BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech Director of Athletics Whit Babcock announced Tuesday that Dennis Wolff has been relieved of his coaching duties as head women’s basketball coach. In making the announcement, Babcock indicated a national search for Wolff’s replacement will begin immediately.
“I want to thank Coach Wolff for his perseverance and hard work for our university and our basketball program over the past five years,” Babcock said. “We appreciate the foundation that Coach Wolff and his staff have built at Virginia Tech.
“We understand that any coaching change impacts many families and these decisions are always evaluated thoroughly,” Babcock continued. “In looking at the totality of the program, I felt it was in the best long-term interest of our women’s basketball program to go in a new direction. Coach Wolff and his staff have handled this transition like the professionals that they are. We will keep our team and university leadership informed of the process, however, no further comments will be made until we announce our new head coach.”
Wolff recently completed his fifth season as head coach of the Hokies, compiling an 18-14 overall record (5-11 in the ACC) in 2015-16. His career record at Virginia Tech was 62-93 overall (17-65 in the ACC).
Britney Anderson, a member of the Virginia Tech women’s basketball team from 2003-07, has been appointed interim head coach. She joined the Tech coaching staff as an assistant in 2015.
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Wolff was the most “down the hall hire” of all of Weaver’s down the hall hires, he wasn’t even coaching at the time. I won’t bash him, maybe he was being a team player, helping out, who knows. Watched the Elon game, he was energetic, involved, the team won… but it was a bit of a hot mess. It is time to clean up the, frankly, lack of interest in “other” sports.
What happened to Cassell Coliseum? The picture appears to be of a spotless building. I’ve heard there were plans to clean up the old girl after 55+/- years. Is it really necessary? Or is that an architect’s rendering from long ago?
My guess is that it’s definitely an older photograph: to the left you don’t see the new basketball practice facility and to the right I believe you should be able to see the lights above the East stands, but they are missing. Additionally, I don’t think the parking meters are there anymore.
I’ve read that there are plans in the works to renovate the roof of Cassell, but I have no idea how much that would affect the arches and facades, if at all.
Wolff has left the cupboard far from bare. The new coach won’t face the rebuilding effort that Wolff did when Beth left. Hopefully there won’t be a lot of attrition.
All the potential attritition I had head about was going to happen if he was retained. Getting rid of him will minimize attrition..
Does he already have a replacement lined up? He named an interim coach but I would like to see him make a splash hire for the ladies team as well.
Whit is doing something that needs to be done and doing so as a professional. Clearly a change has been needed for some time and the timing is right for it to happen now. Every athletic sport at Tech is important and Whit will operate as such. We are so fortunate to have him for AD at VT. In Whit I trust and the future will be better than the past. Take it to the bank!!!!
I would like to see a Female in the job….
Looked like we had turned the corner this year. But time to get real coaches in here instead of down the hall hires. Whit is moving us in the right direction.
I hope he saves his money for Buzz. I couldn’t begin to tell you if women’s basketball was good or bad the last 5 years…didn’t we beat uva this year?
If he is smart about this (and Whit is no dummy), he won’t treat this as a zero-sum situation. A winning women’s bball program can be self-sustaining (or at least a minimal drain). The impact it can have on the university for attracting female students and athletes in other sports should not be discounted. The impact it can have within the ACC (both with other members and the conference administration) should not be discounted either. Remember, many of those male athletes we value so highly for football and basketball have sisters and girlfriends. I’m not saying he should break the bank but we’ve gone the cheap route. He shouldn’t hire someone with the sole purpose of saving money.
Action should have been taken several years earlier. But at least it finally has been done.
Whit is taking care of business and doing it in a professional manner. All coaches should be on notice. Your performance will be thoroughly reviewed and if it is sub par, your tenure will likely be terminated. This is professional management. Thank you Whit.