Virginia Tech Hokies

Infobox college athletics
name = Virginia Tech Hokies

---

logo_width = 200
university = Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
conference = Atlantic Coast Conference | division = Division I-A
director = Jim Weaver
city = Blacksburg
state = Virginia
stateabb = VA
teams = 17 varsity teams
stadium = Lane Stadium/Worsham Field
arena = Cassell Coliseum
baseballfield = English Field
mascot = Hokie Bird
nickname = Hokies
fightsong = Tech Triumph
color1 = Chicago Maroon
color2 =
Burnt Orange
hex1 = 660000
hex2 = ff6600
pageurl = http://www.hokiesports.com/
pagename = Hokiesports.com

Virginia Tech sponsors 19 sports and competes at the NCAA Division I level. (Football is IA.) Virginia Tech's men's sports are baseball, basketball, Cricket, cross country, American football, 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.

Traditions

Virginia Tech's sports teams are called the Hokies. The swim team is unofficially known as the "H₂Okies," a play on the chemical formula for water. The Tech mascot is the HokieBird.

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. [ [http://www.hokiesports.com/whatsahokie.html hokiesports.com ] ] 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, 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 [http://www.hokiemovie.com Hokie Nation] 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 the Southwestern Virginia area and Comcast SportsNet.

Conference affiliation

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. [cite web
url = http://www.hokiesports.com/football/history.html
title = From The Beginning ... To The Beamer Era
accessdate = 2006-07-02]

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.cite web
url = http://www.techsideline.com/tslmail/archives/tslmail0084.htm
title = VT's History with the ACC
accessdate = 2006-07-02
last = Stewart
first = Will
date = 2003-06-20]

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. [ [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/VTMAG/v14n1/page20-23.html SPORTS ] ] In 1994, Virginia Tech was turned down for full membership in the Big East. [ [http://spec.lib.vt.edu/minutes/ucm/1994/March+21++1994.html University Minutes Archive: March 21, 1994 ] ]

In January 1995, Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University were ousted from the Metro Conference and subsequently filed a lawsuit against the conference. [ [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/vtpubs/spectrum/sp950126/1c.html Tech, VCU file lawsuit against Metro Conference ] ] 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. [ [http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/vtpubs/spectrum/sp950216/1c.html University joins Atlantic 10 Conference ] ]

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. [ [http://www.techsideline.com/tslmail/archives/tslmail0131.htm TSLMail #131 - Friday, June 11, 2004 ] ]

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. [ [http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/76196p-70361c.html New York Sports - NY Daily News ] ] 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." [ [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-160604614.html Extra scholarships make difference for Tech track: College notebook. - Roanoke Times (Roanoke, VA) - HighBeam Research ] ] 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. [ [http://www.theragingbull.com/1204db/121104.htm 12/11/04 - Road Trip! ] ]

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.

occer

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.

oftball

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. [cite web |title=2008 Softball Media Guide |url=http://www.hokiesports.com/softball/sb08mg.pdf] Under head coach Scot Thomas and behind the strength of one of the nation's best college pitchers, senior All-American Angela Tincher, [cite web |title=The best there is |url=http://www.vt.edu/spotlight/achievement/2008-05-05-tincher/2008-05-05-tincher-spotlight.html |date=2008-05-05] 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. [cite news |title=Va Tech tops Michigan to reach College World Series |url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/26/sports/SOF-NCAA-World-Series.php |work=International Herald Tribune |date=2008-05-26] 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. [cite news |title=Tincher ends USA Softball's streak, proves she can beat the best |url=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/columns/story?id=3316159 |author=Hays, Graham |publisher=ESPN |date=2008-03-27]

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

Pirates. The team website can be viewed at [http://www.hokiehockey.com/ HokieHockey.com] .

References

External links

* http://www.hokiemovie.com--documentary on Tech fans site
* http://www.hokiesports.com - official athletics site
* http://www.techsideline.com - unofficial fan site
* http://www.HokieHockey.com - official VT Hockey site