3/21/2017 football Edit

Virginia Tech Athletic Director Whit Babcock nominated as nation's best

Tim Sullivan • HokieHaven

Editor

Tim Sullivan is the Editor of HokieHaven.com. A University of Michigan alumnus, he is a decade-plus veteran of the recruiting industry.

Sports Business Daily has named its nominees for a number of annual awards in the sports world - collegiate, professional, and beyond - and it should come as no surprise that among the selections for Athletic Director of the Year is Virginia Tech's own Whit Babcock. He is joined by Chris Del Conte (TCU), Dan Guerrero (UCLA), Jay Jacobs (Auburn), and Dan Radokovich (Clemson) in competition for the top prize.

Virginia Tech fans are well aware of a recent surge for several sports programs in Blacksburg, thanks in no small part to a number of shrewd coaching hires.

Buzz Williams returned the men's basketball program to the NCAA Tournament after a decade away from the Big Dance, taking just three years to build the program back into a contender. On the ladies' side, Kenny Brooks took the hoopsters into the national polls for much of this season, and his team is still alive in the WNIT despite a late-season slide. Lacrosse coach John Sung has his women sitting at 10-2 and tops in the power conference that is the ACC in just his first Spring leading the team.

And of course, Hokie fans need no introduction to Justin Fuente, thanks to his football team's 10-4, Belk Bowl-champion season. With his high-powered offense complementing (perhaps even improving) the long-time excellence of veteran coordinator Bud Foster's "Lunch Pail Defense," the flagship program of Virginia Tech athletics had its first double digit-win season since 2011.

All those coaches were brought to Blacksburg by a combination of Babcock's eye for coaching talent and his ability to negotiate on an interpersonal (and yes, monetary) level to convince them to join him for a special era of Hokie athletics.

Babcock's shrewdness off the field - spearheading the "Drive for 25," trying to reach 25,000 members of the Hokie Club donor base - is oft-unnoticed, but only because of how successful VT has been on it under his leadership. He's in his third year with the Hokies, and most recently served in the same position at Cincinnati prior to his arrival in Blacksburg.