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Hokie Bird says next time! | John Schneider - SB Nation
‘Tis the season for moves to happen, and as tough as it has been this past decade, just keeping a team together from season to season, Hokie Men’s and Women’s Basketball both got some good news. The big “sorta sports” news is that Tech’s President Timothy Sands is stepping down. Times are changing.
Good News on the Basketball Front for a Change
There is little argument over how difficult it is to hold together a program for more than one season at a time. It’s probably the most difficult part of a coach’s job in the modern (and hopefully transitional) era of NIL money and players chasing it from team to team and season to season now that job hopping is allowed.
The good news for Coach Mike Young and Hokie Men’s Basketball is that Ben Hammond has taken the decision to stay in Blacksburg for the 2026-2027 basketball season.
Hammond averaged 13.2 points a game starting 18 of 32 games played in this past season. He increased his number of 3-point attempts in 2025-2026, and even with his percentage down a bit at .431, that amounted to 132 points for the season. Hammond has two years of eligibility left. Hammond looks to have an even more productive role for the next run at the tournaments. Getting him back was a critical re-recruiting win for Coach Young, who is working to try to keep as much of a Hokie core team intact as possible.
In Super News for Coach Duffy and WBB
This week, the Lady Hokies saw two very important players make moves to announce their intent to stay in Blacksburg for the immediate (one would hope the adjective would go away) futures.
Leila Wells, started 17 of 33 games averaging 3.5 points per game with limited floor time. Where Leila really found her stride was on defense with 8 blocks and 15 steals in 2025-2026. The big thing about those numbers are the acceleration factor, she got better each game, and the switch from bench to starter.
Samyha Suffren has also announced her return to the Hokie Locker room, and with it she brings the probability of converting from being Coach Duffy’s afterburner off the bench to a regular starter at guard.
Samyha comes back with 2 more years of eligibility since she ended up sitting out almost all of 2024-2025 with an injury. That time didn’t seem to slow her down, though. Suffren just got better every game she entered off the bench. In fact, Coach Duffy seemed prone to using Samyha as a starter off the bench to mix things up and make it difficult for teams in the early going when grabbing and building a lead is critical. She played significant time in 32 games this season and averaged 8.8 points. Where she really made a huge difference, though was in floor defense. She managed 3 blocked shots, but 47 steals. Her ability to go fast on a break down the floor meant critical exchange flips in important points in games.
The University President Hits the Portal?
The President of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Dr. Timothy Sands, announced to BoV Rector John Rocovich that he was stepping down as President of the University once the BoV found a suitable replacement.
After 12 years of service to the university community & the Commonwealth, & a career dedicated to the advancement of science & the impact of public higher education, Virginia Tech President Tim Sands intends to step down in the coming months.
Storyhttps://t.co/RLi4gXwlfPpic.twitter.com/gR6JpD9hH8
— Virginia Tech (@virginia_tech) April 9, 2026
President Tim Sands to step down in the coming months | Virginia Tech News | Virginia Tech
From the looks of the news, Sands’s association with the University won’t end so he doesn’t seem to have the intentions of moving on from Blacksburg. It makes you wonder if he’s going to do some sort of Emeritus Professor role, but right now, it would be more than speculation to say anything else.
Sands has been in the position since 2014. Good luck to him in whatever he chooses to do.
We’ll be visiting more Comings, Goings, and Stayings as events occur.
GO HOKIES!!!!
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