The Tech Sideline Podcast: The Virginia Tech Hokies · TechSideline.com

"Game Changers": Celebrating 50 Years of Virginia Tech Women's Basketball

·40 min·2 clips

Early Virginia Tech players bought their own shoes and paid for their wind cheaters at season’s end.

1. Tech Sideline’s “Game Changers” episode centers on a new book about 50 years of Virginia Tech women’s basketball. 2. Host Will Stewart, Matthew Sams of the Hokie Way, and author Paul Knox explain why the book matters for Virginia Tech fans. 3. The episode asks how a photography-driven history book became both a celebration of the program and a fundraising campaign. 4. Knox says the project began when a student told him Virginia Tech had an athletics photo archive with women’s basketball images. 5. He pitched the idea to Whit Babcock, linked it to the 50th anniversary of the women’s basketball program, and got access to the archive. 6. Sams says the Hokie Way turned the book into a donation-based offer through hokieway.org. 7. A limited edition signed by Liz Kitley costs $500, with March 15 as the cutoff unless the books run out first. 8. Sams says about 50 copies had already been reserved, and roughly half of those were the autographed version. 9. Knox describes the book as a coffee-table book built around Athletics Archive photographs and short historical text. 10. He says the visual material, especially Dave Knackle’s photography, is what makes the book work. 11. Knox says he first interviewed Georgia Amoore in spring 2024 and later met Liz Kitley and Loretta Kitley. 12. He also met players from the 1970s at a reunion, which gave him contacts and materials for the archive. 13. Knox says the most striking part of the interviews was how kind, articulate, and low-hubris the players and coaches were. 14. He says the older players were especially happy to be recognized and to see their careers remembered. 15. The episode revisits the early era when players bought their own shoes and paid for their own Virginia Tech wind cheaters. 16. Knox recalls that some players traveled in a volunteer coach’s vehicle or with boyfriends driving, which shows how little budget the program had. 17. The hosts discuss how the book is organized more by conference than by decade. 18. Knox says he wanted to include behind-the-scenes features on preparation, facilities, and day-in-the-life routines, including a page on Mackie. 19. Viewers who care about Virginia Tech women’s basketball history, photography, and NIL fundraising will get the most from this episode. 20. Viewers looking for a fast, stat-heavy basketball debate will probably skip it.

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