| |
|
 |
Monday, July 6, 1998 Weaver Names New Associate AD Jim "Dream" Weaver continues to mold the Virginia Tech Athletic Department into his own vision, and his latest move is to hire an old cohort from UNLV to serve as Tech's new Associate AD for Internal Affairs. The position is a new one at Virginia Tech, created by Mr. Weaver in his Athletic Department restructuring. To fill the position, Mr. Weaver hired Tom Gabbard, who has spent the last six years at UNLV. The full story on Gabbard's hiring can be found at the official Virginia Tech athletics web site, www.hokiesports.com (click on the link that says "Tom Gabbard Named to Virginia Tech Athletic Post"). As I said, the concept of having an associate AD oversee "internal affairs" is a new one, and sources in the Athletic Department tell me that a similar position is being created for "external affairs," which will cover, among other things, the Ticket Office, Media Relations, and Sports Information. It is likely that this position will also be filled from outside, because as one athletic department staffer told me, "We've got people who can do each one of those jobs, but not necessarily people who are qualified to oversee all of them." In any event, regardless of how the reorganization finally ends up, let me repeat myself in saying that I like the way Mr. Weaver has handled it (so far, in case you haven't noticed, he's getting a perfect score from me since taking office in September of 1997). He didn't come in and start firing from the hip right away. He spent a full "sports year" here, got a feel for the way things operate and what the talents and abilities of the different staffers are, and then started shifting things around to his liking. In the end, he'll wind up with the best product that way, with the right people in the right positions. It remains to be seen whether his vision of how an athletic department should be run will be right for Virginia Tech, but I'm certainly willing to watch and see what he can do. This is a man who comes from big-time roots, all the way back to when he played collegiate football. Jim Weaver played at Penn State, coached as an assistant at Penn State, was an associate AD at Florida, and was the athletic director at UNLV for nearly four years. So he's seen how the big boys do it, and he wants Virginia Tech to be big time. Me, too.
Message board poster "Almost Hokie" posted the rosters for the VHSCA (Virginia High School Coaches Association) All-Star Football game on the message board, and I wanted to grab his excellent post and capture it here for reference. AH says that the game is scheduled to be played at 7:00 pm on Thursday, July 16th at Darling Stadium in Hampton, and the rosters include a mess of future Hokies (my wording, not Almost Hokie's). Here are the rosters, with thanks to Almost Hokie for providing them and formatting them. Tech recruits are listed in maroon italic-bold print:
I count 13 Hokies in all, including Markogiannakis, who was not part of our "official" recruiting class, but I believe is a recruited walk-on (but Screaming Lizard is the recruiting expert, not me). Note that I included Anthony Davis and Marlan Hicks, even though Davis will attend prep school and Hicks has not yet qualified. Good luck to all future Hokies, and don't get hurt!
For the last two weeks or so, I've been taking votes over in the Members Only area from the HokieCentral members. The question: "Who is your favorite Tech athlete of all time?" I preloaded a list box with the following names:
They weren't chosen with any particular agenda or favoritism, and I also allowed the members to select "Other" and list a different athlete. Along with the choice, I asked for people's comments on their favorite athletes. So far, I have received about 120 votes, and voting is winding down. I'll post the results later this week here in the main site, with a more detailed story in the Members Only section.
|
