I have been a Hokie Club member now for well over 25 years. I am not a big money donor but at one point I was a Golden Hokie and have scaled down a bit since I moved away from Virginia and were not able to go to games due to the distance.

I still contribute, even though I don't buy a single ticket or parking space. I do it out of duty and a feeling that I cannot criticize if I am not at least donating to the cause.

Mrs. Cobb County Hokie, a loyal VT alum, who I met while living upstairs from me in the building formerly known as Lee Hall, has had enough. She thinks that the donation to the Hokie Club is akin to throwing money into a pile and setting it on fire. Her contention is that other worthy causes are out there that can and will use our money for better purposes.

I have held her off for a while but now, I am beginning to think she may have a point. Let's face it, our football team is not going to get better until we have a change in leadership. College football is all about recruiting and we can't recruit a lick. Without elite talent, we cannot compete with Clemson or Notre Dame or even UNC. Yet, all I hear is about how we are so strapped financially that a buyout precludes an obvious decision that needs to be made.

Tonight, we were flattened at home in basketball by Penn State. I'm shocked that we only lost by 20. Seriously, with the exception of wrestling, is any sport at Virginia Tech worth the donation right now? We won an indoor track title last year and that was it. Everything else is mediocre at best and I am struggling to understand why mediocrity is worth me stroking a four-figure check every year. At some point, does anyone do some sort of ROI calculation on things?

It is obvious that I am very frustrated with the way things are going in the Tech athletics department and I frankly believe that a change in leadership may be required as we continue to deliver disastrous results on the field and court. I am tired of seeing Tech teams get run out of their own house by opponents that we used to beat. At one point, we were much better than Clemson in football, now it is laughingly not even close. We have gone to SIX NCAA basketball tournaments in 30 years. Three of those trips came courtesy of Buzz Williams who could not leave Blacksburg soon enough after his first recruiting class left town.

I'm not seeing it anymore and I wonder what it will take for me to keep sending my hard-earned money down a pit of misery. Can anyone tell me why I am wrong? At this point, do we even care about excellence in Virginia Tech athletics? If not, why am I wasting my money on a donation year after year?