![[Valid Atom 1.0]](images/valid-atom.png "Valid Atom 1.0")
This is a valid Atom 1.0 feed.
This feed is valid, but interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations.
<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xml:lang="en">
line 27, column 0: (16 occurrences) [help]
<script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="u ...
line 207, column 0: (2 occurrences) [help]
<div id="4EgErX"><div data-anthem-component="table:12320433">< ...
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xml:lang="en"> <title>Gobbler Country - All Posts</title> <subtitle>The Gold Standard For Virginia Tech Athletics</subtitle> <icon>https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/50377/gobbler-fav.png</icon> <updated>2024-05-03T22:55:40-04:00</updated> <id>http://www.gobblercountry.com/rss/current/</id> <link type="text/html" href="https://www.gobblercountry.com/" rel="alternate"/> <entry> <published>2024-05-03T22:55:40-04:00</published> <updated>2024-05-03T22:55:40-04:00</updated> <title>Virginia Tech football: Four former Hokies ready for their first NFL minicamp</title> <content type="html"> <figure> <img alt="NCAA Football: Virginia Tech at Virginia" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QWtp20ReSSmojy4litCZz_S1EDw=/1x0:3492x2327/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73326480/usa_today_21971647.0.jpg" /> <figcaption>Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption> </figure> <p>No Hokies were drafted, but two signed and two are competing for a spot. </p> <p id="Sg0Bac">The 2024 NFL draft is in the books, and no Virginia Tech Hokies were drafted. It’s proof that the talent level in Blacksburg is down after a rough few seasons, but it’s also fair to point out that head coach Brent Pry did a phenomenal job retaining all of Virginia Tech’s top draft-eligible players. </p><p id="DUIyC9">While no one was drafted, two former Hokies were signed to undrafted free-agent contracts: Defensive tackles Norell Pollard and Pheldarius Payne. Pollard inked a deal with the Washington Commanders, while Payne signed with the Houston Texans. </p><p id="HOZhnz">Pollard played in 61 career games for the Hokies over five seasons, most of which as a starter. Pollard finished with 118 tackles, including 22 for loss and 12 sacks. </p><div id="EVOkQ7"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sending our guy to D.C. <br><br>Good luck <a href="https://twitter.com/rell_honcho?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rell_honcho</a> ! Can’t wait to see what you do with the <a href="https://twitter.com/Commanders?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Commanders</a> ‼️<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThisIsHome?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ThisIsHome</a> <a href="https://t.co/7aErXhfcEi">pic.twitter.com/7aErXhfcEi</a></p>— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) <a href="https://twitter.com/HokiesFB/status/1784572464766361671?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="4Rk3tf">Payne began his career at Nebraska and transferred to Virginia Tech ahead of the 2022 season. Unfortunately, an injury cost him his first season in Blacksburg. Payne was outstanding in a rotational role for the Hokies in 2023, recording 31 tackles, including 10 for loss and four sacks. </p><div id="k71VY6"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bringing the Payne to Houston <br><br>Congrats to our guy <a href="https://twitter.com/Pheldarius?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Pheldarius</a> on signing with the <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonTexans?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HoustonTexans</a> ‼️<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThisIsHome?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ThisIsHome</a> <a href="https://t.co/7h7PU0sMpM">pic.twitter.com/7h7PU0sMpM</a></p>— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) <a href="https://twitter.com/HokiesFB/status/1784397696222032325?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="xCF5yn">Former Blacksburg High Star — and track star — Cole Beck had two tryouts scheduled. Beck is with the New York Jets this weekend and the Atlanta Falcons next weekend. Beck, an All-American track athlete, has had two different stints with the football team and possesses world-class speed. </p><div id="Ff8I3R"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">See you in The Big <br><br>Rookie Mini Camp Invite: Cole Beck ‼️<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThisIsHome?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ThisIsHome</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/ColetonBeck?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ColetonBeck</a> <a href="https://t.co/ISCbYsoYao">pic.twitter.com/ISCbYsoYao</a></p>— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) <a href="https://twitter.com/HokiesFB/status/1784677882691809477?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="MTcBes">Pollard’s longtime running buddy, Mario Kendricks, also has a tryout scheduled for this weekend with the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. </p><div id="ISUReo"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Heading to Kansas City <br><br>Rookie Mini Camp Invite: Mario Kendricks ‼️<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThisIsHome?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ThisIsHome</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/MarioKendricks?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MarioKendricks</a> <a href="https://t.co/W2aBcmbQst">pic.twitter.com/W2aBcmbQst</a></p>— Virginia Tech Football (@HokiesFB) <a href="https://twitter.com/HokiesFB/status/1784625572988989467?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="S7hu6R">We wish each of those Hokies luck as they seek to make their mark in the NFL. </p><p id="GYAset"></p> </content> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/5/3/24148589/virginia-tech-football-four-former-hokies-first-nfl-draft-minicamp-norell-pollard-cole-beck"/> <id>https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/5/3/24148589/virginia-tech-football-four-former-hokies-first-nfl-draft-minicamp-norell-pollard-cole-beck</id> <author> <name>Bryan D. Manning</name> </author> </entry> <entry> <published>2024-05-01T23:50:29-04:00</published> <updated>2024-05-01T23:50:29-04:00</updated> <title>Virginia Tech women’s basketball: Lani White and Ramiya White commit to Hokies</title> <content type="html"> <figure> <img alt="NCAA Womens Basketball: NCAA Tournament-First Round-South Dakota State vs Utah" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QfOpJko-xHfnd4W48fuGH7kCiXI=/0x0:8001x5334/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73321730/usa_today_22853088.0.jpg" /> <figcaption>Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption> </figure> <p>Megan Duffy with two big additions to the roster. </p> <p id="1iSaDr">Wednesday was a good day for Virginia Tech women’s basketball coach Megan Duffy. First, former Utah guard Lani White announced she was transferring to Virginia Tech. The 5-foot-11 White is a native of Irvine, California, and averaged 2.5 points and 1.8 rebounds per game for the Utes last season. </p><p id="muOXZi">White has two years of eligibility remaining. </p><p id="c1zgUO">White is Duffy’s first newcomer via the NCAA transfer portal. The Hokies added two high school recruits after Duffy accepted the Virginia Tech job. </p><div id="RG2LSl"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">committed <a href="https://twitter.com/HokiesWBB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HokiesWBB</a> <a href="https://t.co/DgDree4n3a">pic.twitter.com/DgDree4n3a</a></p>— Lani White (@laniwhitee) <a href="https://twitter.com/laniwhitee/status/1785431004720832731?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="53QbUl">White’s addition wasn’t the only good news for VT on Wednesday. </p><p id="D0jEMs">Ramiya White, a 6-foot-5 center from Louisville, announced that she was signing with Virginia Tech. In a twist of good news for Virginia Tech, White was a former Kentucky signee who began to explore her options after former VT coach Kenny Brooks took over as Wildcats coach last month. </p><div id="M91y9k"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">committed! <a href="https://twitter.com/HokiesWBB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HokiesWBB</a> <a href="https://t.co/sOdKzd4gGr">pic.twitter.com/sOdKzd4gGr</a></p>— ramizzy. (@Ramiya_White) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ramiya_White/status/1785741886163919333?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 1, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="Ccg0DF">The Hokies lost freshman center Clara Strack, who followed Brooks to Kentucky, and incoming freshman center Clara Silva, backed out of her pledge to the Hokies to follow Brooks. </p><p id="Bk1XJN">After the additions of Lani and Ramiya White, Virginia Tech has at least four open scholarships for next season, so Duffy is not done. </p><p id="Nh2ORj">Welcome home, Lani and Ramiya. </p> </content> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/5/1/24146923/virginia-tech-womens-basketball-lani-white-and-ramiya-white-commit-to-hokies-megan-duffy-transfer"/> <id>https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/5/1/24146923/virginia-tech-womens-basketball-lani-white-and-ramiya-white-commit-to-hokies-megan-duffy-transfer</id> <author> <name>Bryan D. Manning</name> </author> </entry> <entry> <published>2024-04-30T22:39:17-04:00</published> <updated>2024-04-30T22:39:17-04:00</updated> <title>Virginia Tech football: UCLA QB Collin Schlee transfers to the Hokies</title> <content type="html"> <figure> <img alt="NCAA Football: Arizona State at UCLA" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6iiawwSvxaVIWT_XRngUzoS5PiM=/0x167:3818x2712/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73319159/usa_today_21906953.0.jpg" /> <figcaption>Alex Gallardo-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption> </figure> <p>Schlee will battle Pop Watson in a battle to back up Kyron Drones. </p> <p id="GhVoHl">The Virginia Tech Hokies added their first spring transfer Tuesday when UCLA quarterback Collin Schlee announced he was coming to Blacksburg to finish up his college career. </p><p id="jVuUvS">A native of Ijamsville, Maryland, Schlee began his college career at Kent State, where he played four seasons. He became the starting quarterback in 2022, completing 59% of his passes for 2,109 yards, 13 touchdowns, and five interceptions. </p><p id="1ogilD">The 6-foot-3, 225-pound Schlee transferred to UCLA ahead of last season. In his one season with the Bruins, Schlee completed 25 of 47 passing attempts for 217 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Schlee is also a dangerous runner, with 1,126 rushing yards (6.5 YPC) and 11 touchdowns in 31 games. </p><p id="HFvdgF">UCLA head coach Chip Kelly departed after the season to take over as the offensive coordinator at Ohio State, and Schlee chose to return closer to home. </p><p id="aNEhiO">Virginia Tech has one of the nation’s top quarterbacks in Kyron Drones. Schlee is coming to VT to battle redshirt freshman William “Pop” Watson to be the backup quarterback. Don’t take this as an indictment on Watson. The Hokies love Watson. This was more about adding another proven quarterback to the roster in case there is an injury to either Drones or Watson. Schlee will compete with Watson, which will be good for the impressive young passer. </p><div id="DYb3wq"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Blessed for the opportunity!! <a href="https://twitter.com/TylerBowen?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TylerBowen</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachPryVT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CoachPryVT</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hokies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hokies</a> <a href="https://t.co/0jGzFZa2J7">pic.twitter.com/0jGzFZa2J7</a></p>— Collin Schlee (@collin_schlee) <a href="https://twitter.com/collin_schlee/status/1785459966444515561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 1, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="HeX0Hx"> Welcome home, Collin. </p> </content> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/4/30/24146012/virginia-tech-football-ucla-bruins-qb-collin-schlee-transfers-to-the-hokies-kyron-drones"/> <id>https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/4/30/24146012/virginia-tech-football-ucla-bruins-qb-collin-schlee-transfers-to-the-hokies-kyron-drones</id> <author> <name>Bryan D. Manning</name> </author> </entry> <entry> <published>2024-04-29T23:21:36-04:00</published> <updated>2024-04-29T23:21:36-04:00</updated> <title>Virginia Tech basketball: Transfer guard Jordan Ivy-Curry decommits</title> <content type="html"> <figure> <img alt="NCAA Basketball: Texas-San Antonio at Wichita State" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vvjMtsCtmbj52ehNspiyRQdwGcc=/0x0:4511x3007/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73316725/usa_today_22468612.0.jpg" /> <figcaption>William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption> </figure> <p>Ivy-Curry had signed with the Hokies this month. </p> <p id="w6mws3">It’s been a hectic start to the offseason for Virginia Tech basketball coach Mike Young. Over half his team entered the NCAA transfer portal after the season ended last month, leaving many to wonder what was going on in Blacksburg. </p><p id="jlwLpj">The naysayers blamed everything on Young. But, of course, there was always more to the story. The departures were more about NIL and players shopping their services than it was about anything regarding Young. </p><p id="Yuf9LW">Things began to stabilize earlier this month when Virginia Tech received its first commitment from the transfer portal: UTSA guard Jordan Ivy-Curry. Four more commitments followed and it appeared that Tech’s 2024-25 roster would be even better than last year’s team. </p><p id="mflkYl">That optimism took a hit Monday when Ivy-Curry announced he was backing out of his pledge to the Hokies and reopening his recruitment. Ivy-Curry, who averaged over 17 points per game last season, was a projected starter for VT. </p><div id="rNVhME"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jordan Ivy-Curry has re-opened his recruitment, he told <a href="https://twitter.com/TheFieldOf68?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheFieldOf68</a>. <br><br>The 6-3 guard who averaged 17.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists, and shot 39 percent from 3 last season had previously committed to Virginia Tech.</p>— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/GoodmanHoops/status/1784962298144014527?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="3QvJ2L">If we follow the social media chatter, it looks like Ivy-Curry could be headed to.......Kentucky. </p><p id="XsLoly">Yeah, that’s not what Virginia Tech fans want to hear after the entire Kenny Brooks fiasco. However, Ivy-Curry committing, decommitting, transferring, has been a trend since he first entered college. He is the rare player who played at a school (UTSA), entered the portal and committed to another school (Pacific), only to return to his original school (UTSA). </p><p id="LuW1MK">So, while it is disappointing for the Hokies, it’s probably not totally unexpected. Once a player transfers and signs with a school, the commitment should be binding, but we are living in the Wild West with the portal. The NCAA has completely dropped the ball on the portal and NIL and until there are some type of regulations, more of this will continue to happen. </p><p id="Jor2rI">The transfer portal is good for college sports. However, schools should never be allowed to openly recruit from players who are signed and playing elsewhere. But that’s where we are. The Hokies have at least three scholarships remaining and expect Young to continue looking for a starting guard. </p> </content> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/4/29/24145002/virginia-tech-basketball-transfer-guard-jordan-ivy-curry-decommits-transfer-portal"/> <id>https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/4/29/24145002/virginia-tech-basketball-transfer-guard-jordan-ivy-curry-decommits-transfer-portal</id> <author> <name>Bryan D. Manning</name> </author> </entry> <entry> <published>2024-04-29T16:20:20-04:00</published> <updated>2024-04-29T16:20:20-04:00</updated> <title>Virginia Tech Hokies Go 2-2 for Four Games but Drop the UNC Series 1-2</title> <content type="html"> <figure> <img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-Bvcq1Qi8n3vBVzO1SlDqm-JCZ0=/0x0:4368x2912/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73316097/IMG_0018.0.jpeg" /> <figcaption>There was a time, early in the season when Tech was hot, and the weather was cold. | John Schneider - SB Nation</figcaption> </figure> <p>It was a really mixed bag week for the Hokies. Tuesday they absolutely obliterated visiting George Mason, but then traveled to Chapel Hill to face the streaking Tar Heels. Tech settled for a split but dropped their 4th ACC series in a row.</p> <p id="2UZL0j">If you were looking for a game-by-game summary this week, here are the humble apologies and non-excuse excuses. The End Series research and writing took every bit of spare time available. It’s been eye-opening, even for yours truly. The intent was to cover the GMU game, it was a beautiful evening, but work events that put off writing time took over on this one. That game was missed it looked like a fun time at the ballpark.</p><p id="K5lMuh">The skinny is that Virginia Tech is struggling a bit when it comes to its ACC schedule. The team has dropped the last 4 series with serious cases of the “almosts” and “not quites”. Their offensive explosion against GMU, which set team records, proves that they can swing the lumber, but those low conference slugging numbers and some baffling and frustrating errors in the field have created a team that is on the ACC Tournament bubble, and therefore on the NCAA bubble as well.</p><p id="sT9GcF">The season is drawing to a close and there are only two opportunities to get back on the winning side of the ACC schedule. Okay, let’s qualify that one. Tech still is two games over .500 in the ACC, but the current trajectory is pointing to a subpar conference season. That’s a problem that Coach Szefc and staff are going to have to solve pretty quickly because the last two series (Miami in Blacksburg, and UVA in Hooville) are not going to be easy, especially the finale in Charlottesville the weekend of May 16-18. </p><h3 id="tOrBx9"><strong>Records Were Set on Tuesday</strong></h3><p id="kWFdCR">Let’s start on the bright side, though. The Hokies hosted the George Mason University Patriots for a Tuesday non-conference matchup that is pretty unusual. Tech hasn’t scheduled GMU very often over the past 20 years. It’s been only 31 games since 1982, but the Patriots haven’t been a pushover challenger. The two teams are nearly even at 17 wins for Tech and 14 for GMU, but the Hokies managed to grab the 2020 contest. The 21st Century hasn’t been kind to the Hokies in relation to the Patriots, though. Since 2000 the Hokies are 2 and 3 with a tie (<em>they are possible in college baseball, for non-conference games</em>) in 2000. So, the prospect of the GMU Patriots coming to Atlantic Union Bank Park during a period where the Tech pitching staff was having difficulties was not a pushover non-conference matchup.</p><p id="GfoJLJ">Ultimately, it didn’t turn out that way. The Patriots didn’t agree to the ACC run-rule and their record prior to April 23rd suggested that maybe they could pick off the Hokies and run back to Fairfax with a big win against a power conference team. The strategy didn’t pay off this time.</p><p id="wQBiht">The Hokie pitching staff, this was a PBC game, held the Patriots to 5 runs on 8 hits. Normally that’s a good ball game, with a single insurance run tacked on in the top of the 9th, but that run came against the Hokie bench. By the latter half of the game, Coach Szefc started subbing in nearly every player that he had and was eying the batboy for a shot at a knock. </p><p id="SZGmnQ">The Hokies started scoring early, and even with major bench subs continued to pile up the runs until the teams ran out of innings and outs. Brady Kirtner ended up with the credit for the win, though 7 pitchers in the contest and no one had too much in the way of struggles.</p><p id="FcxPXz">On offense, the numbers were eyepopping. One name to mention is backup 1st Baseman Warren Holzemer who smacked his first collegiate home run in the game (<em>he also drew a walk and scored on that on-base effort, too</em>). </p><div id="6NwVsI"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"> <a href="https://twitter.com/warrenh15?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@warrenh15</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hokies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hokies</a> ⚾️ <a href="https://t.co/2Nyu9uKOm1">pic.twitter.com/2Nyu9uKOm1</a></p>— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/HokiesBaseball/status/1782953722835820629?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="nAffTS">By the end of the game, every position was being played by a substitute. </p><blockquote><p id="uzzFpX"><strong>At the Plate for extras</strong></p><p id="Ldg1NI"><strong>Doubles:</strong> Ben Watson - 2, Chris Cannizzaro, Jake Slade, Gehrig Ebel, David McCann</p><p id="d7Rkp9"><strong>Triples:</strong> Nick Locurto</p><p id="T7oOHS"><strong>Home Runs:</strong> Carson DeMartini - 2, Gehrig Ebel, Warren Holzemer, David McCann</p><p id="nGF43G"><strong>Plonked:</strong> David McCann, Nick Locurto</p><p id="hnGWtY"><small>*from Hokie Sports</small></p></blockquote><div id="4EgErX"><div data-anthem-component="table:12320433"></div></div><div id="YsdeQK"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hokies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hokies</a> ⚾️ <a href="https://t.co/GF0pe4tHA1">pic.twitter.com/GF0pe4tHA1</a></p>— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/HokiesBaseball/status/1782960970567909461?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><h3 id="SqPbhH"><strong>The Weekend Didn’t Turn Out Like We Planned (er well hoped, anyway)</strong></h3><p id="O3B4ak">The down and dirty of this one is that Virginia Tech dropped their 4th ACC series in a row and is now only 2 games above .500 at 13-11. The overall record is better, but not worth going over at the moment, because for right now all that really counts will be the final six ACC games. </p><p id="rWDKgT">The Hokies traveled to Chapel Hill as solid underdogs, and with the Tar Heels being undefeated at home this season, Tech was not expected to win anything at all for this one. Carolina is ranked 12th in today’s D1 poll. That’s 3 above the 15th they ranked when Tech rolled into town. </p><p id="8XkwWL">We aren’t going into the gory details on this series because it was a loss, and frankly nobody wants to dwell on losses, but Sunday’s game which the Hokies managed to win was the only real bright spot. Breaking that Carolina home win record might give Tech a pocket full of positivity when it comes to the season finale against the 11th ranked Wahoos. </p><p id="KCDdia"><strong>Game 1 - The Bull Pen Takes No Hits</strong></p><p id="68QCbz">Friday’s game looked odd, because the Hokies have messed with their pitching rotation, and Brett Renfrow was not on the bump for Tech. Relief pitcher Jeremy Neff started off on the bump. Had he been used for only 2 innings he’d have had a relatively decent outing. But he was pushed into a 3rd and then 4th inning and gave up a total of 5 runs. Why he started the 4th is a mystery. </p><p id="WFGchX">We still don’t have a reason for the major shift away from the Renfrow, Parliament, and Stieg weekend rotation, but a shaky first game PBC is not the way to start a high-pressure series. Suffice it to say, when Neff walked off the bump the Hokies were behind 6-0 and the offense was totally stoned. Grant Manning did one big thing for the bull pen, besides putting up a pretty good game with a high-powered Carolina offense only managing to cross the plate two more times. That was a hard outing to take. Relievers usually don’t put in 5 innings which often is a starting position in the rotation.</p><p id="rUkSGb">The first three they went 3 up and 3 down. The next three they managed 3 singles, one in each inning. The next three, they managed only a single and a homerun by Chris Cannizzaro that at least killed the skunk in the top of the 9th. It was one of the worst offensive outings by the Hokies this season. This was in a game where the team needed to get small ball hits, get on base, and move runners. Most of the time they couldn’t manage to get on base. </p><p id="hZhTTX">In addition to the near skunk on offense, the Hokies melted in the field on a few occasions and coughed up 4 errors. There are few games where a team can survive 4 errors and having a grand total of 5 hits scattered across a few innings isn’t one of them.</p><p id="wHkDnf">The Hokies dropped the first game, 8-1 and it didn’t look too good for Saturday’s contest.</p><div id="K1yZmv"><div data-anthem-component="table:12320919"></div></div><h3 id="loVbfX"><strong>Game - 2 And No Moral Victories, but Something Clicked</strong></h3><p id="VKsrNB">Game 2 looked a bit more normal. Freshman starting pitcher Brett Renfrow had a decent though not stellar outing. He kept the Tar Heels from scoring more than 4 runs and had held Carolina to 2 runs through 5 innings. The 6th proved his undoing, though. Carolina finally got the range on him as his arm tired. He had 95 pitches on the day which is one of the staff’s biggest problems. The pitchers are throwing to full counts on so many batters it has been difficult to keep them on the mound with enough arm strength late in their outings to throw consistent strikes. The trip into the bullpen after the 3 runs given up put the score at 5-1 at the end of 6. The Heels would cross the plate one more time in the 7th, and Tech’s bats didn’t wake up until the top of the 8th when Chris Cannizzaro punched a 2-run homer over the wall. Then the Tech bats went silent, again. </p><p id="60exsO">The Hokies dropped the game and the series. They were seeing some good things here and there, but in general the offensive explosion on Tuesday had delivered baseball karma to the team for the weekend.</p><div id="eUZk5F"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hokies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hokies</a> ⚾️ <a href="https://t.co/fTnGrGUp8b">pic.twitter.com/fTnGrGUp8b</a></p>— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/HokiesBaseball/status/1784328055026221246?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><h3 id="0tv2o9"><strong>Game 3 - and the Offensive Struggle Bus Continued</strong></h3><p id="QGlGQ3">Look, Game 3 was a win. We’ll take that any way that it comes, but does the offense have to struggle this hard against good teams? A hat tip must be given to the Hokie pitching staff on this one. Griffin Stieg started face a single batter, and then exited the game for reasons that have not been stated. The call went to Jacob Exum, and it was his turn to put in at least three or four quality innings in long relief. Exum gave up a single earned run and one unearned in his 3 full innings on the bump. Considering the dire situation that was an excellent result. Exum’s outer limit is usually 3 unless the pitch count is low, and he was up to 40. The coaches called for old steady Christiansburg native Brady Kirtner to push as far as he could. </p><div id="7EkyDv"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"> - <br><br> &amp; :<br><br>» 7.0 IP, 3 H, ER, BB, 6 SO<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hokies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hokies</a> ⚾️ <a href="https://t.co/99IrUC3ngW">pic.twitter.com/99IrUC3ngW</a></p>— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/HokiesBaseball/status/1784666146282799590?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="eNC0VA">Kirtner put in 4.1 innings and was only pulled after getting into a pickle and giving up a run in the 8th. He struck out 5, walked only 1, and held a powerful offense to 3 hits and only that solo homer in the 9th counted. He received the credit for the win, and we are going to note that Kirtner has quietly become a real threat. He’s 7-0 when he’s come in to relieve in a situation requiring a cleanup on aisle 5. Jordan Little came into the 8th with a slim 1-run lead and needed to generate 5 outs to get the door closed on a win. He did that, even while giving up a single and putting the tying run on the bags. He induced a line out and a fly out to get the Heels down to their last batter. That batter made contact only once for a foul, first strike, and then took him swinging for the final strike of the atbat.</p><p id="6TibzO">Offensively the Hokies didn’t do all that much. As the title said, it was another ride on the struggle bus. However! This time, Tech managed to pass the Tar Heels in the 4th inning on a Clay Grady 2-run homer. The winning run was generated by Ben Watson doubling to left, and Chris Cannizzaro getting a knock deep enough to score him. That was the end for the Tech offense, but it was just enough at the end. The Hokies came away with the win and saved a bit of face. </p><div id="D0jKmw"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hokies?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Hokies</a> ⚾️ <a href="https://t.co/ftxSekVvk7">pic.twitter.com/ftxSekVvk7</a></p>— Virginia Tech Baseball (@HokiesBaseball) <a href="https://twitter.com/HokiesBaseball/status/1784677315487867355?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="dptNRW">The next week features four home non-conference games with North Carolina A&amp;T visiting on Tuesday, and then the University of Ohio comes for the weekend. The game Friday has been moved to Saturday so there will be a double header in Blacksburg the 4th of May. Then Tech heads up to Lynchburg to finish the Liberty series, before coming home to face Miami. </p><h4 id="Y4bdk8">The regular season is almost over. Tech has a good shot at the post season, but really needs to get two series wins in the conference to close it out.</h4><h2 id="CYq9bn"><em><strong>GO HOKIES!!!</strong></em></h2><p id="e0QqyY"></p> </content> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/4/29/24144211/virginia-tech-hokies-go-2-2-for-four-games-but-drop-the-unc-series-1-2-acc-baseball"/> <id>https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/4/29/24144211/virginia-tech-hokies-go-2-2-for-four-games-but-drop-the-unc-series-1-2-acc-baseball</id> <author> <name>John Schneider</name> </author> </entry> <entry> <published>2024-04-28T14:58:01-04:00</published> <updated>2024-04-28T14:58:01-04:00</updated> <title>The End: Media Money, the Courts, and Fan Misperception</title> <content type="html"> <figure> <img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ltkkO6Nk1fo0r8qX5H05ctWZLCQ=/0x0:5184x3456/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73313839/IMG_0976.0.jpeg" /> <figcaption>In the End do we fire the Skipper? | John Schneider - SB Nation</figcaption> </figure> <p>Let’s take a good look at the first set of points in the series and review some of the plotlines causing “The End” to hasten to happen. Big Money - media mostly, has disconnected the programs from their purpose. The court rulings have been out of context and still offered no resolution, and the fan misperceptions driving their behavior. </p> <h3 id="cF2QrE"><strong>This One Feels Very Pink Floyd…</strong></h3><p id="GUO0uy">Few people reading this will remember college football from the 1960s and 1970s. Let us call it BC, Before Cable. In those days, unless you had a local, usually UHF (<em>What’s that you say? Channel 41 out of Norfolk, with the morning “Bungles the Clown” show just before hitting the bricks for school.</em>), might carry a local broadcast of a game. It was usually school in a conference with enough money to pay for an occasional broadcast feed to local stations. Some weekends there’d be a UVA game or maybe North Carolina, but just one game, and always from the regional conference. If you wanted to watch a nationally televised game, it was a Saturday gig, and there were two on one network, ABC. There are vague memories of some select games from NBC and CBS, but those two networks were professional sports and Sunday broadcasters. It wasn’t until Monday Night Football that ABC got into the professional football arena. </p><p id="A36qwN">The upshot was that there were three VHF main channels that popped up – Channels 2-13, and one or two UHF channels of which one was the regional PBS station. The national ABC broadcasts with the big beer and cigarette ad money were limited to two teams with broad national appeal. If your team was lucky enough to grab one broadcast during a season, it was like getting a championship game. The early game, kick-off at noon, was usually the less popular ratings match up and the later game 3:30, was reserved for the big schools like Ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska, USC, etc. and the lineup would be less regional than the noon kick. That limited the entertainment quotient but more importantly it was a serious throttle on the money flowing into the Athletic Department coffers. </p><p id="Dh9UmL">The the reality was that with the exception of an occasional low revenue booster shot from a TV appearance once a year, 90% of collegiate athletics depended on gate revenues and donations to support their athletic programs and scholarship funds. Cable TV and the establishment of ESPN with multiple channels available provided revenue models capable of producing a steady stream of advertisers to fund television appearances. </p><h3 id="XuiyhI"><strong>Cable, and Its Hundreds of Channels Changes Everything</strong></h3><p id="vMNoSw">The major turning point in the revenue flow was the creation and rapid explosion of ESPN. The growth was not steady and stable, but starting in 1979, the availability of sports entertainment products went from a trickle to a gusher virtually overnight. <a href="https://www.zippia.com/espn-careers-22765/history/">ESPN History: Founding, Timeline, and Milestones - Zippia</a></p><p id="yD7dVz">Running in parallel, an event stream involving the courts, the NCAA, and the CFA resulted in a running battle that eventually resulted in the conference networks and grants of rights changing the way broadcast contracts and the resulting revenues were negotiated and managed. <a href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/college/cowboys/2013/08/25/exploring-the-history-of-college-football-media-rights/60887384007/">Exploring the history of college football media rights (oklahoman.com)</a></p><p id="hxVhx3">The important thing to note is that between the 1984 Supreme Court Decision (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_v._Board_of_Regents_of_the_University_of_Oklahoma">NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma - Wikipedia</a>) that found in favor of the Oklahoma program regarding the NCAA being the soul negotiator of media contracts and the full development of the broadcast and cable rights contracts took a mere 4 seasons to move into high gear. Georgia took advantage of the move and pushed the SEC into making changes. Then Notre Dame signed a huge deal with NBC that still lives and feeds its football independence with COMCAST SportsNet, which is Cable NBC Sports, in 1990. The SEC signed a huge broadcast deal with CBS (not traditionally a broadcaster of college football games), and also inked a major deal for a cable network with ESPN (which is ABC-Disney). That all finalized by 2008, and the world never looked back, or never too far. </p><p id="HkCJYt">The world changed in one generation. It took cable-based sports with a mix of broadcasting (even better revenues) the impulse now moved to focusing the money on specific programs, and not “sharing” it among the teams in a conference.</p><p id="duVp4m">The custom network for a single program that probably generated the most gas, and the most controversy at the time was the 2011 creation of the Longhorn Network which was an exclusive ESPN subcontract with the University of Texas – and sowed the seeds of the Big XII’s controversies. </p><p id="UlBwSX">This means that the current “model” of contracts and rights grants is relatively new, and along with those contracts has come major cause of the current constant explosion, dissolution, reorganization, and legal system tort actions of the last decade and a half. It’s not a model, it’s a dog-eat-dog money grab of institutional egos competing for ever more revenues. </p><p id="SL0yOS">Now it’s to the point where the networks dictate playing schedules, game pace and content, and even officiating. College football games that rarely lasted over 2 to 2 ½ hours are routinely taking 3 to 3 ½ to complete. The commercial timeouts often outnumber the actual timeouts within any game. </p><p id="3YSdea">The revenue flows control the game, now. The group that controls the spigot, controls the schedule, the timing of the games, and the length and content of them, too. The next plot thread has nothing specific to do with money, other than the well-lined pockets of the lawyers playing their particular game, and the courts taking decisions out of any overarching concept of “collegiate athletics.” </p><h3 id="B4iVfO"><strong>Call It “Liti-slation”</strong></h3><p id="ZgsNqA">What’s the problem? Collegiate Athletics are supposed to be non-profit, and revenues shouldn’t matter more than what it costs to field a team and pay for the artificially limited scholarship money. The concept of collegiate athletics was lost and recovering it might be impossible because the courts were supposed to be the “level heads” in all of this and ended up pouring accelerant on the fire burning down the house.</p><p id="pMMeIu">As we visited in the first article, the door to the latest money fight was opened with the establishment of the concept of an athletic scholarship. Of course, the process was never particularly well regulated as a legal matter. Certainly, there existed a steady stream of “off the books” compensation for many programs but the flow of money and the rationing of access to athletic scholarships in revenue generating sports began to erode the already corroding firewall between a trickle of corruption, and a gusher of unregulated money demanded by student athletes. </p><p id="0tnmiT">The problem is, and has been, that legislators have been reticent to address the issues regarding how players are treated in regard to employment status, compensation (or none), and the individual marketability of an athlete’s persona. We will visit these things in detail in the next article, but this section concentrates more on the courts’ effects on the entire concept of college sports, regardless of any other details.</p><p id="RVBNRM">The parade of torts, decisions, and pending cases has become a challenge to track and digest. None of this should have ever been a factor in the process, but the ad hoc, trickled out, out-of-context decisions of the past twenty or so years have implemented in pieces and incompletely policies that should have been settled in the NCAA and Congress. </p><p id="jArH0h">The court cases have caused a massive disruption in the original understanding of the roles of the athletic departments, the student-athlete, and the NCAA. The watch-phrase for this situation could be “beware of the unintended consequences of winning your point.” The cascade of cases has forced the NCAA into removing the restrictions on student-athletes having immediate eligibility after transferring as an undergraduate. The consequence of that reaction to a court case currently on appeal, is to establish total annual free agency in collegiate athletics with only the star players actually benefitting. </p><p id="8AECPg">For a good review of the history of the Transfer Portal, without going into a bloody repetition beyond the significant dates and actions, see this article from NCAA Champion Magazine as linked through Amazon News: <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.ncaa.org/static/champion/what-the-ncaa-transfer-portal-is/index.html">What the NCAA Transfer Portal Is... and What It Isn’t</a>. There is also a decent summary in Wikipedia (<em>always careful to review these</em>) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_transfer_portal">NCAA transfer portal - Wikipedia</a></p><p id="ztUFqR">The first iteration was launched on October 15, 2018, but that didn’t last long. More court suits and fights began to challenge the restrictions on the transfer and playing eligibility. Remember in prior years, unless a waiver was granted, undergraduate transfers had to sit out a year before being eligible to play for their new team. Graduates could play immediately. The establishment of redshirting and five-year eligibility within college sports contributed to the viability of transferring. </p><p id="2ZcY0A">The interesting side note of this is that most of this “progress” has been made via Men’s Basketball, not football. College Basketball is its own niche sport where the niche is relatively small for most of the season and blooms into a fan preoccupation for the March NCAA Playoffs. The famous, or infamous depending on your perspective on the issue, court case of <em><strong>O’Bannon v. NCAA</strong></em>, 802 F.3d 1049 (9th Cir. 2015) provided a major steppingstone for Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights that eventually led to the Supreme Court’s 2021 ruling of <em><strong>NCAA v. Alston</strong></em><em> </em>which unanimously affirmed the right of college athletes to sign NIL deals. The resulting scramble to adapt has still no federal law or regulation in place, and no additional powers or exemptions have been granted to the NCAA by congress, including their anti-trust exemption status.</p><p id="wVYVTi">This article is more of a catalog of the current cases (as of February 2024) either decided at a lower court level or still under litigation. <a href="https://businessofcollegesports.com/legal/current-college-sports-legal-challenges/">Current College Sports Legal Challenges (businessofcollegesports.com)</a> </p><p id="Sh5oxA">We will go into the details about the effects of granting the athlete’s rights to make money of their Name, Image, and Likeness in the next article, <em><strong>The End: the Svengali Coach, Transfer Portal, and the Effect of Free Agency</strong></em>. Suffice it to say that the tort process is only beginning and will affect every level of college athletics and every sport. The volume and pace of the cases is furious, and the outcomes are not particularly predictable. </p><p id="gPENkN">The end result of the court decisions forcing the NCAA’s hands starting with the anti-trust decision allowing conferences to negotiate their own media contracts (1984), and the gusher of money flowing in every different direction, the scramble for a dipper of the slops has been chaotic and fearsome.</p><p id="LaQylU">The problem remains that a rational consistent and dependable regulatory regimen and legally acceptable methodology for implementing those governing rules/regulations is not present in the current system. It’s a patchwork quilt of game rules, spotty and often arcane behavioral rules for everything from minor compensation to recruiting and now retention. What has been lost in all of this legal hurly-burly is the primary goal of collegiate athletics, and that’s providing the means for a student-athlete to attain a degree.</p><p id="1iMkpk">(<strong>Note:</strong> <em>We will have a separate related article of “The End” Series that will cover another money flood phenomenon that is warping both professional and collegiate sports, and that’s legalized gambling/gaming. The 1992 </em>Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act <em>was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2018 in the case Murphy vs. NCAA -see the case ruling, here: </em></p><p id="7E1zF9"><a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-476_dbfi.pdf">Supreme Court Ruling in Murphy v. NCAA</a></p><p id="gSzp4f"><em>The massive very corrupting pressures from the gaming industry have now been added to the mix, and it’s probably one of the most important legal decisions, not directly related to college sports, that has been tossed into the mix over the last decade.)</em></p><h3 id="OUSx4U"><strong>The Fans Also Have Lost the Thread</strong></h3><p id="D6KoIP">So, big (huge) money warped the non-profit nature of the “business” of collegiate athletics. It also induced the participants to all get involved in using lawyers and the courts to get non-contextual decisions taken in their favor, to achieve some monetary remunerations. As the trickle of cash became a gusher, the pressure has mounted. We have visited, the phenomenon of under the table payments to athletes in the past. SB Nation’s <em><strong>“Meet the Bag Man,”</strong></em> by Steven Godfrey ran a long form series article on the bagman practices that existed before, and probably after the legalization of payments, but the reality is that bagmen were (<em>are?</em>) boosters who gain absolutely nothing officially resembling anything but satisfaction for winning in the situation. There were no tax exemptions or special loss write-offs for offering money, under the table, to players through whatever imaginative sources the fanboys could operate.</p><p id="gH9hBe">If the use of the modern noun “fanboy” offends some, well so be it. We are more than happy to hear your objections, but the fact remains that a serious lack of fan perspective and an outright often dismissive refusal to connect with the entire reason behind collegiate athletics – which, again, is education of the student-athlete has become a major influence on the toleration and now normalization of the corruption. </p><p id="62hSiR">Of course, there always needs to be a full disclosure, here. This is a sports blog, and fan driven site. Our content is produced by past and present fans of Virginia Tech sports, and though we try to make sure that we keep the facts straight, we are Hokie sports fans at heart. The partisan media phenomenon is exploding, there are sports blogs, Facebook pages (we have one, too), Twitter/X commentary (ditto) and the like. Never before have fans had so much visible input to the performance going on to provide entertainment in exchange for scholarship money. Except, pause, point… note… It’s not all about scholarship money for the student-athletes to provide them with the opportunity to earn a Bachelor’s or even Master’s Degrees. It’s no longer a school spirit, identity, and unity enhancing entertainment. It’s now a money-making business enterprise operating under the cover of a non-profit enterprise. </p><p id="qITiVg">There are several fan misperceptions that play into the blind support that comes from a virtual professionalization of college sports:</p><ul><li id="RXtY57"><strong>The misunderstanding of the relationship between the school and the athletic departments</strong>. They are not the same. The Athletic Departments do not often share so much as trademarks with the schools that host them. In several years of research we have found almost no monetary flow, other than scholarship money paid to the schools, from the AD to the institution. </li><li id="ohmdao">The lack of perspective in <strong>understanding the scope of the monetary differences, and therefore talent access, between the “blueblood” programs and the huge group of average FBS programs that barely scrape by</strong>. Many of those programs even have to tap their university’s endowments for support in a reverse flow of funds. Most fans just don’t have a clue as to the standard deviation of the curve. The drop off in revenues between the top 15 programs and the remainder has already been explored by us, but it’s only gotten worse as the media contracts begin re-negotiation phases and the leagues realign. </li><li id="zzhJHJ"><strong>The bandwagon effect</strong> is fun in some respects, but few people on the bandwagon realize the extent of their affectation. One of the biggest megaphones for the bandwagon effect creates ample opportunities for abuse and that’s social media. Most fans have some reticence for indulging in invective and threats, but there are more than a few who involve themselves in commentary for which they have little regard for the subject, usually some hapless athlete or coach who makes a mistake, and no filter to guard or throttle their commentary. The admonition that this is just a game and someone’s child (meaning you are castigating and denigrating not only the player but the player’s family) often is met with further invective. Of course, nobody should be dismissing the actual threats which are legally felonious assaults. Social media has pumped up the volume on a minority of fans who are ill prepared to form their opinions with a measure of adult perspective.</li><li id="BtRVMM">Finally for this list, we have <strong>the warped perception over the relative nature of winning and losing</strong>. Most sports are not played to perfection and most teams over the long haul of time, do not offer perfection as a product. In fact, except for a few very wealthy programs with oodles of access to the talent trees, most programs cannot sustain big winning seasons. The “firebird” phenomenon ties into the bandwagon, but often becomes so poisonous that it more or less permanently disables a program’s ability to recover from a poor to mediocre outcome. Some fanbases are so rabid that no coach can establish himself (or herself now that some women’s sports are catching on and more women are coaching at all levels) before being hustled out the door, often for huge contract buyouts and lawsuits. Solving this particular problem is, perhaps, the most troublesome, because it relates directly to many of the negative influences corrupting college sports, in general. The win at all costs mentality has a price to pay, and it’s often very dear.</li></ul><h3 id="UKKTBL"><strong>Wrapping This One Up</strong></h3><p id="qu9gBl">This particular piece has highlighted the main avenues of disintegration in collegiate athletics. We looked at the corrupting and uneven application of massive doses of media money that turned from a trickle to a flood in the short period of two decades. We took a look at the haphazard court decisions that have disconnected the concept of amateurism from college athletics – a piece at a time. With that, we also see that the tort process is still underway, and more decisions are going to mean more massive changes. The last issue that we visited for this particular piece was the misperception, sometimes innocent, and sometimes the ignorance has become malignant, about the reality of what college sports have become versus the actual reason why the entire enterprise exists. The disconnect there has resulted in many dark turns and often abusive behavior by the fans. </p><p id="4Qbsng">This piece is not intended to fix the problem, merely identify the major plot lines that are rapidly tying into the eventual end of the “old concept” of collegiate athletics, that may yet end the entire enterprise. In the next article we’ll take a sidebar to talk about the new issue of legalized sports betting and the evolving influences of open gambling on the subject sports, usually football and men’s basketball. </p><h4 id="WPYm9S"><strong>Stay with us. </strong></h4><h2 id="5YiAQk"><em><strong>GO HOKIES!!!!</strong></em></h2><p id="mwSToI"></p><p id="K5RMCU"> </p><p id="fy6db3"></p> </content> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/4/28/24143788/the-end-media-money-the-courts-and-fan-misperception-virginia-tech-hokies-acc-sports"/> <id>https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/4/28/24143788/the-end-media-money-the-courts-and-fan-misperception-virginia-tech-hokies-acc-sports</id> <author> <name>John Schneider</name> </author> </entry> <entry> <published>2024-04-27T14:04:47-04:00</published> <updated>2024-04-27T14:04:47-04:00</updated> <title>Virginia Tech basketball: Former VCU F Toibu Lawal commits to Hokies</title> <content type="html"> <figure> <img alt="NCAA Basketball: Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament Championship-Duquesne v Virginia Commonwealth" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ySK9wvank4SPyyejAPDCGvNBfuU=/0x0:2469x1646/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73311453/usa_today_22800788.0.jpg" /> <figcaption>Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption> </figure> <p>The Hokies add another transfer, their fifth since March. </p> <p id="4OamCb">Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young is red-hot on the recruiting trail. On Friday, the Hokies added yet another player from the NCAA transfer portal. </p><p id="UQK8X5">Former VCU forward Toibu “Tobi” Lawal made his intentions known that he was coming to Blacksburg. He has two years of eligibility remaining. </p><div id="TMjwuC"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">⚜️Available Transfer⚜️<br><br> Toibu Lawal<br> Forward Slashing <br> VCU<br>** 2 Years of Eligibility Remaining **<br><br>8 PPG | 6 RPG | 1 APG | 67 FG% | 43 3PT%<a href="https://twitter.com/ToibuLawal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ToibuLawal</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/transferportal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#transferportal</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/transfertapes?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#transfertapes</a> <a href="https://t.co/xSgyLGPoG2">pic.twitter.com/xSgyLGPoG2</a></p>— Transfer Tapes (@TransferTapes) <a href="https://twitter.com/TransferTapes/status/1781461541071601936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="rI0Zo8">Lawal is a native of London, England, and attended the City of London Academy and was a member of the 2022 recruiting class. As a freshman at VCU, Lawal appeared in 25 games, averaging just over five minutes per game. His playing time increased as a sophomore, as Lawal averaged 19 minutes per game. He averaged 7.7 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. </p><p id="x1NV4G">Lawal is a phenomenal athlete. According to his <a href="https://vcuathletics.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/toibu--tobi--lawal/4815">VCU profile</a>, his recorded vertical leap is 49.5 inches. </p><p id="vORCHa">Here’s proof:</p><div id="KOAupj"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">49.5 INCHES <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LetsGoVCU?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LetsGoVCU</a> <a href="https://t.co/ifmWQqgXOl">pic.twitter.com/ifmWQqgXOl</a></p>— VCU Basketball (@VCU_Hoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/VCU_Hoops/status/1705281875726749741?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2023</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="qQ55T4">Lawal is the fifth transfer commitment for Young and the Hokies. Here is a look at each of the new additions and how many points they averaged per game last season:</p><ul><li id="YWKaTc">Hysier Miller: 15.9 PPG</li><li id="OjpPOq">Jordan Ivy-Curry: 17.1 PPG</li><li id="MgjNpa">Ben Burnham: 11.9 PPG</li><li id="AV88Tv">Rodney Brown Jr: 3.5 PPG</li><li id="PzAve5">Tobi Lawal: 7.7 PPG</li></ul><p id="ibVi5G">Welcome home, Tobi. </p><p id="K0IrJL"></p> </content> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/4/27/24142356/virginia-tech-basketball-former-vcu-rams-f-toibu-lawal-commits-to-hokies-mike-young"/> <id>https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/4/27/24142356/virginia-tech-basketball-former-vcu-rams-f-toibu-lawal-commits-to-hokies-mike-young</id> <author> <name>Bryan D. Manning</name> </author> </entry> <entry> <published>2024-04-25T03:44:35-04:00</published> <updated>2024-04-25T03:44:35-04:00</updated> <title>Virginia Tech basketball: Temple transfer Hysier Miller commits to the Hokies</title> <content type="html"> <figure> <img alt="NCAA Basketball: Brooklyn Showcase-Albany at Temple" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/df2m7yZG7gGgx47NmVidHyD0e7g=/0x0:3133x2089/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73303660/usa_today_22108346.0.jpg" /> <figcaption>Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption> </figure> <p>Miller essentially replaces Sean Pedulla. </p> <p id="fnPQwt">The Virginia Tech Hokies saw point guard Sean Pedulla officially depart the program on Wednesday but quickly lined up his replacement. </p><p id="wpClQu">Junior Hysier Miller, a 6-foot-1 guard from Temple, announced he was joining Mike Young’s program next season. </p><div id="8j6CZk"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Source: Temple transfer Hysier Miller has committed to Virginia Tech.</p>— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1783279822182977954?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2024</a></blockquote><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> </div><p id="DycPzM">Miller averaged 15.9 points, 4.0 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game in 2023-24. The Philadelphia native is a big get for Young, and he essentially replaced Pedulla in Tech’s starting lineup. Miller was a three-star prospect in 2021. </p><p id="qQ55T4">Miller is the fourth transfer commitment for Young and the Hokies. Here is a look at each of the new additions and how many points they averaged per game last season:</p><ul><li id="YWKaTc">Hysier Miller: 15.9 PPG</li><li id="OjpPOq">Jordan Ivy-Curry: 17.1 PPG</li><li id="MgjNpa">Ben Burnham: 11.9 PPG</li><li id="AV88Tv">Rodney Brown Jr: 3.5 PPG</li></ul><p id="HkPhRj">The Hokies are already more athletic next season than they were in 2023-24. Tech may not be done in the portal as it is still looking for a quality frontcourt player. Miller and Ivy-Curry should replace Pedulla and Hunter Cattoor in the starting lineup. </p><p id="0tGUAr">Remember one month ago when the sky was falling for Mike Young and the basketball program? As of now, the Hokies look like they may have a better team next year, with more possible transfers on the way. </p><p id="j6Eah4">Young deserves credit for not panicking and adapting to the current climate of the sport. </p><p id="4mbjOK">Welcome home, Hysier. </p><p id="DxO5IF"></p><p id="LaL9UF"></p> </content> <link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/4/25/24139903/virginia-tech-basketball-temple-transfer-hysier-miller-commits-hokies-transfer-portal-sean-pedulla"/> <id>https://www.gobblercountry.com/2024/4/25/24139903/virginia-tech-basketball-temple-transfer-hysier-miller-commits-hokies-transfer-portal-sean-pedulla</id> <author> <name>Bryan D. Manning</name> </author> </entry></feed> If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:
Download the "valid Atom 1.0" banner.
Upload the image to your own server. (This step is important. Please do not link directly to the image on this server.)
Add this HTML to your page (change the image src attribute if necessary):
If you would like to create a text link instead, here is the URL you can use:
