The Virginia Tech Hokies
are the athletic teams officially representing Virginia Tech in college sports. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 19 varsity sports. Virginia Tech's men's sports are football, basketball, baseball, Cricket, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, track and field, and wrestling. Virginia Tech's women's sports are women's basketball, cross country, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, and track and field.
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VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES TICKETS
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Traditions
Virginia Tech's sports teams are called the Hokies. The Tech mascot is the
HokieBird.
left
The word, which originated from the
Old Hokie
spirit yell, penned in
1896, is often used interchangeably with "
Fighting Gobblers" to refer to sports teams, fans, students, or alumni. The official university school colors - Chicago Maroon and Burnt Orange - also were introduced in 1896. The colors were chosen by a committee because they made a 'unique combination' not worn elsewhere at the time.
[1] The mascot is the
HokieBird, a
turkey-like creature. The teams were originally known as the "
Fighting Gobblers," and the turkey motif was retained despite the name change.
The stylized
VT
(the abbreviation for
Virginia Tech
) is used primarily by the athletic department as a symbol for Virginia Tech athletic teams. The "athletic VT" symbol is
trademarked by the university and appears frequently on licensed merchandise.
During the early years of the university, a rivalry developed between the
Virginia Military Institute and Virginia Tech, then called VPI. This rivalry developed into the original "Military Classic of the South," which was an annual football game between VMI and VPI on Thanksgiving Day in
Roanoke, Virginia. This rivalry continued until 1970 when Tech's football program became too large and too competitive for VMI. Today, Tech's major athletic rivalries include the
Virginia Cavaliers (see
Virginia-Virginia Tech rivalry), the
West Virginia Mountaineers (the series is in indefinite hiatus since the 2005 season when the last scheduled game was played), and the
Miami Hurricanes.
Virginia Tech's
fight song,
Tech Triumph
, was written in 1919 and remains in use today. Tech Triumph is played at sporting events by both the Virginia Tech band,
The Marching Virginians, and the Corps of Cadets' band, the
Highty Tighties. The
Old Hokie
spirit yell, in use since
1896, is familiar to all Tech fans.
Virginia Tech's football traditions and the school's fans are the subject of a 2007 full length documentary called which features a mix of interviews with coaches, players and fans as well as a look at Hokie football history and the direction of the program.
Virginia Tech Sports Today airs weekly on television stations in Southwest Virginia and
Comcast SportsNet.
Conference affiliation
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| 1895-1921
| Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Association
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| 1921-1965
| Southern Conference
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| 1965-1978
| Independent
|
| 1978-1995
| Metro Conference (except football)
|
| 1991-1998
| Colonial Athletic Association (wrestling only)
|
| 1991-2000
| Big East Conference (football only, joined for other sports in 2000)
|
| 1995-2000
| Atlantic 10 Conference (except football and wrestling)
|
| 1998-2003
| Eastern Wrestling League (wrestling only)
|
| 2000-2003
| Big East Conference (except wrestling)
|
| 2004-present
| Atlantic Coast Conference
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| Source: http://www.hokiesports.com/conference.html
|
Tech teams participate in the in the
Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), which the school joined in
2003 after a tumultuous trek through five different conferences in the previous decade, most recently leaving the
Big East in the controversial ACC expansion.
In 1921, Virginia Tech joined the Southern Intercollegiate Conference (now
Southern Conference), which contained 19 schools by 1922, all current members of the ACC or
Southeastern Conference (SEC). In 1932, thirteen schools left the then-gigantic Southern Conference to form the SEC and in 1953, seven more teams left to form the ACC.
[2]
Frank Moseley, Virginia Tech's director of athletics and football coach, believed that the new Southern Conference was a lower tier of competition and sought membership in the ACC, but was turned down. In 1965, Tech left the Southern Conference to become independent. In 1977, Virginia Tech once again sought admission to the ACC and was once again rejected.
[3]
In 1978, Virginia Tech joined the
Metro Conference, winning the conference
men's basketball championship in their first year.
In 1991, Virginia Tech was invited to join the
Big East Conference for football only. Members of the Big East football conference included
Boston College,
Miami,
Pittsburgh,
Rutgers,
Syracuse,
Temple, Virginia Tech, and
West Virginia.
[4] In 1994, Virginia Tech was turned down for full membership in the Big East.
[5]
In January
1995, Virginia Tech and
Virginia Commonwealth University were ousted from the Metro Conference and subsequently filed a lawsuit against the conference.
[6] The lawsuit was settled when Metro agreed to pay the Hokies $1,135,000 and Virginia Tech joined the
Atlantic 10 Conference, along with fellow newcomers
Dayton and
LaSalle in June 1995.
[7]
In 1999, the Big East agreed to accept Virginia Tech as a full member in all sports. Virginia Tech ultimately paid $8.3 million to join the conference, $1.1 million of which was actually paid after the school left.
[8]
In April 2003,
Mike Tranghese, commissioner of the Big East, dropped a bombshell — that the ACC was secretly trying to lure away Big East members.
[9] Over the next several months, the ACC held meetings and discussions. Ultimately, Virginia Tech was invited to join the conference, along with Miami. Boston College was added the following year. Virginia Tech finally had achieved what Frank Moseley had sought so long ago — membership in the ACC.
When Virginia Tech was invited to join the ACC, former
Roanoke Times sports editor
Bill Brill expressed his displeasure, saying "Virginia Tech will not win an ACC championship in my lifetime."
[10] When Virginia Tech's football team proceeded to do precisely that in their very first season in the league, Brill's house in Chapel Hill, North Carolina received hundreds of mocking phone calls from angry Virginia Tech fans, curious to learn when the funeral arrangements would be held.
[11]
Football
Virginia Tech participates annually with the
University of Virginia for the
Commonwealth Cup.
Men's basketball
Women's basketball
Virginia Tech's women's basketball team, led by coach
Beth Dunkenberger, is a fixture in postseason play, having received a berth to the
NCAA tournament each season from 2003 to 2006. Virginia Tech's women have been in postseason play every year since the 1997–98 season,
Bonnie Henrickson's first season as the head coach of the Hokies. In the 2006–07 season, the Hokies returned to the NCAA Women's NIT for the first time since the 2002 season, marking their tenth consecutive postseason appearance. They benefitted from the modified rules of the tournament. Starting in the 2007 season, the WNIT will accept at least one team from each conference. The highest-finishing team that misses the NCAA tournament from each conference is guaranteed a spot in the WNIT. The Hokies finished 7th in conference play, and the top six were selected for the NCAA. They play their home games in
Cassell Coliseum.
Soccer
Women's soccer at Virginia Tech began in 1980 with 2 club teams under the guidance of Everett Germain and his 2 daughters Betsy and Julie. Women's soccer has made great strides over the years and continues to be very successful.
Baseball
Virginia Tech's recently retired
baseball coach,
Chuck Hartman, finished his career as the fourth winningest coach in Division I baseball history with a 1,444–816–8 record, including a 961–591–8 mark in his 28 seasons at Tech.
Softball
Since starting its varsity program in 1996, the Virginia Tech softball team has played in six conference championship games, winning both the ACC regular season and tournament titles in 2007.
[12]
Under head coach Scot Thomas and behind the strength of one of the nation's best college pitchers, senior All-American
Angela Tincher,
[13] the Hokies made their fourth consecutive
NCAA Tournament appearance in 2008. On
May 25 2008, they defeated the fourth-seeded
Michigan Wolverines to advance to their first
College World Series.
[14] On
March 26 2008, Tincher pitched a no-hitter in a 1–0 exhibition win over the
United States Olympic softball team, ending their 185-game winning streak.
[15]
Golf
In 2007, Virginia Tech golfer Drew Weaver became the first American to win the
British Amateur golf tournament since 1979. Weaver edged out 2006 Australian Amateur Champion Tim Stewart and earned an invitation to the
2007 British Open.
Non-Varsity Sports
Hockey
Virginia Tech Ice Hockey was formed in 1984. In the fall of 1995 they joined the newly formed ACCHL and have competed there ever since. The team won the regular season champion title during the 1996–97 season with a record of 13–1. Currently the Hokies play out of the Roanoke Civic Center and recently drew the biggest crowd in team history of 5200+ to the VT vs. UVA game on January 19, 2007. The team also scored a Virginia Tech first in the January 19th game when the Hokie Bird mascot did the first "Laid an Egg" cheer with the fans, dropping a blue and gold Cavilier "Egg" from its tail onto the ice after a penalty called on UVA. They became the first non Carolina team to win the Canes Cup on January 14, 2007 by defeating the
Duke University Blue Devils,
NC State University Wolfpack and the
East Carolina University Pirates. The team website can be viewed at .
References
- hokiesports.com
- From The Beginning ... To The Beamer Era
- VT's History with the ACC
- SPORTS
- University Minutes Archive: March 21, 1994
- Tech, VCU file lawsuit against Metro Conference
- University joins Atlantic 10 Conference
- TSLMail #131 - Friday, June 11, 2004
- New York Sports - NY Daily News
- Extra scholarships make difference for Tech track: College notebook. - Roanoke Times (Roanoke, VA) - HighBeam Research
- 12/11/04 - Road Trip!
- 2008 Softball Media Guide
- The best there is
- Va Tech tops Michigan to reach College World Series
- Tincher ends USA Softball's streak, proves she can beat the best