New merchandise collaboration with Metallica ready to get Hokie fans jumping

Editor's note: This story was updated Aug. 27 to clarify the university's relationship with Metallica in regards to the licensing agreement.

Get ready: A new collection of T-shirts and hats is here to whip Hokie fans into a frenzy of cheers and jumping. A collaboration with Metallica has finally happened.

The initial lineup of merchandise co-branded with Metallica features designs inspired by the band’s logo and original sketches by Virginia Tech doodle artist Steven White.

Regarded among college football’s most powerful entrances, “Enter Sandman” is a tradition that dates to Aug. 27, 2000, when Virginia Tech installed its first video scoreboard in Lane Stadium and needed a new walkout song.

“This co-branding makes a dream of nearly 24 years come true,” said Heather Ducote, senior director of marketing and brand management. “We’re excited to formalize our collaboration with Metallica, since one of their most popular hits is already embraced at Virginia Tech athletics events as a beloved Hokie tradition. And it’s a collaboration that mobilized many university departments; the Virginia Tech Athletics Department, the marketing team, the Office of Licensing and Trademarks, and artist and doodle expert Steven White are all involved in formalizing the co-branding and creating the merchandise. I can’t wait to see what else this collaboration can achieve.”

Merchandise is on sale now at merchants that include the Hokie Shop and the Hokie Sports Shop.

The T-shirts made an appearance on Aug. 12 during the "Today" show’s birthday celebration for co-anchor Hoda Kotb ’86, when the HokieBird and other Hokies visited the set and presented Kotb with the co-branded T-shirts and other Virginia Tech goodies.

A true collaboration

Renee Alarid, director of the Office of Licensing and Trademarks, said collaboration with partner and brand management organization College Licensing Company (CLC), Virginia Tech's agent, facilitated the co-branding.

“It was a very effective collaboration,” Alarid said. “It was quite an effort, taking about a year to hammer out and finalize, and we had to keep it top secret.

“It took a community and the right team,” she said. “Without CLC, the Original Retro Brand, athletics, and the trust of our local retailers, Licensing and Trademarks would not have been able to make this dream a reality. Thank you everyone who helped us in the process.”

“'Enter Sandman' and the unmatched fan intensity at Lane Stadium is one of the great experiences in college sports, and we're excited to work alongside Virginia Tech to expand this amazing tradition to a customized merchandise collaboration with Metallica,” said Nicole Armentrout, CLC's senior vice president of marketing. “Our goal is to help bring unique experiences and traditions like this one into the marketplace so that passionate Hokie fans can relive and showcase the great moments well beyond game day.”

Come celebrate

Virginia Tech Licensing and Trademarks, Downtown Blacksburg Inc., the Town of Blacksburg, the Blacksburg Partnership, and several Blacksburg businesses will host a block party downtown — Kickoff on College Avenue — on Sept. 6.

“We’re delighted to work with Virginia Tech to showcase this exciting collaboration with Metallica at the Kickoff on College Avenue event,” said Ann Cassell, president of the Blacksburg Partnership. "Virginia Tech and Blacksburg are so closely linked and this will only add to the energy and excitement in town as students return and a new football season begins. It’s been a busy summer of infrastructure improvements in Blacksburg, and we look forward to welcoming students, alumni, and visiting fans back home this fall.”

Everyone is invited to share in the excitement at the Kickoff on College Avenue from 5 to 9 p.m. Sept. 6, the eve of Virginia Tech’s first home football game of the seasons. The block party is open to the public as well as students, faculty, and staff at Virginia Tech and their families and friends to celebrate the greater Blacksburg community.

Guests will see plenty of co-branded Metallica merchandise during the celebration along with other Virginia Tech co-brands:

• Enjoy Fightin’ Hokies Hefeweizen, the latest beer borne out of the Hardywood Park Craft Brewery partnership that produced Fightin' Hokies Lager. That partnership began in 2020, when Virginia Tech’s roots in agricultural research sparked a highly productive partnership to produce an official line of Virginia Tech beers.
• Taste a new flavor from the Virginia Tech and Homestead Creamery ice cream partnership. This partnership began in 2021 and introduced Hokie Tracks ice cream to the area.
• Bringing kids? They can play and blow bubbles at a kid station at the party.
• Music will fill the air as well. The Moss Arts Center will have live music on the lawn from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

The 'Enter Sandman' story

Metallica first introduced “Enter Sandman” in 1991 as the lead single from their self-titled album. It hit No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 that same year and later earned platinum status. The “Enter Sandman” music video was only the second music video from Metallica and premiered on July 30, 1991.  

Regarded by many as college football’s most powerful entrance, “Enter Sandman” is a beloved tradition for Hokies.

The rhythmic jumping to “Enter Sandman” started a few years after its debut as the football team's walkout song, when a Marching Virginian began to hop around to warm up during a cold snap. That spontaneous act evolved into the legendary electrifying entrance that now invigorates home games. Accompanied by fireworks and pyrotechnics, “Enter Sandman’s” noise and fanfare even cause the stadium to shake – occasionally setting off seismographs.

"Enter Sandman" carried over to both the men's and women's Virginia Tech basketball teams, and even some graduations feature the iconic production.