NEW ERA PINSTRIPE BOWL: VIRGINIA TECH VS MARYLAND

December 7, 2021

Randy Levine

Mark Holtzman

Whit Babcock

J.C. Price

Damon Evans

Michael Locksley

Josh Feine

Yankee Stadium

Press Conference

BOB LORENZ: We are at Yankee Stadium where three weeks from now, December 29th, Virginia Tech and Maryland will clash in the 2021 New Era Pinstripe Bowl. The winner claiming stake to being champion of New York's bowl game as well as recipients of the George M. Steinbrenner Trophy awarded to the annual winner of the Pinstripe Bowl.

It's great to have you with us here at Yankee Stadium. Bob Lorenz with you. Good to have you with us on the YES Network, streaming on the Yes App, and possibly as well on PinstripeBowl.com. That's where you can get all your bowl and game day information as well as ticket information.

Got a lot of ground to cover. The game on December 29th, as I mentioned. Shortly after 2:00 will be kickoff. It will air on ESPN and ESPN Radio. We've got a variety of interesting folks to talk about this game. At the dais joining me Yankees President Randy Levine and Executive Director of the Bowl Mark Holtzman, and via Zoom we have a variety of gentlemen joining us from Virginia Tech. Their athletic director, Whit Babcock, will be joining us, their Interim Head Coach, J.C. Price, as well as Maryland's Director of Athletics, Damon Evans, and their Head Coach Michael Locksley. Also, joining us from New Era will be Josh Feine.

Let's keep it here, Randy, and talk about this game and how exciting it is to have it back and two former ACC rivals playing in this game.

RANDY LEVINE: Well, Bob, it's great to be here. Great to be back at the stadium, and New York City is coming back. New York City, if you walk around, there are people all over the place. It's the holiday spirit. I just walked by Rockefeller Center a couple of days ago. The tree is up. It's beautiful, and there's no place like New York City during the holidays. I say it every year. They make movies and Broadway shows and write songs about New York City this time of year, and the city is alive and it's coming back, as is the Pinstripe Bowl.

We're going to have full capacity here. Everybody is excited, and we've got two really great universities. University of Maryland from the Big Ten, and I think that pretty much everyone, including myself, we all know people who graduated from Maryland who live up in this area. It's a great fan base here. A lot of Maryland alums, and I think they're going to come out. Just on the phone calls I've been receiving, they're excited.

Damon and Coach, you guys haven't been in a bowl game in a while, and I think your fan base is excited, and we're so happy that you are here. You're a great university, and you are on the way up, and we're excited to get you on the way up. We've had a lot of teams play in this bowl game who played here and then next year or so they were in a New Year's Six Bowl, so we think it's likely you guys can. We've had three or four that it has exactly happened to.

We're also happy, Whit, and Coach, to have Virginia Tech. There's a special bond between the Yankees and Virginia Tech. I remember I think many, many years ago one day the Boss called me and said, "Turn on the television," and there was a horrific tragedy at Virginia Tech, and the boss said, "We've got to help." So I called Jim Weaver, who was the AD at the time, and we made a donation to the fund, and the Boss said, "That's not good enough. I want to go down there and play an exhibition game." And you were with us, Bob. We all got on the plane, and we actually played an exhibition game with Virginia Tech to show our support.

Virginia Tech, is a great school with a lot of great alumni also in this area. I've heard from a lot of Virginia Tech people, and it should be a great game. Two old rivals that are becoming new rivals here in the capital of the world during the holiday season. Yankee Stadium, the most well-known sports venue in the world, and we're excited to all be back together. Congratulations and thank you for accepting our offer to come, and we look forward to having your players and your staffs and everyone enjoy all the great festivities that you will experience here, which Mark will talk about when you get to New York. Welcome to the Pinstripe Bowl.

BOB LORENZ: Virginia Tech, by the way, and Maryland, you mentioned the rivalry in the past from the ACC. They will be playing against each other for the 32nd time. You mentioned the connection between Virginia Tech and the Steinbrenner family.

Let me get it out to Whit Babcock right now, the Athletic Director from Virginia Tech. Whit, let me ask you about that unique bond and what it means to bring your group up to Yankee Stadium.

WHIT BABCOCK: It's an honor for us to be up there and certainly the connection to the Yankees. Certainly the worldwide brand and all that it means, but in this neck of the woods the Yankees' name means a tremendous amount for exactly the reasons that Mr. Levine mentioned to step up in a time of need was just first class like the Yankees organization.

That brings some more meaning to it, and for Virginia Tech people, we're incredibly honored to be affiliated with y'all. And then certainly for our young people, many of which have never seen New York City, to play a team like Maryland, Yankee Stadium, New Era, right, it just all is first class and branded as championship level. We're proud to be a part of it, and thanks for having us.

BOB LORENZ: Whit, you decided to make a head coaching change in-season with three games left. I want to ask you, as you bring in Brent Pry, a former assistant head coach, bring him back from Penn State, what it means to you, the upward trajectory of when where you feel your program is going.

WHIT BABCOCK: Yeah, sure. You never really stay the same. You're either getting better or going backwards, so we're thrilled with Coach Price's work. It was great to beat our rival UVA. We're thrilled he will be on staff with us. Just a chance to reboot, new energy, and new era in Virginia Tech Athletics, so we want to send this team out right and start working on next year shortly thereafter.

BOB LORENZ: I'm glad you mentioned Coach Price is going to stick around. Coach, let me get it to you and ask you the same question: How optimistic are you about where this program is headed in the future?

J.C. PRICE: Very optimistic. I think we're in the right direction. I thought we were close to begin with. Our guys played several games that we lost. We were very close in the fourth quarter, and I think just the coaching change and everything is going to do us well. Then we can start closing those games out.

BOB LORENZ: I think you must feel a tremendous sense of pride once you took over the way you guys battled at the end of the season. You beat Virginia to become bowl-eligible in the final game. What did that mean to you? How proud of your guys were you?

J.C. PRICE: Beating an in-state rival is always a big thing, but then to beat them and become bowl-eligible was a great feat for us. Everything that our team has gone through, I will scream from the mountaintops that this has got to be down in history as one of the mentally toughest, just strongest teams that Virginia Tech has ever had, because through all the adversity this team has been through -- close losses, the coaching change, all those things -- they've never splintered. They have stayed together, and our team unit cannot be any stronger than it is right now.

BOB LORENZ: Coach, thank you for that. Let's turn to Maryland now and Damon Evans. Let me ask you about your program and the direction that you believe that it's headed under Michael Locksley. You're going in a good row right now.

DAMON EVANS: Yes, we are. We're excited to be participating in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl. Thanks to Randy Levine, Mark Holtzman, and the entire team there because they've just been first class.

This is a great opportunity for our football program. Locks has us headed in the right direction. It's a building process. We talk about that one step at a time, so being able to come to New York City during the Christmas time and to be a part of an iconic venue in the Yankee Stadium, we're very, very excited. Locks always tells the teams and the alums and donors and our fan base that the best is ahead, and this is just a started. This is extremely exciting for Maryland football.

BOB LORENZ: Damon, by the way, as Randy alluded to, I assume you've started working that New York City alum base, right, to get them to buy tickets to this game?

DAMON EVANS: The proximity to the University of Maryland, this is one of the largest alumni base areas that we have. Over 40,000-plus alums in the New York, New Jersey area. Our fans are excited to be there, so for us to be able to fill up Yankee Stadium, to come out there and let people see what the Maryland fan base is really all about. And it's easy to get to for us, so this is going to be a great day, a great time, and it's long overdue because we've always wanted to be a participant in this great bowl.

BOB LORENZ: Well, one of the guys that's really put those building blocks together for your school is Michael Locksley, the head coach. Michael, how have you seen things change in your three years on the job for your school?

MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: I think the biggest change has just been in the culture. As we all know, culture is provided typically by leadership, and we've got 25 seniors that we honor on their way out that have never experienced what a bowl week is about, and we're excited to be coming to New York city. As Damon alluded to, the footprint of the Maryland fan base being there, as well as drivable from the DMV area.

For us it's about the 25 seniors and them going out the right way . We look at this as the start of our '22 season, and we couldn't be more excited to be able to play in an iconic stadium like Yankee Stadium up in New York during the holiday season against a great opponent like Virginia Tech. A lot of respect for Whit and the job that J.C. has done, and looking forward to competing.

BOB LORENZ: Now, I mentioned that Virginia Tech had to battle to become bowl-eligible. They did that in their final game. Your team did that as well with a resounding win over Rutgers, 40-16. What did that say about where your team is at right now?

MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: Like we talk about, it's a step in the right direction. By no means is 6-6 the landmark that we want to have, but to be able to take this step in year three by becoming a bowl-eligible team, which, as we know, getting in this type of cycle allows you to continue to develop your team with the added practices and the things that we get to do now as we prepare to come up to New York is invaluable. To be able to win at Rutgers on the road, it's tough to win in the Big Ten on the road, and to win it the way we did is a testament to the type of senior leadership that we have as well as what our future looks like.

BOB LORENZ: Coach, thank you. Want to bring in Josh Feine now from New Era, and, Josh, let's talk about the relationship that you have with this bowl game and how important it is for you to be a part of this since 2010.

JOSH FEINE: Thanks, Bob. On behalf of the Cook family and New Era, I would like to thank the Steinbrenner family, Ron, Randy, Lonn, Mark, Emily, Michael, and the rest of the New Era Pinstripe Bowl and Yankee team members for all their support, dedication, and partnership leading up to this great game. This could not go on without you guys.

The Pinstripe Bowl is a New York City holiday tradition and a game like no other. As the title partner for over ten years, like you just mentioned, Bob, we are honored to continue to be part of one of the perennial events held annually at Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately, we were unable to enjoy the game last year. However, we could not be more excited to celebrate this year with two prominent universities, whom both have long storied histories in the game of football.

We at New Era are excited to welcome Coach Price and Virginia Tech, Coach Locksley of Maryland, and the respective student athletes to to Yankee Stadium and the greatest city in the world. We look forward on seeing everybody on December 29th and can't wait to see who will raise the George M. Steinbrenner Championship Trophy.

RANDY LEVINE: And the Koch MVP Trophy. I would just say, Bob, the Koch family, the Steinbrenner family go back forever. In the sports world New Era is iconic. Everyone has a hat and a jersey and a shirt, and there are no better people, no better sponsor than their family, and, Josh, thank you again for everything you do for us.

JOSH FEINE: Thank you, Randy.

BOB LORENZ: What kind of support and merchandise do you offer the players and the teams as well as what's available to fans out there?

JOSH FEINE: The majority of players will be receiving a variety of headware and apparel items this week. It includes hoodies, joggers, jackets, T-shirts, duffle bags, a variety of winter caps and winter knits, and, again, all of those items will be available at Yankee Stadium team stores throughout the game, so please get out and buy your merch.

BOB LORENZ: Thanks. By the way, check New Era as well, Pinstripebowl.com for tickets, game day information.

Mark Holtzman, let's bring you in and talk about the selection process. I already mentioned the excitement of these two former AC rivals going head-to-head. Meeting for the 32nd time. What was the selection process like?

MARK HOLTZMAN: Well, first of all, Bob, I would like to thank New Era as well. They've been a terrific partner all these years, and we couldn't have done all this without New Era and, also, without the likes of ESPN. We've had the same partners for a number of years, and for this bowl to become so successful, it truly takes a village. I want to thank all of our partners who have made this possible.

BOB LORENZ: Go ahead.

MARK HOLTZMAN: The selection process, it's a little different for both conferences. With the ACC it was pretty straight forward. You had the New Year's Six games, and then you had a few Florida bowls and a holiday bowl picking in front of us. Then you had three bowls that we were in kind of a pod with. Ourselves, the bowl in El Paso, the Sun Bowl, and the bowl in Carolina, the Duke's Mayo Bowl. Between the three of us we had about six schools to pick from, and we always had our eyes on Virginia Tech. We've wanted to have them here for a long time. My relationship with Virginia Tech goes back to Coach Beamer. Whit has been a good friend for a number of years. We've talked for many years about the right time for them to play in our game, and they were who we wanted, and we were fortunate enough to get them, and we're very excited about the trajectory the program is on, getting the new head coach.

We believe a lot of their fans will come here for the game. It was a pretty straight forward selection. We had about six schools to pick from. The Big Ten was a little different because the Big Ten, once again, you had the six New Year's games. Then after the New Year's games you had a selection process with us and a number of bowls, and we picked in a certain order. What ended up happening is the bowls in the higher selection process chose to pick some of the schools with some of the lesser records, which they could do, and you had Penn State, which really did not have that strong of record this year going right at the top, and you had a Minnesota, which finished 8-4, which beat Purdue and beat Wisconsin. They were actually the last bowl pick.

Every conference does it a little different. We've, once again, had our eyes on Maryland for a long time. It makes a lot of sense. They haven't been to a bowl for a long time. They can all drive here. I've known Damon for a long time. We've had a great relationship. The opportunity came up, and we were thrilled to pick them.

BOB LORENZ: Let me just ask a quick follow-up. We talked about everybody enjoying the holiday season, the teams and their fans and the family. What are some of the details of what they'll be seeing?

MARK HOLTZMAN: Sure. Well, we're going to continue to have a bevy of activities. That's what's really separated our bowl from a lot of the other bowls. We don't have palm trees, but we give these student athletes memories that they can tell their grandchildren about someday, and that to us is very important. We're going to continue to take them to One World Observatory. We're going to go to the 9/11 Memorial. We take them to Radio City Music Hall to the world famous Christmas show. We go to Lincoln Center. We take the families to Tavern On the Green. We do a bunch of stuff, and they leave here with a great feeling of what New York is all about.

We also have our charity tie-ins, which is very important to us. The Yankees are a very charitable organization, and that's a key component to that. We'll continue to work with the Children's Pediatric Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering, as well as a Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club. That's very important for us and for them to be a part of it.

All in all, it's going to be a terrific week. We really want the schools to get in here early and enjoy New York, all that New York has to offer. We're going to have a beautiful welcome dinner here at Yankee Stadium. The field will be lit up. Both schools will be here, and we're very excited to see both coaches, both athletic directors that I've known for a long time. I've been waiting personally a long time to host both of these institutions, and I pledge to all of you we'll do everything possible to make this a very special week and a memorable one for all of you.

BOB LORENZ: Always is. As Randy mentioned, during the holiday season in New York City, you can't beat it. We are going to take a quick break. When we come back here, our Pinstripe Bowl coverage continues with our Q and A segment, so stick around.

(Break)

BOB LORENZ: Good to have you back once again here at Yankee Stadium as we set the table for the December 29th showdown of the New Era Pinstripe Bowl between Virginia Tech and Maryland. They will be battling for the George M. Steinbrenner Trophy. They also, by the way, get rings from Balfour. Randy and Mark are not like Oprah. You get a ring, and you get a ring. Only certain people get a ring. You have to be a champion, right?

RANDY LEVINE: You have to earn it, and it's an honor for us to have them here, and the Steinbrenner family brought this bowl game together because the Boss, George Steinbrenner, loved college football. It was his favorite. He coached it. He played it. As I said, often when we built this place, he said, we have to make provisions for college football, so every time we play this game, we're honoring the Steinbrenner family and his great memory.

BOB LORENZ: I know you get asked this a lot about George. What would he think? It started in 2010. You have seen it grow into what it is today. What would he think about where this game is at?

RANDY LEVINE: I think it would be really proud because there have been other attempts at bowl games in New York. They always failed. He was here and participated in organizing this and giving it his input before he passed on. I think he would be really proud, and I think all of us here at the Yankees are really surprised how successful it has been. You can ask the two ADs. I think it's pretty uniform throughout the Big Ten and the ACC that when they come here, all the staffs, the players, they feel really, really good about it, and we have cold weather, but football is supposed to be played in cold weather.

BOB LORENZ: Of course it is. It's time for the Q and A portion of our program. Let's get to the Senior Director of Public Relations for the Yankees, Michael Margolis.

THE MODERATOR: We are ready to take your questions.

Q. Thank you, Michael. This is for J.C. and Michael. The bowl does not provide palm trees, as Mark said, but what does it mean to your players and your staff and the families for them to have the opportunity to soak in the magic of New York City during the holiday season?

J.C. PRICE: I think it's very big for Virginia Tech. Me and my wife both are Virginia Tech graduates. The way the Yankee organization stepped up and embraced the Virginia Tech community after the tragic events of '07, we have a special place in our heart for the Yankee organization, and it's going to be really exciting to be up there this time of year during the Christmas holidays.

MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: And for us in Maryland, obviously, the opportunity to be there, as you said, in New York City during this time of year and having grown up in the D.C. area and having seen just kind of what New York is like during this time of year for our players. To be able to play in a bowl game in itself, but let alone it being so close to home where a lot of the guys in our area, their parents will be able to get up there.

Again, the footprint of the Maryland fan base up in the New York area, it's a win-win for us. We get to continue to develop our program by taking this step, while also rewarding, as I said, the 25 seniors that have been through an awful lot during their tenure here coaching changes, tragedies. It's a great way to send these guys off as they have left a strong foundation for us to build on.

Q. Hi there. This is for both coaches and really anybody. Building off that a little bit, with all that is lost in the last year and everything like that, how important beyond the football game is it that your players get to enjoy these experiences because of how fleeting we've seen that it is to be able to go to a bowl game or even just be out in public sometimes?

J.C. PRICE: The fellowship is really important. Based off coming off last year's COVID, everyone around the country was so isolated, and now to be able to go to a city like New York and enter and mingle with other people and be around that town this time of year and have our guys experience something that I don't know how many guys on Virginia Tech football team has ever been to New York. I've been there a couple of times, but not for a lengthy period of time, and I think it's going to be a great experience for our whole team.

MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: And for us we really struggled last season getting through a COVID year where we only played five games, and to see where we are today from a year ago with what we went through, and our medical staff did a tremendous job of helping us, but to be where we are today, able to come to New York City to continue to develop our program as I've said, it is a win-win for Maryland football and for our fan base. I know our players are really excited about this opportunity.

Q. This question is for Randy Levine. Randy, can you speak to how significant this game is for the Yankees organization after not being able to have a game in 2020, considering, as you mentioned earlier, how important football was to George Steinbrenner?

RANDY LEVINE: Yes, Brian. It's really important. This is one of the signature events we have here. We have, of course, the Yankees and the Eastern Conference Champion, New York City Football Club that will play for the MLS Cup this weekend, and, of course, we have college football games, in addition to the Pinstripe Bowl.

It's really exciting to get it up and running, to get people here, to get people back to the stadium. As you know I was very involved in many governmental bodies and advisory committees on how many fans come in, what the protocols are, and as Coach just talked about, it was extraordinarily talking to everybody. Everybody did a spectacular, spectacular job to get people to now where people are vaccinated and people feel that they can go out and celebrate, as Coach said, and mingle, it's really, really important.

I think it's important to the psyche of the city. It's important to the psyche of people who work here at the Yankees. This is a big event, and I think it's important for the teams who come here to understand that New York is open, they're going to be experiencing New York in the holiday season, which there's no better place in the world, and psychologically we have made it through the bad times, and there's a lot of life that's coming.

Q. Judging on your background changing there, it looks like you're out recruiting right now. I'm curious, what has that been like to recruit with Brent Pry and John Quinn and Derek Jones, and what kind of reception have you gotten out on the road with this new staff?

J.C. PRICE: It's been a great response. Everybody is excited about Coach Pry and the direction and the vision he has and the direction he is going to take us, and the number one thing we talked about in recruiting is our footprint, and we're out here right now doing that.

Q. What is the top message that you're trying to get to recruits right now that, obviously, committed to a previous staff and trying to hold together with this new staff?

J.C. PRICE: The main thing is that I think that when they committed to Virginia Tech, they committed to the concept and the brand that is Virginia Tech, and whether it's Coach Beamer or Justin Fuente or Brent Pry, the concept of what Virginia Tech is, family and the tradition and everything that goes into Blacksburg and being involved in our football program has a certain aspect that needs to he are a main the same for us to remain successful, and that's what's going to happen.

Q. Hi, this question is for both coaches. First of all, congratulations. I just was wondering what you think the impact can be of playing in this game up here at Yankee Stadium. Your ADs alluded to the strong presence each school already has up here between your alumni and everybody else, but what can playing in this game do for your respective programs?

MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: I'll start it off this time. For us, obviously, sitting here at 6-6 and trying to find a way to have a winning season, and I think that impact -- we haven't had a winning season around here in a long time, and the fact that we're having an opportunity to play a meaningful game in December with that on the line, a chance to have a winning season, to me shows that the progress is being made with our program.

As we continue to set the standard of becoming a yearly bowl-eligible team, that then allows our fan base to get even more excited. I've been here when we've had great success under Coach Friedgen as an assistant to win ten games three years in a row, and I saw what it did to our fan base, so this is the first step of hopefully many that allows us to really build on this great foundation of being able to play in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl.

J.C. PRICE: Virginia Tech has a strong alumni base in the Northeast, and just the impact of playing ball as far as the morale and the boost of the fan base, but the development of your younger players who get 15 extra practices, and that's always been important, and the fact that Virginia Tech for damn near 30 years had a consistent track of going to bowl games, and the fact that as basically an alumnus that we lost that streak last year, and we understood why that happened, because of COVID, and to be now as an interim head coach and be able to begin a new streak is very exciting for us.

Q. J.C., you've had some opt-outs here in the last week or so. Are you surprised you have so many, and do you expect many more here before the bowl game?

J.C. PRICE: What's many? Many more than anyone else in the country? As soon as there was an emphasis on the final four playoffs, you see it all across the country. Guys are opting out of the Orange Bowl, opting out of the Sugar Bowl. I have played in the Sugar Bowl. I never would have thought about it.

I think every kid has to decide what's best for him and his family. Things have changed and the way people think about their bowl experiences, and they to make an individual decision, what they think is best for them and their future, and we understand that, and we'll support any kid who chooses not to play in one game. It doesn't mean that we don't love him, that he is not going to be honored as part of the Virginia Tech family, any player that decides not to play.

That also gives an opportunity to some young guys who may have not factored in a lot or factored in at all to now really start to be part of the preparation and see how their concentration and their development has developed throughout the year to now they get to put their talent on display. It goes hand in hand, but I wouldn't say that we've had any more opt-outs than anybody else in the country. I think that's just the nature of college sports right now.

Q. And you guys got some coaches, obviously, in limbo. Have you talked about contingencies if guys are informed they're not coming back, they get a new job? Have you talked about those things possibly having some guys leave before the bowl game in terms of assistants?

J.C. PRICE: I know we've had a couple guys on our current staff that may have had interviews, but as far as right now, I'm aware that the staff that's been attacked this whole year will go with us to the bowl game and coach the bowl game, and then do the best job we can do for these kids and finish up the year.

Q. Just a brief thing for the Yankee organization, I can tell you that the fan base at Maryland, this is the bowl they wanted to go to because there are so many people from New York with Maryland ties, but there was a tremendous excitement among the fan bases in Baltimore and D.C. about being able to come to New York, but I want to ask Coach Locksley, you have seen the development of your quarterback, Taulia Tagovailoa. He is a calm guy. He is a steady guy, which you have helped create. How excited is he for this opportunity to showcase his talents and the rest of the offense across the country?

MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: What we've found is we'll go as far as Taulia will take us, and I really like the way he has developed for us throughout this season. As I talk about, he is a red shirt sophomore, and really 16 games into a career and being able to rewrite some of our record books with a record-breaking year this year and then to have a chance to continue to build on it playing in this bowl game. It's been great.

I know he is excited because he has already had two player-run practices he has organized and as I'm on the road recruiting and our staff, he has organized two seven-on-sevens a week ago. They practiced yesterday in a modified practice format with shells on, and these are all player-run, so that's the type of leadership that we're starting to get that we need to have to get to the point where this is an every year deal for us. It has to be player-driven, and Taulia kind of exudes that and has taken that role for our team.

Q. Randy, you mentioned earlier when Mr. Steinbrenner saw the events in Virginia Tech back in 2007, that he said you all had to do something, and then it was his idea for the exhibition. Did you accompany the team to Blacksburg?

RANDY LEVINE: Yes.

Q. What are your recollections of it, and if not, what did the players and the staff tell you about that experience of traveling to Virginia Tech?

RANDY LEVINE: We were all there. Bob was there at the time. The YES Network covered it. It was very emotional. It was beautiful to see the whole Virginia Tech community come together the way they did. That's what George Steinbrenner was about. He was about helping people. It was the George Steinbrenner who was on the tabloids that was done for effect, but the real George Steinbrenner always wanted to help people.

As I said, his initial reaction upon watching it was we've got to help, and he made a donation, and we brought Virginia Tech people up here to Yankee Stadium to throw out the first pitch, the president and law enforcement. He said that wasn't enough. We left Tampa. It was in Spring Training. The entire team -- that was a great team. Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams and all the great Yankees. We had a beautiful lunch at the football stadium preceded by the president, and then we toured the memorial. We spoke, meaning us and all the players, and our staff with students, and it was beautiful, and then it was a ball game. Everybody just enjoyed the ball game, and I remember Virginia Tech didn't give up. Our guys went up ahead early, as they should, and they've rallied, and they had a few prospects at the time who I think wound up playing in the Major Leagues. It was a very special team. Our players loved it. They felt good about it. They hated why they were there because it was a horrible tragedy, but they just felt that if they could provide some comfort to all the hurting folks at Virginia Tech, it was well worth doing. Bob, you were there. What do you think?

BOB LORENZ: Yeah. I remember the same things. I remember both the solemn atmosphere, but also the fact that the players were very willing to go be very hands-on. I think meeting the students and meeting the players and as you said, the impact Major Leaguers and guys like Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams can have on guys in college like that and looking at what they could become on the other side of the field has an amazing impact.

Q. Thanks for taking my question. A former New Yorker, transplanter living down here in Maryland. This question is for both coaches. What is one thing you're looking forward to going up to New York City during bowl week? Is there something that you guys are going to look forward to, or is this something that you guys are going to -- you want to see?

MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: I guess I'll go first. For me this is one of my favorite times of the year. I'm a little selfish. My birthday is on Christmas day, so we will be traveling up to New York. I'm, one, just looking forward to being able to spend it with my football family as well as our coaching staff and our families. We haven't been able to do that. We haven't been to a bowl game during my tenure, so being together, we always talk about our football family and not a football team. To spend it my 52nd birthday with my players and our staff and all the other people up in New York City is something I'm looking forward to.

J.C. PRICE: Just the excitement of being in New York around Christmas time. I've never been there this time of year. Rockefeller Center and all those things the glamour and glitz of New York this time of year. Just looking forward to experiencing those things for our families and our staff.

Q. My question is for Coach Locksley. As you have just said, this is your first bowl game heading up Maryland and for your players. What are you doing differently, if anything? You've got a couple of weeks to prepare for this game. You talked about what Taulia is doing and how you like that. What else is going on in these next couple of weeks to balance sort of the players getting a chance to enjoy coming into this game and preparing for it as if it's the next game?

MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: We put together a pretty robust schedule of how we want to prepare. We gave our guys some necessary time off immediately after the Rutgers game. They organized the two player-run seven on sevens to ease back on into it this week with the three modified practices with us being on the road and then we had final exams coming up as well.

As J.C. talked about earlier, this is like another spring practice for us or spring ball where we've created what we call prescriptions for each individual player in our program on the things that they need to improve upon. Normally we have he wanted of the year meetings at this time to talk about what they do well and what they need to work on, so we'll utilize these 12 and 14 practices that we will be able to get to continue to move the needle forward with our development of our young team, and to me that's reinstalling our systems, that's focusing a lot more on the fundamentals as well as having some of the developmental periods where our young players who haven't played a lot during this past season, getting them necessary work to continue their development.

Q. J.C., I'm curious, you've mentioned before how crucial this period before the bowl is for the younger players to get them experienced. How excited are you to work with those guys hands-on over the next 12, 15, 20 days, and especially with some of the older guys opting out, this seems like a really good time to get some of the younger guys experience in a bowl game.

J.C. PRICE: It is, and it goes back to being ready when your number is called. A term I've used competitive excellence and now they a chance, and they have a great opportunity to display their talents and just the fact that you are going to do a little extra with those guys as far as their technique, fundamentals, and maybe even have some -- we call it young gun scrimmage and let those guys do a little bit more to tackle the ground a little bit and have a little fun and bring energy to the end of practice.

Q. Yes, sorry about the first quarter turnover. Mike and J.C., your careers have taken you both to some very interesting places. What does it mean to be coaching in a football game at a venue like Yankee Stadium?

MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: For me, obviously, like we talked about at the beginning, an iconic place like Yankee Stadium, which as a kid you grow up and you learn about Yankees, especially with the rivalry they had down here with our Baltimore team. Really excited about it. For us as we continue to take that next step. As I said, this is the start of our '22 season in mind mind, and that's why the development of our younger players while also leaning on that leadership group of those 25 seniors, and they've gotten us to this point and we're rewarding them by being able to go to a bowl, but now they have to give back that leadership in terms of what we need to do to get the work done to be able to go out and compete at a high level against a great opponent like Virginia Tech.

J.C. PRICE: As Coach so eloquently said, it's our sentiments. It's a reward for our kids. Our kids have battled through so many adversity things throughout the year from close losses to having a coaching change and all those things that go with that, and me personally, I am from Maryland, and the Yankee rivalry with the Orioles, I've lived through that as a kid growing up, and obviously, I'm ab Orioles fan, but always had great admiration for the Yankees and all the championships they've won. For us at Virginia Tech it still goes back to 2007 and the tragic event that is happened in our campus and the way the Yankees embraced all of Hokie Nation and came to our aid and wanted to help us to get past that and rebuild from the tragedy that happened in '07.

Q. This is a question for Mike. Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa started every regular season game this year. Third time that's happened at Maryland since 2003. How are not important was that not just for the QB, but the guys around him to have that continuity this fall as you're building this program?

MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: Did you really have to bring that up? I'm knocking on some wood as we sit here. We still got some practices to get through, but, no, I think it's been much known that we've struggled to keep a quarterback for a complete season, and to me it's a testament to the job that our strength and conditioning staff as well as our medical staff have done as well as with Taulia. He is a guy that really takes his offseason preparation the right way and has really kept himself in great shape and we continue to pray that he is able to finish this season and finish it on a high note, but definitely excited to see us get a quarterback three a complete season and one that has a lot of games left in terms of he is just still a young player for us.

Q. This one is for Coach Price. Coach Price, of anything you can do, can you share basically when you talk to the players about the bowl experience, you had great bowl experiences as a player at Virginia Tech, could you share anything with them about what they can expect, and could you share some of your memories, good or bad? I know you talked about the fun you had in New Orleans at a bowl game. Anything you can share with the players?

J.C. PRICE: The main thing I said is this is a reward, but it's still a game, and I've never been to a bad bowl. There's been some that are better than others, but the bowls you remember are the ones you win, so when we're going to prepare like hell when we're in Blacksburg. We're going to get down or get up to New York and still continue to prepare a little bit, take a little bit off of them in practice, so they can actually enjoy. I want these guys to enjoy being in New York and enjoy the bowl trip, and the trips you remember are the ones you have a good time with your teammates and all the fellowship, but you are still there to win a football game, and that's the message that I would send to them.

It reminds me of when we were in New Orleans my senior year and, you know, Billy Hyde has thanked me several times in our time as friends post my playing career that when we were in New Orleans, it was documented we had a good time, but there came a point where I stood in front of the team speaking on behalf of the seniors and we still had another night or two that we were able to go out, and I said, guys, this is enough. You guys, we had enough time of having fun in New Orleans and we could have a good time after the game, but right now let's get down to business. It's about winning a football game, and that's what it's still about. It's going to be a heck of a challenge against a good Maryland team, but the bottom line is we want to go to New York and win this game.

Q. This is for Damon Evans and Mike Locksley. You started off a little bit ago going to a Hall of Fame as E.J. Henderson goes into the Hall of Fame, are you you're going to end this period in Yankee Stadium with a goal became game. Specifically to Damon, how does this help reinforce Maryland's brand as a football team, and to Mike, how does that help with the recruiting?

DAMON EVANS: First and foremost, we're excited for E.J. to haven an opportunity to be selected to the College Football Hall of Fame. It really shows his athletic prowess, what he did for the University of Maryland, and it's a well-deserved honor for him and his family as well as the Maryland family.

It allows us just to continue to build. It continues to put our brand out there to let people know that Maryland has a good football tradition. Mike Locksley has us headed back in the right direction. As I said earlier, we've got to continue to build and take this opportunity to utilize moments like this to let people know what Maryland is really all about.

MICHAEL LOCKSLEY: Wayne, for me I think it hits exactly to the point from a recruiting standpoint. E.J. being recognized by the college football Hall of Fame is the epitome of what we're selling in recruiting. He is a local product from Aberdeen High School. I was here to be a part of his recruiting process. He was a guy that was not a four-star, five-star player, but leaves Maryland as one of our more decorated players and had great success here winning almost every award you could imagine, winning during his time here.

I think what it shows is that within our DMV foot print, there are a lot of really talented football players and by having a player like E.J. being recognized as one of the best in college football history, by Maryland being able to take the next step as a program, which is he similar to what we did during E.J.'s tenure here, I think it's, again, signs that we are heading in the right direction. As I like to say, the best is ahead for Maryland.

BOB LORENZ: We that we wrap up the Q and A session. It shows the excitement level of this game, no doubt about it. We're going to I that a quick break here at Yankee Stadium. When we come back, we'll get some final thoughts on this year's Pinstripe Bowl, the 2021 edition, featuring Virginia Tech against Maryland. Stay with us.

(Break)

BOB LORENZ: The table is set for the 2021 New Era Pinstripe Bowl December 29th here at Yankee Stadium. Kickoff shortly after 2:00 between Virginia Tech it and the University of Maryland. Time for some final thoughts as we wrap things up, and, Randy, we talked a little bit more, you did, about the excitement of having a full house once again. We saw that at the end of the Yankees season. We've seen it with NYCFC. What do you think it means for the people in attendance and the Yankees staff that are getting back in that sense of normalcy?

RANDY LEVINE: I think it's great. We're going to have all our staff back working, and it's exciting. It's bad for them to get out here. Hopefully the weather is great. Hopefully we'll have a lot of traffic coming up 95 full of Hokies and Terps coming up here for the day. Coach, I don't know if you heard me before, but happy birthday. We have the best bakeries in the world here in New York, so you gave us some time to get a birthday cake going for you. We're just excited. It's going to be a great day. All these bowl games have been great, and as Mark tells you, there's always most of them have had finishes that have come down to the last minute or two of the game. Mark, anything you want to add?

MARK HOLTZMAN: We're just thrilled to have both your prestigious institutions playing in our game. We've had a number of these bowls right now, and, Randy, you're right. Every year there seems to be another plot right from the first game and the snowstorm we had to some of the other games that have gone down to the last minute. Of course, if history holds true, both of your schools will be in the top 20 next E next year because look what happened to the last two programs ) that we had here. We're king makers in this bowl. We can't wait to make both programs kings. Only not only for this year but for next year.

BOB LORENZ: We want to clarify one thing before we go. You said you hope for great weather, Randy, but you also said football is a cold weather game, so what do you think? You want some snow? Do you want subzero? What are you thinking for this game?

RANDY LEVINE: I'll take, like, 40 degrees and sunny. Be nice.

BOB LORENZ: No palm trees, though.

RANDY LEVINE: No. It wouldn't fit here.

MARK HOLTZMAN: We have an optimal kickoff team. 2:15. All the fans from Virginia Tech and Maryland, you hop on 95 early in the morning. You'll be here in plenty of time to watch the game. Maybe enjoy yourself a little bit before the game. Take in the sights of Yankees stadium, visit Monument Park and watch a great game. You can stay here that evening or if you have to go back that evening, it's possible. That's the great thing about having these two great institutions playing in our game, having two schools that can drive to our game. I think that's very important.

BOB LORENZ: How about some brisk New York City evenings that they can enjoy the lights and the sights and a little sunshine and 40 on December 29th. Sounds good.

RANDY LEVINE: I think that's great, and the theaters and all of the venues, Radio City, they are nice and warm.

BOB LORENZ: The table is set, where once again for the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, Virginia Tech against Maryland, that's going to wrap up our press conference. We thank you for joining us here on Yes, streaming on the YES App and on Pinstripe Bowl.com. Go to Pinstripe Bowl.com for all of your game day information, the latest story and storylines, and, of course, tickets. Until December 29th, we'll see you here at Yankee Stadium. Take care.