Nowhere to Go

I have a hard time wrapping my finger around Brent Pry. At least I used to.

His tenure, up to this point, had been a mirage. His teams have played mostly pretty competent football, but their record has not reflected this on account of his unbelievably incompetent record in close games.

Therefore, I reasoned, if his in-game coaching could improve, he could right the ship with new coordinators and improved assistants. This was not a ship that was sinking — more like one with a faulty GPS.

Saturday night was quite different. For the first time under Pry, the Hokies completely rolled over. The one area in which Pry had distinguished himself from Justin Fuente — infamous architect of some of the biggest blowout losses in Lane Stadium history — is that his teams had zero quit. Sure, every one-score loss made you rip your hair out. But you knew the team wasn't going to lay down like a beaten dog. No more.

In fairness to the players, getting gashed for 490 yards of total offense and 7.1 yards per rush — as the Hokies' defense did in their 44-20 loss to the Commodores — is demoralizing. And maybe the team will rally to save the season, like they did after a 1-3 start in 2023.

But we are at the point where even making a bowl game would require a half-miracle. (Virginia Tech plummeted to 74th in the latest SP+ rankings after that laugher. If they finish 5-7, it would be a statistical overperformance).

There is less ambiguity now, though. Getting demolished by Vanderbilt calls into question your entire operation as a staff. Better yet: it might be time for a new operator.