years each before landing the Cincinnati job. He was primarily responsible for fundraising at each school. At Missouri, his department set new records for fundraising and Tiger Club members. At West Virginia, private donations increased by more than 200% under his watch.
A native of Harrisonburg, VA, Babcock played baseball at James Madison. He graduated from JMU in 1992, and received his master’s degree in Sports Management from West Virginia in 1996.
We’ll have more on Babcock when his press conference is held. That is expected to happen next week. Here is a link to his bio on the Cincinnati website.
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The guy has an active twitter account. Sold.
Upgrading baseball facilities, namely English Field, is not as high a priority as rebuilding the basketball program, planning for football without Frank, and fundraising, but with Whit being a baseball player under his legendary father is a real plus. I can see baseball finally getting the attention it needs also to compete with and beat the Cavaliers and some of the other top ACC baseball programs.
I was hoping for a big name hire from a big name school, but that obviously was not to happen. There’s a reason things like this work out like they do. Babcock is already growing on me as he brings a lot of what VT needs to the table. I wish him well and Godspeed. He is young and appears dynamic, which is a breath of fresh air in the VT athletic department. I can see me donating to the Hokie Club again, maybe not as much as I used to, but if all of us gave a few hundred dollars it would make a big splash.
I am also glad we got a boy from Virginia who knows his home state and its culture. I’m not worried about his longevity. It is what it is. I think he’ll do right by us, and I hope the Hokienation will support him and trust that he knows what he is doing. He is here for a reason.
Finally, something in my gut tells me this bodes well for Bud Foster as successor to Frank. I can imagine Frank and whit sitting in one or the other’s office mulling this over. Stability is a good thing, and Tech has a good opportunity here.
Great choice. Raising funds may be our number one need given today’s environment of $$$, $$$ and more $$$. This guy fits the bill. He’s also been around some successful basketball programs, so he should know how to fix our bb programs.
I agree. I’d give Jim Weaver an “A+” for professionally managing the rapid growth in facilities at VT over the past 20 years and successfully integrating us into the ACC while keeping the department consistently profitable throughout it all. But now it’s time to bring someone in with a strong marketing and fundraising focus. Whit Babcock seems to be an excellent choice, especially given the fact that he’s a native Virginian. I think every VT fan should be very pleased with this hire.
For the betterment of VT athletics I hope Babcock is, as suggested in TSL articles, the type of athletic director VT needs “at this time”. If his resume is any indication, he will not remain at VT long enough to outlive his fit for VT in the near term future. This gives VT the opportunity to seek out the next AD to fit the athletic needs at VT in four or five years. Better than a “tenured” AD.
WHAT? This guy is not an offensive line coach, and Tech IS a MAJOR University; thus a MAJOR job destination. I’m not sure what makes you think he already has one foot out of the door..
I suppose we really should have hired the Assistant Manager at 7-11…I bet THAT guy wouldn’t be looking to leave or looking at VT as a stepping stone or whatever you are insinuating. Shoot, I bet he’d even have a buddy who would be happy to coach our OL (or wherever we next need a coach), and not think about leaving.
So we have the faction who thinks he is too good to stick around, the faction who thinks we needed to hire away an Athletic Director from a traditionally Top 10 University….and a few of us who think (on balance) we found our guy for at least the next decade….pretty much par for the course I guess!
I live in the Cincinnati area, and the UC community here feels this is a big loss for them. Whit has a very good reputation here. The guy brings some much needed energy to the position and I am looking forward to what he can accomplish at VT.
I think he’s a good choice. He brings some good experience (though not a lot as the head guy) and he’s young so he’ll have a lot of energy. he should bring in new ideas. Jim Weaver did some great things while at VT, especially with facility upgrades, and I agree with Chris (or Will) that Jim is what we needed when he arrived, but we need something different now. Hopefully Whitt can come in and begin fixing the BBall program here. It won’t be easy, but we should be able to leverage ACC membership into a competitive program with the right leadership.
oh please!! come on people!! quit complaining about someone you dont even know!! so he was at auburn–big deal…he is a Hokie or will become a Hokie soon..why diont you guys just get behind a man who knows how to operate in the big time!! not like western Michigan! so all you look at it this way… he was the best guy for the job!! he is rather young and i betcha he is enthusiastic about where he has worked!! something that we at VT havent had as a AD in 12 yrs!!!!!
Who exactly are you bitching at?
Kinda wondering that myself.
The bitching is over in the comments to the Hokie Club poll…
If he signed an extension through 2020, what becomes of that? Did that have to be bought out?
Auburn…………….can’t getaway from those folks. Seems a good hire
Is he related to the former JMU baseball coach Brad Babcock?
Yep. That’s his dad.
Good!! I think he is a good choice, and his strengths seem to be in areas of need for us. When I read your breakdown the other day Chris, Babcock stood head and shoulders above the others in my mind. I am glad to have him, and glad to have this DONE!
I was also NOT comfortable with the thought of having one of the ACC shills running VT’s athletic program, although I’m sure he was an able administrator!
Look on the positive side..even if he DOES bomb, we can always blame Jim Weaver :>0