Babcock outlines reasoning behind Drive for 25 campaign

Tech's AD cited a need to raise money for scholarships and also to change the mindset of Hokie fans when it comes to giving to athletics

December 12, 2016

By Jimmy Robertson

BLACKSBURG – While growing up in Waynesboro, Virginia, Kenny Brooks remembers well the day that then-James Madison coach Lefty Driesell offered him a scholarship to play basketball for the Dukes.

It was a feeling of relief, more so than anyone could imagine.

“It wasn’t a situation where, ‘OK, I got the scholarship, so my parents won’t have to pay for it,’” he said. “It was like, ‘OK, now I’ve got this scholarship, so now I can go to college.’ Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to go. I had two hard-working parents, and as much as they loved me, they wouldn’t have been able to afford to send me to college.”

Former Tech football coach Frank Beamer expressed similar sentiments when talking about the scholarship that Jerry Claiborne offered him to come to Virginia Tech in the late 1960s. Beamer was the youngest of four children and came from humble beginnings in the small hamlet of Fancy Gap, Virginia, roughly an hour from Tech’s campus.

“It was a blessing for our family, and to make it here and get on the field … that’s all I ever wanted to do,” Beamer said.

Not much has changed over the years, as Tech’s current student-athletes echo similar sentiments, and Virginia Tech Director of Athletics Whit Babcock, a former student-athlete himself, wants Tech fans to understand that. This is the type of impact that the financial contributions of fans and/or alums for athletics scholarships have on student-athletes and their futures.

With that at the forefront of his thoughts, Babcock announced Monday the launching of the “Drive for 25” – a tag-team initiative by the athletics department and the Hokie Club designed to increase the membership of the Hokie Club to 25,000 members. Such an increase would make the school’s fundraising organization the biggest in the ACC, and more importantly, provide much-needed revenue needed to offset the ever-rising costs of tuition and fees.

For all the momentum currently generated by Tech’s athletics programs – a football team that won the ACC’s Coastal Division, a men’s soccer team that made it to the Elite Eight, two basketball teams that are a combined 18-1, and a wrestling team that is ranked sixth in the nation – the athletics department finds itself in a precarious spot. The Hokie Club raised more than $20 million during the last year, but only $11.5 million of that was designated toward scholarships. The athletics department projects the scholarship bill for the upcoming year to be at $14.4 million.

Since the athletics department stands as a self-supporting unit on campus, it is responsible for footing the entire scholarship bill. Any portion of the scholarship bill that is not paid through donations will have to be covered from the department’s general operating budget – which means diverting resources that go directly to the individual sports.

That may not be a problem at schools with monstrous operating budgets. But the Hokies’ $80 million budget ranks 40th among the 65 Power 5 schools. So taking resources out of that budget could hamper coaching staffs’ abilities to remain competitive.

Thus, Babcock called the Drive for 25 campaign as likely the single most important thing that the athletics department and Hokie Club would do for the upcoming year.

“I wasn’t exaggerating,” he said following a press conference that outlined the campaign. “Yes, we have to win games and graduate kids and play by the rules, but if we don’t get our scholarship situation in order … that’s the foundation we play off of, so it’s critical.”

The goal is certainly ambitious. Clemson, Louisville and Florida State all possess fundraising organizations approaching 25,000 members. Currently, the Hokie Club consists of approximately 11,000 members and hasn’t been much above that over the past couple of decades. As a result, the amount of money raised for athletics ranks 11th among ACC schools.

So Babcock and the Hokie Club want to recalibrate the Hokie Club’s goal, with the central focus being on raising money for scholarships. Many people contribute just to accumulate points in the Hokie Club’s Point Priority System to receive the best seats at Lane Stadium and Virginia Tech Carilion Court. That works for people with the ability to attend games on a regular basis, but for those Tech fans in other parts of the nation – not so much. Therefore, they tend not to contribute to the Hokie Club.

So Babcock and his staff plan to include those who live outside of a 250-mile radius of Blacksburg as a part of the targeting process. That requires educating them and letting them know that their investment in Tech athletics is as important as those who live near campus.

“People just gave to get season tickets, and that’s great,” Babcock said. “But we have Hokies in California, we have them in China, in Texas, Florida … all of that. I just feel like that maybe we hadn’t done as much education or outreach and let people know that the Hokie Club isn’t just transactional priority seating mechanism. It’s the No. 1 way and the sole way that we pay for scholarships.

“We want to change the mindset. We want to rebrand the Hokie Club to be about philanthropy and opportunity, not solely a transaction for good tickets. We will educate our alumni and friends and provide results by also providing great service. This is the single-best way for alumni and friends to get involved in athletics.”

The Hokie Club plans a solicitation of new members through a mass mailing. Expect to see videos, letters, emails and graphics to be sent out through the department’s social media platforms.

Also, expect to see a lot of Beamer. To help with the Drive for 25 campaign, Babcock and the Hokie Club staff talked with Beamer, an immensely popular figure among Hokie Nation, and Beamer volunteered to serve as the spokesperson for the campaign.

The symmetry is fitting since Beamer wore the No. 25 and the top fundraising organizations in the ACC are approaching 25,000 members. He is the perfect person for this. In addition to be a student-athlete at Tech, he also served as a coach and went into the homes of prospects – many of whom would not be able to go to college without a scholarship offer from a school like Virginia Tech.

“When you go in, you think, ‘We’re giving this guy an opportunity that, if we didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to college,’” Beamer said. “He’d have to go and do something else. I always reminded kids that, ‘Hey, you’ve got a talent that most people don’t have, so make the most of it and use it. Get your education and get your degree, and along the way treat people right.’”

Brooks, men’s basketball coach Buzz Williams and current football coach Justin Fuente also will play parts in this campaign. All three bring a unique perspective on the value of scholarships.

Fuente once coached at the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level at Illinois State. Scholarship dollars are at a premium at that level because schools at that level only have 63 to offer as opposed to the 85 at the FBS level.

“Much has been made about the skyrocketing prices of competing,” Fuente said. “The NCAA has deregulated many things and allowed us to do more for student-athletes, but first and foremost, that is providing scholarship money. I think this is a great chance for the people who love Virginia Tech to continue to help us be competitive. I’m hopeful that our financial contributions match our passion for Virginia Tech.”

There isn’t necessarily a timetable to meet the 25,000-member goal. The athletics department and the Hokie Club plan on working tirelessly toward the goal for as long as it takes, but reach it hopefully sooner rather than later.

Rest assured, though, there is only one option in Babcock’s mind.

“We will achieve this goal,” he said. “Falling short is not an option.”

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