When Tyler Bowen made the stunning decision to leave Virginia Tech in February to become the offensive line coach at Ohio State, it left a void on Brent Pry's coaching staff that was a big opening. Pry did his due diligence and ended up hiring former Tulsa coach Philip Montgomery.
The hiring was seen as a hire really out of nowhere, but it was a hiring that could be one of the more underrated ones in college football when all is said and done in 2025. Why is that? Well, for starters, he has plenty of experience coaching QBs at the power conference and Group of 5 level with a lot of success. At the ACC Kickoff in Charlotte on Thursday, Pry explained the hiring of Montgomery, and he didn't mince words when all was said and done.
Brent Pry explains the hiring of Philip Montgomery at Virginia Tech
Between Virginia Tech's win over Virginia on Thanksgiving Weekend to become bowl-eligible and the Duke's Mayo Bowl against Minnesota, it was announced that quarterback Kyron Drones was coming back for another season in Blacksburg. That was rather big news, and the hiring of Montgomery could be seen as a huge hire for that alone.
"First of all, I wanted somebody that would give us the best opportunity, us and Kyron, for him to reach all of his potential and then some,'' said Pry. "When you look at Phil's track record with quarterbacks, it's hard to argue that he's not the right guy to do that.
"Then secondly, to bring a play caller in here that has a proven plan that he believes in, that he is super knowledgeable about, that you're not reinventing the wheel every week and trying to find answers and trying to find solutions, that we can invest and buy into a plan and a system and have answers, and Phil provides all that. He's an experienced play caller. He's a veteran quarterback developer.''
It's hard to argue with that logic. Montgomery has coached some notable quarterbacks in Robert Griffin, Case Keenum, and Bryce Petty. When Montgomery was at Baylor, he had Griffin and made the most out of his skill set, and took him to the next level in terms of using that. Pry is hoping Montgomery can do the same with Drones in 2025.