Virginia Tech introduces Brent Pry as next football coach
Brent Pry grew up in the shadow of the Virginia Tech football program. He was an hour or so up Interstate 81 in Lexington, Va., where he played in high school and his father was an assistant coach at the Virginia Military Institute.
Several decades later, Pry has returned to be the next head coach of the Hokies, reuniting with a program for which he served as a graduate assistant in the 1990s before ascending to the defensive coordinator role at Penn State for the past six seasons.
“[Virginia Tech] was always just such a presence for me in my life,” Pry said Thursday in Blacksburg while sitting between Athletic Director Whit Babcock and school president Timothy D. Sands. “It certainly was a special place to be.”
Pry’s contract is for six years and $27.5 million. His annual salary starts at $4 million and escalates to $5 million by the end of the deal. He follows Justin Fuente, who parted ways with the school in mid-November, and interim coach J.C. Price. Unlike Fuente, Pry’s ties to Virginia Tech are long-standing and sentimental.
Pry, 51, attended youth football camp at Virginia Tech in the 1980s and dreamed of playing for legendary coach Frank Beamer, who was beginning to transform the school into a national power.
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Pry wound up playing at the University at Buffalo. After two years as an assistant at East Stroudsburg coaching outside linebackers and defensive backs, he arrived at Virginia Tech to help oversee the defensive line. In his first year with the Hokies, 1995, he coached Price, then a standout defensive lineman.
Pry and Price fondly recalled that season, when the Hokies began 0-2 before beating Miami for the first time on the way to 10 consecutive victories, the Big East championship and a dismantling of Texas, 28-10, in the Sugar Bowl.
Pry indicated Price would oversee the Hokies for their bowl game and then remain on his staff as an associate head coach working with the defensive line.
“I look back and say it was the break in my career in this profession,” Pry said of his first job at Virginia Tech, adding that he had mailed dozens of letters to Billy Hite, then a Hokies assistant, detailing his aspirations of coaching there. “It has really helped me the most, getting around these guys and being in a place like this.”
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Even after he departed for other jobs, all in the South until he followed James Franklin from Vanderbilt to Penn State, Pry said he kept an eye on Virginia Tech. In recent years, he spurned other potential head coaching opportunities, preferring to wait for the ideal fit. That moment arrived when the Hokies had a vacancy, with athletic department officials seeking a replacement not only with coaching acumen but also an affinity for engaging with the Blacksburg community, as Beamer had done.
During Thursday’s news conference, Pry repeatedly mentioned the fan base’s importance and how special Lane Stadium can be, particularly during night games against high-profile opponents. One of Pry’s first stops after landing in Blacksburg was the 50-yard line at Lane Stadium, where he soaked in many memories.
“When you’re in a good place with good people, it’s hard to leave,” Pry said. “I’m not going to say it was easy leaving Penn State, to leave James, but this was the right opportunity.”
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Pry’s defense with the Nittany Lions finished seventh in the nation in scoring defense (16.8 points per game) this season. Penn State also ranked fourth in red-zone defense. That made Pry particularly attractive to Virginia Tech, given that the Hokies were near the bottom of the ACC in that category.
Pry’s background includes time working with Bud Foster, the longtime Hokies coordinator whose Lunch Pail defense came to define the unit’s rugged, swarming approach. His association with Foster and Beamer earned Pry acceptance and credibility from a fan base that had grown increasingly disenchanted over its disconnect with the Hokies’ previous coaching staff.
Beamer and Foster attended Thursday’s news conference, and Pry paused several times during his opening remarks while choking back tears as he expressed his gratitude to them for taking a chance on him as a fledgling assistant.
“It certainly plays a role,” Babcock said of Pry’s ties to the program. “You want somebody to run to the job — not that it’s just a great job, but ‘I want to be there because it’s Virginia Tech.’ … It is nice to see this place reunited. We’re not any good when we’re divided, so hopefully this is a step in the right direction.”
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