That's pretty much all I have to say after this one. -20 yards in the second half? Game turns on its head when we cowardly punt on 4th and 3 inches after Vandy drove the field at ease on us?
Yeah I'm done. He ain't it
Oh, and don't let Whit off the hook here. Two abysmal football coaching hires in a row setting up 2 golden parachute payments to buy them out? Nah, he doesn't get to make a 3rd hire. Shoot him into the sun as well
There were 5 minutes to go in the game when this was taken:
Things feel like they are about to get very ugly in Blacksburg from here on out
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Comments
We have completely collapsed.
Fire whit
Would love to see it. But don't buy for a second that it will happen. Pry really should resign.
And miss out on that sweet golden parachute? Whit is about to set two bum coaches up for early retirement.
Disband the football program!
Fire them all.
If whit had any balls at all pry would be fired before the post game press conference.
Whit needs to fucking go as well
I was worried his first year.
He didn't take over a great program but that team literally set records dating back to the 50's for ineptitude. Even a half-ass Staff does more with less.
Then we gave him tons of credit for beating a bunch of cupcakes Year Two.
Then last year he bumblefucked us out of 3 or 4 wins with great talent.
This year, talent is gone and all that's left is bumblefuck.
Truth is, he's never beat anyone worth a shit. He was a bad hire, nearly every coach he has hired has been bad, and he's a disaster as a HC.
Everyday he remains employed by VT, we get worse.
upvote for bumblefuck
I prayed and wished Pry would be the guy.... But damn. This hurts bad. Not sure why...
Because Pry really wants to be here. He's said all the right things.
But unfortunately that's just not enough.
I dont care if they want to be here, I want some one that wants to win. Being happy to be here means punting of 4th and inches, I want caoches pissed off if the RB doesn't hand the ball to the ref, because once it's handed to him not one should possess it until it's time to give to the ref.
If wanting to be at VT, liking to drink some beers and shoot the shit, and talk about VT football was big in the search criteria, I think most all of us here should have been under consideration lol. I guess we overlooked the fact that the guy can't really coach/identify good coaches/scout and develop without dear old James and Co.
Worst home opening loss in 51 years.
To be fair, we usually play a cupcake (like everyone else) for the home opener.
I've seen enough to know that this guy is never going to figure it out.
It's time to move on. Just need to figure out who is going to pull the trigger and when.
I've stopped looking. This might be the 2nd worst home opening loss in program history
Yeah, i'm there now. This was just entirely too embarrassing. Drones shouldn't even be allowed to carry the game balls out to the field, much less be the starting QB
And he should lose his NIL
Whit should be told to clean out his office tonight.
First time I've ever turned off a vt game before it was over. This fan base deserves better. No emotion from pry..no fire when his team needs him most. Drones reflects that.
I've never been this kind of sad after a game. It really feels like rock bottom...I hope
Me too man. We quit when we were down 3 with an entire quarter to play. Absolutely depressing to watch.
Just wait til next week
Yeah ODU is pretty good, they're gonna push us around a bit at the very least. A loss is not off the table
Prescient comment.
I lasted until 37-20 with Vandy about to TD again.
I lasted until 37-20, and turned off the game thinking it was over, and that was the final score, until I watched the condensed game today.
Then, today, while watching the condensed game, I found out it got even worse. Luckily, I was numb after watching the game in condensed form. Not comfortably, though.
Same brother, same.
I think the lingering memory of the Pry era will be his interview during the Military Bowl when MD immediately took it to house.
That was an omen and a forerunner to his actual stint at VT...everything he touches has turned to shit.
Brent Pry. Getting his shit kicked in even before he officially took the job, lol.
Pry needs to go. Whit can't make the replacement hire.
It seriously saddens me what has become of this school the last 15 years. We went from running the ACC to being arguably one of the worst programs in the bowl subdivision.
There's no excuse anymore.
I was just trying to explain this to my wife who does not care for football or sports in general, and she looks at me so confused as to why this affects me the way it does
You are not alone!
I want to leg this so much, but it's already at +42, and I think that the Ultimate Question to Life, the Universe, and Everything now has something to do with firing Brent Pry.
Pry is worse than Fuente, he's just folksy and likable... but that bullshit has worn off
He's a way worse football coach, slightly better recruiter. If Fu had Ferg as S&C coach and a better VA recruiting strategy he'd probably still be around and won 10 games another time
Hell, if Galen Scott had kept his pants on there's a pretty good chance.
I think Fuente was already finding the adjustment to recruiting a totally different region of the country difficult at that point, and then he had to fire his best friend and right-hand man. He never had a handle on Bud's succession plan after that, all the way down to promoting a clearly not-ready JHam who pretty much got his college coaching career trashed as a result.
Revisionist history can be difficult sometimes.
I'm not sure Fuente was finding any sort of adjustments as it relates to recruiting, although he did land a few 4* players along the way. His biggest issue was roster management, which IMO was his biggest failure. He had no clue how to build a roster.
Positive for the evening: lte in stadium is much better this year.
Well hey that is about to be even better when there are significantly fewer people in the stadium going forward
Pulse check:
Silence, it's the reason myself and a lot of other Hokies have been disengaged this offseason and watched the game with... surprise? we got a first half lead. This coaching staff and admin have got to go, it's been inept and the effort, crowd reaction, and general fan reaction of the second half is damning. It's simply not worth the effort to be upset, it's become the routine for the past decade.
A-fucking men Sergio. We paying these "athletes" to put a gigantic glob of shit on the field. They fold up and quit, the coaches could care less. But it was entertaining watching Keller run all around the field like he was lost and was looking for a hockey puck to to pick up a 7-10 split.
Bro this had me rolling haha thank you
MY GOD THESE KIDS ARE GETTING PAID TO SUCK LIKE THIS, I FORGOT
No one associated with this program right now is worth Ryan Leaf's jock. Render had his moments, but if he were on the team today he'd be the best player, hands down. He would be making 3x what Drones is making
What a gut punch of a loss. And we've had our fair share of those.
Wait wait wait. 2009?? Was that Nebraska??!
Yep. "Tyrod did it, Mikey, Tyrod did it!" was the last time we saw a top-tier OOC win at Lane.
This makes me sad...
Terrordome, indeed
When we punted on 4th and a nose hair I knew Pry was done and I also knew the team would quit on him. And they did. The other thing worth mentioning is that everybody in the crowd was just apathetic towards the whole thing and we all just looked at each other when we went down 10 and all of us sort of got up and left. I think we've gone off the cliff my friends... nobody cares anymore because it hurts too much to watch Sands/Whit/Pry exhibit such incompetence. Not sure the program recovers from this but if anybody actually cared they would at least clean house immediately and start over.
How much is left on Pry's contract at this point though? No way his performance earned N extension like Fuente did with the initial hot year, right?
"$750,000 per quarter until the end of 2027"
By my math if we fire him now, it would be a $6.75M buyout (9 qtrs).
Whit will probably give him an extension after we (hopefully) beat ODU
Magic 8 ball says: Outlook not so good
Who do we go after for HC?
Looks like Napier could be available soon
We've got bigger problems than HC. Merryman itself needs to be gutted down to the studs in my opinion. We have a culture of complacency at every level of decision making, and it has allowed mediocrity for so long that no one knows how to win anymore. Hiring a new HC won't fix that. The next HC needs a support structure in place that allows them to take off and fly, and is serious about winning football games. If Whit and the current athletic department make the hire, again, that will not happen, again.
I wouldn't even think about the next coach. We have to fix the loser ass mentality of the entire program from the top to the bottom first.
Agree. Exhibit A is Hokie Club. I'm a VT grad, a football fan, and have disposable income. I had to personally seek out the Hokie Club years ago after seeing people on here push people to donate. Then, the only thing the club talks about is how to get stadium seats, which I don't care about because I don't go to games. Clemson's IPTAY targeted at all grads makes a ton more sense than what we do. I stopped donating when Fuente ran things into the ground, and I'm not going to start again until I feel like the administration will use my money wisely.
CRM definitely needs some improvement. The only thing I've heard from them about this year was the importance of giving, from a mass produced personal letter from an athlete I had never heard of.
I can't believe people are acting shocked, did you really think we had a chance today? We are terrible. VT football is over, get used to it.
Same when I donated YEARS ago, I'm talking like 15 years ago.
They have never once reached out to me with anything. But I get calls from the corps of cadets every year asking for support. And I get the generic "donate to tech" letter that isn't even for sports.
Pay Bruce Arians to find a competent General Manager and then let them decide who else stays in Merryman. Then have the GM lead the coaching search. Segregate out the AD completely from the process. Let the AD worry about 1) finding money 2) other sports (primarily basketball and wrestling)
If anything like this were to happen, every single person in Merryman who thinks they deserve to stay should have to go through an interview process as if they were coming from another program. No one's job is safe. I actually think we should go nuclear and clear everyone out, just to make sure we completely eradicate the cancer, but I can see an argument for not throwing the baby out with the bath water.
No baby in that bath water, just turds.
I think a scenario like this would actually be great. Arians, although a former VT player/grad, isn't really part of the Blacksburg/VT football culture that needs to be gutted. He's spent all of his career elsewhere and in the NFL as part of very successful organizations. As we transition to a more pro-style, GM and front-office model for college football, having someone to lean on like Arians who also likes VT is probably a very good asset to have. I think he could come in and evaluate what isn't working and help get us a GM to run football.
Better question, why would anyone come to this shitshow of a program?!
Money. Brett Pry can retire making over $25 mil at VT.
We're developmental now. Cignetti going straight to Indiana is the exception; most G5 coaches will still need an ACC/B12 stop before they get a good Power 2 opportunity. Enough ambitious guys will look at VT, evaluate a schedule that maybe only has one of Clemson or FSU on it at most, and say if they get two years here with their selection of the transfer portal they can be lined up for the next time Auburn implodes or when Bert gets bored at Illinois.
Dave Clawson
No way. He voluntarily left Wake Forest, which was not an ACC powerhouse. That would be bargain bin shopping to me, if he is even interested in coaching again. Seems to me like he left because of how NIL/transfer portal was reshaping CFB.
Napier is just Fuente 5 years later.
Qualifications: previous track record of success as a head football coach of a power program.
Don't care about: connections to Virginia, Beamer, Southwest Virginia, or Virginia Tech,
Ya know it's going to be way easier to check out this season thanks to the portal. I used to at least have an interest on how our players grew and developed, now with 30 new players I really don't care at all.
The portal, state of VT football, and state of college football just had me doing the Patrick Star "WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE" on every play.
VT has to can Whit and Pry immediately. This cannot continue. I have never seen the fan base so collectively and rapidly turn like this. Just based on the pulse of social media and the VT boards, I'd say pretty much 100% of the fan base has had enough. Keep both coordinators and honestly let Mines be interim coach the rest of the season. He's popular with the players and maybe could rally the troops just a little bit.
VT should start an AD search immediately after, and we should get a football hiring committee together right now and go out to UNLV and hire Dan Mullen like we should have done probably in 2015 and definitely 2021. Apparently UNLV doesn't even have the money to pay out his contract. Go get a proven winner in the SEC who was extremely interested in this job twice before.
We should hire JMU's AD, try to get Mullen, and let those two completely rework the entire athletic department from the ground up
I'm just too old for this shit!
Waiting for the news they've been fired.
Swap the football and basketball NIL budgets, make Pry get through another year of that garbage so no one gives him a head whistle again, then fire whit and Pry and all of the FB staff. Fully back Mike Young because he at least makes his team better than their talent.
Pry ruined the recruiting environment for arguably the best recruits we have had on campus for basketball in the last 5 years so I approve the swap of NIL.
Wait, what is this?
Edit: Duh, never mind, I'm tracking now.
Yeah had a post on it but looks like it got deleted. Both men and women had at least one 5 🌟 each on campus plus multiple 4 🌟.
So since Tech has t had to deal with firing an AD in decades what's the process? You fire the AD and the interim AD fires Pry and who else off the staff? Who finishes coaching the rest of the season? Then you need to hire a new AD before you hire next HC and staff.
Don't see how you can do this under a normal timeline. You can't afford to keep Whit and let him make another hire, but you also don't have time to do a drawn out AD search and get them onboard to make a HC hire before the coaching carousel winds up. We cannot keep Pry into next year. Realistically we might have to fire Whit/or he announces his resignation now in advance so we can start an AD search, and probably he needs to go ahead and fire Pry and we use a search committee specifically for this coaching hire.
Thats my concern here: that VT has thought none of this out.
What would seemingly be most logical would be to fire Whit, let new AD at least get his feet wet and put feelers out for new HC candidates before telling Pry to clear his shit out on Nov 30th.
But, if you are going to fire Whit, you have to have a number of possible replacements in mind. I have a large suspicion we haven't even considered that yet.
While my visceral feeling is that both Pry and Whit should be fired immediately, I think it leaves us drifting in the breeze with no plan at all.
Maybe Sands has already been prepared for this possibly, but everything about VT's attitude towards Athletics over the past 10 years would refute that.
Oh 100%. Aside from VTGuitarman telling us that Sands does actually care about football there is 0 evidence otherwise that this administration takes football seriously. Sure they'd like to be good. Maybe they, on some level, believe that having a strong football program is beneficial for the entire university. But it does not seem like anyone in a position of power really knows, or cares to find out, what it actually takes to be a top tier program. Everyone takes it for granted. We're in a bad place right now and nobody at VT has a clue what to do. Including preparing for the future. Whit alluded to not being the AD much longer in his presentation. I bet that was the first time anyone in power even considered the possibility that he wouldn't be. I will be completely shocked if Whit is replaced. Absolutely shocked.
I mean as parent with two kids nearing college-age I do think there is a conversation to be had about the greater goals of the University.
From Whit's presentation, it appears clear that nearly any revenue generating plan involves increasing student fees. Essentially taxing the general student population in order to pay athletes under the guise that they have some intrinsic "NIL" value.
You know, the kind of NIL value that can only be satisfied by instituting required fees on others without their agreement.
If Sands et al. don't see that as a goal of the University then they should make that clear. But this "dipping your toe into the pool" approach is completely futile.
I want VT to be good, but I also am unsure that even with a significant cash infusion thats going to occur. NIL and the Transfer Portal have been systematically manipulated by the Power Programs in CFB to make sure that they always have a competitive advantage and TV Networks have partnered with the SEC and B1G to further reinforce that.
So if Sands says..."nah, we're not going to create a $1500 Athletic Fee so that we can go 8-4 instead of 6-6," im not sure I could argue with him. I'm also convinced that the vast majority of the thousands of Students inheriting another $6k of Debt would agree with that.
Either play the same game as everyone else or shutter the football program. None of this half assed pussyfooting bullshit where we handwring about doing the exact same things everyone else does. Either we are serious or not.
And if we aren't, then fucking bulldoze Lane and put some academic buildings on the site going forward.
Sure, agree that what we are doing right now amounts to lip service. Saying we want to win but trying to do so on a discount.
But, even if we go all in, understand that we are playing in a Rigged System.
Spending money sounds great until you drop $4mil on a QB just to lose by 25 to fucking Illinois like Duke.
What I'm saying is if BOV says...No Thanks, I am at the point where I wouldn't lose my mind about it. The last 5 years has really removed many of the things that I loved about College Sports.
Yep. Getting forcibly readjusted into the minor leagues and having any player worth a shit spend maybe a year or two here at best is not something I have an easy time talking myself into spending $2500/year on transparently, let alone having our board decide every four-year student needs to graduate with $10K in debt strictly attributable to athletics like they do at JMU.
And no matter what sport, we don't play half the teams in our conference that I care about because the membership has been inflated to serve a TV contract that's putting us in a subservient role to the SEC anyway.
I mean really...what's a few thousand dollars in Student Loan Debt [that accrues daily] when you have a chance to land that 26 y/o Free Safety who's looking for his 4th school and sitting in the Transfer Portal (assuming the Judge rules in his favor in his Eligibility Lawsuit)??
College sports used to be fun....this isn't it.
I mean, I think that's pretty much exactly where most of us are here. Can't blame individual players for getting bags while they can, but it makes the entertainment product we've loved for years markedly worse and if it means we like that product less, that means I have one less thing to do on fall Saturdays. It is what it is.
I don't care what anyone associated with the school says anymore. All I care about is what they do.
They don't deserve the trust of believing their statements. They were the ones who allowed things to get this bad, so I don't give a shit about their revelations now.
It's to the point now where they need to prove this school deserves the support going forward. The last 16 hours or so has been a coming to terms that after last night I am emotionally disconnected from VT going forward. I just don't care anymore. My neighbor's have been trying to get me free tickets to the NCSU game and I already declined them. I have too much other shit going on in my life to follow something that makes me absolutely miserable. It's not fun anymore.
I've officially joined these ranks.
Big board of coaches (overall quality not necessarily fit):
1. John Sumrall - Tulane
2. Alex Golesh - USF
3. Dan Mullen - UNLV
4. Shannon Dawson - OC Miami
Stretch but possible/out of the box
1. Lance Leipold - Kansas
2. Matt Campbell - Iowa State
2b. Kalani Sitake - BYU
4. Willie Fritz - Houston
I'm sure there's more but we should start with these candidates, make some guys say no. Don't overcomplicate the hire and hire the best guy (Elko last time around since Clawson wasn't long for coaching)
What about going after Lashlee? His salary numbers are hard to find but he's reportedly one of the lowest paid HCs in the ACC worst case scenario SMU has to pay more (which they absolutely could) why would he leave a good program like SMU to VT? Not really sure at this point but he's a damn good coach.
Edit: he just signed an extension last year so that'll probably be a really expensive hire.
John Sumrall and Alex Golesh should be in the Stretch category, IMO.
Sumrall is holding out for UK, and Alex Golesh's star is too bright, someone with deeper pockets will grab him.
Our situation, considering our conference + Athletic Director/Department + recent failures etc. makes this a pretty unattractive opening.
I think Dan Mullen could make some sense for us if we time it right and get moving on it sooner rather than later. He's already had an elite job at UF so he's not going to be looking to just jump for a big payday at this stage in his career. He's been interested in VT before and I think with a new AD and assurances of more funding, we could be an attractive destination for him with some job security and significantly more than he's making at UNLV.
I've seen his name come up in discussions and I think he's a reasonable name that would make some sense.
I think we would need to heavily invest in surrounding him with either assistant coaches who are good recruiters and/or a GM that helps coordinate that because, IIRC, the story on him at UF was that he was good at the X's and O's but got less interested in recruiting as time went on.
He wasn't ready to recruit at the Urban Meyer level that's needed to compete with Kirby. If Mark Richt level UGA coincided with Mullen at UF he wouldn't have been fired. He won the SEC East with a backup QB.
He'll need help recruiting, but I think he's wired to recruit well at VT. His recruiting floor is much higher than Fuente.
The deeper pockets piece is part of the problem in the BOV perspective. If we are making the commitment to really excel in football then going the extra yard on a known quantity coach is a big step they will need to commit to rather than write off a candidate because "we can't afford him" ....if we are serious we find a way to afford him or what are we doing? We have spent the last decade lamenting coaching decisions. Do it right this time.
Agreed, but there's a decent number of SEC schools that could have openings this year and no matter what the BOV decides we could absolutely be out-bid.
Second is true, first is not. Cover 3 and Godfrey have said they heard Sumrall doesn't want UK but he is looking to go SEC/best available, turned down UNC because of their weird misalignment among admin and boosters.
Still, we have to go for the best available if we truly want to compete with the best. We'll likely only be competing with 5-6 other schools in the same category as us at worst case, by my count there's 8 ish solid prospects on the market we could go after
I must have misheard because I thought it was SZD (and Godfrey specifically, when he was still active) that said Sumrall was holding out for UK - so my bad.
Sumrall is holding out for Auburn/Florida/LSU/good SEC job. He's not going back to UK. He's above that. He also doesn't want to go to a school where basketball is the top priority. Source is a Tulane NIL Booster who has weekly conference calls with Sumrall (all the NIL boosters above a certain level get a standing invite to a monday zoom call with Sumrall where he spills tea with them)
That's wild that he shares that kind of insight with the boosters of his current school
Everyone knows that he's not staying at Tulane forever. And they are happy to be a stepping stone to future SEC coaches. He shared the details of the Mensah transfer too.
Tulane is happy to be a stepping stone as long as they are winning and pick the right next guy. We need to look at their AD for Whit's replacement.
David Harris was hired in 2023. Prior to that, he was at North Iowa from 2016. From ESPN:
I think the next AD has to be a fundraising expert. They don't need to know about football - they can hire an Associate AD of football who can drive hiring, facilities, etc for football. We need someone who can get more gifts in - IDK if David Harris is that dude.
You see when you have money you get access, we have far too few boosters with access.
Gotcha, sounds like I was wrong - but he's still definitely in the stretch tier.
He's going to hold out for someone in a far better position than us.
We should do our best to hire Bruce Arians as our football GM immediately. Fire Whit and Pry, and make JC Price interim coach for the rest of 2025. Arians can help us find a competent AD and hire a good coach. Then we can hire a new GM to help us in this new NIL world. Maybe Tyrod or Corey Moore.
Our OC was a head coach, he's a better interim HC choice, I think. He'd still need to do OC also.
Hear buyout is too high and falls Dec 1st, so an interim is unlikely.
But if we do it I say give Mines an opportunity. Young and up and comer. Clemson gave it to Dabo before and it worked. Worth a shot to give it to him.
(Think Montgomery was a shit coach tbh I wouldn't want them to give it to him)
His buyout falls every December. 4 years in it's a lousy excuse to hold on to someone. We're going to do it anyways but that's just another example of program mismanagement
I think I heard somewhere his buyout is $5.8M (plus any buyouts for the assistant coaches). If that's true and it's still too high we really are down bad. That's almost half of what Fuente's initial buyout was (before we negotiated it down).
Mmm, Mmm. I guessed this right.
Clean house.
Fire John Balien. Allegedly sabotaged Fuente and allegedly jumped Pry to tor top of prospective candidates.
Per Chris Coleman in a public video the BOV is already working on new AD's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRvD6Sc4FYM
He also is expecting there to be a substantial gutting of hokie club and Athletic Department
This deserves its own thread IMO - so I made one
I never know quite what to think of Chris Coleman... like, he seems like he's just a guy who taught himself ball and gossips with locals and TSL folks. But he's not a reporter... He's basically a blogger? So how serious do I take his comments? Idk.
I just don't want to get my hopes up lol
It looks like his is finally turning on Whit, which he has never done. Seems that indicates that he's not afraid of burning that bridge anymore. If that podcast is coming out, someone higher up gave the go ahead to drop it. Plus, mehul said he will be there this weekend and he is a LARGE donor.
I knew him when we were at Tech. Definitely not a reporter, but certainly a business partner for Will Stewart. I don't doubt that he has legitimate connections in Blacksburg and Merryman who would have him in a position to know details like this.
My question is do people's attitudes change on this if we get to 6-2? It wouldn't for me, I want them out regardless. I feel like some people might totally flip, but I hope everyone's attitudes will remain the same.
We can't ignore some of the things coming out now if we get on a winning streak of some easy games.
Most people will probably shake their heads but 6-2 before the Louisville game is a lot more possible than people want to admit. I'd even say 4-2 is the most likely outcome over the next stretch of games if we get through ODU today.
I don't think we are set up for success. I think we need a leadership change. I think Pry's heart is in the right place but can't get it done for a variety of reasons.
I will never root for the Hokies to lose a game. If we go 10-2 I am going to be absolutely ecstatic. Any game we win, I am excited for.
No and the fact that we have to consider whether the attitude should change if we go 6-2 is part of the problem. The fact of the matter is this football program has not competed with it's self identified peers in 10 years. And very sporadicaly the 5 years before that.
The only way Pry should save his job is if he goes 14-0 the rest of the year and wins a national championship. And we all know that isnt happening.
Whit should be out no matter what. He hasn't been able to get it done with marquee program in his department. I think hes done his best it just hasn't worked out and time to move on.
Yeah agree 100%. To be fair I think 7-5 is the ceiling (8-4 if Miami quits in November) but I see a scenario where we're 6-2 and maybe the BOV hesitates on making a move. That's what I hope we avoid. If the fan base is done no matter what it will make it easier for the BOV to make their moves
Also there's an off chance Vandy is pretty good, like top 15, which I don't think should change anything either. I think people should be ready to hold their ground if either of those end up being true.
I have vandy to beat USC tonight. I think they are a good team not getting much credit. But that being said....
Remember when the hokies were EXPECTED to compete with a top 15 team year in and year out? Not hope to squeak by them. Much less get absolutely obliterated in front of a sold out crowd.
I have yet to decide if im going to make the 2 mile drive over to lane and see the game in person. Last week left a a very, very bitter taste in my mouth.
I
At 6-2, I'm willing to wait and see how the season goes (regarding Pry)
But that doesn't really solve the Fundraising issue.
See I'm not okay with that. Chris Coleman has been dishing on Pry, I guess he's got the go ahead now that it's basically over. Apparently we didn't start a single practice on time this offseason, all 20 min+ late. He said one of the media open practices started over an hour late.
That's not the only weird absurd thing that's happened with Pry's program. Work from home OL coach. Lack of halftime adjustments on either side of the ball. Now players getting "tired" or quitting, idk how you tell between the two. He needs to be out and winning a few cupcake games shouldn't change that.
I say fire him with 8-4 and I'm dead serious about that
Well it's a moot point. Zero chance this team gets to 6-2
Not sure this team beats Wofford tbh, David on Techsideline was saying that one might be close on the podcast, I thought it was hyperbole
While I think the chances of us getting to 6-2 this year are on par with me winning Powerball*, if we get to 6-2, yes, I will be happy hold onto everyone and see how the rest of the season goes. I mean we would be one of the hottest teams in the country. Plus, I was expecting something like 5-7 this year. Already ahead of that and we'd have a great chance to win 7 and decent shot at 8-5 final record.
* I have not purchased a lottery ticket in many years, so my odds of winning Powerball are even lower than what you might think.
If we go 6-2 then sure keep everyone until the off season and then clean house. Im rooting for 6-2 and also for a new coach, i don't know how both can work but Nebraska loves firing 9 win coaches, marylsnd fires ACC coach of the year coaches.
Lol leg for the footnote.
Let's change it to 5-2. I put that as very likely. Like 40% chance. State is horrible, Wake is FCS level, Cal is Cal. ODU is probably second hardest game after Cal in that next stretch, and we get them both at home
Wake may still beat us if they play like they did against NC State on Thursday
Only if they burn a food truck as an offering
I think State is terrible. Wake did scrap a bit in that one, but Wake is seriously like FCS level, if they win another game all year that's great work by Jake Dickert. Delaware very likely gets them
But are you confident we could beat Delaware at this point?
Pretty confident we'd lose after this game
I think context is important here. Do we scrape by a bunch of teams that are losing to everyone else, too? Or do we win several of these games convincingly?
If it's the former, then this is fool's gold and we shouldn't fall for it. The latter is I think a situation where it gets a little trickier and I'd hold until after the UVA game. But if we start 6-2 and finish 7-5 then I'm ready to move on.
Well we won't have to find out now lmao
6 and 2. Cocaine is one he'll of a drug
Well GT is good but the rest of the teams are a bucket of ass. GT game is looking tougher now but after the showing Colorado I was questioning if they were anything
Who should we fire?
How much does Pry's buyout drop at the end of the season? I mean, even if we fire him tomorrow and the interim coach lights a fire, I can't imagine any better than 3-9 or so. Is it better to let the team go 1-11 or 0-12 with Pry and then fire? I assume it won't drop enough so we should fire him now.
Its not worth the cost to keep him
1000%
He's a total loser. Everyone on the team knows it and they've quit.
Move on immediately.
Yeah, that is my assumption too.
This garbage is unacceptable. Whit and Pry should be gone before Monday morning. Full stop.
Don't worry, it's happening. The result tonight is the true character of the frauds we hired. They know (Pry and Whit) they've been uncovered and this is their last big job. So total spite. 100%.
Whit & Pry should be packing their cardboard boxes right now...Drones should be carrying them out to the van to drive them all home.
done im done
done
end it
done
go all in for cignetti
do it now
mehul do it
Fire Pry, Fire Whit, I'm done with their shit.
So reading from reporters if/when Pry gets fired a 30 day period opens where players can transfer, if they haven't played 4 games they can count this year as a redshirt. How gutted would the roster be for new coach if Pry is fired Monday?
Are there any FCS teams that have roster spots?
Who cares. This is a dumpster fire anyway. Total rebuild incoming. Might not have a winning season the next decade.
I think Love is the only person I would be sorry to lose.
I'm slightly more optimistic, if we get the right AD and HC in here, things could turn around quicker than you might think.
Elko went 9-3 year one at Duke. Cignetti took Indiana to the playoff last year. Etc, etc.
I'm kind of in the same place as Chris Coleman. As bad as things are right now, knowing that Merryman is about to be gutted, finally, has me feeling better than I have in a long time. It feels like a chance to fix what's wrong and do a hard reset. We just... really have to nail these hires.
While we're gutting Merryman let's put the lunchbox in a display, along with the 25 jersey. No more of that "glory days" shit. Beamer was great, but that was eons ago. You don't see FSU awarding the "straw fedora" to some kid to try to hold on to the Bowden years. There's no "sweater vest" award at Florida. Time to move on.
If we're not gonna win again for a decade, why fire anyone? Why waste your money? Why not just light it on fire?
True.
I'd rather the incoming AD and coach have more money, however they can achieve this. I could be letting Pry go on his own terms, whatever that means, if he is willing to negotiate his buyout. If not, let him pretend for another couple of months. Whit, too. No need to embarrass anyone. We just need change.
We don't have to pretend what everyone already knows. It's strictly business, Freddo.
Doesn't matter. The team is cooked either way.
Judging from the way the players quit on the school they can get fucked if they think I'm going to worry about where they play next year.
That can all fuck off. They'll all be lucky to have contributing roles at any major football program next year
I mean we all thought DeLane was trash and he is balling out at LSU. I bet there are several guys who the roster who are in the same position. Complete roster turnover even more than 50% would be really bad before we even had a new coach in place.
It's not about skill it's about heart
These players quit on the school after basically 6 quarters of play this year. Fuck them all, there is absolutely no excusing it whatsoever
Can't blame folks for quitting when leadership is inept.
If we finish the season winless, it literally won't be able to get worse.
Who thought Delane was trash? He had to cover for the entire defense, and couldn't do his own job because he was forced to do everyone else's.
I'm not concerned about roster turnover. It is what it is. Put JC as interim. Maybe he can motivate the troops to get wins over wofford and wake, and at least not quit. Roster turnover is a problem for next year.
There were more than a couple people on this board if you go back and look at the transfer portal posts that were dragging him and calling him trash, and that he'd get exposed in the SEC. Then me and you were saying that he's legit even if he wasn't consistent in 24 and this is major loss. My argument was the staff was prepared to lose him because they thought he was going pro.
Lot of copium from posters here, I feel vindicated in my defense of Delane's talent.
To be fair, I too underestimated how big of a loss it was. And I thought he was good lol. I didn't think highly of the OL we lost either. Was wrong on that one.
I think it was only a loss as far as he is really good and the people denying he was good are coping hard. Like I said though, it was an expected loss, I knew in 2023 that the 2025 team wouldn't have him.
I was on this board saying Chaplin was irreplaceable and although we were bringing people in from WVU, the Moore & Chaplin absences would be felt and we'd be much better with them.
Based on last night's performance, who are we worried about losing?
John Love, Donavan Greene and probably John's brother Will that is a current commit
John Love and Donavan Green are out of eligibility after this season anyway. There is nothing to salvage this year, time to start thinking about next year.
true
ESPN named three: Kemari Copeland, Ayden Greene and Caleb Woodson
I think all 3 need to pick up their play.
Welcome to the NIL effect. A bunch of mercenaries playing for the name on the back rather than the front. No fire, no pride in putting on the uniform, just 40 yd dashes to cash the checks. Win or lose? Who cares as long as the checks go through before eligibility runs out..
Yep...
When the going gets tough, the tough count their NIL and go back in the Portal.
Something like that, no??
But how will that work out for them? If I'm looking at a WRs tape from our games, and see all the lazy routes, the rounded off breaks, the lack of ability to get separation... I've also gotta see something that makes me think "No, this kid is really good, it was the team that sucked. He'll thrive here."
And this team looks like trash not just because of ill-fitting scheme and poor play calling and bad coaching, but because of lack of execution, effort, and fire on the part of the players. Who's looking in the portal and thinking, "Yep, we need some of that!"
All that to say, I don't understand the players checking out. Even if you're disillusioned with VT football, aren't you better off busting your ass to prove that you weren't one of the reasons for this failure?
You say that, but isn't that exactly what happened at FSU last year? Sometimes you just don't want to play for a coach. Apparently that was a temporary thing or one or both of the coordinators. But they're doing well now 🤷♂️
I don't know of anyone who is a fan of the NIL system in place. I am certainly no exception to that either.
However, if we aren't currently the worst P4 Athletic depart at this very moment, there's no question that we are in the bottom 5.
Guess what? Everyone else is playing by the same rules. Other colleges are actually operating with even LESS money than we are. They still aren't this bad. I get wanting to blame this on NIL, but ultimately the VT athletic department is rotten to the core. Let's get ourselves fixed before we start bitching about the external factors we are dealing with.
This is the issue.
Really good episode of Phantom Island this week talking about how to best use NIL and how managing comp at the college level is different than NFL level. With data to back it up. I'd wager my salary that Pry & Co aren't putting this simple data to use.
Pry has:
Whit has:
Time for changes.
I said this in the other week3 game thread, but look at Duke, they paid Tulane's QB and them lost to Tulane. Thats some bad NIL spending there.
This from David Hale
Ouch! That's some serious low blow, s—-posting there.