I was born and raised a couple of hours west of Blacksburg. Tech was the closest local school that was playing at the highest level of college athletics and I grew up pulling for them based on local allegiance. Used to go to football and basketball games somewhat regularly with my dad from the time I was at least five years old. And a hoops team featuring Dale Solomon once played an intrasquad scrimmage at my local school's gym, which was pretty cool.

Both of my parents went to graduate school there (graduating in 1976 and 1977, respectively). Then my older sister chose Tech for her undergrad education (she graduated in 1987) and while she was there my family first became season ticket holders.

Given all that background, I still entered my senior year of high school with a firm intention of going to VMI. Then I started dating a girl who said that she was going to Virginia Tech and that's what ultimately sealed my own decision. My choice of grad school was also driven by where that same girl wound up after we both graduated from Tech in 1993.

Probably not the best way to make college enrollment decisions. But we just celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary a few weeks ago, so I'll stand by the method.

Oh, and our oldest son is currently a senior at Tech. He pretty much had his pick of schools but a big part of his decision was our family tradition. In addition to my folks, my father-in-law attended Tech in the 1960s and my mother-in-law graduated from Radford when it was functioning as the Women's Division. Boy the First is both a 3rd generation Hokie as well as the 9th member of our immediate family to matriculate at Blacksburg.