{"id":449164,"date":"2025-12-15T18:12:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T18:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/449164\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T18:12:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T18:12:16","slug":"invest-to-win-takes-flight-with-20-million-record-gift-to-athletics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/449164\/","title":{"rendered":"Invest to Win takes flight with $20 million record gift to athletics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Since joining Virginia Tech on Nov. 17, Franklin\u2019s rapid recruiting accomplishments have drawn <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/college-football\/recruiting\/story\/_\/id\/47171040\/2026-college-football-recruiting-signing-day-takeaways-winners\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">national<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\/ncaa\/virginia-techs-james-franklin-breaks-silence-amid-massive-recruiting-overhaul-11151899\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">attention<\/a>, behind an unprecedented turnaround, resulting in a <a href=\"https:\/\/hokiesports.com\/news\/2025\/12\/4\/2026-national-signing-day-recap\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">top-25 ranked recruiting class<\/a> as of National Signing Day, which was Dec. 3.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe passion of Virginia Tech fans is unmatched and their continued generosity will help elevate our program,\u201d Franklin said. \u201cThere\u2019s a clear sense of excitement from our fans about where we\u2019re headed. This unprecedented level of support is critical and creates powerful momentum for everything we\u2019re building.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Senior Vice President for Advancement Tom Wamsley oversees the university\u2019s fundraising operation for academics and athletics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAthletics helps to unite the Hokie Nation and draw national attention to our university,\u201d Wamsley said. \u201cWe are passionate about nurturing and extending Virginia Tech\u2019s tradition of excellence. \u201cThat will take championship level support from our alumni, fans, friends, and corporate partners. It\u2019s exciting to have a donor come forward in record fashion and demonstrate agreement. I believe this gift will inspire others to support our programs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While restoring Virginia Tech Football to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference is a major goal, Invest to Win is about more than any one team. It\u2019s a bold vision for the future of Virginia Tech Athletics \u2014 one that requires championship-level support across all programs. Some key objectives include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fueling Student-Athlete Success: Fully funding nearly $20 million annually in student-athlete scholarships, ensuring that every Hokie can excel in the classroom and in competition.<\/li>\n<li>A Foundation for Excellence: Investing in the essentials: Elite coaching staff, top-tier recruiting, and player development \u2014 all to create championship-caliber programs.<\/li>\n<li>Building our Future: Identifying and soliciting Hokies who have an interest in investing in capital projects or endowments, which strengthen scholarships, modernize facilities, and provide lasting resources for our student-athletes.<\/li>\n<li>Inspiring All-Around Passionate Support: Empowering all of Hokie Nation to make a difference in the programs they care about most across all 22 varsity sports.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThis historic gift is a transformative moment for Virginia Tech and builds on our growing momentum to \u2018Invest to Win,\u2019\u201d said Director of Athletics Whit Babcock. \u201cIt empowers our student-athletes and coaches, enhances the resources needed to compete and succeed at the highest level, and reinforces our commitment to building championship-caliber programs and memorable experiences. We are deeply grateful for this powerful affirmation of our vision and our relentless pursuit of excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since joining Virginia Tech on Nov. 17, Franklin\u2019s rapid recruiting accomplishments have drawn national attention, behind an unprecedented&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":449165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[19997,1318,12621,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68,36323,41707],"class_list":{"0":"post-449164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-acc","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-hokies","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-ncaafootball","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-virginia-tech","19":"tag-vt"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}