At Virginia Tech, fines aren’t fine, despite what Bud Foster says

Virginia Tech athletes make $3,620 per year in stipends, according to The Daily Press.

Virginia Tech coaches considered fining players for disciplinary issues with money potentially coming from their new cost-of-attendance allotment, but the school quickly backtracked with athletics director Whit Babcock saying such fines would immediately be removed from the players’ handbook. Considering the legal ramifications involved, one would expect that this doesn’t go through at Virginia Tech, but you have to wonder why Foster even said this at all.

August 26, 2015Foster said some people got in trouble for having players run at 6 am, so fining players’ cost-of-attendance funds has been a topic. And obviously you need some discipline. And we all know the NCAA and its esteemed member institutions would certainly want to avoid their relationship with athletes taking that kind of turn.

“The bottom line is we want guys doing the right thing, being a team all the time, being consistently good, developing those habits and all those type of things, because in the real world, if you don’t adhere to rules and regulations, you get fired”.

A Tech athletic department spokesman said no current Tech athletes have been fined per diem monies.

In the past, Virginia Tech’s football program has taken money out of bowl stipends for disciplinary issues such as curfew violations or personal fouls.

I’m guessing Foster didn’t stop to think how it would sound if the richest assistant coach in the country, making a yearly salary of .3 million, suggested players be fined out of money that goe towards living expenses.

It is important to note that in any discussions surrounding financial punishments, it is against NCAA rules for coaches to reduce a player’s financial aid, as Fornelli stated.