There will be a new leader in Blacksburg starting this July.
On Thursday, Virginia Tech announced that athletic director Whit Babcock plans to retire after 12 years running the department. Babcock’s final day in charge will be June 30. On July 1, he will transition into an AD emeritus role and serve as a special advisor to the school’s president and his successor.
Babcock is the second-longest tenured AD in the ACC and the sixth-longest across the FBS level. He first took charge of the athletic department in January 2014.
With Virginia Tech hiring James Franklin this offseason to rebuild its sputtering football program, now it’ll search for a new leader to rebuild the rest of the department.
Babcock replaced legendary head football coach Frank Beamer in 2016 with Justin Fuente. After Fuente won 19 games in his first 2 seasons, things turned in the opposite direction. Fuente was fired in November 2021 with a 43-31 record. Babcock replaced him with Brent Pry, who had been Franklin’s defensive coordinator. Pry went 16-24 across 4 years before being fired.
Men’s basketball will presumably be under the microscope when the regime change occurs. Babcock hired Buzz Williams in 2014 and, after an initial 11-22 campaign in Blacksburg, Williams converted 4 straight 20-win seasons.
When Williams left for Texas A&M, Babcock replaced him with Mike Young, who has 1 season with 20 wins in his 7 years in charge. Tech has not made the NCAA Tournament since the 2021-22 season after going to 5 straight.
Under Babcock’s watch, Virginia Tech football, men’s basketball, and baseball combined to claim just 1 ACC Tournament championship and a shared regular-season ACC championship.
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Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
