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Virginia Tech won't host a Thursday night football game next season for the first time since 2001, and Athletic Director Jim Weaver is taking responsibility.
According to Weaver, Tech Athletics didn't request to have a Thursday night game in Lane Stadium to give traveling fans another weekend game and a break from an evening weekday game.
Last season, Tech had two weekday games — a Thursday night game against Florida State, and the season opener against Georgia Tech on Labor Day. Tech also played on Labor Day in 2010 against Boise State.
"When you have Thursday night games, or Labor Day games, it just so happens that people have to go back to work (the next day), and many times they can't and have to take a vacation day," Weaver said. “For people who have done that for a lot of years in succession, I thought it would be good for them.”
“(It was) the right thing to do, to say thank you to our fans,” Weaver said.
Although there was speculation that the request had something to do with the Hokies disappointing 2012 season, Weaver denied there was any relationship.
“It had nothing to do with last season's performance, it had everything to do with us (having evening games) 10 to 12 years in a row,” Weaver said. “It was a timely decision to thank our people.”
Despite this, the announcement has received a lot of backlash, especially from students who consistently look forward to the evening games.
Andrew Whitley, a sophomore History and Political Science major, is from southwest Virginia and has attended Tech football games since he was young with his family. Coming up for Thursday night games is a big part of that memory for him and his grandfather.
"(My grandfather) was upset, he likes to come up because there's not as many kids," Whitley said. "The environment is completely different."
Dylan Robinson, another sophomore student, was also upset about the change but admitted that it might be a hassle for certain alumni who have to travel to and from.
"I can understand," Robinson said. "But it's just one day out of the entire year."
Weaver understood students are disappointed by the announcement but insisted this decision was for the Tech fans who have to road trip to games.
"It had nothing to do with taking a Thursday night game away from students," Weaver said.
From a football standpoint, the lack of a Thursday night home game could impact recruiting, as the atmosphere of Lane Stadium has convinced many prospects to come to Blacksburg. Weaver, though, isn't worried that making the sacrifice will have an impact.
"We'll get nationally televised games because the ACC has a new contract with ESPN," Weaver said. "We are playing Thursday night in Atlanta (against Georgia Tech) and we'll get exposure from that. Where we won't get exposure is in regard to Lane Stadium, but we will get a national televised game and probably more than one."
That Thursday night game at Georgia Tech also poses a scheduling issue, as the Hokies will have short week heading into the matchup. However, that decision was out of Weaver's hands — the scheduled dates are determined by the ACC — and while that is a challenge that the Hokies havent often dealt with the past few seasons, the Yellow Jackets will be working on five days of rest as well.
"Both teams have a short week for preparation," Weaver said. "The ACC tries to match up similar preparation environment. In other words, if one team is going to have a short week, they don't want the other team to have a long week."
The new schedule is only a short-term switch, however, as students can plan on having a home Thursday night game for the 2014 season.
“This is just a one-time situation,” Weaver said.
Follow these writers on Twitter @MalloryNoePayne @nickcaffCT
A version of this article appeared in the Feb 28 issue of the Collegiate Times.
Leave a comment 15 Comments Write a letter to the editor
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Bad move - the AD can't make a decision "for the alumni and fans" without asking their opinion first. 2012 was not a desired home schedule because the Labor Day game left us with only 4 Saturday home dates... BUT the answer isn't to take away a Hokie tradition of our Thursday night home game on ESPN! Thursday night in Lane Stadium on ESPN helped build our Hokie Brand nationwide - we don't need to get complacent with our image... It's a great even for alumni, students, and all fans! I drive from Raleigh for all games - and I plan for the time off when I need to -it's what we do - we're Hokies!
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Does this guy ever make a decision that makes sense to anyone? How does he still have a job?
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Jim Weaver is awful and should have been fired years ago. Among his many "accomplishments"
- Banning "Stick It In"
- Firing Seth Greenberg while he was actively recruiting a player, and at a time when there was no chance to hire a decent head coach. Look at the state of VT Men's basketball now
- Allowing Beamer to keep Stinespring on staff after years of poor Offensive performance
- Not pushing for VT to join the SEC when we had the chance
College Athletics is a big business these days and should be run like one. Either get with the times or GET OUT.
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This is a "thank you to the fans"?
I have a "thank you" for you Mr. Weaver, unfortunately I already flushed it down the toilet this morning.
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Thursday Night Games are more for the student. Thanks for sticking it to the students once again Weaver. I feel really bad for this years senior class that cannot partake in a Thursday Night tradition.
From the bans on chants (like stick it in and others), to not letting the students sit front row/courtside (like most basketball programs do) even when there are always empty seats there, and now this, it is obvious that Weaver listens to only the money of the donors.
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This is another dumb move by Weaver. Like the embarrassing way he fired Seth Greenberg, a good coach who made VT BB relevant. His passion for the game was evident to everyone and no one overlooked us. Now, we are last place in the ACC.
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You all seem to bash him based on limited and short sighted knowledge of how to run an athletic department. You don't consult with alumni on decisions...it's bad for business if you do. Speaking of business, how's tech's balance sheet? In the black? How about the rest of the colleges out there? let's see nearly all. Tech doesn't. Out of 119 colleges in 2012 98 ran deficits.
You all don't know how go you have it. You miss the forest for the trees. He may have the personality of a wet rug, but he can run an athletic department lean and prosperous.
You don't have to like it or him but you should respect it. There are hundreds of schools that would like to have our budget problem.
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Time for Mr. Weaver to retire. He is hardly in the office, and our athletic department is reflecting in his lack of leadership. It is a joke. He is making Virginia Tech fans upset and quite frankly - angry. Time to move on and face reality...needs to happen soon before fans give up on Virginia Tech athletics.
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"You don't consult with alumni on decisions"
...except in this case the decision was based off a few letters from alumni with deep pockets. So the decision wasn't made for the good of the program. He decided to speak for the entire fanbase when in reality he just listened to a few rich old people.
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Weaver likes to talk about VT's consecutive sellout streak. So as a protest for this decision (and awful schedule in general), I propose boycotting the Western Carolina game. End the sell out streak in protest of Weaver's poor decisions
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I'm not a Jim Weaver fan, but just a thought: maybe there actually was no interest from ESPN in having a VT game on Thursday and he'd rather not kill morale by saying "hey, last season sucked, and nobody wants to watch us."
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