Whit Babcock has worked more than two decades in college athletics administration, the last 15 years in the top athletics director's seat.
On Monday, he laid bare the current situation at Virginia Tech, where he's been since 2014, and highlighted how woefully short Tech's athletics budget is "if you want to compete near the top of the ACC."
Addressing Virginia Tech's Board of Visitors, that school's version of a board of trustees and one that sees 13 members appointed by the state's Governor, Babcock insisted to the group that he wasn't "after anyone here," but he didn't mince words at where Virginia Tech is, how far behind it is fallen and, effectively, how close Hokies athletics are to sliding into de facto irrelevance.
After having an operating budget around $122 million in 2024, Babcock said Virginia Tech athletics needs roughly an additional $80 million to compete at the top of the ACC -- which still doesn't come close to the top athletics operating budgets in the Big Ten and SEC. The Tech athletics budget for 2025-26, he said, still is set to only be about $144 million.
"If you want to compete near the top of the ACC, our budget needs to be $200 million," he told the group per numerous reports.
A former assistant A.D. at West Virginia and Missouri before he took over at Cincinnati prior to his Tech tenure, Babcock told the assembled group and public audience that Tech athletics is at an "inflection point." He made a dire prediction for the school's sports teams in his presentation if finances aren't improved.
"If we don't radically leap forward now," Babcock said, "we're likely sealing our own fate for years and generations to come."
He noted Tech's operating budget last year in athletics ranked 14th in the ACC.
"Our resources don't match our expectations," Babcock assessed of Tech's budget and the reality of where it's left the school's athletics programs.
Babcock also decried Tech's student fees for being about 40 percent less than those of rival and state flagship institution Virginia, noting that UVA students pay $736 in student fees compared to Tech's $437 -- a difference he estimated at nearly $35 million more in athletics budget money if Tech students paid the same cost as UVA's. He also. noted that campus policy dictated that Tech be charged for parking spaces on its own campus for home football games at a price of $9 per space on 5,000 spaces.
Working with the entire campus community, Babcock noted that the price per space has been reduced this year to $3 -- or conservatively a savings of $180,000 for Tech athletics.
Last December, CNBC completed a project in which it projected valuations of the top 75 collegiate athletics programs across the country; Virginia Tech was tabbed into the No. 53 spot with an estimated value of $474 million -- or about one-third the top-end valuations of Ohio State and Texas.
Entering their fourth season under Brent Pry, the Hokies open their upcoming slate on Aug. 31 in Atlanta against preseason No. 13-ranked South Carolina. After a 3-8 debut season in 2022, Pry has led the Hokies to consecutive bowl berths and an overall 13-13 ledger the past two years.
