Collegiate Times

The Hokie Annual, written by Tech alumnus Chris Colston, formerly of USA Today, will be available at the University Bookstore after July 4.

So, I wanted to write it. I want it to be informative and professional, but I also want it to be written from the point of view of a fan. I got (former CT sports editor) Thomas Emerick to write a little bit for me, I got the editor of Inside Hokies Sports, Jimmy Robertson to write a little bit for me. Mike Ashley did a little bit. But, mostly it was all me.

CT: What can readers look forward to in the book?

COLSTON: I consider myself a Hokie football consumer too, and I just asked myself, “Well, Chris. What would you want to read in something like this?”

So, it’s going to have a lot of exclusive things.

It’s got a one-on-one Q&A with Frank Beamer, and he divulges some personal things about himself that I don’t think has been out there before. I got a sit down Q&A with Bryan Stinespring, as you well know is the center of a lot of talk in the Hokie football community about his merits as an offensive coordinator — we address that.

I actually sat down with every position coach and just got the inside scoop at each spot. So, we have interviews with them that lead in to sections on each position. We’ve got a profile on every player in the program ... the scoop on what you can expect from the players in 2010.

There’s also a round table discussion where I’ve got myself, Will Stewart of Techsideline.com, and Kyle Tucker, the Hokies’ beat reporter at the Virginia Pilot. I got the two of them and we went over to Cabo Fish Taco and had a couple beers and some tacos, and I turned on my tape recorder and we just went through the season game-by-game, and I asked them how I thought the season would turn out.

It’s got that, a profile of every beat reporter of a major state newspaper who covers Virginia Tech ... it’s got commentary by the voice of the Hokies, Bill Roth all through the book, which is exclusive.

It’s got one section I’m extremely proud of, which is a season in review. I went back and did sort of a retrospective of the 2009 season with color photos and excerpts from the state newspapers. It’s sort of a fan’s perspective on each game and what it meant.

If you want to have something on your shelf and you’re asking, “What happened in 2009?” Or, “What happened against Nebraska?” You pull your Annual out, and there it is.

We’ve also got a section on tailgating, a retrospective on the 1986 Peach Bowl. ... There’s also a major seven-page section on recruiting, analyzing this year’s recruiting class and past classes.

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Look for the second half of the CT’s talk with Chris Colston in next week’s Collegiate Times, where he discusses his return to Tech and the shift from interviewing professional players every day to returning to college athletes.

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A version of this article appeared in the Jun 17 issue of the Collegiate Times.