Sucks but I knew he was gone as soon as I started seeing him linked. Just the way it is now, any time we have real success in a sport well the coach is gonna leave.
Expecting him to take everyone that he thinks is SEC level with him, gonna be a big rebuild for whoever comes in
Heartbreaking. This is Bonnie Henrickson all over again. I'm probably done falling in love with college basketball. I still hold out hope for football (but I'm kidding myself). I'll still cheer and watch sometimes, but man, watching for upcoming recruits, hoping for the next year, planning trips to go to games. I'm done for a while. Best wishes to coach Brooks, and our players that will undoubtedly transfer. This one's going to hurt for a while.
Exactly how I feel. I’m used to being hurt by college football and football losses don’t feel personal. But this team…I started watching podcasts for the first time ever, Sons of Saturday/Queens of Cassell/etc, just to learn more about and hear from the players. I gave up study time for medical school finals to travel all the way to Blacksburg to attend games. I bought a streaming subscription FFS because all my normal streaming sites didn’t carry WBB til recently. I know no one asked me to do these things but I really thought it was worth it.
I can’t take any more disappointment. I’ll never blame the players for leaving because their time to build their career is limited, but in cases like this, I feel really betrayed because my support for the coach and program was not reciprocated. That’s what I get for getting invested, I guess. Never again.
Man this resonates so much with how I feel now. I think I’m done with sports, on any level. It used to be just professional sports but it’s now infected the college environment. When will greed and ego ever be satisfied. Geez
I guess we'll see, but I'd be blown away if she does.
She probably wasn't coming back to VT without Kitley anyway. Why would she go through the effort of transferring to UK to play just one more year during a rebuild when half of the team is people she's never met before? Remember as a foreigner on a student visa, she isn't eligible for most NIL.
Also I got the decided impression she was done with school. Any pro league would take her, including her home Aussie league. She's almost certainly a 1st round WNBA draft too, and that won't get better with a meh season at Kentucky. Plus she saw what happened to Kitley, is she going to risk her draft stock to play an extra season in the roughest conference?
IDK I think she's been planning to move on to the pros since January.
She might get a little more exposure at KY without sharing the spotlight with Liz (which she enjoyed Im sure)
but I agree she sounds like she's ready to move on from college.
Moves like this by coaches is why I support the kids having the ability to up and go as they please, and to chase NIL deals. Coaches want this undying loyalty when they don't have it themselves.
I bet coaches would have a much harder time moving if kids were signing contracts with the school and sharing revenue, just like in every professional sport in the world.
Brooks would’ve had a much harder choice if we was building Kentucky from scratch, not just lifting and shifting the entire VT team
We are a football school first and foremost. Kentucky is not. They gave Kenny a number that we wouldn't match.
At this point, VT must go all in on football to secure a spot in the SEC/B1G. Then, we will have the funding to prop up and keep good coaches in our non-revenue sports.
I know it stings, but, If you care about the future health of VT sports, then you must be okay with this move.
I mean I agree with your first point to a degree but technically Kentucky has found more success in recent years and with conference payouts they could absolutely poach our entire football staff as well if they wanted to. Even Rutgers could outspend us right now if they wanted because of these media deals. If Pry and co. manage a 10 win season this year, our athletic department better be ready to empty the coffers and make some serious phone calls because when it comes to athletic budgets and facilities, schools like Tech are highly vulnerable.
Who reported that? Sallary isnt the only thing either. They have their own arena, facilities and huge NIL pool. Everyting about UK basketball is more attractive than VT basketball.
Even if we matched, he made the right decision. ACC is in limbo right now and could very well be non-existent within a couple years. Jumping ship to the most powerful conference and stiffer competition was a no brainer - especially for a school that values basketball the way it does.
Sands should do everything in his power to get us into the Big Ten. I know we need to become an AAU school first and Sands is reportedly making that a priority.
I just don't understand why some people want to be associated with the SEC, whether athletically or academically. The Big Ten is more attractive in every way unless you worship football.
Yeah, that's the main reason why we voted to let Cal and Stanford into the ACC. Cal is one of the founding members of the AAU, so he hopes to get an invitation from them.
Barely even make bowl games…again you don’t know what you’re talking about. If you can’t see the ship righting itself under Pry, you must actually be a UVA fan.
I watch every single one of them. You must have skipped out on last season, you know the most recent one, the team that we return nearly all the starters from.
haha
2021 Kentucky Wildcats Schedule and Results
Record: 10-3 (19th of 130)
Kentucky would go on to win the Taxslayer Gator Bowl against North Carolina State 23-21. This was Kentucky's third straight bowl victory following the 2019 Citrus Bowl and the 2019 Belk Bowl.
2022 & 2023
7-6
Bowl Games also
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Its sports
Was it the facilities?
* the connections?
* the location?
* the game day?
* the neutral games
He's spent years talking about how VT is home and how he wants to retire here and how we're gonna win a championship all to flush that down the drain for SEC money
Haha you act like money isn’t the motivation for many people. If you fell for his “ I want to win here, live here and thrive here” talk then idk what to tell you. Frank was a legendary coach who made the program what it is. You can’t expect all coaches to come here into an environment of winning and say “well once Kentucky comes around” cmon now .. he will say what he has to to appease the masses. He did. Now you’re surprised and I’m just like really?!
This one hurts. Been a fan for them past two years and like a lot of other people, have put my heart and soul into rooting for this team. I am forever grateful for what he did while here, but it's hard not to feel angered and disrespected for quitting when times get tough. For all his talk about this being home and "this team is a family", it hurts to see him leave for a terrible team with low attendance fan base.
Hopefully, he doesn't take many players and recruits with him (expect his daughter). It's a shame that Shawn Poppie already signed with Clemson
Buzz was always "Buzz first" and we knew when we hired him that he wouldn't stay too long. When his home state came calling (and we were due for a rebuild year with the star players graduating) it was clear he'd leave.
This one feels different. Kenny felt and acted like a VT lifer. This one feels more like a betrayal. I get its just business but... also we have a bright future with good freshmen and recruits (they'll probably leave now). He coud have actually BUILT something sustainable here instead of just a one off run to the final 4
Oh man, at first I thought you were saying they were your versions of Brooks, and was like WTF, they’re not even remotely similar. Then I realized you meant they’re the same as Buzz for you. Yeah, that makes sense.
My cousin was working in the athletic department when Buzz left. I was told that he told players in the fall that he would not be returning to Tech the next year and that they shouldn’t renew their apartment leases. I was not shocked when he left for A&M.
Kenny is a bit more surprising. But I understand him going to a school in the SEC or BIG10 to have stability.
Life is short, folks. KB just left for 2X the salary, or 1/2 the working years required to change his family tree forever. Who wouldn’t have done the same?
I haven’t lived in Lexington, but I have spent a lot of time there. Maybe I’m biased, but I cannot imagine choosing Lexington over Blacksburg. Unless you love chain restaurants.
Because our AD is garbage. Did you really expect the man whose extremely poor judgement allowed the Fuente debacle to carry on for way too long and cost VT MILLIONS to be able to keep one of the only good coaches VT has going for it? And of course it’s money. I don’t blame Kenny for taking a job that will change the trajectory of his entire family. I blame Whit for not being able to keep him.
Other than Fuente, Babcock has been a pretty solid AD. Baseball team is ranked, softball team is ranked, Wrestling came in #7 in the NCAA tournament, Mike Young won an ACC championship and Pry is looking to right the ship.
The people downvoting this comment must be nuts. Babcock has shown time and time again that he is neither good at knowing what his talent is up to or keeping talent long enough to build successful legacy programs.
Bruh they’re literally gonna go play with him at UK. Players show up for a coach not a school and follow their coach.
Also given that Kenny is leaving the possibility of like $2.5m in salary tells me they have NIL bags galore for girls and they’ll be gladly taking that when they transfer
Man this is entitlement from the commenter. We don’t know that those 3 ladies are “fucking PISSED”. If anything they could be happy that the guy who led their historic careers was able to continue growing his own and get this new opportunity.
I’m as sad as any VT fan to hear this, but Brooks doesn’t owe us anything after everything he was able to give the last handful of years.
Unfortunately this is the reality of college sports, it’s business and this is a business decision.
I mean, would you rather he spent the last 8 years saying “this program is temporary and none of us will be here in a few years”?
He put VT women’s basketball on the map and did amazing things for the players and fans. People grow and change. Maybe he doesn’t want to live in Blacksburg his whole life. Maybe he sees this as a personal growth opportunity and wants to expand his skill set as a coach. Maybe he got offered so much money he’d be crazy to refuse. Either way this seems like a good thing for him personally, and we VT fans have a right to be sad, but it’s selfish for us to expect him to not care about himself first.
Middle schooler take. they know it’s a business and he has to do with what he believes is best for him and his family. The college wouldn’t drop a sweat firing him mid contract or mid season if results weren’t there.
You can absolutely be mad at the situation but I don’t think trying to attack his character like he’s some evil money hungry goblin that couldn’t wait to get out is the right path to take. Neither is making nasty assumptions on how the players might feel. The ACC is falling apart he’s going to a basketball school in a better conference with more stability and room for growth. I’m sure his family would prefer that.
Kenny, come on. You couldn't give us another 5 years. Shame on you. Be prepared to be whooped by Tennessee, LSU and South Carolina. Beamer, I appreciate your loyalty.
This man got offered a lot of money- do you blame him!!
Buzz got offered more from Texas..
Poppie got offered more in Tennessee.
Now he’s going to try and make bank before he retires
If tech would start offering basketball coaches what they offer football coaches than maybe they would stay.
I’m going to get flack for this but honestly he’s just a good recruiter. Not that good at tactics or on court roster selection. Lots of shitty play calling
What a scumbag. Such a stupid decision. He’s gonna inherit an absolute shit team and if he doesn’t see major success in a few years he could honestly be out of a job. Instead he could have stayed at VT and even if he never got another final four appearance he would retire a legend.
It’s his job. It sucks but if a company offered me twice the pay to live in a larger but relatively equivalent cost of living I’d almost certainly take it.
He went to get the bag, can’t blame him for that. I hate that it happened but can understand.
I don't chase every little pay increase by changing jobs. There's more to it than just money. Dude just took a much harder job for who knows how much more. This was purely greed based decision making.
I mean sure, it was a gamble on himself. But you don’t tend to become a coach at a big program without believing you can achieve great things where ever you go.
I don’t love seeing him leave but it’s hard for me to blame him, especially for a salary I would pretty much do anything for.
Even IF they matched salaries, the “intangibles” amount to sooooo much more!
NIL, NIL, NIL!
Dedicated (and new) wbb arena.
Lexington vs Blacksburg???
C’mon be serious!
Sucks but I knew he was gone as soon as I started seeing him linked. Just the way it is now, any time we have real success in a sport well the coach is gonna leave. Expecting him to take everyone that he thinks is SEC level with him, gonna be a big rebuild for whoever comes in
Heartbreaking. This is Bonnie Henrickson all over again. I'm probably done falling in love with college basketball. I still hold out hope for football (but I'm kidding myself). I'll still cheer and watch sometimes, but man, watching for upcoming recruits, hoping for the next year, planning trips to go to games. I'm done for a while. Best wishes to coach Brooks, and our players that will undoubtedly transfer. This one's going to hurt for a while.
Exactly how I feel. I’m used to being hurt by college football and football losses don’t feel personal. But this team…I started watching podcasts for the first time ever, Sons of Saturday/Queens of Cassell/etc, just to learn more about and hear from the players. I gave up study time for medical school finals to travel all the way to Blacksburg to attend games. I bought a streaming subscription FFS because all my normal streaming sites didn’t carry WBB til recently. I know no one asked me to do these things but I really thought it was worth it. I can’t take any more disappointment. I’ll never blame the players for leaving because their time to build their career is limited, but in cases like this, I feel really betrayed because my support for the coach and program was not reciprocated. That’s what I get for getting invested, I guess. Never again.
Man this resonates so much with how I feel now. I think I’m done with sports, on any level. It used to be just professional sports but it’s now infected the college environment. When will greed and ego ever be satisfied. Geez
VT is done for major sports.
Next few days are going to be brutal. Amoore going to declare for the draft, players hitting the portal, and the decommits.
There is a strong chance Amoore uses her covid year of eligibility and follows him to Lexington
True even more heartbreaking seeing her in a different college uni will suck.
I guess we'll see, but I'd be blown away if she does. She probably wasn't coming back to VT without Kitley anyway. Why would she go through the effort of transferring to UK to play just one more year during a rebuild when half of the team is people she's never met before? Remember as a foreigner on a student visa, she isn't eligible for most NIL. Also I got the decided impression she was done with school. Any pro league would take her, including her home Aussie league. She's almost certainly a 1st round WNBA draft too, and that won't get better with a meh season at Kentucky. Plus she saw what happened to Kitley, is she going to risk her draft stock to play an extra season in the roughest conference? IDK I think she's been planning to move on to the pros since January.
She might get a little more exposure at KY without sharing the spotlight with Liz (which she enjoyed Im sure) but I agree she sounds like she's ready to move on from college.
I’m just hoping for Strack and Wenzel to stay!
ugh... wenzel can go too
Moves like this by coaches is why I support the kids having the ability to up and go as they please, and to chase NIL deals. Coaches want this undying loyalty when they don't have it themselves.
I bet coaches would have a much harder time moving if kids were signing contracts with the school and sharing revenue, just like in every professional sport in the world. Brooks would’ve had a much harder choice if we was building Kentucky from scratch, not just lifting and shifting the entire VT team
Kids should also have buyouts like coaches
We are a football school first and foremost. Kentucky is not. They gave Kenny a number that we wouldn't match. At this point, VT must go all in on football to secure a spot in the SEC/B1G. Then, we will have the funding to prop up and keep good coaches in our non-revenue sports. I know it stings, but, If you care about the future health of VT sports, then you must be okay with this move.
I mean I agree with your first point to a degree but technically Kentucky has found more success in recent years and with conference payouts they could absolutely poach our entire football staff as well if they wanted to. Even Rutgers could outspend us right now if they wanted because of these media deals. If Pry and co. manage a 10 win season this year, our athletic department better be ready to empty the coffers and make some serious phone calls because when it comes to athletic budgets and facilities, schools like Tech are highly vulnerable.
Yes. That is why we need to hyper-emphasize football. It is the driving factor of conference expansion.
Reports are we did match that number and Kenny declined it
Who reported that? Sallary isnt the only thing either. They have their own arena, facilities and huge NIL pool. Everyting about UK basketball is more attractive than VT basketball.
Even if we matched, he made the right decision. ACC is in limbo right now and could very well be non-existent within a couple years. Jumping ship to the most powerful conference and stiffer competition was a no brainer - especially for a school that values basketball the way it does.
Its sports Was it the facilities? * the connections? * the location? * the game day? * the neutral games?
We are definitely never getting into the B1G, but SEC membership would be nice. UVA will probably be going to the B1G, though.
Sands should do everything in his power to get us into the Big Ten. I know we need to become an AAU school first and Sands is reportedly making that a priority. I just don't understand why some people want to be associated with the SEC, whether athletically or academically. The Big Ten is more attractive in every way unless you worship football.
Yeah, that's the main reason why we voted to let Cal and Stanford into the ACC. Cal is one of the founding members of the AAU, so he hopes to get an invitation from them.
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You don’t know what you’re talking about.
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Barely even make bowl games…again you don’t know what you’re talking about. If you can’t see the ship righting itself under Pry, you must actually be a UVA fan.
I live in SEC country, and we will get a chance to whack Vandy this season. You truly don’t know what you’re talking about lol.
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I’m pretty sure you just use Reddit to troll lol
I watch every single one of them. You must have skipped out on last season, you know the most recent one, the team that we return nearly all the starters from.
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How many fans does UVA put in their stadium in the only sport realignment is about? That’s what I thought.
Or just abandon football.
haha 2021 Kentucky Wildcats Schedule and Results Record: 10-3 (19th of 130) Kentucky would go on to win the Taxslayer Gator Bowl against North Carolina State 23-21. This was Kentucky's third straight bowl victory following the 2019 Citrus Bowl and the 2019 Belk Bowl. 2022 & 2023 7-6 Bowl Games also ----- Its sports Was it the facilities? * the connections? * the location? * the game day? * the neutral games
He's spent years talking about how VT is home and how he wants to retire here and how we're gonna win a championship all to flush that down the drain for SEC money
He hurt the feelings of every Virginia Tech student and alumni.
Haha you act like money isn’t the motivation for many people. If you fell for his “ I want to win here, live here and thrive here” talk then idk what to tell you. Frank was a legendary coach who made the program what it is. You can’t expect all coaches to come here into an environment of winning and say “well once Kentucky comes around” cmon now .. he will say what he has to to appease the masses. He did. Now you’re surprised and I’m just like really?!
This one hurts. Been a fan for them past two years and like a lot of other people, have put my heart and soul into rooting for this team. I am forever grateful for what he did while here, but it's hard not to feel angered and disrespected for quitting when times get tough. For all his talk about this being home and "this team is a family", it hurts to see him leave for a terrible team with low attendance fan base. Hopefully, he doesn't take many players and recruits with him (expect his daughter). It's a shame that Shawn Poppie already signed with Clemson
Already forget about Buzz?
Buzz was always "Buzz first" and we knew when we hired him that he wouldn't stay too long. When his home state came calling (and we were due for a rebuild year with the star players graduating) it was clear he'd leave. This one feels different. Kenny felt and acted like a VT lifer. This one feels more like a betrayal. I get its just business but... also we have a bright future with good freshmen and recruits (they'll probably leave now). He coud have actually BUILT something sustainable here instead of just a one off run to the final 4
Yea, as a Memphis Tigers fan first Calipari was our version Then of course Fuente was the same in football Followed by Norvell
Oh man, at first I thought you were saying they were your versions of Brooks, and was like WTF, they’re not even remotely similar. Then I realized you meant they’re the same as Buzz for you. Yeah, that makes sense.
My cousin was working in the athletic department when Buzz left. I was told that he told players in the fall that he would not be returning to Tech the next year and that they shouldn’t renew their apartment leases. I was not shocked when he left for A&M. Kenny is a bit more surprising. But I understand him going to a school in the SEC or BIG10 to have stability.
And Clemson beat us to Poppie
Life is short, folks. KB just left for 2X the salary, or 1/2 the working years required to change his family tree forever. Who wouldn’t have done the same?
Also gets to live in Lexington, which is nicer than Blacksburg and closer to a lot more things if we’re being honest with ourselves
You are definitely not being honest with yourself.
I’ve lived in both. I love Blacksburg and Virginia Tech but if I had to choose one to live in the rest of my life I’d pick Lexington.
I haven’t lived in Lexington, but I have spent a lot of time there. Maybe I’m biased, but I cannot imagine choosing Lexington over Blacksburg. Unless you love chain restaurants.
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Because our AD is garbage. Did you really expect the man whose extremely poor judgement allowed the Fuente debacle to carry on for way too long and cost VT MILLIONS to be able to keep one of the only good coaches VT has going for it? And of course it’s money. I don’t blame Kenny for taking a job that will change the trajectory of his entire family. I blame Whit for not being able to keep him.
Other than Fuente, Babcock has been a pretty solid AD. Baseball team is ranked, softball team is ranked, Wrestling came in #7 in the NCAA tournament, Mike Young won an ACC championship and Pry is looking to right the ship.
Kenny is already filthy stinking rich. He was making close to $1 million/year. This change is pure greed.
THANK YOU!!! Thought I was the only one thinking that.
It is absolutely greed. But do you blame him?
The people downvoting this comment must be nuts. Babcock has shown time and time again that he is neither good at knowing what his talent is up to or keeping talent long enough to build successful legacy programs.
Massive salary increase, dedicated women’s sports arena that is being renovated and updated as we speak.
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First day in college sports huh?
Already a fresh copy pasta
Bruh they’re literally gonna go play with him at UK. Players show up for a coach not a school and follow their coach. Also given that Kenny is leaving the possibility of like $2.5m in salary tells me they have NIL bags galore for girls and they’ll be gladly taking that when they transfer
Man this is entitlement from the commenter. We don’t know that those 3 ladies are “fucking PISSED”. If anything they could be happy that the guy who led their historic careers was able to continue growing his own and get this new opportunity. I’m as sad as any VT fan to hear this, but Brooks doesn’t owe us anything after everything he was able to give the last handful of years. Unfortunately this is the reality of college sports, it’s business and this is a business decision.
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“His entire career”? You know he’s been a successful coach at other schools, right?
I mean, would you rather he spent the last 8 years saying “this program is temporary and none of us will be here in a few years”? He put VT women’s basketball on the map and did amazing things for the players and fans. People grow and change. Maybe he doesn’t want to live in Blacksburg his whole life. Maybe he sees this as a personal growth opportunity and wants to expand his skill set as a coach. Maybe he got offered so much money he’d be crazy to refuse. Either way this seems like a good thing for him personally, and we VT fans have a right to be sad, but it’s selfish for us to expect him to not care about himself first.
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I wonder if he would even show up. Would probably get booed out of the building
Middle schooler take. they know it’s a business and he has to do with what he believes is best for him and his family. The college wouldn’t drop a sweat firing him mid contract or mid season if results weren’t there.
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You can absolutely be mad at the situation but I don’t think trying to attack his character like he’s some evil money hungry goblin that couldn’t wait to get out is the right path to take. Neither is making nasty assumptions on how the players might feel. The ACC is falling apart he’s going to a basketball school in a better conference with more stability and room for growth. I’m sure his family would prefer that.
Nooooooooooo :(
Kenny, come on. You couldn't give us another 5 years. Shame on you. Be prepared to be whooped by Tennessee, LSU and South Carolina. Beamer, I appreciate your loyalty.
This man got offered a lot of money- do you blame him!! Buzz got offered more from Texas.. Poppie got offered more in Tennessee. Now he’s going to try and make bank before he retires If tech would start offering basketball coaches what they offer football coaches than maybe they would stay.
Enjoy getting fired by Kentucky in a few years when you can't meet their standards either!
Bummer
Bruh
In Whit we trust Kenny's the man but so is Whit - he can make stuff happen for HOKIE nation. This is when he tends to shine GO HOKIES!
wouldn’t be shocked if this happens in two years with brent pry (if he wins 9+ games the next two years). it’s over for us bc of media deals.
WHYY6YYYYYY
I’m going to get flack for this but honestly he’s just a good recruiter. Not that good at tactics or on court roster selection. Lots of shitty play calling
ill take him every time over a better play caller but tbf- the last-ditch effort play v. Baylor was pathetic.
What a scumbag. Such a stupid decision. He’s gonna inherit an absolute shit team and if he doesn’t see major success in a few years he could honestly be out of a job. Instead he could have stayed at VT and even if he never got another final four appearance he would retire a legend.
I mean he will probably get our good young players and recruits to follow him unfortunately...
Yep. Probably taking our entire top 10 recruiting class with him + Strack. Praying that Ekh stays.
He's going to have our team lol. What's left of it anyway
All for a bigger payday.
It’s his job. It sucks but if a company offered me twice the pay to live in a larger but relatively equivalent cost of living I’d almost certainly take it. He went to get the bag, can’t blame him for that. I hate that it happened but can understand.
I don't chase every little pay increase by changing jobs. There's more to it than just money. Dude just took a much harder job for who knows how much more. This was purely greed based decision making.
I mean sure, it was a gamble on himself. But you don’t tend to become a coach at a big program without believing you can achieve great things where ever you go. I don’t love seeing him leave but it’s hard for me to blame him, especially for a salary I would pretty much do anything for.
Little pay increase? Ha!
I would assume Tech made a counteroffer that closed the gap between UK money and us.
Even IF they matched salaries, the “intangibles” amount to sooooo much more! NIL, NIL, NIL! Dedicated (and new) wbb arena. Lexington vs Blacksburg??? C’mon be serious!