When people think of Virginia Tech, they think of “Enter Sandman”— the best entrance in college football. They think of our iconic Hokie stone, the Drill Field and the lunch pail. Those things are unique to Virginia Tech, and in a sense, bind our community together.

But Virginia Tech Athletics is about more. Much more. It’s about people, and we hire employees who represent our core values — integrity, service, honor, excellence and strong together. These values guide us in all of our decision making, and we refuse to compromise on them. We have great facilities, lots of staffing and big plans for the future, but our resources are not unlimited. We must win with people, and we win by hiring them, training them and defining roles because every role matters.

As part of our philosophy to “out-people” people, everything we do matters. Things like how we greet people, helping visitors, keeping our facilities clean and pristine, making cool videos, creating engaging social media content, making sound financial decisions, preparing student-athletes for their futures, including a career after sport, are so important. Every time a high school prospect, a student-athlete, or a Virginia Tech fan steps into one of our venues, we want them to have a memorable experience.

In short, we have three guiding principles. We commit ourselves to comprehensive excellence, both academically and athletically. We pledge to provide the best student-athlete experience possible. We devote ourselves to being a part of the community.

Virginia Tech Athletics has done great things. But we desire to do more, and with your help, we can be excellent.