Okay, fellow Hokies, so you don’t live close to a Hokie club? Or maybe you had to work the evening that the Orange and Maroon (O&M) Tour came to your neighborhood? Never fear! Your faithful TSL reporter, H0kie76, made it to the local club meeting to hear several Virginia Tech coaches rub elbows with Hokie Club members and dazzle them with their after-dinner jokes and tid bits of athletic news. Lots of good information this year, so pull up a chair and do the Virtual O&M tour.

Lu Merritt: After a great meal, our meeting began with Lu Merritt, Director of Development for Intercollegiate Athletics and Secretary/Treasurer of the Virginia Tech Foundation. Lu tells it like it is and is a wealth of information about VT athletics and fund raising. Lu started by stating that the keys to Virginia Tech’s success are the volunteers at the Hokie club level. This year’s athletic budget will reach $25 million dollars. Of that amount, $11-12 million will be gifts through the Hokie club that the volunteers spearhead. That compares to $10.3 million last year.

Interestingly, over $2 million was raised in April 2002 alone. In 2002 $3.5 million was for athletic scholarship. With the 9% tuition increase and other increases, the Athletic Fund will have to support $4 million for scholarships in 2003. The Book Store contributes $225,000 to the Athletic Fund (I thought it would be more than that!). The Fund has a $22 million endowment that generates some of the scholarship requirements (especially in non revenue sports).

Lu spent some time talking about academics. He was very proud of the 468 VT athletes that were honored at the recent awards banquet. They all had achieved a 3.0 grade point average. He also talked about Skelton awards made to the outstanding male and female athletes. Lu said that 71% of Virginia Tech’s athletes will graduate and that is right on the overall student body performance. He then talked about Tech having the 3rd highest number of football players (8) drafted in the latest NFL draft. Six of the 8 have graduated and 2 of the 3 that signed free agent deals have graduated. The Cornell Brown graduation story (Brown recently graduated from Tech) was then recounted. Cornell is VERY proud of his new degree.

With over 11,000 members, the Hokie Club is still growing rapidly. Around 4,000 new season ticket orders have been received. The season ticket sales are VERY close to 38,000. A problem for the fall is that the ticket office has requests for over 8,000 parking spots with only 6,600 spaces available. Changes in the lots will have to occur. Parking at Blacksburg High School and Jr. High with shuttle buses may be used this season. Lu didn’t say, but I would guess that would be for public parking.

The capacity of Lane Stadium will be close to 63,360 this season. The corps of cadets will move, freeing up 800 East side seats for Golden Hokie club members (and thereby freeing up other seats for other Hokie Club members – think trickle down theory). The Touchdown Terrace is sold out (sold out in 2 weeks), and only 75 seats remain to be sold in the Zone Club. Over 300 bleacher back seats (out of 1,160) have been sold in the Goal Line section.

Alfonso Duncan: Lu then introduced Assistant Basketball Coach Alfonso Duncan. The articulate and soft-spoken Duncan talked about the team’s academics (his responsibility) and commented on each of the new recruits. Senior Carlton Carter was named Big East Scholar-Athlete for basketball. Seniors Mibindo Dongo and Joe Hamilton will graduate in the fall semester.

Next season starts off with the St. Thomas Thanksgiving Tournament. Brochures were passed out for a trip to follow the team to the tournament. Other teams participating include Kansas State, Washington State and St. Bonaventure. The team won their last 4 of 5 games and will build on that success over the summer. All the players will be in summer school and that will help build team cohesion.

Alfonso then talked about each of the new recruits. He was excited about Markus Sailes being 6’5" and a guard. His height will give the Hokies an advantage in the front court. Fabian Davis is a top 100 recruit and will make an impact. Luke Minor, at 7’3" will be the tallest Hokie basketball player ever.

Goals for the 02-03 team will be to get to the Big East Tournament and to the NCAAs. When asked about the next BB player to join the football team, Alfonso says Frank Beamer has his eyes on Terry Taylor (6’8" – 295 pounds). A final quote from Duncan: "This is the year UVa loses in Cassell."

Karen Lange: Next up was women's assistant basketball coach Karen Lange. Karen said the team was not disappointed with the season. Winning 21 games and the great WNIT experience uplifted a tough end of the season. Next year's team will center around (pun intended) Ieva Kublina. Ivena was a 2nd team Big East selection and will only be a junior. Replacements for Sarah Hicks and Lisa Guarneri will come from the underclassman. Tech had a top 15 recruiting class and probably the best ever at Tech. With a McDonald's All-American and several "Players of the Year," this year's recruits may have some impact players. Each brings a different aspect to team.

Karen gave an update on Rayna DuBose, the player who was recently stricken with meningitis and had her hands and feet amputated as a result. She is improving and has a good outlook. She wants to join the team on an Australia tour planned for 2004. Tech is looking at setting up a trust to handle donations for the DuBoses. Tech’s insurance won’t cover the effects of the disease since they aren’t sport injury. Her parents insurance will cover some, but the medical bills will be huge. The CEO of UVa hospital is a Hokie and has been very supportive to the DuBose family and Tech staff. The staff is visiting weekly, and Rayna will be leaving the hospital soon.

The woman’s basketball team had a 3.26 GPA for spring semester. Mollie Owings had a 4.0 to lead the Lady Hokies. Karen said that the reason Bonnie Henrickson is staying in Blacksburg is fan support. The support shown the Lady Hokies has been growing and is outstanding compared to many Division I programs.

Bryan Stinespring: Lu then introduced Offensive Coordinator Bryan Stinespring. Bryan, always a crowd pleaser, began with a story about the staff meeting after the Spring Game. After meeting for hours the decision was made that Kevin Jones will not return punts! The crowd approved!

The football team also had good grades, though not all the scores are in yet. All the seniors going to the NFL will have graduated or are on track to graduate. Bryan had a word for this year's recruits: Come to Virginia Tech if you want to play on Sundays (also Wednesdays and Thursdays…etc…) Any day you want to play…

Spring practices went very well. It is a very positive group. They want to be the Big East Champs and continue the bowl game string. They showed tremendous character in the spring. Bryan mentioned the unselfishness of Justin Hamilton, Chris Clifton and Cedric Humes. These are very talented freshman that are doing what is best for the team. This is a very talented team. It is young at several positions but has great talent. He said you don’t lose 12 players to the NFL and not have some concerns. The defensive middle is a concern, but they came a long way in the spring. The young players will have to grow up in a hurry this fall.

He asked Alfonso Duncan if he knew where Kalamazoo was? The football team wouldn’t be going to St. Thomas, but Kalamazoo, College Station and always-tough Syracuse.

The expansion to the stadium is a tremendous recruiting tool. Also, the Spring Game had a big impact on recruits (at least our first verbal). Having 24,000 fans for a Spring Game indicated the support for the Tech team. He thought this might have had a big impact on the parents as well as the recruits. The Tom Lemming photo shoot was a "Big Lick" for Tech. All the top Virginia prospects and many good ones from nearby states were impressed with our facilities and program.

Answering a question about the QB situation, Bryan said Grant Noel is still #1. He has some stability in the injured knee, and if he can play, he will. Randall had a great spring and the staff has confidence in him. Both QB's were improved. Asked what would happen if Grant didn’t make it back, Bryan said he didn’t want to go there, but there was a freshman coming in.

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