Everything From New Virginia Tech AD Brian White At His Introductory Press Conference

White spoke to the media on Wednesday, June 24.

Virginia Tech Athletics

New Virginia Tech athletic director Brian White spoke to the media on Thursday, June 24. Here's the entirety of what he had to say:

White's opening statement:

[University president Tim Sands spoke before White, who began remarks at 5:40.]

"Thank you all for coming out today. This is a really exciting day for me and my family. I just can't tell you how grateful I am for the warm welcome I've gotten from Hokie Nation in my short public announcement last couple days, but it's been a lot of fun coming into town here and I'm really excited for this day. The last time I did this my 11-year-old Callahan, who's sitting in the front row, was a 2-year-old and she clapped after everything I said and at one point actually yelled, "That's my daddy." So, I need that energy out of you today. With that, I want to thank the search committee. Thank you, President Sands for everything throughout the process. Some specific shout-outs. Obviously, Jim Miller, Lynne Doughtie, thank you very much. J. Pearson, Coach Franklin, thank you very much for your involvement in the process. Mehul Sanghani, somebody that I know was heavily involved as well.

"Just the process was very very professional and well done. So, from my perspective, I think it was it was really impressive. President Sands mentioned how it was 26 days. To me, as somebody from the outside being recruited, you need a very efficient process, and I felt very good that how professional and well-run on all accounts. So, I'm very grateful for that. I want to thank my family, Paige, Callahan, Emmy, and Amon. Also want to thank my parents for coming in town from Florida. Want to thank my brother and his family for coming to town from Tennessee. And my mother-in-law who's looking away ... but thank you, but thank you for coming to town from Arkansas. I need to thank FAU. FAU was really really good to my family. The university, the community, there's really, really good people at FAU. The coaches in place, the faculty staff. To a person, FAU was was so good to my family. President Hasner, Piero Bussani, personally were great to us, but every president that I worked for, I worked for three different presidents and four board chairs, and they were all just awesome people, and we really ingrained ourselves in that community, and it was really difficult to leave FAU. But that being said, I mentioned the warm welcome with Hokie Nation, and and I want you all to know that we plan to ingrain ourselves in this community just like we ingrained ourselves in that community, and we couldn't be any more excited for that opportunity."

"What interested me about this job, right when I was first contacted about the job, I was immediately interested in and the first thing that that comes out is is Hokie Nation. I think you all know, you all see it, but I want everyone to know that nationally, everybody sees it. It's the first thing that jumps out to me is, I think this is one of the more passionate and strong fan bases in the country, and that's something I want to be a part of. I think that to me is as exciting as anything else. The other thing that I think is really, really exciting for me is the opportunity to work with Coach Franklin. I think Coach Franklin's an elite, one of the very best coaches in the country. To me that like he's going to win a national championship at Virginia Tech, and I want to be a part of it, and I want to help him do it, and that fires me up. With that, I like it. I was hoping to get that. Thank you. The alignment President Sands mentioned is huge. You know, I you see it from the outside, it's obvious. I think from Hokie Ventures to Invest to Win to the recent donations to bringing in Coach Franklin, like that alignment, that takes institutional alignment, and that to me is something that I need to have success. Anybody needs to have that success in an athletic director role."

"So, that is really exciting to me, and a huge draw. Success across 22 sports. I think that this place can win championships in every sport. We have big-time coaches, and I'm really excited to get to know our coaches. I've had messages with some. I know I have a dinner later today with with the rest of the head coaches, and I'm fired up about that. I think we can win championships in every sport here and compete at a high level. So, that was a huge draw for me as well. Next is just to represent a great university. I think in athletics, President Sands mentioned the front-porch piece. We need to be a front porch to represent a university in this place nationally. No. 21 ranked public university in the country, great engineering, computer science, the Corps of Cadets. This is a big-time place that I'm going to be very, very proud to represent. So, that's exciting to me. And finally, I want to be at a place where my skill sets match what I think is needed. And I've spent my whole career on the business revenue generation side of college athletics, and that's what we need. We need to grow our resources because we got world-class student-athletes and world-class coaches in place right here. I want to help them win championships, and the best way I can do that is help grow our resources. So, I plan to do that with all of your help. And thank you very much, and go Hokies."

Q: You mentioned you think that Virginia Tech is going to win a national championship under Coach Franklin. You guys were on the brink of it in men's basketball at FAU. What did you learn there about doing more with not the most resources because that's the position that Virginia Tech finds itself in?

"I think we need to change that. I think we need to grow our resources and that's my No. 1 goal. What I learned from the special run we had at Florida Atlantic was the importance of building it and building it the right way. I think it was a really, really special thing to be a part of, but it didn't happen overnight. It was obviously Coach [Dusty] May built a program the right way and and it's incredible the success that that led to. But that being said, I think resources are, especially in today's day and age, today's world, resources are critical for success. So, my goal is going to be to grow our resources and and make our resources commensurate with expectations."

On the blueprint from FAU that White wants to implement at Virginia Tech:

"I think every place is different, but I also think the fundamentals of revenue generation, I've had great success at University of Missouri before that and at several stints at other schools before that. I think it starts with the people in place and having a really good staff and really good systems and metrics and accountability. Functioning like a business I think is important. That being said, I don't know the systems that are in place now and and I want to get to know the people and learn how everything's run currently. But I know what it needs to look like, and I've proven that over the years at at different places in growing revenues that I believe we can grow the revenues here significantly from all sides. I think that there's a great strong passionate fan base in place. There's great history here. We have all the tools necessary to grow our resources and help give our coaches and student athletes the necessary investment in order to win championships."

On Hokie Ventures and how White can tap into that avenue to bring in more resources:

"I think it can be a huge asset, to generate new new resources, new revenue streams. Also to, look at how how do we use it to pull current revenue streams in order to make sure we're benefiting the most from those funds? I think it's a huge resource. There's only a handful of schools in the country that have it. Some of my good friends represent those schools. So, I've been in touch with them already. It was one of the first things I did as I as I heard about the job. I wanted to dive deep into what I thought Hokie Ventures could be used for, so that I would work on a really good strategy as soon as we can all get together. This afternoon we'll be meeting with the staff, and we got to figure out how we can use it to the best of our ability, for sure."

On if, given White's history, he had any choice but to go into athletics administration:

"Actually, my father, who's here, told me not to do it. He told us all to get out of it. But growing up around college athletics, it was a lifelong passion. We always attended games and practices; we had coaches and student athletes at our house and similar to how we're raising our kids, it is a 24/7 thing. So, you end up including your family and everything, and it was something I always wanted to do from a very young age."

On if there's any pieces of advice that White's father or brothers gave to him heading into the new job opportunity:

"Leading into the job opportunity, I think, in talking with both my father and brother who are here, they were very, very excited about, you know, the opportunity as soon as I told them about it and just everything at play here. The things I mentioned, I think that was the theme of our initial conversations and we're all on the same page. It's a big-time fan base in a big-time place. You got a big-time football coach. You can win here in every single sport. There's unlimited upside and no downside to to representing the Hokies. So, it's it's a very exciting opportunity for all of us."

On White's philosophy on providing the best game-day experience:

"I think we're in the entertainment industry. That's something that's really important for me, is to make sure that when I got to know everything we're doing and and why we're doing it. Because I think that the atmosphere in Lane Stadium is as good as any in the country. I'm so jacked up for Enter Sandman, and everything that goes on a football game day. So, I want to keep all the good things and make sure that we're doing everything we can to support all the good things, but also find ways to add to it. The better the game day atmosphere can be, I think the stronger our brand will be and the more success we'll have. So, it's definitely making those game day experiences special is a huge part of what we need to do and what we need to continue to do because they already are pretty special, very special."

On the origins of White's "positive vibes only" mentality:

"I guess I haven't read that article yet, but I'm assuming one of my staff members put it out, but that is a daily conversation. That's funny. That is a daily conversation. These jobs are, like I mentioned, 24/7 and there's always something coming at you and there's always something you got to figure out. I think that staying positive no matter what the issue is, we'll have a hard conversation, we'll walk out of it PVO, positive vibes only, and I think it's really important to just stay focused, stay positive, have great enthusiasm every single day. You're going to enjoy your job and your life more. You can't you can't ride the highs and the lows. You just got to stay the course, keep grinding, keep chopping wood, and good things are going to happen."

On Whit Babcock moving into an emeritus role and how White intends to use Babcock's knowledge of Virginia Tech:

"I've already exchanged messages with Whit, and I got a lot of respect for Whit. So, I'm looking forward to connecting with him. He's overseas right now, but when he gets back in town, I want to get with him and learn from his experience over the last 12 years. So, there's a lot of knowledge there that uh I can get some historical perspective, and I'm looking forward to that."

Q: Brian, you enter the family business, but how did you and your siblings try to chart your own course and become what you were meant to be? And did you talk about that among yourselves as you were growing up and getting into the business?

"You know, growing up, we all wanted to be NBA players. So, that that was more of the conversation, and then we realized that wasn't happening. And as we started our careers, we all started in different ways, and none of us has ever worked for each other. I believe Danny and Mike have been at the same institution, but totally different roles and jobs. Mike and I have been at the same institution. We're both at Louisiana Tech, but totally different roles and jobs. I think for us, our tracks have been different just by chance. For me, it was really important to start off on the business side and the revenue side of college athletics, and that was actually some advice I got from my dad early on. That was the best path for my generation. So, that was always really important to me to figure out how I could learn the business of college sports and and how to generate revenue and provide coaches and student-athletes as much resources as I can."

On how ready White feels to become a Power Four athletic director and whether being a P4 AD was part of the appeal of the job:

"I think more Virginia Tech and the Hokie fan base and all the things I mentioned are the bigger appeal. The Power Four moniker, I don't know how much it means. I feel very ready, having been an AD for eight years. Heck, I would have felt ready 15 years ago before I ever was, because that's just my nature. But I'm really excited for this opportunity and having the experience I have building a program at Florida Atlantic for as long as I did. And I think it's really prepared me for this opportunity where I won't be learning on the job. I'm prepared for the job from day one."

On if White will "grease the wheels" on a VT-Tennessee football matchup:

"Yeah, I think Danny's available for Q&A after this session. Let's put him on the spot."