This was posted in a free online story from Athlon. Just the comments re: UVA and VT below, entire article can be found here: https://athlonsports.com/college-football/acc-coaches-talk-anonymously-a...
Virginia
"These guys are in trouble, and most everyone expects there to be a staff change at the end of the season or earlier."
"They've never delivered on the offensive expectations Tony [Elliott] set coming from Clemson. They're sloppy on both sides of the ball, and we've seen some talented players come in, underperform and move on."
"[Chandler] Morris is a big improvement at QB and could save it for them if he clicks. The problem is they have a really thin line, and their running back left in the portal. There's just not a lot of talent to put around him."
"This is a team you never really worry about playing. They lack discipline, and they have no real identity. The parity in this league is increasing, and it will be really hard for this program to make a sharp turn up."
Virginia Tech
"The consensus around the league is, it's not what they want it to be in Blacksburg, and it's harder than it ever was, but if you get the right guy in there, you're gonna roll. The question is can that be [Brent] Pry? Because he's the most Virginia Tech guy they could have."
"[Kyron] Drones is wildly different game to game. Turn on the tape and you see an extremely high level of talent and an extremely high level of inconsistency."
"[Philip] Montgomery will want to simplify things for him (Drones); we're curious if they stay run-heavy or spread it out more."
"They have some really nice pieces, especially at the skill positions, compared to what Pry inherited."
"They're making a lot of slow improvements."
Comments
The sad thing is that so many of these Virginia comments would apply to VT over the past several years as well. Especially the sloppiness and lack of discipline. Add in coaching mistakes as part of sloppiness too. They really need to get this cleaned up. I can see the team taking a good step forward, but I can also see a lot of the same and the need for massive changes after this season. Seriously, people could argue we will go 2-10 or 8-4 + a bowl win to get to 9-4 and be ranked at the end of the year and I could believe both.
Virginia
"These guys are in trouble, and most everyone expects there to be a staff change at the end of the season or earlier."
"They've never delivered on the offensive expectations Tony [Elliott] set coming from Clemson. They're sloppy on both sides of the ball, and we've seen some talented players come in, underperform and move on."
"[Chandler] Morris is a big improvement at QB and could save it for them if he clicks. The problem is they have a really thin line, and their running back left in the portal. There's just not a lot of talent to put around him."
"This is a team you never really worry about playing. They lack discipline, and they have no real identity. The parity in this league is increasing, and it will be really hard for this program to make a sharp turn up."
I think I agree with everything the opposing coaches anonymously said about us. I feel pretty confident that Brent Pry is not that guy, but hopefully I'm wrong.
I think we all agree on the slow improvements part, things are better than a few years ago, but it also feels like the bar for success in college athletics is rising faster than we are improving. Tech just isn't adapting to the new climate fast enough or started too far behind to keep up. Brent has raised the floor, but doesn't seem like he is the guy who can raise the ceiling.
Yea... I think the question is 'are we still improving, or did we plateau?' and we should know this year.
Also, this NC State quote:
Next to these Duke quotes:
It really does just feel more and more like Pry is the guy thats setting up the guy. Almost like in the long term, his name will be a footnote in VT history for the coach that dug us out of the mess that Fuente left us but not the one that brought us back. (Apologies if I am making zero sense)
I agree... but it also feels like time is running out to find 'the guy'
I'd feel better about this if I didn't also think Fuente was the guy that was setting up The Guy
Shoot you're right. I've been crapping on Fuente so long I forgot about all that talk
I'm not sure how Pry would set up the next guy, our oline has been terrible and we are hoping that Moore brought all of his guys to fix it. If Pry is gone then Moore is probably gone and his Oline goes with him. There is no setting up any more with the portal. But as long as Whit and Ballein are there who knows what could happen. They might look ar all the money spent under Pry and say we wo just as much with half half the staff with Fuente and even more with a third the staff with Beamer and cut a lot of positions. I have zero faith that anything good Pry does will stay in place post Pry. Right now our roster looks like a mess and probably would leave a similar roster to that he got from Fuente.
Pry raised the floor of the roster and was essential to helping us raise NIL.
But none of that is permanent, the entire roster can leave if Pry is fired. There are by my count 16/44 players that came to VT out of high school in the two deep and most are WRs amd TEs. He's had 3 classes that were all his and then the one signed basically by Price. So development hasn't been there so the next guy is going to have to come in and transfer portal the he'll out of this roster.
Yes, BUT Pry got the entire fan base understanding the importance of NIL, and in the habit of contributing. The staffing has expanded, so the Pry's staff count/salary ceiling will be the next guy's floor. Also, the next coach won't have to rebuild relationships from scratch the way that Pry did.
TLDR, if pry goes .500 for the third year in a row and is then fired, I think he left VT better than he found it.
It all depends what the administration does. Do they say to themselves we spent lots more money for no better results and cut? Then no. Whit is letting Pry try something, and it's not working so why let the next guy try?
Pry bungles literally every close game. Every one. If people think he is the "coach" to turn around a major program in this era, well...
I don't really buy the "guy setting up the guy" theory for anyone. If you hire a good coach, you can win. It's simple, but not easy.
Is there an example anywhere a coach was successful and people actually think a big part of it because the guy before him sucked, but sucked in such a particular way that it set up the good coach to succeed?
"The talent floor is higher than when Pry took over" sure and if he gets canned they'll all go somewhere else and the next guy would be starting all over.
Larry Coker
And Coker bought an extra year by blaming and then firing everyone else and still sucked.
I loved it.
hey now, Butch Davis did not cheat his way to a national championship roster just to hear you say he sucked
The two that come to mind:
That said, point well taken that it's not a given the last guy's players will stick around.
AS you just pointed out, it is more than just players.
The longest pole in that tent to reset would be recruiting pipelines. These we non-existent after Fuente and healthy, shiny and new and some still getting put in place with Pry.
Yeap. In the new era of CFB, I think the worst thing you can do is alienate boosters. It's way harder to convince people to (re)start giving or increase gifts than to continue to give.
Next imo is rebuilding recruiting pipelines. Obviously this is easier to do at BlueBloodU than at Pick-Your-P4-team. But in the portal era, there are ways to fix this faster.
Two good examples, so thank you for that.
It's just that we heard the same thing about Fuente bringing to light the issues with football facilities and funding which were supposed to help the next guy. And now the next guy (Pry) is apparently setting up the next next guy. At a point it seems more logical to think that we're just hiring bad coaches that periodically have good ideas about how to build a program. Not football prophets who are paving the way for our future success
Sure - at the end of the day you have to land someone good - I'm not denying that.
The Fuente/Baylor flirtation/affair was a wake up call to our fan base and athletic department that our program didn't have the standing we thought it did. In hindsight, we needed that (IMHO). Then Fuente drowned. We didn't need that.
Assuming Pry goes .500 again this year then gets fired, he will have left this program better than he found it. The job for the next coach will be easier than it was for Pry. BUT you still gotta hire someone who can coach better than .500.
Sooo....dumpster fire -> foundation builder -> National championship.
I'm in.
The only reason Brady Hoke can claim success is because of the blind zebras. Danny Coale caught that f&%#ing ball!
Whit trying to save his job:
what movie is this gif from?
Swingers. Great movie. Our little boy's all growns up....
Cult classic. You need to take a drink if you haven't seen it. And if you have seen it, have a drink any way. Any Glen will do.
13-0 Baby
I would hope we could shutout a baby. But I'm still not betting that spread.
If you would like to present that perspective then...
13-0 assholes
this line confused me - if there is more parity, wouldn't that mean the teams are more even (regardless of whether they're getting better or worse" making it easier for UVA to be better than they have been (which is to say that they have been so bad that they can't keep up with any one, really)
Meh- Louisville buys a new team every year and they are better than both VT and UVA.
Bourbon money.
And they got the horse money in their blood. You know how you make a million in horses right? You start with 20 million.
Was Papa John's money for a bit, now it's that KFC/YUM money
Okay, you're cut off. No more gif posting for you