I was listening to the recent podcast and I have to say I am not completely on the boat that its all about facilities and money, but one thing Will brought up that struck me the most, and he used an example of someone we don't typically like to give any credit to, but it appears our in state frenemies actually have a master plan about the future of their football program.

Regardless of how you feel about the situation, it would be nice if VT Athletics put together a comprehensive plan for the future facilities and the costs surrounding them. With this type of information we could all better decide how much we want to support the plan or push to modify it. It might be good to see how much private donations might drive things. To see maybe multiple options of funding for major or minor renovations and how the fans could put their money to support whatever level of competitiveness we want.

I for one thing am worried, based on the facilities discussion, that we may enter an arms race we cannot win. That said, we do need to decide (the school, the boosters, the fans) how far we want to go with this. A Master Plan could do a lot to help us make the decision whether we want to contribute $25 or $2500 annually.

The fact that Baylor currently is willing to spend tens of millions to elevate their program is a good case study. The Baylor brand in my eyes isn't VT yet (in football), and it surely isn't Texas, Oklahoma, A&M, etc. and arguably will never be. So are they ultimately throwing their money away? What is their goal? Is it delusional?

I also heard Rutgers is going to throw a bunch of money to improve their facilities. This really puzzles me. I don't see Rutgers ever being a factor in the Big 10, so are they comfortable spending tens of millions to maybe move from being a doormat to participating regularly in minor bowls?

My guess is we need to really think through what we want to be and to properly fund it. No more, no less. We will never be able to compete with the top tier SEC schools, but maybe we can do something that makes us regularly competitive in the ACC with an occasional playoff appearance.