Derek Jones, the co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Texas Tech the last two seasons, is expected to be part of Brent Pry's staff at Virginia Tech, sources tell @On3sports. Previously worked with Pry at Memphis in 2007. https://t.co/k5bN5NhJoE— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) December 4, 2021
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Somebody tell me how to feel about the hire
You should feel great.
Oh wait a minute you mean someone Who know what the hell they are talking about.
So yeah on second thought I also need this announcement interpreted.
I think you should feel pretty good. 12 years with Duke as DB coach. Put several players in the NFL.
knows the region well and should help with recruiting.
In CBP we trust.
I like that Pry said he would be heavily involved in the defense early on. This means he won't hand it over until he is satisfied with it. I imagine if he doesn't get that comfort level he will make changes.
He was beating us for 4* recruits at Duke. He can 'croot.
Well that settles it I love this hire
i don't know about that horse, I don't think we can trust him
If he transitions to tweeting Hobbes pouncing on Calvin, I know he's a slam-dunk winner. It's science!
I would leg this but it's at 69 and that just seems a good place to be.
Plaid for this immediately please.
LET'S GO!
HOKIES!
Any idea what level coach like co-dc or secondary coach? I'm curious if Ryan Smith is retained
If he is co-dc now, it's hard to imagine he would move for a demotion back to only position coach.
Gist I'm hearing is co-DC (w/ Pry staying as DC for initial days as he alluded to in presser) and CB coach. With Smitty moving to safeties. Some combo like that.
Guy was pulling 4* recruits to Duke and beating us for them
Pry is emphasizing recruiting with his hires and I love it
He was a very good recruiter at Duke, so he is familiar with the footprint and the ACC. Having some Texas connections as well could help us with current TX players/commits or maintaining a few relationships to snag a TX kid here and there (obviously not with as much focus as the last few years). His top 5 recruits while he was at Duke were from GA, NC, FL, SC, and GA again. All places that are worthwhile for VT to focus either within our footprint or have historical connections with.
I feel good about this hire.
Exciting.
Raised just down the road from me in Woodruff, SC.
Big social media guy.
Was on staff at Duke for 12 years.
Recruiting footprint from Florida to Maryland with large NC, SC and GA presence.
Video of mic'd up at TT
Video at time of Texas Tech hire
(Start at 1:40 for recruiting statement)
Here's his book (cover) of inspirational quotes:
Link to his website: #Ap2w.com
"Always play to win" will be a refreshing change in mindset.
you mean better than "expected outcomes?"
/s
Feels like this hire builds off the mentality he talked about in the presser. I'm liking it - a lot!
I'm also liking that Pry didn't just hire someone he'd coached with recently, he reached back to someone he coached with 14 years ago. So hoping/guessing his other hires will be who he thinks are best for the job, not just because they're good friends. My guess, as others have pointed out is that Jones will be DC. I think he'll also pick OC next and would guess Pry would be getting their input on future hires. Assuming Jones is the DC, I wonder if he had input on the Shawn Quinn hire.
Regardless, excited to see how the rest of the staff rounds out!
Not to nit pick you specifically, but it's ironic given that Fu hiring his Illinois State buddies made the fanbase furious
Fair point, but was trying to differentiate relative length of time since they'd worked together. I should have mentioned (and did in another comment) having the other coach prove themselves at other schools, especially if it includes P5 success. I think Jones has done that where most of Fuente's staff hadn't really.
LOL, loved that. Only one I didn't get is Rue dies, who is Rue?
The little girl in the first Hunger Games.
I still cringe every time I see "worked at Memphis", but then I remember so did Wiggins and my mind opens up.
They were both there well before Fuente and also prior to Memphis turning into a dumpster fire. So I take working at Memphis with a grain of salt as to when they were actually there. Part of several bowl teams there as well. Memphis had a decent G5 program before 2008, which is when things went down a very very icy slope until JF turned them around.
You mistook my meaning. 'Twas a joke about Fuente and Cornelson being garbage. Wasn't a commentary on the state of Memphis' program at all.
Fam!
Very excited about this hire! Welcome to Virginia Tech Coach Jones! Looking forward to him continuing the DBU standard!
How does he compare to Torrian Gray?
TX2VT finally works!!!
Without ANY context, I have serious reservations about colleagues anyone worked with at Memphis.... None of those worked out the last 6 years.
There's been coaches that have been successful at some schools and not others, you can also be at a school that was bad and not be a bad coach (if Coach ABC is TE coach and is amazing, but all the other coaches suck, the team is going to suck, but doesn't mean Coach ABC sucks). There's one or two coaches on staff that some people have thought might be worthwhile to keep (Vice and Smith), but if you just associate them with Fuente as a blind generalization of overall team performance, you wouldn't keep anybody. I mean, if someone has lots of stops where they have demonstrated lack of performance, that's one thing, but being a position coach or GA on a crap team 10 years or more ago by itself shouldn't be a disqualified.
Holy crap - the /s was implied there
Nothing in your post made it seem like it was sarcastic. Hard to imply anything over text.
I got it immediately, just sayin'
This is the reason for my sig.
Disregard
Based on CBP saying he'd start out calling/running the defense until he felt comfortable handing that to someone else, it's intriguing that his first three hires all have HC or DC experience. Quinn HC at Savannah St and DC prior, Price as interim HC with us and Jones has been a Co-DC. Lot of playcalling/game plan leading in the defensive meeting room already. Will be very interesting to follow how that transition goes and which coach gets that promotion when the time comes.
This isn't different that last year with Teerlinck, DC at Nevada, Tracy Claeys, HC and DC at Minnesota, Justin Hamilton, DC at VA-wise. Also because of covid, Ryan Smith was DC for a game.
And Ryan Smith killed it calling the defense for that game.
Came to TKP this morning hoping to see some news on the coaching front... too early?
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DBU and LBU. Let's do it.
VT football Twitter just announced officially the hiring of Derek Jones and Shawn Quinn.
So no news on OC front then?
I'm amazed at the lack of rumors/speculation on the offensive staff. Haven't really even seen any names floated other than guesses.