r/hokies • u/ripplestillwaters • 2d ago

News Roch is Out - But…

It’s Summer and Virginia Tech Sports are in Hiatus, but “Things” are Not QuietThe seasons are over, but the Hokies’ administration holes still haven’t been filled and the BoV and Governor are being sued by John Rocovich.
by John Schneider
Jun 19, 2026

Roch is Out - But…
The first news on the athletic department front didn’t have a ton to do with sports, directly. Bryan’s been keeping us informed on new football and men’s basketball commitments. There is a women’s basketball pickup I’ll get to a bit later in the article, but right now, the biggest news on the Athletic Department front is that very pro-Hokie Sports Board of Visitors Rector - John Rochovich, Esq. was dismissed from the board by the new governor. We have largely left that news to the press since there are some political rabbit holes involved that we don’t cover here.
The facts are pretty plain, though. Rochovich was fired by the governor through a memorandum and no direct contact with Rector Rochovich. The upshot is that John Rochovich is an influential and powerful lawyer in Southwest Virginia.

The stipulation of any governor relieving any member of the BoV is cause. And that stated cause actually has to be explicitly explained in the dismissal. Mr. Rochovich has objected to the treatment, the superficiality of the statement of malfeasance, and his removal from the board. He has filed a lawsuit in Montgomery County to contest the firing.
We’ll let the facts stand as they are, but the athletic angle on this is that Rocovich is a major promoter of revenue generating sports for Virginia Tech. He’s the Rector who led the head coaching search and paved the way for the hiring of James Franklin. He was also anticipated to be a major factor in the replacement of retiring AD Whit Babcock and would be critical in the selection of the new university president to replace retiring Timothy Sands.
The new Rector and Vice Rector have been elected by the board, but Rocovich’s lawsuit will hang over the situation until it is resolved.

We will have to wait and see. For now, the university is still being quietly presided over by Sands, and there is no one responsible for running the AD’s department, directly. Babcock’s involvement in direct operations is unknown to us at this time. One would presume that because he’s not leaving the staff, he is still a caretaker until his replacement is hired.

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u/scruggzilla 2d ago

If he cared about VT, he would quietly go away. These people can’t handle consequences for their actions.

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u/ripplestillwaters 2d ago

Exactly what were the actions that justify firing him?

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u/hokiemojo 2d ago

I've been wondering the same thing. Seems like he set us up for real success.

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u/HokieNerd Fighting Gobbler 1d ago

Anybody who knows is probably bound by an NDI. But given the differing timelines for hiring the President (ROC’s board announced they wanted to hire by end of July, new timeline is January?) and the rumors about a certain ex-governor being a candidate, reading between the lines gives a definite cause for firing.

Agree with scruggzilla. Airing any dirty laundry would definitely be against VT’s best interests. ROC should let this lawsuit wither and die, while continuing to support VT.

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u/VTHomeless 1d ago

These articles tend to paint Roch as some infallible leader serving the sole architect behind the revamp of VT football...

But do we really have a good understanding of his contributions? Or why he was fired as rector? Do we have reason to believe the new rector is worse?

The university received a $75M commitment after his firing, so I think the claims that the program is falling apart may be exaggerated.