Overview
- Virginia Tech announced on Monday that it has named Brian White, Florida Atlantic’s athletic director since 2018, to succeed Whit Babcock as vice president and athletic director.
- White leaves FAU before completing a five-year extension signed in September 2024 that ran through 2029, and FAU has not yet named a successor to fill the vacancy.
- Virginia Tech highlighted White’s fundraising achievements — a reported 625% increase in donations since 2021 and a 2024 $22.5 million stadium naming-rights deal — as central to its 'Invest to Win' push.
- The move coincided with reported coaching movement: Dusty May, whom White hired at FAU in 2018, reportedly reached a deal to coach the Dallas Mavericks after building FAU into a Final Four program.
- The hire underscores wider college-athletics pressures, including larger resource gaps between Group of Five and Power Five programs, the effects of NIL and conference realignment, and the near-term tasks of boosting revenue, supporting James Franklin’s rebuild and naming an FAU replacement; Virginia Tech will formally introduce White at Lane Stadium on Wednesday.