Virginia Tech Hokies
From Hoopedia
The Virginia Tech basketball teams are NCAA Division I teams competing in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Home games are played at Cassell Coliseum (capacity 10,052), located on Virginia Tech's campus in Blacksburg.
The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams that represent Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, more commonly known as Virginia Tech. The Tech mascot is the Hokie Bird.
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. The mascot is the Hokie Bird, a turkey-like creature. The teams were originally known as the "Fighting Gobblers," and the turkey motif was retained despite the name change.
Tech teams now 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. [1]
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.
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. In 1994, Virginia Tech was turned down for full membership in the Big East.[4]
In January 1995, Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University were ousted from the Metro Conference and subsequently filed a lawsuit against the 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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
Men's basketball
The Hokies will play the University of Illinois on March 16th in the first round of the 2007 NCAA tournament. The Hokies' last appearance in the NCAA tournament was following the 1995-1996 season. They won the National Invitation Tournament following the 1994-1995 and 1972-1973 seasons.
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 Lady Hokies returned to the NCAA Women's NIT for the first time since the 2002 season, marking their tenth consecutive postseason appearance. They benefited 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.
