* * Kenny Brooks coaches for character

Kenny Brooks is the woman’s basketball coach at Virginia Tech since 2016. His season starts soon, so I was delighted he was willing to take a few moments from his frenetic schedule to speak with me about his experience in Blacksburg.

Kenny is from Waynesboro and he played at James Madison University. He coached men’s basketball briefly at his alma mater, then women’s basketball for 14 years where he was the winningest coach in their program’s history. But when Tech fired his predecessor, he sensed he might be on the short list as the new coach, as Tech’s Athletic Director Whit Babcock was also a JMU graduate and a friend.

“I spent my whole life in the Shenandoah Valley. When Whit called me, my wife and I drove down. I didn’t know much about Blacksburg or Tech. The only experience I’d had here was when I played against Tech, and knew nothing about the campus.

“JMU is in the CAA (Colonial Athletic Association) and Tech and UVA are in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference). Whit and his staff showed me their vision here. I knew it needed to be something extremely special to pull me away from JMU. It was.

“The vision is more than wins. There needs to be support from the entire Athletic Department because there are no guarantees in the games. I felt that at JMU. I needed to see that here. The philosophy. The belief. At JMU, we never felt less important than the men’s sports. I needed to see the financial support and the spiritual support to be the best we could be.

“I need to feel confident that if I bring a recruit here that she at least has the potential for a great experience, socially, athletically, and academically. I take that responsibility serious.

“I had the best experience at JMU. My kids need to have a lasting, positive memory. We had success at JMU. Everybody there is booming with the same confidence I had. Everybody needs the same passion that I have. I felt that I’d find that here at Tech.

“Justin Fuente (in football) and Buzz Williams (in men’s basketball) had come in, and there was new energy. There was a shot in the arm. It was a good time. I felt (moving here) represented growth in my career. I could have stayed at JMU, perhaps won a few more (conference) championships, and maybe retired there. For me, to go to the most prominent league in the country (the ACC) and test my wits against Hall of Famers, was enticing. Every year I coach against two or three coaches who are in the Hall of Fame already, people who have won national championships. You strive to go against and win against the best.

“We want to contend for the conference championship here, every year. When we arrived, everybody, and I mean everybody, said, ‘You’re going to love it here.’ It seemed like as much a slogan as ‘This is home.’”

“So what’s in the water here?” I asked.

“I’m still learning. It’s a feel. It’s the way people are treated. It’s about the maroon and orange. All athletes have an affinity for their school. You bleed, you sweat, you cry and you form a strong relationship with your school. If I go back to Harrisonburg and JMU, I’m revered as an athlete. You feel the love.”

“So the day you took off that JMU hat and put on the VT hat, how did you feel?” I asked.

“Weird,” he laughed. “Not just for me but for people associated with me. I was associated with JMU for so many years.

“Every Virginia Tech alum I come across loves it here. It is about the experience. The way people come back with the gleam in their eye, bouncing around, reminiscing. I’m enjoying the beauty of Blacksburg, the camaraderie. It’s different for me than my recruits. I knew what my kids at JMU were experiencing because I’d come through before them there. I may have had the same professor they did. You can tell what a special place this is by the reaction of the alums when they come back to visit. I never met a Virginia Tech Hokie that didn’t love it here. The friends, the supporters. It already feels like home. It feels like we can build something extremely special.

“I’m here to build character. I want these ladies, when they come through, to be better in all aspects of life. They’re prepared for the next level. Yes, I need to win games, but my job here is to prepare people to be successful through life. I want fans to be proud of the program year in and year out. I love where we are as a program. We have wonderful young ladies; they represent the university to the utmost, they play hard, and they win.”

The season starts November 5^th in Cassell Coliseum.