I think everyone knows what a tough financial year this will be for all athletic departments and I thought Chris did a nice job this week with his column researching ticket sales revenue (or in VT’s case, the lack thereof).

Nowhere will that impact be felt more than our Olympic sports. Most of you know my love affair with softball, so I asked Coach D’Amour for a few minutes of his time this week to brainstorm some fundraising ideas to help out during these tough times. Coach was gracious as always and not only did he meet with me, but so did Assistant Coaches Mike Lewis and Andrew Stover, and Director of Softball Operations Whitney Davis Showalter.

I can tell you that they are all very, very appreciative of Hokie Nation and your support. And I want to be clear that they are absolutely NOT complaining in any fashion about the current financial situation – I approached them as I think a few extra dollars might make a little bit of a difference.

We brainstormed several fundraising ideas and one that I am going to take the lead on executing is an online auction of Hokies memorabilia and experiences. Compliance is involved to make sure everything we do is permissible under NCAA regulations. And as I told the coaches, it may not be much, but every dollar that we raise is one more dollar than they had before.

We’ve got a start with some old uniforms and will have some signed balls and some experiences with the coaching staff.

But I thought I would expand our think tank and ask the board for your ideas for the auction. Feel free to respond here or shoot me an e-mail.

AND…if you have anything that you would like to donate, please shoot either myself or Whitney a note.

My e-mail is [email protected]

Thanks so much.

Let’s Go Hokies.