Entering his third season at the helm of the Virginia Tech football program, 2025 was supposed to be the year that Brent Pry and the Hokies turned the corner in their rebuild. With a ton of retainment and transfer portal additions along with a doable schedule, surpassing their win total from 2023 of seven was almost a guarantee.
Well, in this day and age, nothing is a guarantee in college football and the Hokies found that out this season. After going through several ups and downs, they finished 6-6 and a berth in the Duke's Mayo Bowl where they lost to Minnesota last Friday night. A 6-7 season is not what anyone expected and because of that, one college football writer has him entering 2025 on the hit seat.
ESPN writer puts Brent Pry on the hot seat entering 2025
ESPN Senior Writer Adam Rittenberg listed several coaches on the hot seat going to 2025 and Pry, to no one's surprise, was on the list. Here is what he wrote about the Hokies coach,
"The hot-seat talk bubbled up around Pry in November, and if the Commonwealth Cup had gone differently, Virginia Tech could have had a decision to make after a disappointing fall. Pry's second consecutive 6-6 regular season got him to a bowl game, but he will enter Year 4 with a new defensive coordinator and a staff that will include former longtime Hokies DC Bud Foster as an advisor/analyst.
"Pry is halfway through his contract and Virginia Tech isn't in the best position to eat a seven-figure buyout. Virginia Tech should be more competitive in a very winnable ACC, especially with quarterback Kyron Drones back. The Hokies have eclipsed seven wins just once since 2017."
One thing he is correct on is that AD Whit Babcock and the school do not want to eat a seven-figure buyout at this time. In retrospect, Pry and Babcock could be seen as a package deal and if one goes, the other may follow. After having a meeting between the coach and AD, Pry fired three assistant coaches, something that he didn't want to do and was likely forced to do.
The problem facing Pry going into 2025 is that the roster is not as talented as Pry thinks it is. They can still get there, but the program is not in a better spot now like he thinks it is compared to one year ago. The seat for Pry is hot and he knows it. To compound matters, beginning the season against South Carolina and Vanderbilt is not going to make things any easier. It's going to be a long off-season in Blacksburg and one that Pry needs to get right or things could be extremely hot early next fall.