The Virginia Tech Hokies are the athletic teams representing Virginia Tech in intercollegiate athletics. The Hokies participate in the NCAA's Division I Atlantic Coast Conference in 22 varsity sports. Virginia Tech's men's sports are football, basketball, baseball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field, and wrestling. Virginia Tech's women's sports are basketball, cross country, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field, golf, and volleyball.
Virginia Tech's athletes have won 22 individual national titles in various track and field events, wrestling, and swimming. Though not affiliated with the NCAA, Virginia Tech won the 2007 national championship of bass fishing. The Hokie men's basketball team won the 1973 and 1995 NIT tournaments and went to the Sweet Sixteen of NCAA tournament in 1967 and 2019. The Hokies football team lost to Florida State in the 2000 Sugar Bowl (BCS National Championship Game) and finished the 1999 season with a No. 2 ranking in the BCS Poll. Virginia Tech is one of only three "Power Five" conference members who have never won an NCAA team national championship, the others being Kansas State and UCF.
Name origins and history Virginia Tech's sports teams are called the "Hokies". The word "Hokie" originated in the "Old Hokie" spirit yell created in 1896 by O. M. Stull for a contest to select a new spirit yell when the college's name was changed from Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (VAMC) to Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute (VPI) and the original spirit yell, which referred to the old name, was no longer usable. Stull won, and received a $5 award.
Hoki, Hoki, Hoki, Hy. Techs, Techs, VPI! Sola-Rex, Sola-Rah. Polytechs—Vir-gin-ia. Rae, Ri, V.P.I
Later, the phrase "Team! Team! Team!" was added at the end, and an "e" was added to "Hoki".
Stull later said that he made up the word as an attention-grabber. Though he may not have known it, "Hokie" (in its various forms) has been around at least since 1842. According to Johann Norstedt, now a retired Virginia Tech English professor, "[Hokie was] a word that people used to express feeling, approval, excitement, surprise. Hokie, then, is a word like 'hooray' or 'yeah', or 'rah'." Whatever its original meaning, the word in the popular cheer did, as Stull wanted, grab attention and has been a part of Virginia Tech tradition ever since.
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 team mascot is the HokieBird, a turkey-like creature. The teams were originally known as the "Fighting Gobblers" and the turkey motif was retained despite the name change.
Traditions
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.
During the early years of the university, a rivalry developed between the Virginia Military Institute and Virginia Tech, then called VPI. This rivalry developed into the original "Military Classic of the South," which was an annual football game between VMI and VPI on Thanksgiving Day in Roanoke, Virginia. This rivalry continued until 1970 when Tech's football program became too large and too competitive for VMI. Today, Tech's major athletic rivalries include the Virginia Cavaliers (see Virginia-Virginia Tech rivalry), the West Virginia Mountaineers, and the Miami Hurricanes.
Virginia Tech's fight song, Tech Triumph, was written in 1919 and remains in use today. Tech Triumph is played at sporting events by both the Virginia Tech band, The Marching Virginians, and the Corps of Cadets' band, the Highty Tighties. The Old Hokie spirit yell, in use since 1896, is familiar to all Tech fans.
Many of Tech's more modern traditions were adopted after the construction of Lane Stadium in 1964. Virginia Tech's football traditions and the school's fans are the subject of a 2007 full-length documentary called Hokie Nation which features a mix of interviews with coaches, players and fans as well as a look at Hokie football history and the direction of the program.
Conference affiliation Years Association / conference 1895–1906 Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Association 1907–1921South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association 1921–1965 Southern Conference 1965–1978 Independent 1978–1995 Metro Conference (except football) 1991–1998 Colonial Athletic Association (wrestling only) 1991–2000 Big East Conference (football only, joined for other sports in 2000) 1995–2000 Atlantic 10 Conference (except football and wrestling) 1998–2004 Eastern Wrestling League (wrestling only) 2000–2004 Big East Conference (except wrestling) 2004–present Atlantic Coast Conference Source:
Tech teams participate 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. UVA, which had left the Southern Conference in the mid-1930s, was added to the original seven before the 1953–54 basketball season. Tech was passed over for membership in December of that year, despite a proposal by North Carolina to add the Gobblers and West Virginia Mountaineers. In 1965, Tech left the Southern Conference to become independent. Tech applied for membership in the ACC again in 1977, but was turned down for membership despite support from UVA, Duke, and Clemson.
In 1978, Virginia Tech joined the Metro Conference, winning the conference men's basketball championship tournament and automatic NCAA berth in its first year.
In 1991, Virginia Tech was invited to join the Big East Conference for football only. Members of the Big East football conference included Boston College, Miami, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia.SPORTS In 1994, Virginia Tech was turned down for full membership in the Big East.University Minutes Archive: March 21, 1994
In January 1995, Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University were ousted from the Metro Conference and subsequently filed a lawsuit against the conference.Tech, VCU file lawsuit against Metro 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.University joins Atlantic 10 Conference
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.TSLMail #131 – Friday, June 11, 2004
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.
When Virginia Tech was invited to join the ACC, former Roanoke Times sports editor Bill Brill expressed his displeasure, saying "Virginia Tech will not win an ACC championship in my lifetime." When Virginia Tech's football team proceeded to do precisely that in their very first season in the league, Brill's house in Chapel Hill, North Carolina received hundreds of mocking phone calls from angry Virginia Tech fans, curious to learn when the funeral arrangements would be held.12/11/04 – Road Trip!.
Sports sponsored Men's sports Women's sports Baseball Basketball Basketball Cross country Cross country Golf Football Lacrosse Golf Soccer Soccer Softball Swimming and diving Swimming and diving Tennis Tennis Track and field Track and field Wrestling Volleyball
Football
Virginia Tech's football team plays home games in Lane Stadium. With a capacity of 66,233, Lane is relatively small in comparison to many other top FBS stadiums, yet it is still considered to be one of the loudest stadiums in the country. In 2005, it was recognized by rivals.com as having the best home-field advantage in college football.
Since the 1995 season, the Hokies have finished with a top-10 ranking five times, won seven conference championships (three Big East and four ACC), and played once for the national championship, losing to Florida State 46–29 in the 2000 Sugar Bowl. Annually, Virginia Tech plays its traditional rival, the University of Virginia, for the Commonwealth Cup, a series which Virginia Tech leads 59–38–5.
Frank Beamer was the Hokies' head coach from 1987 to 2015, and was the winningest active head coach in FBS football with 280 wins following the 2015 season. Coach Beamer ended his tenure as head coach with a win in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA, where the Bowl streak began in 1993. Beamer's teams were known for solid Special Teams play (called "Beamer Ball") and for tough defenses headed by defensive coordinator Bud Foster. In 2018, Beamer was selected to join the 2018 College Football Hall of Fame.
On November 29, 2015, Virginia Tech Director of Athletics Whit Babcock announced that Justin Fuente was hired from the University of Memphis to succeed the retiring Frank Beamer. In Fuente's first season, Virginia Tech won the ACC Coastal Division and he was named the ACC Coach of the Year. While Fuente's first two seasons with the Hokies were strong, declining performance led him to be fired in 2021 following consecutive losses to Syracuse, Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame. He was succeeded by Brent Pry, a former Beamer assistant who was the defensive coordinator at Penn State. A lack of competitive success led the Hokies to break their 29-year bowl game streak. They would return to bowl eligibility in 2023 and 2024. Pry was fired in 2025 following losses to Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and Old Dominion.
Amid a $230 million increase to the athletics budget, Director of Athletics Whit Babcock announced the hiring of James Franklin, the former head coach of Penn State, to be the next head coach. He rehired Brent Pry as defensive coordinator, reuniting the two for the first time since 2021. Franklin immediately improved recruiting, with the 2026 class currently being ranked 11th nationally and 2nd in the ACC.
Men's basketball Virginia Tech's men's basketball team plays home games in Cassell Coliseum. They have enjoyed moderate success in the postseason, making the NCAA Tournament 11 times.
Virginia Tech's men's basketball team saw a resurgence of fan support since the arrival of coach Seth Greenberg in 2003–04 and the university's entry into the ACC in 2004–05. Prior to Coach Greenberg's arrival in Blacksburg, the men's basketball team had not had a winning season since the 1995–96 season, when they received a bid to the NCAA tournament.