BLACKSBURG — Safety Tyson Flowers represented the defense at the postmortem of Virginia Tech’s 45-26 thrashing Saturday night from Old Dominion. A transfer from Rice new to the program, he was patient and eloquent answering questions about the Hokies’ 0-3 start and speculation about head coach Brent Pry’s job security.
“I don’t think it’s right,” Flowers said. “Coach isn’t putting on pads. Coach isn’t out there having to make tackles. It’s not on him. I don’t think it has anything to do with coaching. I think as players we need to do a better job of doing our job, and then that will translate to the wins.”
His sentiment was gracious, well-intended and naïve.
When programs lose long-term, and when those defeats are as unsightly as the Hokies’ last two, coaches endure the consequences. As Pry did Sunday, when university president Tim Sands, not athletic director Whit Babcock mind you, announced his dismissal.
Hokies fire Brent Pry in wake of program’s worst start in 38 years
Virginia Tech paid Pry more than $4 million annually to restore the program to relevance. In three-plus seasons, he never came close: 3-8, 7-6, 6-7, 0-3.
That’s the ledger, a 16-24 aggregate that was an even worse 10-21 versus the Hokies’ ACC rivals and Power Four peers.
But it wasn’t merely the losing. It was HOW Tech lost.
Game mismanagement, undisciplined penalties, a 1-12 record in one-score games and, finally, back-to-back collapses at Lane Stadium against Vanderbilt and ODU. The Commodores outscored the Hokies 34-0 in the second half; the Monarchs roasted them 28-0 in the first half.
That’s a 62-0 rock-bottom over four quarters. Vandy scored touchdowns on five straight possessions, three of them netting more than 70 yards. As damning: ODU had consecutive touchdown drives of 93, 97, 88 and 77 yards.
Where was the defense that was salty for much of the 24-11, season-opening loss to South Carolina?
“You came out of Week 1, you felt like we had a defensive unit that could be stingy and make people earn it,” Pry said Saturday night. “And that hasn’t happened for (the last) six quarters. So, we have to take a hard look at what we’re doing.”
As a Hokies graduate assistant in the mid-1990s, Pry learned defense under the renowned Bud Foster. He then developed into an accomplished defensive coordinator for James Franklin at Penn State, college football’s highest level.
So imagine his dismay, and that of his bosses, as defense proved a large part of his undoing.
Pry mistakenly hired a rookie coordinator, Chris Marve, to his original Tech staff, and to compensate for Marve’s inexperience, Pry called the defense for much of that dismal first season. But as a rookie head coach himself, Pry was ill-suited to juggle both jobs and eventually relinquished the play-calling to Marve.
This past offseason, after too many fourth-quarter leads had vanished, Pry fired Marve and hired Sam Siefkes, an Arizona Cardinals position coach and former Wofford defensive coordinator. He hasn’t helped.
The Hokies rank 127th among 136 Bowl Subdivision teams in scoring defense at 37.7 points per game. Oklahoma State (38.0) is the lone Power Four team that’s worse.
Moreover, Tech has yielded 20 plays of 20-plus yards. No Power Four team has allowed more.
Also in the offseason, Pry fired strength and conditioning coordinator Dwight Galt and offensive line coach Ron Crook. He then promoted Hokies alum Jarrett Ferguson to Galt’s position and hired Matt Moore from West Virginia to replace Crook.
The o-line has since been ravaged by injuries and is a leaky mess. And when I asked Pry last week if he sensed a lack of effort against Vanderbilt in the second half, he said no, but that the team appeared tired.
Yikes. When you turf three staff members and see no discernable benefit in the season’s first three games, you have XXL problems.
David Teel: Embarrassing loss to ODU should spell end for Hokies’ Brent Pry
Little wonder that the Hokies’ admirably loyal fans voiced their displeasure each of the last two Saturdays.
“I get it,” Pry said post-ODU. “I’m frustrated, too. So, I understand where they’re coming from. The expectations at this place are to win.”
Indeed, they are, and Pry, who genuinely loves Virginia Tech and understands its culture, didn’t approach them.
Many of the fans who clamored for Pry’s exit want the same for Babcock. This is Babcock’s 12th year in Blacksburg, and both of his football coaching hires, Justin Fuente and Pry, fizzled.
Were Babcock on terra firma, Sunday’s announcement would have come from him. Instead, it came from Sands.
That said, Sands’ statement indicates that Babcock remains on the executive team.
“Board of Visitors members J. Pearson and Ryan McCarthy have been charged by the rector, John Rocovich, to work with university leadership and AD Whit Babcock to develop a financial, organizational and leadership plan that will rapidly position the Virginia Tech football program to be competitive with the best in the ACC,” Sands said. “That plan will be presented to the Board of Visitors later this month. The new framework for college sports will be fully established for next season, so this is the time to make a major move.”
All coaching searches are perilous — even the best ADs whiff occasionally — and entrusting Babcock to be part of another football hire compounds the risk. But Sands and Babcock, who is contracted through 2029, have served together longer than every other Power Four president and AD except Kentucky’s Eli Capilouto and Mitch Barnhart, providing each comfort and support.
Sands and Babcock’s first move was to install first-year offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery as Pry’s interim replacement. Montgomery compiled a 43-53 record as Tulsa’s head coach from 2015-22 and was on the opposing sideline for Frank Beamer’s final game as Tech’s coach, the 2015 Independence Bowl.
No matter how the Hokies fare under Montgomery, brace for two-plus months of wild candidate speculation that university administrators will and should ignore. But wild speculation is part of the fun, so embrace the Jon Gruden and Jimbo Fisher chatter, don’t sleep on former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald or former Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson, and monitor the season as big whistles such as James Madison’s Bob Chesney, Liberty’s Jamey Chadwell, UNLV’s Dan Mullen, South Florida’s Alex Golesh and Tulane’s Jon Sumrall ascend and descend.
And as the search nears its close, remember to consult all your preferred flight trackers.
David Teel: david.teel@virginiamedia.com
