Virginia Tech has been on a mission to compete at the highest level in college athletics. Under new head coach James Franklin and athletic director Whit Babcock's Invest to Win initiative, the program has been making moves all offseason to back that up.

"A four-generation Hokie family has made a record-setting $75 million donation to Virginia Tech's athletics department and Honors College," Yahoo Sports reported June 4. "The previous largest athletics gift to the university was $20 million."

Most of it goes to athletics and the rest to the Honors College. For context, the biggest gift VT athletics had ever seen before this was $20 million, and that was only last December.

University President Tim Sands spoke on what the moment means for the school.

"This historic commitment reflects extraordinary confidence in Virginia Tech's rising potential in athletics and impactful scholarship," Sands said.

Athletic Director Whit Babcock, who has announced his retirement (effective June 30), also shared his opinion on the same.

"This extraordinary commitment is a powerful statement about where Virginia Tech Athletics is headed and what is possible when Hokie Nation comes together behind a shared vision," Babcock said.

That athletic money goes straight into Invest to Win, Babcock's four-year, $229 million plan to drag the program into a different tier. Some of the gifts were endowed, so it keeps paying out every year, not just once.

Hokie Ventures, the new nonprofit the Board of Visitors signed off on just three days ago, gets a real running start because of it. The nonprofit corporation, approved by the Board of Visitors on June 2, is built to support athletics through strategic investment and revenue generation.

This kind of money does not just look good in a press release. It changes what you can actually do. Who can you recruit? What you can build.

What This Means for James Franklin's Football Program

Franklin walked into a 3-9 program when he left Penn State. That is the hole he is climbing out of. A donation this size changes the rebuild timeline completely.

"Football is the front porch of the university, and sustained investment is critical to competing for championships at the highest level," Franklin said, per TechSideline.

"This generosity provides the resources necessary to recruit, develop and support elite student-athletes while positioning Virginia Tech football for long-term success."

That is not a coach talking about surviving in the ACC. That is a coach talking about winning it.

Do you think this $75 million donation can help Virginia Tech become an ACC contender under James Franklin? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Farheen Fathima

Edited by

Shubhi Rathore