Hatin' On: Brent Pry and Whit Babcock

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Whit Babcock hired Brent Pry.

Whit Babcock hired Justin Fuente

Whit Babcock let Buzz Williams walk away
Whit Babcock let Kenny Brooks walk away

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

ok so im going to nip this

buzz has a 7 year itch thing. people in my field swear by a "new job every 3 years" thing, so does buzz. we knew this going in and he left us better than when he got in.. not a whit issue

we matched kentuckistan. brooks left us high and dry, checked out after his best player got injured; he knew he wasnt winning a natty after kitley got injured and stopped coaching and worked on interviewing instead. he is a legit scum fuck, abandoned his players and poached his best out the door. not a whit issue.

I been here since day 0.

Agree on Buzz

Hard disagree on Kenny. We did not match Kentucky in anything but base salary. They offered him more staff, more NIL funding, better basketball facilities and the opportunity to go head to head with two or three of his top peers every year between South Carolina, LSU and Texas. Stealing players and other coaches is now the norm, just look at Indiana football last year or Colorado the year before. Was Brooks a douchecanoe for not thanking the fan base for supporting him? Absolutely.

Rob Peterson
VTCC
Charlie/Hotel Company
Class of 1999

Yeah, there was zero point zero chance to keep Kenny. Clara Strack was appearing in national Marriott commercials this spring, a hot year after she was trying to replace Liz Kitley on the fly during the ACCT and NCAAs. That's the kind of NIL opportunity he can recruit with at UK, and it's the kind of opportunity he was going to have to recruit against here.

Buzz was never, ever going to stay, and everyone who knew anything went in with eyes wide open on that front. Kenny might have stayed longer if the universe hadn't completely changed. It did, though, and now we're screwed.

Wasn't brookes the highest paid ACC WBB coach when he left?

No he was at least 4th behind Louisville ($1.7M), NC State ($1M) and UNC ($950K). Notre Dame and Duke don't publish data but were both thought to be higher than Brooks $890K. Syracuse also doesn't publish and there were rumors Legette-Jack also got more than Brooks to come over from Buffalo. If those were true Brooks was 7th.

Rob Peterson
VTCC
Charlie/Hotel Company
Class of 1999

my younger brother and I are the only good guys in my piece of shit mousketeer (you know the real word, I was told not to drop it) family. he worked his ass off, lost 150 lbs and got his rn degree (2nd bachelor's degree) this summer. so I got him tix for the miami game (first game in lane we're going to since that fucking awful Thursday night in 07) fucking embarrassment, he just told me "basil, loving tech because they win hasn't been a thing for a decade."

I don't drink, my wife asked me to stop smoking. im stone cold sober raging over this. group chats have gone silent for hours. I just cant

I been here since day 0.

btw speaking of mouseketeers, at least they got embarrassed worse so my cousins won't talk shit. real #HardEdge in morganhole

I been here since day 0.

VT fan: "it's hard to imagine any coach less well-suited for and able to handle the challenges of P4 football than Justin Fuente"

Whit: "Hold my beer"

No major athletic program has sustained success under Whit.

(add if applicable) /s

Brent Pry thinks my prediction of 4-8 is to high

Spent Guy and Shit BadCock made me so sad last night I just went to sleep and lost my NYT crossword streak

Here lies It's a Stroman Jersey I Swear, surpassed in life by no one because he intercepted it.

Thanks for the good chuckle on those nicknames

Article will come out tomorrow, Tuesday at the latest, with some numbers on the Pry era.

However bad you think it is, it's actually worse.

VT '21

I think he is the 2nd worst coach at VT in the last century. The only one worse is like 1-22. I think we are less talented than when Fuente left and that Pry hasn't been anywhere close to ass good as Fuente in the things that matter which is saying something because Fuente had very few redeeming qualities as a P4 coach.

The bad part is that you could see this coming. Guy who had never been a head coach anywhere coming from a school who wasn't upset he left surrounding himself with coordinators who had never done it before.

It was a checklist of everything you can't do with a coaching regime.

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

He had 2 good hires which were Joe and Brad, but Brad wasnt the OC and Joe was just looking for a job.

How dumb was that move in hindsight? Hire three cooks in the kitchen on offense, Glenn and Rudolph both former OCs with way more experience to basically babysit Bowen. Total disaster/incongruent philosophies. Then the more senior two bolt after one dreadful season.

Rudolph was a shit hire. Motherfucker straight up stole money. Dzansi was a starter in the league and regressed HARD under Rudolph.

I been here since day 0.

Rudolph is a good coach but a terrible hire for us, like I said he was just looking for a job and left once a better one came along.

I've always maintained that his contract should have been structured to prevent a one-year exodus.

it's not the first time VT football was used like that.

I'm fully convinced now Franklin wanted Pry to leave. He saw it as a way to let a buddy go easy, upgrade his staff, and keep VT from ever competing with PSU for recruits or influence in the region. He knew what a disaster Pry would be I guarantee it and gave him glowing reviews to Whit.

You notice Pry didn't bring a single transfer or staff member from PSU with him here. Major red flag.

I remember French commenting that he didnt bring single recruit either.

That should have been a deal-breaker.

If you can't convince the goldfish and the secretary to come, no deal.

For some reason, this reminded me of the Cat and the Hat(maybe the goldfish was the trigger...)-looking for any reason to laugh instead of cry...

From the 2018 VT-uva game-"This is when LEGENDS are made!"

Brent Pry's teams run as smoothly as gameday traffic on I81

Is coronavirus over yet?

I refuse to 'hate' on Pry. He seems like a good guy and has done his best. Took a complete post-Fuente dumpster fire and turned it around in year 2. Was that a fluke? Yeah, sure looks like it was. Do I want him coaching at VT anymore? Absolutely not. It did not work out here. He does not have the skills to be a good HC. But I am not going to hate him unless he turns into a jerk after this point. He really needs to just resign with honor. He's got millions and millions already.

Recovering scientist working in business consulting

I commented in the game thread that if he is such a VT guy he should turn down the buyout

Danny is always open

This type of thinking is just asinine. Would you leave money on the table that your employer had agreed to pay you?

I have liked some of my past jobs and employers, I don't give them back money.

I do art stuff.

If I was as rich as Pry is (or, at least as rich as he should be given what his salary is) yeah, I would leave that money on the table. Too embarrassed to accept the buy out if I had a job that paid that much and I had done a really lousy job. Granted, I am conservative with my spending and okay with investing, so with Pry's salary, I'd have more money than I would reasonably spend in a lifetime + plenty to give to my wide and/or child upon my passing. But I don't know how he manages his finances.

I totally understand what you are saying and 100% get it for a regular person. You make a fair point. But with what Pry is making, if I was in his shoes, yes, I'd resign and give up that money that I definitely did not earn.

Recovering scientist working in business consulting

Pry is an alumni of Buffalo.

The majority of his coaching experience has been under James Franklin... someone he coached.

He spammed his old high school coach to get a GA position and it worked.

He's taking his money just like you or I would if we were in a similar situation with our job.

I been here since day 0.

No, I would not take the money. You might - and that's fine, I wouldn't blame you at all for doing that - but I would not.

Recovering scientist working in business consulting

He's already playing with house money and he's maxed out the Peter Principle at this point, and he's set for life. He doesn't need to work another day in his life provided his wife has a job that provides health care, lol.

On the one hand I get it. It's business and few businesses are as lucrative as getting paid not to coach. But on the other hand I'd feel pretty shitty if I was being paid but not doing the job. I know coaching doesn't work that way but this whole market has been broken for a long, long time.

please stop. like you wouldn't turn down. severance pay.

I been here since day 0.

He is paid to take a risk that would potentially make him un-hireable. No school is hiring him to HC ever again. I am not sure some one would hire him to DC after seeing 3 seperate DCs walk into his position and do as well as he did. He isnt working out so he will use his risk dollars to mitigate the risk. At say $9 mil thats only 4-6 years of pay as a DC.

He would also hurt his chances of another job by NOT taking the money. Quick way to get blacklisted if you set a precedent like leaving the money on the table.

Rob Peterson
VTCC
Charlie/Hotel Company
Class of 1999

has done his best

Losers try their best. Winners go home and fuck the prom queen.

I won't hate him either, but you are correct, it's over.

You will see this game, this upset and this sign next on ESPN Sportscenter. Virginia Tech 31 Miami 7

His decision was made after a phone call with longtime Virginia Tech assistant coach Bud Foster. All Foster told him was, "We win. They don't."

Leg for the quote from The Rock

Onward and upward

ook a complete post-Fuente dumpster fire and turned it around in year 2.

After Saturday night, I have my doubts on how much of a turn around there really was. This team is no better than the one that got Fuente fired. In fact, based on the way the Vandy game went, there's a strong argument its worse.

"When I was growing up, Virginia Tech was a school that was kicking ass and taking names, and it's time we get back to that" - James Franklin

Yeah I mean we looked good for a stretch of 4-5 games beating up on horrible teams with losing records. Is the high water mark us beating up on UVA in 2023 to make it to 6-6 on the year? That's not much of a turn around. Then beating up a depleted Tulane in the bowl with their third and fourth stringers and half their coaches gone. There was no turn around under Pry at any point.

By the way, as of September 7, 2025, we are 6 months to Iditarod, 2026! Something to look forward to:

"The 2026 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will begin with the ceremonial start in Anchorage on Saturday, March 7, 2026. The race will officially restart the following day in Willow."

Recovering scientist working in business consulting

Cool! so it starts on my birthday!

From the 2018 VT-uva game-"This is when LEGENDS are made!"

Whit Babcock knows he should be fired, practically told the BOV that he should be, and is still employed.

Brent Pry has achieved exactly 0 of his goals in over 3 seasons, and is still employed.

I wish I could get paid as much as these guys and be as bad as they are at my job....it must be nice

Onward and upward

Updated KFord stats give VT a 63% chance to finish with 3 conference wins this year so yeah that's bad, only ahead of UNC, Stanford and Wake right now...

(add if applicable) /s