At Virginia Tech, good help is still hard to find.

The construction company that built the west-side addition of Lane Stadium gave the school headaches with its delays last year. This time, Tech is unhappy with the company it hired to provide security and take tickets at the stadium.

Tech assistant athletic director Tom Gabbard blamed RMC Events Inc. of Richmond for the long lines that angered many fans trying to get into Saturday's football opener.

He said RMC should have opened all the lanes at all the gates but did not do so, and didn't have enough ticket takers and security personnel at the gates. Gabbard vows those errors will be fixed for the next home game, which is Sept. 16.

"It'll get corrected. Fans deserve it," Gabbard said. "We've got to do a better job."

Most of Tech's eight gates have four to six lanes; one has 20 lanes. Gabbard wants all the lanes opened, as they were in past seasons when Tech was in charge of the gates.

"We had fewer [lanes] open. There's no excuse for that," Gabbard said. RMC "reviewed the stadium. ... They made a call on what was the right number and they missed. We're going to make the call" from now on.

Tech fan Donna Sandifer of Manassas said the long lines were "horrible" on Saturday.

"It was a mad scene," she said.

Sandifer got to Gate 2, by the south end-zone stands, at 1:05 p.m, 25 minutes before kickoff. She said she had to wait in line for 20 to 25 minutes because only two of the five lanes were open.

"That seemed kind of stupid to me," she said. "There were a lot of people screaming about it. ... If they had had enough people manning those gates, I don't think it would have been as bad as it was. ... The other gates that we could see from where we were standing had just as long lines."

She said she "walked right in" last year, when all the lanes were open. She didn't miss the kickoff Saturday but missed her favorite part of the game -- the Hokies charging through their tunnel.

Sandifer blamed the problem not only on some of the lanes being closed but also on security personnel at the gate taking too long. She said her 15-year-old daughter had to unzip her seat cushion so it could be inspected, and a man in front of her had to lift up his shirt.

"Security checks are going to be a little more thorough this year, so that's going to take a little more time," Gabbard said. "Does it take time away from when [fans] normally have been coming [to the gates]? I don't know yet because I don't feel like we had enough [lanes at the] gates open."

Sandifer's husband, Doug, went to Gate 3, between the south end zone and west stands, because he walked from their car instead of taking a shuttle. He said he got to the gate at 1:15 p.m. and had to wait in line for 30 minutes. He missed Tech's first touchdown.

Previously, Tech hired game-day personnel to take tickets and handle security at the gates. Gabbard said Tech decided to go with RMC's "professionals" because the part-time security personnel Tech used to hire were more interested in watching the game than eyeing the stands.

Tech has gotten numerous complaints about the long lines. Gabbard complained to RMC by phone Monday and plans to meet with company officials next week.

"By not opening [all lanes], they sold themselves short a little bit on the amount of time it would take to get people through there," Gabbard said. "They felt like they had enough staff to handle the crowd, based on their experience. What they didn't realize was that our guys are late arrivals, although I don't want to blame it on that, and the security checks probably took a little longer than they anticipated."

Gabbard said RMC didn't deploy its employees properly. He said RMC needs to have more employees at the gates and fewer elsewhere in the stadium before the game. He said Tech will provide additional staff if RMC doesn't have enough ticket takers to have all the lanes open.

Andrew Lee, RMC's director of special events, declined to comment Wednesday.

Tech had hoped there would be fewer problems with fans entering the stadium this season. An additional gate, Gate 8, was added, and Tech students are now allowed to enter through any gate they wish.

Brian Watson of Forest said he went to Gate 8, by the east stands, because the line was too long at Gate 7. He found the situation at Gate 8 at 1 p.m. to be quite disorganized, with fans merging from the north and the south and other fans crashing where the two lines came together. He waited in line about 25 minutes.

"It was not like anything I had experienced before," Watson said. "As everybody got close to the gate, it was kind of a free-for-all. There was no order for keeping any lines. ... I'll never use Gate 8 again."

Gabbard said more barriers need to be put in place at the gates to help fans funnel single file toward the ticket takers.

Gabbard said fans must become more aware of the rules governing what they can bring into the stadium. In particular, he said, fans should realize they can't bring baby strollers, coolers or cameras with a lens longer than 4 inches.

"They were enforcing rules they haven't in the past," Watson said. "On their Web site, they don't mention anything about backpacks not being allowed in, but when you get up there there's a sign that has it on the list."

Not all fans had problems Saturday. Gregory Habeeb of Roanoke said he entered Gate 8 at 1:05 p.m. and only waited in line for a few minutes.