After being hired in 2021 to replace Justin Fuente at Virginia Tech, Brent Pry was hoping to turn things around in Blacksburg for a fanbase that was begging for it. After three-plus seasons and a 16-24 overall record, it wasn't working out. After a 45-26 loss to Old Dominion on Saturday night at Lane Stadium, the school moved on from the former Penn State defensive coordinator.
At 0-3, the program needs an overhaul with a new coach and new leadership above that coach. The signs are pointing to that happening sooner rather than later. Pry failed to reach the goals he wanted to reach at Virginia Tech for many reasons, and here are his four biggest failures that sank his tenure with the Hokies.
Non-conference losses
Results on the field matter; that's the nature of the business, and some of the results on the field were just not good. The non-conference results were not good, with some bad losses, some multiple losses to come against schools that they shouldn't be losing to.
The era began and finished with losses to Old Dominion, while there were also two losses to Rutgers, Vanderbilt, and single losses to Marshall and Purdue. Those are games you can't simply lose consistently if you're hoping to turn a program like Virginia Tech. Some of them were embarrassing losses as well.
Abysmal record in one-score games
Not many coaches, if any, at a Power 4 program survive a 1-12 record through three seasons in one-score games, but somehow Pry did. If that happened at an SEC school, he would not have made it to a fourth year.
Not to nitpick, but if he went just 6-7 or even 5-8 in those games, he's still the coach at Virginia Tech today. He's not alone in the one-score failures, and he was robbed of a one-score win last September at Miami after a review. Still, this record was stunning the more one-score losses that piled up each year.
The fumbled 2024 season
After a strong finish to the 2023 season to become bowl-eligible and then rolling over Tulane in the Military Bowl, Pry and his staff got a ton of retention from the roster. Add in some key Transfer Portal additions, and you had the hype the Hokies had entering 2024.
It may have been a little too much hype, but the next step was expected to be taken under Pry in terms of moving the program forward. There was some chatter from analysts that Virginia Tech could be a 12-team College Football Playoff dark horse, but a season-opening loss in overtime at Vanderbilt began a season filled with frustration. For the second straight year, they needed a win over Virginia to become bowl-eligible on Thanksgiving Weekend.
Following the season, a mass exodus began through the Transfer Portal, and an overhaul began. It didn't lead to a very competitive roster for the 2025 season, and the results through the first three weeks spoke for themselves.
In-game decisions and clock management
There were, without a doubt, some questionable in-game decisions from Pry that didn't always work out, which happens in college football; however, his clock management was not good. Sometimes, the little things like that can play a big role in the outcome of games or shift momentum, and you saw it multiple times under Pry. Clock management in one-score games left a lot to be desired at times.
Pry did change some things in Blacksburg, including mending relationships with high school coaches in the Commonwealth for recruiting, and he was able to bring home Virginia players through the Transfer Portal to play at home. However, again, the results were not there in other areas where they needed to be, which ended his time after just three games into the 2025 season.