Opinion and analysis from TSL staff and freelancers. For archives from January 1, 2005 onward, scroll down. For archives from
earlier years, use the table below.
Top Ten Stories of the Decade, #1-#5 January 28, 2010 In our look at the top five stories of the last decade, we review events that altered the course of Virginia Tech athletics forever, and for some of us, changed our very lives. It was a powerful decade, full of intrigue and drama, and here are the five stories that captivated us the most. more
Top Ten Stories of the Decade, #6-#10 January 24, 2010 The 2000s were a remarkable decade of change, to put it mildly. ACC expansion, and Virginia Tech's inclusion in that expansion, was one of the biggest stories not just of Virginia Tech athletics, but college athletics as a whole. Hokie football thrived and grew throughout the decade, along with athletic department revenue and facilities, not to mention the cost of being a Hokie fan. Men's basketball at Tech hit rock bottom and then came back to life, while non-revenue sports changed their name (to Olympic sports) and notched unprecedented levels of success. All in all, it was an incredible ten years, sometimes gut-wrenching but filled to the brim with growth and triumph. more
Friday Thoughts: Football, Bowls and Basketball November 20, 2009 We're at that time of the year where football and basketball meet. The Tech football team is closing down their season, while the hoopsters are just getting started. Today we'll talk about football, bowl possibilities and basketball. more
An Important Message About the Ads on TechSideline.com October 23, 2009 Sick and tired of the ads on our site with food stuck in people's braces? Wondering what happened to all those great Hokie businesses that used to advertise on this site? Hoping and praying that TSL won't run those ads that take over your browser, or pop up and block the site from view? Then take a minute to read this article, which will bring you up to speed on the state of advertising on TSL, and what you can do to help improve it. Don't ignore this article -- this stuff's important! more
Friday Q&A: July 24, 2009 July 24, 2009 Will Stewart is back this week for the second and final Q&A about the business side of TSL. He discusses the demographics of site users, talks about our subscriber numbers and gives a list of our highest rated articles of all-time. more
Friday Q&A: July 17, 2009 July 17, 2009 Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at TSL? This week Will Stewart is our Friday Q&A guest, and he answers questions about the background of the site and the parent company, various business models and the ever-elusive press pass. more
Friday Q&A: May 15, 2009 May 15, 2009 This week, Raleigh Hokie and Chris Coleman take part in the Friday Q&A. Raleigh Hokie tackles football questions about injuries and Tech's strength of schedule, while Coleman talks about the recent developments in the basketball program and what it could mean for the lineup this season. more
In Hard Times, Weaver's Sound Financial Management is a Boon to Tech Athletics May 14, 2009 Randy Jones turned in another outstanding financial review of the Tech athletic department, and one thing is clear from looking over the numbers: in bad economic times such as these, the fiscal conservatism shown by Athletic Director Jim Weaver serves the Tech athletic department very, very well. more
2007-08 Financial Report: Hokies Still in the Black May 14, 2009 TechSideline.com brings you our fourth annual report on the state of Virginia Tech athletics finances. This year's report covers the 2007-08 academic year (2008 fiscal year), including the 2007 football season and the 2007-08 men's basketball season. Profit took a dip from the 2007 fiscal year's record-setting level, but the Hokies were still safely in the black for this fiscal year. more
Friday Q&A: April 24, 2009 April 24, 2009 Chris Coleman is today's guest on our weekly Friday Q&A. Today, he tackles questions about football and basketball, as well as football recruiting. Do the Hokies have a good shot to land a quality quarterback in the 2010 recruiting class? And who will join Jeff Allen in the starting lineup in Tech's frontcourt next season? Chris gives his thoughts on all of that, and more. more
Who Makes What in the Virginia Tech Athletic Department April 13, 2009 Who's the highest paid employee in the Virginia Tech athletic department? Frank Beamer, of course, at about 2 million dollars per year. But who's got the highest salary? That's a different question, and via the magic of a database on the Collegiate Times web site, we can find out who makes what in the VT Athletic Department. more
Friday Q&A: April 3, 2009 April 3, 2009 In this week's Friday Q&A, Chris Coleman answers questions about football and basketball. He discusses how valuable Seth Greenberg has been to the basketball program, how much longer Frank Beamer will coach at Tech, and also addresses issues with the offensive line and quarterbacks. more
TSL Poll: Why Aren't You Going to the Orange Bowl? December 15, 2008 VT fans aren't exactly chomping at the bit to attend the January 1 Orange Bowl against Cincinnati. As detailed in the Roanoke Times this weekend, VT has sold just 4,000 Orange Bowl tickets, versus 8,000 at the same point a year ago. So interest is down. There could be all sorts of reasons for this, but here's what we're really looking to find out: If you usually go to Tech bowl games -- say, more than 50% of them -- why aren't you going to this year's Orange Bowl? To vote, head over to our blog section by clicking here. Anyone can vote, so tell us your opinion! more
Mom's Last Season December 8, 2008 For reasons that I have kept private up until now, the 2008 Hokie football season has been a tough one for me, and last Saturday was the toughest. On Wednesday, December 3rd, my mother passed away at 6:30 in the morning, after a five-month battle with cancer. At 2:00 pm on Saturday, right about the time the Hokies took their 14-0 lead on Boston College in the ACC Championship Game, her funeral began. It's been tough to care about football this season, especially last Saturday. more
TSL Poll: Who Should Start at Quarterback for VT Against UVa? November 26, 2008 During the Hokie Hotline radio show Tuesday, Frank Beamer announced that Tyrod Taylor will start Saturday against Virginia. Frank did not elaborate on whether redshirt senior QB Sean Glennon will play, or how much. This caused a lot of discussion on the boards, so now we ask you” Who should start at quarterback for VT Saturday?” To vote, head over to our blog section by clicking here. Anyone can vote, so tell us your opinion! more
TSL Poll: Should Virginia Tech Offer Bud Foster a Head-Coach-in-Waiting Deal? November 19, 2008 With the news that Texas is the latest school to offer a head-coach-in-waiting deal to an assistant coach, the topic was brought up on the Hokie Hotline radio show last night, and was talked about openly. Specifically, host Bill Roth discussed a similar deal with Bud Foster, Jim Weaver and Frank Beamer. Now we ask you: Do you think Virginia Tech should offer a deal like that to Bud Foster?
To vote, head over to our blog section by clicking here. Anyone can vote, so tell us your opinion! more
TSL Poll: What's Your Favorite 2008 Uniform Combination? October 8, 2008 We thought the 1994 football season, with its crazy orange uniform combos, would never be matched for variety. That season even included a hideous orange-on-orange combo that the Hokies modeled in a humiliating home loss to Virginia. But 14 years later, the 2008 season is rivaling the 1994 season for multiple uniform combos, including the first significant use of orange since that fateful day against UVa. So we have to ask the question: What's your favorite uniform combo the Hokies have worn so far this season? To vote, head over to our blog section by clicking here. Anyone can vote, so tell us your opinion! more
TSL Poll: Who's Going to Win Hokies vs. Huskers? September 26, 2008 TSL Nation (like that take on "Hokie Nation"?) isn’t happy with me and Chris Coleman. We both picked the Hokies to drop a tough game in Lincoln this weekend, and you responded by voting the game preview a 4.0, where it landed with a resounding thud. So sound off --what do you think is going to happen this Saturday? To vote, head over to our blog section by clicking here. Anyone can vote, so tell us your opinion! more
TSL Poll: How will the Hokies do in their next five games? September 15, 2008 With Saturday's big win behind them, Virginia Tech's young football team now goes on the road for four of the next five games. It's going to be a tough stretch. To vote on what you think the Hokies' record over the next five games will be, head over to our blog section by clicking here. Anyone can vote, so tell us your opinion! more
TSL Poll: What Do You Think of the Decision to Redshirt Tyrod Taylor? August 27, 2008 The decision to redshirt Tyrod Taylor -- a mutual decision made by both TT and the VT coaching staff -- has sparked a ton of discussion and emotion. In a poll we ran back in May 2008, 39% of you thought TT should redshirt. What do you think of the decision now that it has been made? Anyone can vote in this poll, but in order to vote, we have to send you over to our TSL Blogs section. To vote, click here. more
2006-07 Financial Report: ACC Gives Hokie Finances a Huge Boost June 25, 2008 This is the third annual appearance of my article on Virginia Tech Athletic financial information. This year's report covers the 2006-07 academic year, including the 2006 football season and the 2006-07 men's basketball season. Powered by ACC revenue-sharing and ever-increasing football income, Virginia Tech's athletic revenue jumped an incredible 34.8% from 2005-06 to 2006-07. more
Five Years Ago Today June 24, 2008 Five years ago today, Virginia Tech was invited to join the ACC. The Hokies didn't sign on the dotted line until July 1, 2003, and Tech didn't become a full member of the conference until a year later, but June 24, 2003 is the day to mark on your calendar and to celebrate, because that's the day the ACC head honchos finally caved in and voted to offer admission to the Hokies. more
2008 Women's College World Series (WCWS) Preview May 28, 2008 The Virginia Tech Hokies are an unseeded team making their inaugural trip to the Women's College World Series (WCWS) in Oklahoma City. The Hokies advanced to this point by winning the Knoxville Regional and Ann Arbor Super Regional. Both times Tech had to take two of three games from powerful foes Tennessee and Michigan to advance. This postseason road had been difficult for the Hokies, but it has made this team better and stronger. more
TSL Poll: Do You Think Tech Can Win the WCWS? May 28, 2008 The latest TSL Poll probably won't spark the amount of discussion the last one did, but it brings you a question centering on the hottest topic of the week: What chance do you give the Hokie softball team of winning the WCWS? more
Tincher and Crew Grab Hokie Nation's Attention May 26, 2008 Hardly anybody -- certainly not those of us at TechSideline.com -- saw this coming. When it came to Tech softball, many of us knew Angela Tincher was a great pitcher, even one of the best in NCAA history, but almost nobody foresaw this. It's almost June, graduation was over two weeks ago, and first summer session has started, but softball, of all things, has drawn the interest of Hokie fans around the nation and the world. Virginia Tech is on their way to the Women's College World Series ("softball" is implied), and Hokie Nation is abuzz. more
In our look at the top five stories of the last decade, we review events that altered the course of Virginia Tech athletics forever, and for some of us, changed our very lives. It was a powerful decade, full of intrigue and drama, and here are the five stories that captivated us the most.
Sick and tired of the ads on our site with food stuck in people's braces? Wondering what happened to all those great Hokie businesses that used to advertise on this site? Hoping and praying that TSL won't run those ads that take over your browser, or pop up and block the site from view? Then take a minute to read this article, which will bring you up to speed on the state of advertising on TSL, and what you can do to help improve it. Don't ignore this article -- this stuff's important!
TechSideline.com brings you our fourth annual report on the state of Virginia Tech athletics finances. This year's report covers the 2007-08 academic year (2008 fiscal year), including the 2007 football season and the 2007-08 men's basketball season. Profit took a dip from the 2007 fiscal year's record-setting level, but the Hokies were still safely in the black for this fiscal year.
Who's the highest paid employee in the Virginia Tech athletic department? Frank Beamer, of course, at about 2 million dollars per year. But who's got the highest salary? That's a different question, and via the magic of a database on the Collegiate Times web site, we can find out who makes what in the VT Athletic Department.
For reasons that I have kept private up until now, the 2008 Hokie football season has been a tough one for me, and last Saturday was the toughest. On Wednesday, December 3rd, my mother passed away at 6:30 in the morning, after a five-month battle with cancer. At 2:00 pm on Saturday, right about the time the Hokies took their 14-0 lead on Boston College in the ACC Championship Game, her funeral began. It's been tough to care about football this season, especially last Saturday.
Five years ago today, Virginia Tech was invited to join the ACC. The Hokies didn't sign on the dotted line until July 1, 2003, and Tech didn't become a full member of the conference until a year later, but June 24, 2003 is the day to mark on your calendar and to celebrate, because that's the day the ACC head honchos finally caved in and voted to offer admission to the Hokies.
The Virginia Tech Hokies are an unseeded team making their inaugural trip to the Women's College World Series (WCWS) in Oklahoma City. The Hokies advanced to this point by winning the Knoxville Regional and Ann Arbor Super Regional. Both times Tech had to take two of three games from powerful foes Tennessee and Michigan to advance. This postseason road had been difficult for the Hokies, but it has made this team better and stronger.
Hardly anybody -- certainly not those of us at TechSideline.com -- saw this coming. When it came to Tech softball, many of us knew Angela Tincher was a great pitcher, even one of the best in NCAA history, but almost nobody foresaw this. It's almost June, graduation was over two weeks ago, and first summer session has started, but softball, of all things, has drawn the interest of Hokie fans around the nation and the world. Virginia Tech is on their way to the Women's College World Series ("softball" is implied), and Hokie Nation is abuzz.
