Brent Pry has a tone-deaf take after Virginia Tech football's loss to Minnesota

One year ago, the Virginia Tech football team was coming off a 7-6 season that saw them win six of their last nine games including the Military Bowl over Tulane. The vibes around the program were high going into 2024 with the retainment the Hokies had with key players and some big transfer portal additions they had. It was setting up to be a quick rebuild in his third season in Blacksburg.

All the hype was there leading into the season through spring ball and camp. Heck, they were even national darlings to be a dark horse for the new 12-team College Football Playoff by a lot of national writers. It was setting up for a huge 2024 season in Blacksburg.

Then it wasn't.

The season began with an overtime loss to Vanderbilt and from there, the Hokie sputtered through their schedule and they needed a Thanksgiving Weekend win over Virginia, 37-17, just to become bowl-eligible. A 6-6 regular season was not on many bingo cards when the season began. The struggle cost three coaches their jobs, they had a mass exodus through the transfer portal and showed up for the Duke's Mayo Bowl missing 14 of 22 starters.

All of that led to a 24-10 loss to the Gophers to finish the season 6-7, but the result on Friday night was expected. The quote from head coach Brent Pry after wasn't and it leaves a lot of people scratching their heads.

Brent Pry has rather tone-deaf comment on future of program

Meeting with the media, Pry said that "he believes the program is in a better place than a year ago.'' I'm not kidding. See for yourself.

I mean, I understand "coach speak'' happens all the time, but with what has transpired the last four months, I'm not sure how he sees the program being in a better place than it was a year ago. It's not. He had a roster that had a lot of NFL talent on it and still only won six games. Not seven, eight, nine, or 10 games, but six. The fanbase is running short on patience and despite having somewhat of a depleted roster against Minnesota, there were still questionable decisions made by the staff. There wasn't anything that came from the game that made you have faith in the staff going forward.

Twelve months ago, the vibes around the program were at their highest point in some time, but fast forward 12 months later and it feels like the steps are going backward rather than forward. We all hope that 2025 is going to be better, but given what has happened over the last four months, to think that the program is in a better place than a year ago is tone-deaf. I can't imagine this will sit well with a fanbase as passionate as Virginia Tech's.