Sources: Virginia Tech's search has focused in on Penn State DC Brent Pry. No deal is done yet, but the hire is expected to happen soon.— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 30, 2021
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edit: I meant this more in a "fascinating" sense than a skeptical one. Ask me how I feel about this hire next November.
Your explanation is logical.
I am thrilled if this is true TBH
I'd prefer this to Bill O'Brien
he'd get 3 years to show progress
yes. Much preferable to O'Brien
I just want it to be over lol. I finished talking myself into BOB last night, now it's back to Pry.
I never even tried to talk myself into BOB. He would've been very underwhelming. Pry is far from a sure thing, but my excitement level is exponentially higher than it would've been with O'Brien, which is important when you consider how much apathy has set into our fanbase lately.
Bring tough defense back to VA Tech!!!! We are a defensive school- this is our identity!!! I wish him the best of luck, he will need our support - now can we get Chad Morris for OC???
The Pry school of coaching redemption?
A top 10 defense full of stud DMV recruits and just an average offense to go with it?
not only is it on brand, it IS the brand
Yep not to rehash ancient history but Fuente tried to create and new identity and in doing so we had no identity. Let's get back to what made us great. Intimidating D, running QB, etc. MVTGA maroon hats? (Make VT great again?) /s
Agree 100% with your first comment re CJF having no identity, but a big no to your hat suggestion since we don't want our identity to be a bunch of morons, we are Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University!
stop, he said maroon anyway and also added a /s
welcome home coach, let's make this happen! ties to the commonwealth, young, energetic. excited to see how his fills out his staff
Seeing lots of meh on Twitter, but I love this if it happens. Love, love love.
People on Twitter were going to be pissed if we didn't hire anyone short of some premiere HC from a blue blood. I tune out the fan reactions there.
People on twitter were going to be pissed.
1/2 will be happy. 1/2 will be pissed. 1/2 won't notice And 2/3 are bots.
Math checks out.
I see you too took math courses at the empo!
But how is PSU taking it? From what I am seeing from them, they aren't thrilled at him leaving.
Just asked one of my Penn State coworkers and his response was "well shit, he was the best part of our coaching staff." Hard not to take that as a good thing.
Hearing the same from some other PSU grads.
Penn State tears taste almost as good as Wahoo tears.
Not nearly as sweet, but definitely drinkable.
Just texted this to my friends and then I realized that college football coaching searches are literally the biggest game of "Telephone" in the country.
Pissing off Pedo St fans is just the cherry on top.
Lol, they signed Franklin to a big long term contract and we stole at least part if not more of their staff that made him his millions.
if Brent turns out to be an ace for VT and it screws Penn State by leaving them with a lame duck in Franklin and their recruiting wins against us turn into recruiting losses it might be fair to go ahead and say Whit is playing 4D chess out here
So, sounds like it's time to flip some PSU commits to VT!
My brother-in-law is concerned about players leaving to follow him. Sounds good to me!
Devyn Ford via the Portal? 247 says Pry was the secondary recruiter for him.
Would be crazy if we got one of the most coveted recruits we missed on with Fuente. And we all know the French story of that dinner.
Must've missed that one.
it was a TKPC exclusive -- the tldr was Fu looked hella sullen af and uninterested in crootin and Bud was doing all the heavy lifting
IIRC, Ford and another top prospect were at a restaurant. It was Foster doing all of the recruiting. Fuente stood away from the players and their families and spent all of his time talking with I think it was Vice. But Fuente supposedly never said a word or interacted with them at all. He was there when this was going on.
Bud should have kicked the shit out of Fu in the parking lot right after solely because Fu told Bud that the defense wouldn't have to win games anymore. This is just ridiculous.
So, does this mean I have to get back to work today?
i'm always looking to try new things... might as well try working
There's still signing the deal, scheduling the press conference, speculating on assistants...
I can hear this GIF.
Yes.
Get back to work.
VT needs the donations that work makes possible.
I would support this. It does make me think that Whit had someone else locked up and then they went somewhere else just based off of his press conference. Pry has a lot of positives, even though he doesn't 100% exactly fit what Babcock publicly said he was looking for
FWIW this ESPN story states that both Clawson and Napier "declined interest in the job". Not sure if either was ever "locked up" but it's believable that Whit had a deal with, say, Napier, that evaporated once UF opened up.
Without saying too much that is behind paywalls, Napier likely evaporated after UF offered. But there was likely never any serious mutual interest between VT and Clawson. That was posturing by his agent to get his guy paid.
No idea who knows what but Godfrey said the interest was real FWIW
Godfrey said the interest from VT was real. May not have been much interest from Clawson.
Definitely doesn't have the recruiting wow potential of Huff/Freeman/Elliott, but I much prefer this to BoB which would have been very awkward. It makes sense considering he has VA ties and has been a very successful DC for a long time. Still feels a tad like a safe hire, but I think if he builds out a strong staff this could be very good. I do like a coach to renew our focus on defense.
If he had a heavy hand in recruiting that defense, I don't think he's as far removed from those names you said either...
He's no Huff, but far from a slouch. He has big-dogged us for multiple top VA players.
https://247sports.com/Coach/Brent-Pry-1527/AllTimeRecruits/
Go to 247 and look and some of ppl he's recruited...
If true, then ok.
Next question: can/will he recruit?
And next: who does he pull as coordinator s/position coaches.?
Edit:
Added Coach Pry mic'd up video:
Pry mic'd up
Gonna be hard not to compare to Bud.
Checks recruiting: https://247sports.com/Coach/Brent-Pry-1527/AllTimeRecruits/
Yeah, I think he can recruit.
Leaps and bounds ahead of Fuente. His highest recruit was Jerod Evans
247 Link
5 blue chippers from VA and total of 8 VA players in his career. He's got real good connections in VA and the high level NJ private schools
Definitely impressive results but two points:
1) how much of that was him vs Franklin and the PSU brand? Not saying he can't recruit but let's see the staff he builds out here and how what he did at PSU translates to VT.
2) he is a career defensive assistant like Bud. Kind of feels a bit like atonement for not giving Bud the job when Beamer left. I'm very hopeful it can work but interested in seeing the staff we put around him. We should have tons of cash to work with in that regard.
You're right in that Franklin and PSU are big hurdles to overcome -- we literally saw Devyn Ford's HS coach use the "big dogs" line to refer to PSU in his recruitment. However, Pry already has connections around. HS coaches know him. Already having a foot in the door and already having a personal connection with people around the area is a big plus in terms of getting a recruiting strategy up and running. I agree that filling out the staff is a big question mark -- i think this bodes well for Price and Smitty, not sure about JHam. The offensive staff is important to keep an eye on for sure.
I can definitely see a path for Smitty and Price being retained with Pry. J Ham is a question mark for sure but also possible with Pry sort of overseeing that side of the ball. We will also have big bucks to spend on the offensive staff which is very exciting. With Venables likely heading to OU, and Pry coming to VT and also impacting Penn State's efforts, we could be on the verge of a massive swing in the balance of power in the ACC and mid Atlantic recruiting.
So you're saying that Pry will be a "Bud Lite" coach?
I'll see myself out 😜
Look at who he's pulled in a PSU. He has a proven track record as a good recruiter, including VT's stomping grounds.
I am really interested to see what assistants he brings in.
i bet, during the interview process, that whit put a ton of focus on any potential hire's recruiting strategy. if pry is they guy, he must've had a pretty good plan on improving our recruiting dept structure & process fixing broken relationships in VA.
Thanks for finding that video. Made me feel pretty good about the hire, if it is true. Love the energy.
The way he said "Spring ball starts Monday", and the way he said Monday...
**be still my heart**
Not sure how I feel about a man that wears a visor indoors, but I'm keeping an open mind.
Visors abound in my line of work, I love it.
Your line of work also requires being outdoors. I stand by my statement.
The irony of this is one of the reasons (not the only one) Bud was not hired to replace Frank was because Bud was a Defensive Coach and "everyone" wanted an offensive genius.
But we were a petulant 17 years old then and now we are 23 and more mature...
We all know what needs to happen for the next HC to be successful. Recruiting wins and sounds coordinators/assistants. We know Pry has a good recruiting track record around here (as far as I know) so if he's the guy, let's see what staff he assembles around him. Then we wait to see if VT acquires an identity and reestablishes winning ways.
If he's the man that's been chosen, welcome Coach Pry and I will be rooting for your, and our shared, success.
If he can keep the verbals we have for 2022 that's already a win in my book
Maybe add Mehki Flowers (ATH), Ken Talley (Edge), and Abdul Carter (LB)
He would have a lot of knowledge on how Franklin negative-recruits Virginia Tech
it follows then that he would perhaps have insight on how to positive-recruit Virginia Tech, and we desperately need that
Pry's recruiting has been both good and focused on the mid-to-north-Atlantic (PA, NJ, NC, DelMarVa). Should be able to pull some of the PSU recruiting region back to VA. Was a GA under Foster 95-97. Knows the school and region and is a solid defensive coach. No HC experience anywhere.
This would be an underwhelming hire given our initial target (Napier), as Pry has exactly zero experience in program building but given the state of the carousel I'm just shrugging my shoulders. Hope he can hire for offense.
Is that what the DMV is? I always thought it was DC, Maryland, Virginia.
The DMV is an immortal hellmouth from which light and life cannot exist
Oh, you're talking about the geographic area?
Living here in the northern VA region of the DMV that is also really referred to the DMV ... it's the same for both.
IIRC, "DelMarVa" typically refers to the peninsula that makes up the
westerneastern part of the Chesapeake Bay, while "DMV" does indeed refer to DC, MD, VA metro area.Edit: Geography is hard.
DelMarVa stands for Delaware - Maryland - Virginia. It's the peninsula on the eastern side of the bay that each of the three states claims some territory. It's basically the southern part of DE, the eastern part of MD (including Salisbury and Ocean City), and the Eastern Shore of VA.
this
Yes, this. I used DelMarVa as shorthand for all three states since it looked like Pry had gotten a bunch of commits from Maryland and VA but there was also some Delaware sprinkled in there too. Forgot to mention DC entirely but he had some from there too. Really a mid-Atlantic recruiter, which is good for us
I think this is Delaware, Maryland, and Va, slightly different geographic region.
Edit: I'll drink. Got beat by 3 seconds lol
The Division of Motor Vehicles?
Micah Parsons was recruited and coached by Brent Pry at Penn State.
He was a 1st round draft pick for the Cowboys and is now in the mix for Defensive Rookie of the Year. Let's get some more guys like this back on VT's defense!!!
I had never seen Pry speak. I looked him up yesterday morning and watched one video from the spring. Heard his accent and was sold. He at least sounds like a good fit, to go along with his background and track record with coaching defense and recruiting. I absolutely like this more than Clawson, who is the only other name it seems confirmed we had serious interest in.
Can't help but feel we went way down the list....but hey, "Let's Go!!!"
Crazy coaches prefer locations like *checks list* USC, LSU, Florida, and now Notre Dame.
Certainly not a top choice hire but there's a lot to get excited about for Pry
Also anyone that likes Smith, Price, and Hamilton this bodes well to keep them around
Love it. PSU defense has been strong under him, he's recruited players at a high level, and he has connections to the area and the school. As someone who was never sold on Napier, and found people like Huff and Chadwell a big swings that could have easily been strike outs.
Let's go!
Hadn't really heard of him until a few days ago. Hoping it all works out well. Excited to see what kind of staff he can put together before my final preliminary judgment.
Fuente seemed to have been a better hire on paper, but we all know how that turned out.
This. And I've also heard mentioned to wait and see what the details of Pry's contract are (if there is one)...hoping that there is lots of room to get some hot dog assistants.
Hope he's around longer than the last Brent...
If he can turn things around like the last Brent, I'm on board.
Let's hope we can get through an announcement thread without any huge negative takes. Give the new coach a great welcome and support (with at least qualified or measured support!) -i'M looking forward to a true year zero/one with optimism and that the Commonwealth Cup streak will grow to 25 years!
LET'S GO.........
HOKIES!!!
This I can get behind anything to bring us back to our roots of nasty elite defense is a good move. Hes got great recruiting ties to the area and to me was a good pick. Time will tell on the assistants he chooses but a good start!
Seeing some folks in twitter land down on Pry cause he has no HC experience. Now I'm not saying we're on the same level here but, I don't think that means as much as some people say:
1. UGA - Kirby Smart - 0 HC experience
2. Mich - Harbaugh
3. Cincinnati - Fickell - 0 HC experience
4. Bama - Saban
5. OK St- Gundy - 0 HC experience (granted he has now been their HC for 16 years)
6. ND - Kelly
7. OSU - Ryan Day - 0 HC experience
8. Ole Miss - Kiffin
9. Baylor - Aranda - 0 HC experience
10. Oregon - Cristobal
Literally 50% of the top ten ranked football teams are led by coaches that had zero head coaching experience before landing their current job. And Cristobal's only HC experience was a failed run from 2007-2012 at FIU.
You can also throw in Dabo as well. Yes, Clemson is down this year, but they've had enough recent success its absolutely worth mentioning.
But you bring up a great point. Head coaching experience with these kind of moves isn't the guarantee that many seem to think it is. Some of the absolute best fits in college football right now have come from schools finding a great coordinator and giving them a chance. Who knows, Prye could be that for us.
Woo. Top 10 confirmed!!
50% chance at least!
Top 20 confirmed!
Sweet another Brent!!! Worked out well for basketball. Hoping football has the same turnaround!!! I'm on-board!!!!! Let's Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
....Hokies!
Would really love to see some high level defense again. I do like to watch scoring, and of course it helps to score more than the opponent, but I LOVE defense. Best full game I have watched VT play in 20+ years was at the shoe against Ohio State. A friend who had never watched VT play before turned to me and said "I love how aggressive they are". I miss that a lot. I like this hire. Doesn't have the bells and whistles maybe, but I don't care. I want someone who wants to be here, isn't gonna leave when the other 10 most wins ever jobs open, can recruit, and isn't generally a dick in the media.
Oh, also hires someone who realizes the jet sweep isn't a bread and butter play.
Not sure about the "isn't gonna leave" thought, but as has been said by others, if he can get us back to where we've been before, I'll be ok with him leaving for a better job. Means he did a great job.
I'm liking this hire on paper because it checks some good boxes recruiting wise. I'm with French in that I need to see how he carries himself and connects with the fan base and more specifically donors.
Need to hear what his philosophy offensively is going to be as well, because I'm with JC Price in that VTs identity needs to go back to running the football down hill and being hard nosed and win the line of scrimmage.
Finally, need to see the commitment to staff and recruiting salary that needs to be upped for VT to truly compete at the level it should be competing at. Is that commitment there to be successful?
My gut reaction is that anyone who comes from the Bud coaching tree and has had tangible success at another P5 program is a great hire. If we couldn't get Bud himself, this is probably the best and most seasoned and prepared coach we could find to continue his legacy.
At the end of the day, our defense should get back to elite. The wiki page for his time at Penn St is impressive.
If he can leverage his recruiting ties to the region and build out a great staff here, there's no reason that we shouldn't be able to contend for the Coastal in a short time. If he can bring in a great OC to see that side of the ball, this could be a home run hire.
Just checked Wikipedia. Can confirm. Brent Pry is the new head coach at VT.
damn't beat by 1 min
ROFLCOPTER
It's on the internet, so it must be true.
Whit's "12th choice"?
Should we change it to 27th?
25th
Just checked the PSU message boards.
They seem pretty bummed to be losing him and seem to speak highly of him.
Also seems like he will recruit better than Fu.
I am cautiously optimistic with this hire if it all goes through.
wikipedia already updated
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Pry
Bro someone wrote that he was Whit's 12th choice to replace JF. I wonder how long that stays up lol.
The beauty of wiki is that anyone can edit it.
Also the problem with it.
The reaction by our fans on Twitter and especially 247 have been downright embarrassing today
Absolute cesspool
Twitter is garbage.
Always has been
Not just garbage! HOT GARBAGE!
Saw on another website that the same guy edited Franklin's page to say he was at Oklahoma.
So I guess you can't trust Wiki 100%.
I think the funniest reaction I'm seeing on twitter is "Clearly Whit whiffed on a bunch of other candidates!
And like...is our fanbase that oblivious? Do they see what's happening? Most coaches are either getting crazy raises to stay at their school or getting poached by a really big dog. We're a medium dog at best, and everything about this guy says he's a good fit with plenty of P5 experience.
I think our fanbase needs a serious look in the mirror as to where we are as a football program.
Have you met (some of) our fanbase?
It was rhetorical!
It's very allegorical.
Not sure why it took so long for this to get out.
Personally, I'm meh on it until I see the staff. In the current college landscape, you NEED recruiters. If he can hire an A-team for that, I'll be good. But for now it's a wait and see.
Well good thing he's a good recruiter then:
https://247sports.com/Coach/Brent-Pry-1527/AllTimeRecruits/
If people stop to look things up before they post, how can they be first to post something? /s
If you're looking for an A-Team for recruiters then you're in luck we essentially just got BA Baracus.
I pity the fool who thinks VA players ain't comin' to Virginia Tech.
I love it when a plan comes together.
Penn State fans seem both happy for him and upset that he's leaving. They also seem sure that he would bring John Scott Jr (current PSU d line coach) with him.
Edit: Also some boards think he would bring Anthony Poindexter (UVA grad and current PSU co defensive coordinator).
Pry, Scott Jr, and Poindexter can all recruit also! I'd like to see our guys on defense stay but if he brings his own guys I won't be hurt. This will go a long way in helping fix relations in the state with high school coaches. I just hate that some of these guys are ex-hoos and our current guys are ex-hokies. Is it so bad at Tech that we need ex-hoos to fix the football team now?
Interesting... you get Scott away from Franklin by naming him D Coord
Uh oh, we have another Scott coming as a defensive coach. /s
Loeffler? He was always great at slowing down an offense.
Just watched his Mic'd up on YouTube . Sign me up coach!
I like what he says about the standards - hopefully he brings that and the expectations with him!
#teamHuff forever. Maybe this guy works out but I have a feeling we'll be kicking ourselves in a few years when Huff is racking up wins at a blue blood
Pry might be a good coach but it 100% isn't going to move the National media needle to hire him. Time for the big $$ boys to open the checkbook and start paying for assistants and recruiting staff if they want to change the narrative at VT
The only thing that will move the national media is winning games. Winning the new hire press conference doesn't matter if you can't win games
Pry being a veteran DC, what do you think the odds are he would retain JHam, and kind of mentor him in order to put more $$ to the OC? Or y'all think he goes out and gets a new DC?
No offense to Jham...but I hope not. Ham is good at second half adjustments, but the defense consistently comes out looking lost in the first half, and I just don't think he was ready for the job when we gave it to him
That is where a veteran DC can help him though... Defense wasn't bad this year, spend that money on offense.
It wasn't very good either. I'm sorry, but JHam is just not who I want as my DC if we're looking to make a quick turnaround.
I can't even begin to count the number of times guys would just whiff on tackles or be completely out of position and miss their assignment. You can blame that on coaching but I also think this team has flat out struggled with talent. More talented players make and finish those plays that lead to much better outcomes. A coach calls the plays but players have to do their jobs still.
Seems he's clear-eyed enough to know it's a rebuild in many ways, and he's going to want his own staff around him. Sorry J-Ham.
Honestly, I'm just excited that this may mean that we don't get many more French columns where he just goes "Man, idk what the defense is doing, but it's not good". When you can't even really suss out what the defensive assignments were supposed to be on replay, that's not great.
Hope Pry brings in someone familiar with the defense that he runs, which is similar to Bud's. Wonder if he has any ties to Torrian Gray (currently DBs coach at USCe). Wonder if he keeps Price and other around though.
Will be interesting to see what guys he can get to flip or transfer with him. Looking at you Devyn Ford.
Also Anthony Poindexter is his safeties coach. Can't imagine he comes with him.
Brandon Smith is more than welcome. Ford... eh, not so much. He didn't just burn the bridge, he set fire to the whole forest.
Water under the bridge at this point to me.
Good player who was recruited poorly by Fuente's incompetent staff. If he wants to play for us, he's welcome.
Not a bad hire but certainly not Whit's first choice.
Will be very interested in seeing who he can land as his OC. Also interested in who he brings as S&C Coach.
Now we wait and see who will be the OC...
ROFL. Take a leg. Go plaid.
This is the correct reaction.
To be honest, I've heard great things about Crad Bornelsen.
Chad Bornelson
I just saw the 'HUNGRY - HARDER - HUMBLE' at the bottom of the video and.... bleh. Leave that corny shit up there
Are we doing Hard things Together?
Nah, Bronco is still doing that.
OK Whit. Stop fucking around and hire a 2mil per OC for him. Let's fucking go. Get a P5 legit OC in here and let's win a bunch of games. Pry will have the defense right in short order.
You think Tech is going to have a top 3 paid OC?
Why not? If we want to stop losing to Pitt and BC every fucking year, we should consider it.
We don't need a top 5 coordinator to beat those teams, but I agree anything less than 800k is VT throwing in the towel.
I don't know if they go $2MM, but you have the right idea.
Could easily see $1M plus for an OC. That would be big time. First off the wall thought, let's go get Chad Morris.
Let's hire Justin Fuente as OC (he's available)
via GIPHY
Must not downvote...
I wouldn't blame you, TBH
Id be OK with the real brains behind that deal - Darrell Dickey though. Big time.
I'd be okay with that. I think Fuente's offenses at TCU were legit, though. I don't think he's a bad offensive coach. I don't think it's necessarily fair to imply that he can't be a good OC and that Darrell Dickey was the real genius at Memphis. Fuente had stated that he wanted to take less of a role with offense and grow as a CEO type of head coach who was more hands off and let his coordinators coordinate. His big failure in that was not recognizing that his buddy was in over his head. I don't believe that the offense struggled because Fuente didn't know how to coach offense. I believe it struggled because Cornelsen didn't know how to coach offense and Fuente didn't have the chops to make the necessary change.
Fuente as OC, I think, would be pretty dang good. But Darrell Dickey would also be pretty good. I think we're more likely to get snow in July than either of those options, though.
If we killed Stiney and Leoffler for running "Beamers" offense, then Corn ran Fuente's offense. And I take a lot of stock into what opposing coaches have said about our offense recently. It aint good. The scheme isn't scaring anybody.
Josh Gattis crossed paths with Pry during his time at Vanderbilt...and Whit is personally mentoring Gattis right now. Seems like the obvious choice. Give him the entire Brinks truck.
EDIT: Expect Pry to make less than Fuente, expect a significant pool of cash for the assistants.
I'm ok with this
The man knows where the priorities should be.
Even if he makes only $3M starting out, that's still double his salary from PSU. This will be huge to bringing in a great staff so we can get rolling quickly.
Hearing the assistant pool will be the second-highest in the ACC (behind Clemson).
This is excellent news. Going from where we were to second in conference is huge.
This will be money well spent.
Probably will be higher than Clemson if Ven goes to coach Oklahoma
That would be amazing.
Fantastic
I sincerely doubt this happens unless UM decides they don't want Gattis.
No one's beating UM in cash.
Texas and A&M whistle in the corner.
+1 to a fair point
I could not agree more!!
Graham Harrell is probably out at USC. That's a super intriguing name to me. Bobo, Morris are probably looking for jobs as well.
Hard pass on Mike Bobo. I live on the GA/AL border and have watched him fail at both UGA and Auburn as OC. Auburn just fired him on Sunday.
Beamer (both of them) dodged bullets on Bobo.
I would like to have Harrell here.
I was about to say, one thing to note about Pry is that he was a GA when JC Price was a 4 year starter for us. Fully expect him to remain on staff.
Also saw that Ryan Smith was on the staff at PSU with him, so definitely possible he may be retained as well.
Price and Smith for sure. Personally, I hope we keep Lechtenberg. I think Lechty has done a fantastic job with the RBs the last 2 years, and he's one of our best recruiters on the current staff.
Pry should Clean House First , then re-look at What is out there to Make VT better. Then If he wants to keep few, that's his option. I want the New Coach to clean house and then pick his Staff. Not this BS of "He Needs To keep" attitude. IMHO..
this might be the first comment of yours I've ever fully agreed with -- hire the best people for the job. chances are there is a place on this staff for one or two holdovers to help bridge cultures and maintain recruiting ties. but i do not want an incoming coach to feel handcuffed by expectations of keeping a large portion of a staff that underperformed enough to the point that it cost the head whistle his job
I understand what you're saying and agree that I wouldn't want to handcuff a new coach. I think what he was saying, and I agree with, is Smith looks like a bright, up and coming coach who seems to have been recruiting well and has those relationships with area schools, so hope he'd be given the chance to stay if Pry likes what he sees. As for Price, I would sincerely hope Pry would find some role to keep a guy who is that passionate about the school - to me, the passion is what you want to keep around. You may get that for people coaching positions, but I think caring about the school that much helps sell the school to recruits.
I also remember seeing the rumor that Smith was flirting with Penn St somewhere on TKP earlier this year as well. If that's true, I feel like there's a solid chance he'll stay along with AHC Price.
How do you know that Whit made those decisions and not Pry? I mean, we know Pry and JCP have a history.
I don't disagree with your sentiment. Just the inference that it was Whit's decision without evidence.
Wait was Lechty responsible for Blackshear getting 2 second-half carries vs. Miami?
He doesn't call the plays, he coaches the players. Also, given what we know now about how controlling Corny is, I doubt anyone but him makes player decisions.
If we don't drive ODU into the ground, I'm talking 50-0 here, then that will not be a good start for CBP
This is a very underrated part of the hire - the biggest program in the 757 loves our head coach. Only helps us flip the narrative in the region.
ODU can effectively become our AAA team.
If true this is huge.
Yes a pedophile ring is the worst of the worst, won't argue. But Baylor hoops had a player murder another player and the coach covered it up. They won a national championship last year. If Pry has us winning the ACC again, I won't worry about Jerry Sandusky - at all.
just gonna nip this here -- pry's time in state college started when Franklin brought him with from Vandy to PSU. Pry is two coaching staffs removed from Paterno/Sandusky
yeah the /s was not obvious at all, good edit
Okay, thank you for adding the /s... I was gonna say....
FYI If you mention Penn State stank, I bet 95% of college football fans will immediately assume it's about one of the largest scandals in college football in the last 50 years. Whether you meant it to be related to that or not, you can tel by all the comments in this thread, that everyone assumed you were relating to that.
Yes, let's vanquish that stuff here and now.
Yeah understood. But not my intention at all. I would have made the same joke (more so) if it had been a hire from UVA, WVU, UNC, or Maryland. Those including PSU are my most hated schools and mostly due to recruiting battles.
I like this better than Clawson or Chadwell, but dammmmmmn I wanted Huff so bad. Hope he's better than Fuente. It's not splashy, but I will reserve final judgement on Whitt's hire until we see who the coordinators are.
😏
Oh oops damn autocorrect.
Whiff's*
Whitt is my last name 😳
Oh I get it now.
dang you're not even gonna wait for a game to be played to pass final judgment
Maybe final is the wrong word, judgement on the hire I guess. But it's funny that you single me out instead of everyone who's blindly happy with the hire
Lol you literally said "pass final judgement." Its not singling you out. You are the only one that said it.
I would have said the same if anyone else said they were going to pass final judgment on the hire before a game is played. forgive me for misreading the intent of that comment.
also this thread 85% cautious optimism and 12% skeptical optimism and 3% blind happiness (and mostly due to who he's not, fwiw)
Thank god, I could not talk myself into Bill O'Brien after last night.
I think a think a revolt was brewing, a la Schiano & The Vols
High praise from a PSU beat writer
https://dkpittsburghsports.com/2021/11/07/penn-state-football-most-valua...
Well, everybody go back to work, and get those donations flowing.
This is a choice that could clearly work well for Pry and for Virginia Tech.
Mendenhall must be sulking awful hard this week.
Coincidence that the news comes out on Giving Tuesday? I got some socks on the way
Donate! Donate! Donate!
But keep the socks, they are trash. I got two pair last year and hated them.
i got a pair last year and i love them, so the real takeaway is pls make a donation regardless of if you're a sock guy or not
Everybody but French. Hopefully he is preparing a typically wonderful and informative look at Pry's defenses and what we can expect.
Will be interesting to see how our existing players fit with Pry's schemes and who will benefit most from this hire.
Expect a lot of that content after things settle down a bit. It's another great reason to join TKPC.
Welcome Home, Coach Pry!
Now Pry the ACC away from Clemson, and bring us back to where we belong
Well, at least for one year it will (probably) be from Pittsburgh...
Thank god...the Bill O'Brien smoke last night was concerning. We don't know how he'll build his staff or what offense he will want to run, but he can run an outstanding D and can recruit well. He has ties to VT as well. All things considered I'm good with this.
Maybe we'll have a spring game now!
Yards Per Play Allowed FBS rankings as a Power 5 defensive coordinator or co-defensive coordinator:
Vanderbilt co-DC
2011 - 14th
2012 - 16th
2013 - 25th
Penn State co-DC
2014 -3rd
2015 - 14th
Penn State DC
2016 - 22nd
2017 - 12th
2018 - 14th
2019 - 16th
2020 - 22nd
2021 - 11th
I think our defense will be in good hands.
Remember too with Vandy, the was typically on the field a whole lot longer than the O
Those Vandy numbers are very impressive considering...
Please, for the love of god, let him have a personality.
Looks pretty good from the limited youtube vids I've seen.
But he is going into the tumble cycle now.
Just have fun with it and be likable. That goes a long, long way.
He's a great recruiter.
Having a great personality is basically a requirement to being one.
✔ Virginia Guy
✔ Proven Recruiter
✔ Great coordinator
✔ Voice and cadence similar to Bud Foster
✔ Piercing blue eyes
LET'S GOOO BROOOOOO
Again credit where it's due to Whit again on leaks like it or not. This was a name we hadn't heard about AT ALL until yesterday. I don't know where he was on the list, but he was on it. There are names we all had on our lists that are still available, so he must have impressed Whit & Co.
Pry get's 2 Fuente demons to exercise in year 1.... At ODU and At Liberty. Great schedule Whit. Great job. I hope Pry can overcome Liberty's athleticism
I wonder if he'll be able to make any late flips in this recruiting cycle. There might be some guys who were not a take at Penn St who he recruited who could be a fit here, or possibly some guys from PSU who would flip to follow.
Also going to need to hit the portal hard. Given what Fuente is leaving him, he's looking at a difficult first year or two where he's going to have to do more with less than he's seen since.... maybe his early days at Vandy
I hope that having worked for Franklin at PSU and Vandy, Pry brings a relentless recruiting approach with him- you need that at this level. No holes barred. I guarantee you he is working the portal for a couple DTs and a QB as we speak.
fantastic typo tbh
going to have to try and mooch my dad's ODU season tickets for this one. The last VT game in Norfolk didn't go exactly as I hoped
edit: or maybe just buy my own next season, they weren't super expensive and I enjoyed the new stadium the game i attended this year
Sorry just had to
Thank you. Twas a ripe opportunity
Thank God it ain't Bill.
Now, let's talk coordinators baby. Let's get this thing rolling
I am liking this hire more and more (which I probably would've said about anybody the more time I look into them). He helped get Vandy to half of their bowl games in the last 20 years and 3/7 in 40 years and he was only their for the 3 years with James Franklin. Also seems like he is Franklins right hand man. Started his coaching career in D2 with James Franklin, then brought on as Assistant Head Coach and DC to Vandy after several years with other schools and then stayed with him to be AHC and DC at Penn State.
He also worked under Ricky Bustle at ULL for 5 years which was an interesting find.
Ohhh! I noticed Pry coached at UL-Lafayette for a few years, but I didn't put together the Bustle-Pry connection. Good catch.
First of all, I want to brag to strangers on the internet about how I called this nearly 6 weeks ago:
Secondly, I'd like to thank Whit for taking my advice. I know for a fact that Pry wasn't on Whit's radar until he saw my 71 turkey legs, and said "This BAR1990 guy is pretty smart!"
Third of all, I'm super pumped about this hire, for all the reasons I listed above. Additionally, if Venables actually leaves Clemson for OU, then VT is well positioned to retake VA recruiting (at least defensive talent)
Fourth of all, I'm really interested to see how this staff shakes up - especially around OC, Strength Coach, and Recruiting Director
Fifth of all, now I can (sort of) be productive at work again.
Well done, also of note is bluehokie2006's follow-up
How little you all knew at the time
Oof hopefully this turns out better than that hire.
Definitely.
Props where props are due. Good call my dude.
Whit TKP's confirmed
I kid, I kid buddy
BarWhitI lost it laughing at this. We'll done Lepak.
Well you just got an internet point from me.
Take your leg.....now tell us about our new OC!!!
I mean, he wouldn't be much worse than the last two guys...
OC - Cornelson
OL - Newsome
Waking up today and choosing violence?
Every day, baby
Well done brother.
NostraBARus
barstradamus
What, 71 legs in the original post weren't enough?
Oh, okay. Here, have a leg then. And then two more:
Those legs have to be worth more than standard legs.
Nice set. Or was that sit?
I actually thought about your post yesterday when Pry came up, saw people here (and elsewhere) dumping all over the idea of Pry and was like "Wait, didn't someone suggest Pry a month ago and everyone loved the idea?"
the search got to a few of us
This post had me put Pry on my original potential coaches wish list way back then. Pry was on my radar almost entirely because of bar.
Also, I thought with how active you've been here you didn't have a job 😂
LOL. Combination of paternity leave, my team just hitting their stride, and me TKPing in meetings instead of paying attention. But over the last 5 days I've probably done 12 hours of real work.
Well, the work you've done here has been pretty solid.
That's about 11 hours more than I've done
But I thought Whit missed out on all his top candidates and this was a 12th in the line desperate hire
Aww, this is gonna really fuck with some narratives. Dammit, Godfrey
This endorsement by Godfrey of the hire bodes well. Will be very interested in how all of the national media views this hire.
We could use some good PR from this on the recruiting front especially with the approaching NSD.
What was Godfrey's take on Fuente?
Godfrey has said he like everyone thought it was a home run at the time, and spent many podcasts episodes talking about where it was going / went wrong.
Eh, not sure if I care as much about this. Someone posted yesterday about how we were graded an A or A+ for the Fuente hire and Georgia was graded as a B for the Kirby Smart hire. I'm going to wait for on-field results and care less about how the hire is graded. I'm excited that it looks like we'll likely improve in recruiting. Hopefully he makes some awesome coordinator picks. Based on the Mic'd up and discussion of standards, he'll have pretty high expectations of results and will fire people if he's not seeing them rather than keep people around.
The real Brent > Buzz.
The real Brent > old Brent
Pry as HC
Vice as OC/OL
Randall as QB
Suggs as RB
C. Fuller as WR
Stiney as TE/Recruiting Coordinator
Price as DC/DL
L. Johnson as LB
Midget as DB
Graham as ST
i like hokies just like everyone else likes hokies but this offensive staff would be so underwhelming
edit: not to mention i don't think you're realistically pulling NFL position coaches to come be college position coaches without it being a "hey we were roommates and best friends at our first coaching gig 20 years ago" kind of relationship
Torrian Gray still available?
I think he's working for Shane.
Since we are going all Hokies, we could throw Nick Sorenson into the mix at ST's as well.
Seems promising. Gotta get some good coordinators. OC will be huge.
An interesting connection:
Bret Pry played high school football at Lexington High School while his father coached at VMI... One of the assistant coaches on that high school team? None other than Bryan Stinespring...
I would be fully on board with Stiney being part of the recruiting staff!
Would not be opposed at all for Stiney being TE or OC coach or in a non-coaching analyst or recruiting role.
Edit - my goodness, meant OL coach not OC. Would be very opposed to OC.
Haha... I think we all gave you the benefit of the doubt on that one... We knew what you meant.
I agree.
Stiney always was a good recruiter and represented the school well.
As Recruiting Coordinator? Absolutely
As any other coach? Ehhhhhh
I'd also make calls to someone like Darryl Tapp to see if he'd be willing to come back for a more robust role. Wonder if Pry will bring Poindexter with him, as those two combined could really swing recruiting over to us in the commonwealth.
Imagine having a recruiting staff of Pry, Poindexter, Tapp, Stiney, etc and actually knowing how to use them.
Imagine UVA tears watching one of their all-time great safeties in Maroon in Orange
JC?
Shit, yeah meant to include him as well.
And now JCP comes with the added bonus of all the air time he got after that win. If we don't include the 'this is my school. this is home' statement with every bit of publicity and with our official commercial next year that we play during games, we're stupid.
Talk about a group of guys with recognizable faces that should be able to recruit their asses off. We do this right, we really could turn the recruiting tide in this entire region.
McMurphy is reporting that its done, presser later today
now we wait for him to fill the staff, I hope he finds a role for JCP!
Reportedly already said he would.
French's film review thunder stolen once again by a big Tuesday news drop!! I'll get to it at some point French, I promise.
Curious if you were in Pry's shoes would you keep Vice on staff? He would be the one offensive staff member who I would consider
I think you pick an OC and let them select/recommend their own staff. I think the entire Fu offense is gone.
agreed. FuCorn offense should be exorcised from Blacksburg. I don't really know what to expect offensively and every single time I've thought it couldn't get worse, it does (Stiney > Loeffler > Cornelsen). So I'm not going to hold out much hope for an offensive explosion. I'm just glad that we appear to be getting back to our identity - suffocating, fast, intense defense with stud players recruited from our own region of the country. Hopefully we just have enough offense to keep us competitive. Anything more is icing IMO
I'm actually fine with Vice going. The running game outside of the QB scramble was never good until Herbert got here. Vice did a pretty decent job recruiting and the OL play was sometimes good, but not consistently so. If he stays, I'm okay with that. But if the new coach brings a new person in, won't bother me either.
I have concerns about two very solid O-line guys leaving via the portal though. Vice may be a good coach, but you can't let some of your most talented guys leave.
With how it's structured, this year is open season. If you haven't transferred previously, you are immediately eligible. No one is safe at any school. Truly the portal will giveth and taketh away. We'll lose guys we want to keep, and get guys that others want to keep. That's just the world of
free agencycollege football nowI can't help but think their leaving probably had nothing to do with Vice and everything to do with Fuente and at least one other coach.
Could be wrong, but seems a whole lot of my way or the highway on issues that didn't always have anything to do with football.
Be interesting to see if some stories start fleahing out now that the Fuente era is truly done.
Some people speculated that it also had something to do with Hoffman. We had a lot of other players stay, with QB seeming like the biggest loss of talent (I'm excluding one or two 4 star guys who didn't seem to pan out and didn't seem to do anything after they left Tech either). But losing Hudson and Nester who'd started a bunch of games and played a lot doesn't seem good. Not sure why they left, but don't think we'd been losing productive guys from the OLine before them.
My guess is Smith and JC are retained. Wonder if Smith will be DC - he's a hot up and comer who Pry reportedly has a past connection with. I could see JCP getting the AHC tag.
I think JHam is gone - my guess is he'll be a g5 DC somewhere. No idea where Jack Tyler goes.
Eagerly awaiting the announcement of the offensive staff. Hoping for an RPO based spread, but we'll see.
JC is expected to be retained per beat writers
If he keeps Price and Smith then literally all of the rest of the coaches can go, tbh
Don't have any personal insight on him, but got a kick out of a Reddit comment a friend of mine just sent about how Penn State fans would not be happy if we pulled him away. I especially like the comment at the end about how much they over-payed for Franklin given the last 2 years. Anything (well, almost anything) that upsets Penn State fans is good to me.
"Hey Virginia Tech fans, I know this might not be a flashy hire but if every single comment from Penn State flairs in here is some variation of "F***ING F**K!" then you know it's a pretty good hire.
It's honestly akin to some Penn State fans wanting Franklin gone because they think they can pull a tier 1A coach; we can't.
Pry has the personality to succeed at VT, the fan base is going to love him and he's an elite recruiter. This is his first HC job though, so we'll see if he can put it all together. I hope he doesn't pillage our staff too much.
Penn State about to lose the best thing their program has going for them imo right after giving Franklin that massive extension after going 11-10 the last two years."
Godfrey calling him the modern day Bud Foster is intriguing to me, especially seeing the reaction from Penn State being the exact kind of reaction we would have had if Bud took another job in 2006.
to me, this is the absolute best part of this hire. It's pissed off Penn State and hopefully it screws them long term. They just signed Franklin for a big contract and, according to PSU fans, they're about to lose the one person who is probably most responsible for Franklin's success. If PSU backslides as a result I'll be tickled to death.
yeah, I gotta admit I love how much this dunks on Penn State
this might just turn out to be a real BDE move by Whit and if VT reestablishes itself as a premier recruiter in the region this could turn out to be a great move. The more I see PSU fans upset about this the more I like it.
When did Franklin sign his extension? Did he get that done quickly knowing Pry was gone? Lock up what he could?
I'm pretty pumped about this hire. Great recruiting, great defenses, more resources for supporting staff, good reputation in the state, not Bill O'Chinballs, and a lot of great things being said by folks in the industry. Consider me
erectpleased.It's nice to pry something away from penn state for once.
Very whitty indeed
Well, this decade, at least
I agree. Twitter is full of Pry-babies but this is a solid hire.
Don't mind me, just copying this for future use
Hey, look at what was going on exactly 6 years ago today
he looks so young and full of hope
who? Both?
I was talking about Fu, but I suppose they both do
I knew you were, but realized it was a bit ambiguous
All of us.
As well as all of us.
So young and naive.
We all were back then. That was a good day at the time. A very good day.
This hire sucks. We didn't get the splashy name. /s
This reminds me of when we got Mike Young for basketball instead of somebody young and up-and-coming to build on what Brent had done to rebuild the basketball program.
I'll trust Whit 100 times out of 100 compared to random clowns commenting on Twitter. I'll take yawns and winning records over splash.
I'm liking the hire. Recruiting should improve. Defense should be great. He's got ties to VT and Bud. We should re-establish a VT identity. Hopefully Pry can get a quality OC to coach the offense. And rebuild the alumni player connections. That mic'd up sounded awesome.
yeah, except Pry almost fits "young and up-and-coming" to a tee
more up-and-coming than "young" (or Young) -- Pry is 51 which makes sense given he was a GA in the 90s but still didn't square with my perception of him as being like 42 or something
Least he has been a part of a top P5 school and not an up and coming G5 with shit coordinators (CORN) and lower-tier staffers, roster, recruiting, program, expectations, etc.
His name's got no anagrams, but we'll give him an official pass for that via the Joe Lanza Exception
Anagrams to PBR Entry.
Sounds like we are going to riding some bulls (or slamming some Pabst Blue Ribbon).
PBR Entry? definitely a Lanza guy
Pry anagrams to Ryp, and if he's anything like Rip on Yellowstone, we're in good hands.
The most enjoyable part of this is the ease at which we can type his name while hammerdrunk screaming at the TV or discussing minutiae in the FAM columns.
Really hoping he keeps Price. I'd like to see JHam retained over Poindexter.
I really like this hire. About to chug a Budweiser in celebration and go climb on my roof with a bad knee to fix a leak. If I comment tonight, you'll know I lived.
I haven't posted in years, but I wanted to log-in and say I absolutely love this hire.
Just seems to be a great cultural fit. Go read the Penn St boards. They overwhelmingly loved the guy. Cant get a better endorsement than that. He can hit the ground running and have an immediate impact.
Wow, welcome back after 4 years.
What is the proper way to misspell Brent's last name? Is it "Pries?"
Actually, Pries would be the plural version, so when referring to an entire family. I'm thinking Kevin would be proper.
That's how you pronounce it.
How about "Prize"?
I'd never heard this man's name before today, but reading up on him now I'm excited. He pretty much checks every box we've talked about on here before (especially in regards to recruiting). I'm not crowning him the savior of VT football until I see on the field results, but this gives me legitimate hope.
The one negative you can point to is no HC experience. At some point though the people criticizing him for this I wonder if their expectations were properly adjusted in the first place.
I don't understand the "I hope X gets retained".
Every position coach and coordinator is responsible for either the culture decline or misses in recruiting.
Obviously if Pry wants to keep someone, then that's his prerogative, but I don't think anyone really has earned their right to stay, and I think that was a strategic blunder with Fuente keeping so many Beamer assistants. It sorta made Fuente as the step-father that never could fit in.
I think a clean state is beneficial to everyone, including those currently on staff.
I would argue that Price, being in his 1st year on staff has not contributed in the culture decline or recruiting misses. If anything, I think this past weekend showed that he can help rebuild the culture
I am much more concerned about if he will fire a coach that is not working out then who he retains. Hopefully that is a question Whit asked as well, as it seems to be one of the bigger lingering issues with our program.
6 years to the day
Think this is a strong hire given the state of the coaching market currently.
Cautiously enthusiastic about Pry..but a couple things I like already...
1. Has enthusiasm that should instantly infuse itself into a Program that has been stuck in moribund
2. Already has better Recruting success and ties in VA than pretty much the entirety of Fuente's Staff
I think PSU may quickly find that Franklin minus his Coordinators is a very mediocre HC.
It's not the first time people have taken Franklin's coordinators. That's what happens when they're not fully embedded into the program through legacy, brand new, or at least somewhat competent at their job.
One thing about Pry that stands out to me is that it's not like he's some young hot coach who is shooting up the rankings. We are talking about a guy who was a GA under Foster 27 years ago and had been DC or Co-DC of a P5 program putting up consistent Top 25 defensive efforts for 10 years in the SEC and B1G. I mean really, this is about as far from a flash in the pan hire that you can get, the only question about it is if he can handle being a head coach (though, even then consider he's been associate head coach for the last few years under Franklin, just as Shane was here under Frank).
And all of this is before you consider he's an elite recruiter who grew up 30 miles from Blacksburg, studied under Bud, coached under Bustle, and kicked our ass on the recruiting trail in our own backyard ever since he went to PSU, meaning he already has in roads on all the major feeders in the region.
The more I think about it, he really could be the perfect guy for the job.
looks like we found our go-to misspelling of Pry
edit: there is a Team Pry/Team Prie joke to be made somewhere
Hopefully we only misspell it Pye 3.14159 more times
sigh....
fixed
preferable to Cayke?
When UVA succumbs to yet another VT coach next year and we're drowning in Boo-Hoo's Tears we can just sing:
"Pry Me A River..."
Team Pry.
Pry-Ball
Pry-bar?
Team Corn?
Brass tacks, boys, is Pry a cake or a pie guy?
Let's cut to the chase here.
As we think about his staff he might put together, I wonder if he'd reach out to Loren Johnson.
Loren's now head coach at Highland Springs (Richmond), lead them to a 10-0 season in 2021 and played at Tech while Pry was a GA.
Nah, we need Loren Johnson to stay at Highland Springs.
This needs more legs.
I don't mean to Pry, but we do have this from a good source right?
Yeah, the main reporters seem to have Pry'd this case wide open
TKP is wayyyy more fun when everyone is happy. Just had to say it.
agree, past few years have been a huge downer and really cut back on my visits because of it. Excitement is way more fun.
Beat me by 21 seconds. LET'S GO!
Hokies!!!
I'm good with this
Makes you wonder, if Pry has known for days and has been putting a staff together... Price might have already known he was staying on as AHC. Makes his emotions after UVA even more home.
Stephen Godfrey said this on twitter - that Pry has been working on a staff "for days"
so, I guess it's official then!
Oops duplicate
don't blame you...it's frantic around here (in a good way, it seems)
In some ways, this seems like the Mike Young of football hires. Under the radar, where he was for good reasons (pay, family connections), only moves for the right opportunity, and loved by his school/team/fans. Now, give him some good assistant coaches ala Mike Young's staff, and I think he ends up being a great hire.
one might argue that Whit learned his lesson with Fuente, applied what he learned to the CMY hire, and after seeing how well that is turning out, applied those lessons again to the Pry hire. I hope this is right. I hope this works out. I hope we allocate a bunch of money to getting some solid coaches on the coaching staff.
Almost as if Whit is actually good at his job.
nah, that can't be it
I am eating that shit up. LET'S GO !
HOKIES!
Lot's of possibilities here. Exciting to think about. VT may have found a better fit than anyone this cycle.
Aside from all the recruiting, staff, and org management hopes I have for the program going forward, here's hoping Pry establishes an identity for the team. I'm hoping that identity isn't offensive, or defensive, or "blue collar" or some other re-hash but something more like "This is Virginia Tech, we're exciting to watch and we win games, especially big, important, marquee games."
I will settle for blue collar honestly. Real blue collar that doesn't need stickers or slogans claiming to be blue collar. Smack you in the mouth for bad talking momma blue collar.
That's cool with me, especially the slapping part (j/k, domestic violence is never ok). I just get annoyed with the triteness of advertising your work ethic or willingness to endure punishment. Everyone at this level works hard - doubly so for those who are successful. It's literally the bare minimum you can do to be here. VT needs studs, not donkeys.
this is huge...but Fuente said and did all the right things when he was announced too. I'm excited, but I'm also proceeding with caution. Give Pry and the coaches he hires some time to get established and lets see how the team looks in a few years. Mark me down as cautiously optimistic
If rumors are true and we really are building out the 2nd highest funded support staff, that alone will go a long, long way in putting the Fuente years in the distant past.
There is a fantastic non-paywall post from Mehul over on 247 giving a BOV take on the financial picture and confidence in Pry to execute with these new resources. Extremely exciting.
https://247sports.com/college/virginia-tech/Board/59428/Contents/Turn-th...
friendly reminder to all (not just you) that it's best practice to link content if it's not paywalled
Having a budget only behind Clemson would be the biggest and best news of the day, tbh, and I love the hire. We just so drastically need to move ahead of where we are as a program, and that would be a huge leap forward
he checks a few boxes (which makes me thrilled, don't get me wrong), but so far its just a few boxes. Lot's of work yet to do.
Also in the cautiously optimistic camp.
I'll assume this will be live streamed on YouTube like the Fuente, Buzz, and Young pressers were.
Blocking out my work calendar...
He's retaining Price. Good move IMHO.
https://247sports.com/college/virginia-tech/Article/Virginia-Tech-head-c...
Can we get a new thread now that this is official?
Already a lot of info on here to filter through that is no longer speculative
I would but I'm assuming Joe is putting one together now. It only went official a short time ago, and he wasn't even on the radar until late yesterday/early this morning.
Winning games and owning the ACC will be his "PRYority!
we can take PRYde in those accomplishments
and dePRYve loluva of Commonwealth glory
what a PRYvilege
There's certainly other candidates out there with better resumes and I'm most certain we got to him because others on the list turned us down, but he's not a "bad" or even "meh" hire per se. He's by no means a safe hire either so Whit is sticking his neck out a bit on this one but he's got several positives that could lend itself to success with VT. His recruiting acumen, his style of football (if he keeps it the same as what we've seen from PSU), and seems like a good cultural fit as well.
He is also a great JuCo recruiter. I'm pretty excited about that aspect too!
Good nugget from Steven Godfrey, who has basically been on point with coaching hires (ours and everyone else all season)
So staff could come together quickly. Also, in a follow up tweet, he thinks this is a great hire.
If I don't have to watch any awkward exchanges between media guy and Brent Pry where they try and discuss his fucking cowboy boots, I will like the hire.
If he isn't a crusty asshole in the press, I will like this hire.
If he recognizes the inverted veer is working and doesn't immediately replace the quarterback, I will like this hire.
If he recruits his nuts off, I will like this hire.
If he can reverse the narrative in VA about VT with recruits, I will like this hire.
If he simply wins the winnable games, and wins some of the bigger games, I will like this hire.
If I never see another jet sweep again, I will like this hire.
If he lets the quarterback READ in the read option, I will like this hire.
If he beats UVA, I will like this hire.
I like this hire.
I like this post. And this hire.
This hire is so good... Some thoughts from PSU site:
https://dkpittsburghsports.com/2021/11/07/penn-state-football-most-valua...
https://dkpittsburghsports.com/2021/11/30/penn-state-football-pry-virgin...
https://dkpittsburghsports.com/2021/11/29/penn-state-football-franklin-p...
Legitimate question here: since Pry worked (coached?) as a GA under CFB, does that make him a branch (twig?) of the CFB coaching tree?
Because if that is the case, then I am 800% on board with this hire. Any coach who can trace his standards of excellence and integrity back to CFB is an excellent choice for the future of VT football in my book.
Every bit as legitimate as about half of Alabama's natty titles
C'mon, give him more credit than that...
Can confirm O'Brien was the guy till the putrid they put up against a 6 win Auburn team backed Whit away some, B.O.B was also asking for some things that will now help Pry be more successful. (Expanded support staff, additional recruiting funds and resources) Its all the stuff we know we need and that any big coach would demand to have a real shot. I think with these new openings coming available Whit didn't want to chance waiting around for BOB and went all in on his close 2nd choice. All in all I see Pry in a similar mold to a Venables, Jim Leonard, or Bud, I think he can be the guy for us if we get the right staff, which I think this time Whit has seen how important the surrounding staff is to the outcome. We will nail the assistants and don't be surprised if we get a very good OC that almost everyone is happy with. HokieNation it's a good day to wear Orange and Maroon, now let's go make a donation and show Whit our support.
I am very relieved we didn't end up with O'Brien. I think the cultural fit of a coach is a big deal for a place like VT. Pry is a much better cultural fit and I bet his salary will be a bit less than O'Brien's would have been. Hopefully, this means a bigger assistant salary pool and a better OC for Pry.
Interesting, as that indicates that it was never Napier or Clawson.
I read the post to mean his 2nd choice once the dream guys were out of the picture. ESPN reported that we were turned down by Clawson and Napier, as in no mutual interest. May have been no more than a quick phone call with their agents. Whit then moved on to the more realistic choices.
I believe we talked to Matt Campbell. There was too much smoke to suggest otherwise.
I also believe Whit will be somewhat transparent about our coaching search on Thursday morning, knowing he will be asking for more money from the fans. Our search was not long, but it felt like an eternity with the way the market was moving.
Could be that. Not necessarily that
Expressing an interest is significantly different from "nearing a deal", or "had a deal until Florida big dogged you". We've been reading about these guys for weeks.
If we assume that they did, the anatomy of a "this could be happening rumor" is that they express no interest, but they absolutely leak your interest to the media and get mileage out of it.
All of that said, the more I think about Pry the more I know he's the right choice.
I don't buy that VT was turned down by Clawson. I don't think he was what Whit was looking for and I think we could have pulled him away from Wake if we wanted. But what do I know. I do believe Whit had been working Napier, probably even since last year at least. Maybe Napier is why Fuente was "mutually separated" when he was.
End of the day though, I think Pry will end up being the better choice for VT, especially if it means we go all in on building the best staff and support infrastructure in the ACC.
Exactly.
It's a totally different strategy. Hire a solid, experienced coordinator/recruiter as HC, and have them fill in great assistants with a bigger budget to work with.
I hope this idea is appealing to some great coordinators on both offense and defense.